A letter from Nicholas I, pope (862, Nov.24)

Translated letter:

Nicholas bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Ermentrud queen. The universe of faithful people from various parts of the world, of whatever rank or age, if they are perchance held back by any bonds of crime or fear of their elders, have recourse to this holy Roman church mother of all lands, that they might obtain a salutary remedy, and from her they beg with humble prayer to receive salvation not only of the soul but also of the body, as is evident to all. To the many of whom, strengthened and supported divinely by the authority and documents of the holy fathers, she administers comfort with maternal love and in compassion rarely refuses to offer the paps of consolation to be sucked. And since this Baldwin, who seized your dearest daughter against the sanctions of divine laws, recognized that he was among them [guilty people], presented himself plaintively at the threshhold of the holy apostles with tearful and sad prayers and so that he might receive apostolic help for such a crime, nonetheless weeping sought to come into the presence of our apostolacy. When we learned of his lamentable petition, full of such crime, what the Lord said through the prophet came to mind: “I wanted mercy not sacrifice” {Hosea 6:6] We were merciful and had these letters of apostolic sollicitude made for your beloved industry in Christ and sent our messengers, Radoald and John, our beloved most reverend and holy bishops, to your splendor for him, through whom we beg most strenuously that said Baldwin, as he desires to obtain from your magnificence through the intercessions of the apostles, he may be able to take grace for the love of God and resume the consolation with the announcements of our papacy from his affection, so that he who does not doubt that he departed from the norm of equity through his unhappy fault might know the healing of the apostles and might obtain with your help pardoning force from your lord. May the right hand of supernal majesty protect you and deign to guard you always from all adversities and stains.

Original letter:

Nicholaus Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei Hirmintrudae Reginae. Fidelium universitas gentium ex variis mundi partibus, cuiuscumque sint ordinis vel aetatis, si qua forte criminis nexa vel seniorum suorum formidine detinentur, ad hanc sanctam omnium terrarum matrem Romanam ecclesiam, ut salutare percipiant remedium, recurrunt et ab ea non solum animae, sed et corporis salvationem, ut omnibus patet, humili prece suscipere precantur. Quibus multis divinitus fulta auctoritatibus et sanctorum patrum roborata documentis materno amore solamina sumministrat et sugenda ubera consolationis compatiendo inferre minime recusat. Et quia hic Balduinus, qui carissimam filiam vestram contra divinarum legum sancciones rapuit, de his se esse recognovit, liminibus sanctorum apostolorum lacrimosis mestisque precibus lugubriter se obtulit et, ut pro tanto crimine apostolicam opem acciperet, nostro apostolatui nihilominus flendo se praesentari quaesivit. Cuius cum lamentabilem et tanto scelere plenam cognovissemus petitionem, ad mentem rediit, quod per prophetam Dominus dicit: “Misericordiam volui et non sacrificium.” Miserti fuimus et hos vestrae in Christo dilectae industriae apostolicae sollicitudinis apices fieri statuimus missosque etiam Radoaldum et Iohannem reverentissimos et sanctissimos episcopos, diliciosos nostros, pro eo vestrae claritati direximus, per quos obnixius deprecamur, ut praefatus Balduinus, quam apud vestram per apostolorum intercessiones desiderat magnificentiam obtinere, pro Dei amore gratiam percipere valeat et de sui affectione nostri praesulatus oraculis consolationem resumat, quatenus ut, qui se per infelicem culpam a norma aequitatis declinare non ambigit, medelam apostolorum agnoscat et apud seniorem vestrum venialem vobis iuvantibus vigorem obtineat. Dextera vos supernae protegat maiestatis et ab omnibus semper adversitatibus maculisque cutodire dignetur.

Historical context:

This letter and ep.7 from the pope to her husband deal with the public and personal matter of their daughter’s third marriage. Judith, who had been married first to AEthelwulf, king of Wessex, then to his son AEthelbald, both times childless and widowed, eloped with Baldwin of Flanders. When her father Charles accused Baldwin of abduction and demanded the return of his daughter, the pope interceded with both parents and the marriage stood.(1) To Charles, Nicholas wrote in political as well as personal religious terms: he reminds Charles that Baldwin is his vassal, that he has sought the aid of Peter and Paul rather than of earthly kings, that is, he has not shifted his allegiance and wants to remain loyal, that though he married Judith without Charles’s consent, she was willing and loves him over others. Nicholas was afraid that Baldwin might go over to the Normans, enemies of the church and of Charles and constitute a threat to God’s people whom Charles should be protecting, and thereby to Charles’s soul. To Ermentrude, Nicholas uses a maternal image of the church and appeals to her own maternal instinct and her compassion for repentant sinners.

Scholarly notes:

(1)For the legal issue, see Jo-Ann McNamara and Suzanne F. Wemple, “Marriage and Divorce in the Frankish Kingdom,” Women in Medieval Society, ed. Susan M. Stuard (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1976).

Printed source:

MGH, Ep.Kar.Aevi 4, ep.8, p.274-75; HGF 7.388-89, PL 119, ep.23

Date:

862, Nov.24