A letter from Peter of Blois ()

Translated letter:

A rumor to provoke weeping and sorrow, newly arrived, resounds in our land, filled with bitterness and not void of the plenitude of grief, smiting our hearts with the novelty of a dire wound, bringing grief to all the faithful, making all worshippers of Christ lament; but to us it is more harmful, hurts more bitterly, that among all the dangers and anxieties of death and mourning, there where we expected the help of support, where we trusted to find a port of tranquillity from floods, whence continued and increasing benefits came to the holy land from earliest times and pleasing remedies poured out, there, o what grief, we are compelled to pour out the antidote of consolation, to expend the feeling of compassion, there we are constrained to administer the unguent of relief, the solace of healing. But how can we, who were never sufficient to stopping your distress or repulsing our dangers, be sufficient now to temper such bitter grief in your highness? We who are deficient in every way of relieving or healing our own wounds, how could we find a physician's hand or medicinal remedy for a maternal wound? Indeed we know that your spirit grieves not a little from the bitter seizing of your son, that it is wounded in the depths of your heart; not unworthily, for the order of fatality is disturbed, the mother offers tears for the son which the son reserved for the mother. She sees the youth, not yet grown, untimely submit to the judgment of death before the judgment of old age arrived. And he who was awaited by all as the successor of such dignity is now, like the flower dying before the fruit, like the fruit plucked before it was ripe, justly lamented by all who love posterity and desire the immortal increase of their kind. There is therefore great matter for sorrow on all sides, but the antidotes of consolation are not lacking, if the power of grief admits reason, if we do not follow the will of carnal sense. But when we think of the prudence and examples of ancient kings, certainly that king, famous and filled with the spirit of God, though he mourned deeply over the sickness of his son and suffered days of grief, yet when his son died he relieved not only himself but others with manifold consolation from the sea of grief: that he would go to the son, but the son would not return to him, nor would weeping bring any relief to the prophetic spirit like the perspicacity of reason to the human. Remember, illustrious lady, you gave birth to a mortal son, and you have neither attained the height of sudden mortality nor the matter for long sorrow in the loss of one son whom the Lord endowed with such progeny, enriched with such prosperity. Who knows if the Holy Spirit, with the sharp knife of human generation, cut off the cloth of life in the royal son which had not yet been fully woven at the proper time before the fascination of folly could pervert his sense or the cunning of earthly pretense deceive his soul? Thus, since his soul was pleasing to God, he became beloved and was translated from shadows to light, from prison to kingdom, from mortality to life, from exile to fatherland. But what shall we do? Shall we not suffer unworthy reproof when we present drink to the fountain, food to bread, consolation to the consoler of all? We know, illustrious lady, that the fame of the royal name is spread through the whole world by the grace of God, that though the maternal entrails are moved by natural affection over the death of such a son and the abduction of such a child, yet from the anointing of heavenly grace which the omnipotent poured onto you copiously beyond all your predecessors, so much consolation redounds in you as an example of strength/virtue and patience, that poured on others it offers them comfort and joy, it provokes them to strength/virtue and patience. Henceforth, most excellent and special lady, we cease words of consolation, which are neither sufficient nor appropriate, and tell you of the heartfelt signs of devotion which the whole people of Ancona poured out when they heard the death of your dearest son in a show of full subjection and affection. For the legate of the apostolic see enjoined special prayers for the repose of the dead on the whole world, all prelates and rectors of the church, barons of the kingdom of Jerusalem, with everyone summoned to the church of the Holy Cross and the funeral celebrated according to custom and solemn masses the next day by the legate, and great indulgences given on the part of the legate and other prelates. But he also ordered us to pray especially and amply for the life of the king, queen, and sons and brothers to be preserved for a long time. Commending the kingdom and the king with his consort and children devoutly to the woman in labor in Bethlehem [Mary], as he always does in his sermons.

Original letter:

Rumor flebilis et tristis adventus in terra nostra nuper insonuit, amaritudine plenus et plenitudine doloris non vacuus, ac diri novitate vulneris corda nostrorum saucians, cunctis quidem dolendus fidelibus, cunctisque Christicolis deplorandus; sed nobis eo ferendus molestius, eo acerbius molestandus, quo inter luctuosi pericula et anxietates funebres constituti, unde subventionis exspectavimus auxilium; unde tranquillitatis portum de tot fluctibus confidimus obtinere; unde denique terrae sanctae per incrementa temporum a primaevis temporibus beneficia continuata provenerunt, et grata remedia se effundunt, illuc, proh dolor! refundere antidotum consolationis compellimur, illuc compassionis affectum expandere cogimur; illuc denique mitigationis unguentum et curationis solatium ministrare arctamur. Sed qui ad vestris luctibus desistendum, et nostris repellendum periculis nequaquam sufficimus, quomodo ad temperamentum tam acerbi doloris vestrae celsitudinis sufficientes poterimus reperiri? Qui nostris mitigandis vulneribus vel curandis omnino defecimus, qualiter materno vulneri medicantis manum et medicinae remedium apponemus? Scimus quidem animum vestrum ex acerbo raptu filii dolentem non modicum, et intimis praecordiis sauciatum: nec immerito; quia turbato fatalitatis ordine mater pro filio lacrymas offert, quas matri filius reservabat. Juvenem necdum firme puberem prius conspicit intempestivae mortis subisse judicium, quam senectutis judicium advenisse. Et qui successor talis dignitatis exspectabatur ab omnibus, nunc sicut flos decidens ante fructum, sicut fructus decerptus, statu temporis immaturi juste lugetur et deploratur ab omnibus qui posteritatem talium diligunt, et generis sui immortalia cupiunt incrementa. Magna igitur undique dolendi materia, sed non desunt consolationis antidota, si rationem vis doloris admitteret, si non carnalis sensus sequeremur voluntatem. Sed cum prudentiam et regum exempla revolvimus antiquorum, sane rex ille inclytus et Spiritu Dei plenus, licet in morbo nati lugeret graviter, et luctuosos deduceret dies, tamen in funere nati non solum se, sed et alios consolatione multiplici a doloris pelago relevavit: dum se iturum ad filium de caetero non rediturum ad eum, nec fletus alicujus subsidio reversurum tam prophetico spiritu, quam humanae fuit rationis perspicacitate professus. Mementote, inclyta domina, vos filium genuisse mortalem, nec ullam momentaneae mortalitatis celsitudinem accepisse, nec satis diuturnam doloris habere materiam, in unius subtractione filii, quam Dominus tanta dotavit sobole, tanta denique prosperitate ditavit. Quis scit, si Spiritus sanctus idcirco humanae generationis novacula, vitae telam in nato regio, quam nondum perfecte texuerat, tempestive praeciderit, ne fascinatio nugacitatis in posterum averteret sensum ejus, et mundanae fictionis dolositas deciperet animam illius? Et ideo, quia placita erat Deo anima ejus, ideo factus dilectus de tenebris ad lucem, de carcere ad regnum, de mortalitate ad vitam, de exsilio denique ad patriam est translatus. Sed quid agamus, nunquid non indigne reprehensioni patebimus, cum potum fonti, cibum pani, consolationem consolatrici omnium praesentamus? Scimus equidem, inclyta domina, quod in totum orbem per Dei gratiam fama regalis nominis est diffusa: quod etsi ex naturali affectu materna viscera super funere tanti nati, et raptu talis liberi sint commota, tamen ex coelestis charismatis unctione, qua vos prae caeteris praedecessoribus vestris omnipotens copiose perunxit, ad exemplum virtutis et patientiae tanta in vobis consolatio redundavit, quod refusa in alios, aliis refrigerium praestitit, aliis exsultationem refudit, alios ad exemplum virtutis et patientiae provocavit. Praeterea, excellentissima et specialis domina, verbis consolatoriis, velut minus sufficientes et idonei, desistentes, magnitudini vestrae compassionis praecordia; et devotionis insignia intimamus, quibus totus populus Acconensis audita morte charissimi filii tui in plenae subjectionis et affectionis ostensionem effluxit. Nam universis praelatis et rectoribus Ecclesiarum, regnique Hierosolymitani baronibus, ac universo populo advocatis in ecclesia S. Crucis, celebratisque ex more exsequiis, ac in crastinum missarum solemniis per legatum sedis apostolicae celebratis, magnaque data indulgentia ex parte legati et aliorum praelatorum, praedictus legatus nobis sibi assistentibus pro requie mortui speciales orationes injunxit populo universo. Sed et pro vita regis, reginae, et filiorum et fratrum conservanda per tempora longiora specialius et amplius orare mandavit. Regnum et regem cum consorte, et liberis Bethlehemitanae puerperae devotius recommendans, sicut semper in suis sermonibus consuevit.

Historical context:

Peter sends Eleanor a letter of consolation for the death of her son Henry, offering King David as an example to her.

Printed source:

PL 207 ep.167 cc461-63