A letter from Rotrud of Rouen, archibishop ()

Translated letter:

To the queen of the Angles from the archbishop of Rouens and his suffragans [diocesan bishops] greetings and seeking for peace. It is publicly known and no Christian may ignore it, that the conjugal bond is firm and indissoluble. Truth, which can not lie, decreed that matrimony once begun can not be separated: whom God, it said, joined, let no man put separate. Just as he made him a transgressor of the divine mandate who separates a married couple, so a married person is guilty who separates herself from her husband and does not observe the faith of the social bond. Since married people are made one flesh, it is necessary that unity of spirits be joined to union of bodies. That woman who is not subject to her husband voids the condition of nature, the mandate of the apostle, and the law of the gospel. For man (1) is the head of woman; woman is taken from man, united to man, subject to the power of man. We all deplore with common and lamentable complaint that, though you are a most prudent woman, you turn away from your husband, side recedes from side, the member does not serve the head. And what is far worse, you suffer the flesh of your lord king and yourself to rise against their father, as the prophet might say: "I have nourished and exalted my sons and they have spurned me." Would that, as another prophet calls to mind, our last hour ended our days and the earth covered our face before we saw such evils! For we know that unless you return to your husband, you will be the cause of general ruin and what you now abandon singly will be turned to common expense. Return, therefore, illustrious queen, to your husband and our lord, so that by your reconciliation rest may be restored to those who labor and by your return, happiness may return to all. If our prayers do not move you to this, may the affliction of peoples, the threatened oppression of the church, the desolation of the kingdom stir you. For unless truth lies, "every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate." Truly this desolation can not fall on the lord king but on his sons and their successors. You provoke the displeasure of the lord king towards female hand and puerile counsel, a king to whom even the strongest kings bend their necks. Before the situation gets worse, return with your sons to your husband, whom you are bound to obey and live with; turn yourself around and let him not be anxious about you or your sons. We are certain that he will show you every kind of love and the fullest firmness of security. Admonish your sons, I beg you, to be subject and devoted to their father, who has suffered such anguish, so many crimes and travails from them. Let casual carelessness not squander and disperse what was acquired with such sweat. We say these things to you, most pious queen with the zeal of God and the affection of sincere love. For you are our parishioner, like your husband. We can not fail justice. Either you will return to your husband or we will be constrained by canon law and bound to exercize ecclesiastical censure against you, which indeed we say reluctantly and which, unless you return to your senses, we will do with sorrow and tears. Fare well.

Original letter:

Reginae Anglorum, Rothomagensis archiepiscopis, et suffraganei sui, salutem, et quae ad pacem sunt quaerere. In publicam notitiam venit, nee alicui Christiano licitum est ignorare, quam firma et indissolubilis sit copula conjugalis. Matrimonia semel inita separari non posse sanxit Veritas, quae mentiri non potest: "Quod Deus," inquit, "conjunxit, homo non separet." Sicut autem divini mandati se transgressorem constituit, qui separat conjugatos, ita culpabitis conjugata est, quae se a viro suo separat, fidemque socialis vinculi non observat. Cum una caro conjuges efficiantur, necesse est ut unionem corporum comitetur spirituum unitas et paritas in consensu. Naturae conditionem, apostoli mandatum, et Evangelii legem mulier illa evacuat, quae viro non est subdita. "Caput" enim "mulieris vir" est, de viro sumpta est, viro est unita, viri subdita potestati. Omnes itaque communi et lamentabili quaerimonia deploramus, quod, cum sis mulier prudentissima, divertis a viro, recedit latus a latere, membrum capiti non deservit, imo, quod enormius est, viscera domini regis, et tua pateris insurgere contra patrem, ut merito cum propheta dicat: "Filios enutrivi et exaltavi; ipsi autem spreverunt me." Utinam, sicut alius propheta commemorat, praevenisset hora novissima dies nostros, et operuisset terra faciem nostram, ne videremus haec mala! Scimus quia, nisi revertaris ad virum tuum, eris generalis ruinae occasio; et quod singulariter nunc delinquis, in commune dispendium convertetur. Revertere itaque, regina illustris, ad virum tuum et dominum nostrum; ut in tua reconciliatione reformetur laborantibus quies, et in tuo reditu laetitia redeat universis. Si te ad hoc non promovent preces nostrae, te saltem afflictio populorum, imminens presura Ecclesiae et desolatio regni sollicitet. Aut enim mentitur Veritas, aut "omne regnum in se divisum desolabitur." Sane haec desolatio in dominum converti non potest, sed in filios ejus et succesores ipsorum; contra Manum femineam, et consilium puerile provocatis offensam domini regis, cui etiam fortissimi reges colla subjiciunt. Eapropter, antequam res in deteriorem exitum vergat, redeas cum filiis ad maritum, cui parere et cohabitare teneris; te converte, nec tibi aut tuis filiis sit suspectus. Certissimi enim sumus quod omnimodam exhibebit vobis dilectionem et securitatis plenissimam firmitatem. Mone, quaeso, filios tuos, ut patri suo subditi et devoti existant, pro quibus tot passus est angustias, tot discrimina, tot labores. Unde, ne inconsulta facilitas dilapidet ac disperdat quod tantis est sudoribus acquisitum, haec tibi piissima regina, et zelo Dei dicimus et sincerae charitatis affectu; parochiana enim nostra es, sicut et vir tuus. Non possumus deesse justitiae. Vel redibis ad virum tuum, vel jure canonico, constringemur et tenebimur in te censuram ecelesiasticam exercere. Quod quidem inviti dicimus, et quod, nisi resipueris, cum dolore et lacrymis faciemus. Valete.

Historical context:

Spurred by her part in her sons' rebellion against their father, the archbishop writes about Eleanor's failures as a wife and mother, set within the public context of her role as queen and religious teachings on marriage. He admonishes her on both counts to return to her husband.

Scholarly notes:

(1) The word for man, vir, is also the word for husband, but I have chosen to use "man," since it would be awkward to suggest that Eve was taken from the side of her "husband."

Printed source:

PL207 ep.154 cc448-49 and HGF16 p629-30, same text, except pro/permovent and valete/vale at the end.