A letter from Peter Damian (1067)
Sender
Peter DamianReceiver
Agnes of Poitiers, empressTranslated letter:
To his lady/ruler Agnes empress, Peter, sinner monk, service. I can scarcely say how my heart is confounded with grief while it awaits the happiness of your return daily with my entrails in suspense. Alas, why did I foolishly offer consent to your journey? Why did I not oppose myself violently to your going? Why did I not seize the reins of your horse and slow your course with my hands as much as I could? In your absence Rome sorrows, the church of St. Peter grieves, all Italy laments through its holy men and women. Like a gold star, you seemed to illumine the mist of those bewailing earthly matters, calling them to God, you gave the brilliance of a flashing example to those following you. And, passing over many things, yet I sigh as long as you are far away, I shudder to look at the Roman walls. Return therefore, my lady, return and restore happiness to those grieving who weep for the glowing gem of heaven plucked from the head of the world. May the court make you sick [nauseous] of imperial rule, may only the nets of the fisherman smell sweet to you. There with Petronilla may the father permit you to be buried, that he may rejoice that his daughter of flesh rests with her twin of spirit beside her.(!1) I greet my Lord bishop Lopert [of Palestrina] equally and implore that he come back swiftly.Original letter:
Dominae suae A[gneti] imperatrici, P[etrus] peccator monachus servitutem. Vix referre sufficio, quanto cor meum merore confunditur, dum reditus vestri leticiam suspensis cotidie visceribus praestolatur. Heu me, cur itineri vestro vecors ac stolidus assensum praebui? Immo cur egredienti me ipsum non violenter opposui? Cur non equorum frena corripui, et cursum vestrum vel obviis manibus, in quantum licuerat, non tardavi? In vestri plane recessus absencia meret Roma, beati Petri luget aecclesia, et tota per sanctos viros ac mulieres lamentatur Italia. Tu siquidem velut aureum sydus terrena querencium videbaris illustrare caliginem, atque ad Deum provocans micantis exempli refundebas te sequentibus claritatem. Et ut multa praeteream, ego quoque donec teprocul abesse suspiro, Romana conspicere moenia perhorresco. Revertere ergo, domma mi, revertere, teque lugentibus festivam redde leticiam, qui rutilantem celi gemmam de capite mundi Roma quodammodo ploramus avulsam. Ingerat tibi nauseam aula regalis imperii, sola tuis naribus sagena redholeat piscatoris. Illic cum Petronilla simul habere te libeat sepulturans, ut insignis ille pater geminam iuxta se, carnis videlicet ac spiritus gaudeat requiescere filiam. Dominum meum Lopertum episcopum eque saluto, et ut cito revertatur imploro.Historical context:
Agnes returned to the imperial court to speak for the reform papacy in various causes at least three times between 1066 and 1074, first for pope Alexander II, then for Gregory VII. Peter felt her absence and worried that her trips to the imperial court might seduce her back to the world. Unlike Peter Damian, the pope Gregory VII, elected in 1073, encouraged her political involvement (Bulst-Thiele, Kaiserin Agnes, 90-98). See also Gregory’s letter to Agnes, 9) below (ep.1.85).