A letter from Eleanor of Aquitaine ()

Translated letter:

Eleanor, queen of England, etc., to John, son of viscount Ralph of London, greetings. Monks of Reading have complained to me that they have been unjustly dispossessed of certain lands in London which Richard, son of B, gave them when he became a monk, namely from the holdings of the abbot of Westminster and of St. Augustine of Canterbury. I therefore order you to investigate without delay if it is so and if you find it to be true, to have the monks repossessed without delay, so that I hear no more complaint about the want of right and justice. And we wish also that they in no way lose anything unjustly that belongs to them. Fare well.

Original letter:

Alienora regina Anglie etc. Johanni filio Radulfi vicecomiti Londonie salutem. Conquesti sunt michi monachi de Rading quod dissaisiti sunt iniuste de quibusdam terris apud Londoniam, quas illis dedit Ricardus filius B. quando monachus devenit, de tenuris scilicet abbatis de Westmonasterio et abbatis sancti Augustini de Cantuaria. Precipio itaque ut sine dilacione perquiras, si ita est et si hoc verum esse comperis, omni mora postposita, monachos resaisiri facias, ne amplius inde aliquem clamorem audiam pro penuria recti et iusticie. Et nullatenus volumus pari ut aliquid iniuste amitant quod ad eos pertinet. Valete.

Historical context:

Eleanor acts on the complaint of monks about dispossession of their land. According to Claire Breay of the British library, the only other item that mentions Eleanor in the cartulary follows this one and is directly related to it: "Mandate and precept by Queen Eleanor [acting as regent for King Henry II] to John fitz Ralph, sheriff of London, to compel John Bucont to warrant to the monks of Reading 40s. worth of land which he gave them in London, or an exchange to the same value."

Manuscript source:

Brit.Mus.Harleian MS 1708 fo.113b

Printed source:

B.R. Kemp, Reading Abbey Cartularies (Camden 4th series, vols.31 and 33, 1986), no.466 and H.G. Richardson, 'The Letters and Charters of Eleanor of Aquitaine,' The English Historical Review, 291 (1959), 195 n3. Richardson speaks of 'less formal letters, which we cannot decribe either as charters or writs,' of which this one is an example, which suggests that he saw others in manuscript.