A letter from John XIII, pope (968, January)

Translated letter:

John, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our most beloved daughter in Christ, by merits and glowing brilliance of blood, Gerberga venerable abbess of the monastery of saints confessors Innocent and Anastasius, which is called Gandersheim and to the abbesses who preceded her, salvation and apostolic blessing in perpetuity. If we give assent to pious desires and petitions, we believe we please almighty God. Therefore we wish it to be known to all the present and future sons/children of the holy catholic church that in a synod before the body of most blessed Peter, prince of apostles, in December of the eleventh indiction, our spiritual sons beloved by God, Otto the elder and the younger, the most serene imperial/august emperors, deigned to humbly beseech our apostolic paternity before the archbishops and bishops, Italian and ultramontane, thirty-six in number, that we take under the protection and privilege of the holy apostolic see in perpetuity the foresaid monastery Gandersheim, which is under the rule of your daughtership/filiation, located in the realm of nearer Saxony, to the honor of the said confessors of Christ, Innocent and Anastasius, and that we fortify it by the protection of our authority. Rejoicing in the pious petitions of whom we have with eager mind declared, ordering by that authority with which we are supported in the place of the keeper of the keys of the heavenly kingdom, that no secular person may ever possess the aforesaid venerable monastery, nor may anyone usurp to himself from its tithes and possessions, no king, marques, count, bishop nor any prince whatsoever presiding with whatever power, unless perhaps in order to protect and defend, and this not unless with your sober permission and that of the regular abbess of that time. Be therefore to the praise of the omnipotent king the abbess of that monastery, and not cease to instigate with prudent rule/mastery the sisters subject to you to seek the joys of the heavenly fatherland. Let the sisters always have the authority or permission to substitute another mother from that congregation after the death of the abbess, according to the rule, and whom they see to be the more worthy by equal spirit and consent: let them have the power to elect. We confirm indeed and corroborate to that holy monastery all the things and possessions, mobile and immobile, which it now has and henceforth, with God willing, ought to have by whatever right of acquisition, so that now and to the end of the world it may hold and possess them by permission, with any opposition removed from all men. If anyone should attempt to act against the protection of this our apostolic privilege, and strive to pervert any of those things decreed by us, we excommunicate him with the help of the holy and individual Trinity and the intervention of the blessed Mary ever virgin and all the saints, by the authority of the most blessed Peter prince of the apostles and all the suffragan bishops of this our holy see, and we anathematize[him] from the threshholds of the holy Church of God, perpetually separating [him] from the society of all Christians. Written by the hand of Stephen, papal notary of the holy Roman Church, in the month mentioned above and eleventh indiction. Be well. Dated Kalends of January by the hand of bishop Wido of the holy Church of White Forest, and the librarian of the holy apostolic see, in the third year, with God's favor, of the pontificate of lord John, thirteenth, highest and universal pontiff, in the most holy see of blessed Peter the apostle, with the most serene emperors lords Otto the elder and the younger. In the sixth year of the elder's rule, the first of the younger's. In the month and eleventh indiction.

Original letter:

Joannes episcopus, servus servorum Dei, meritis et sanguinis claritate rutilanti, dilectissimae nobis in Christo filiae Gerbergae, venerabili abbatissae monasterii sanctorum confessorum Innocentii et Anastasii, quod Gandersheim nuncupatur, atque posteris suis in perpetuam salutem benedictionemque apostolicam. Si piis votis ac petitioni assensum praebemus, omnipotenti Deo nos placere credimus. Quapropter universis sanctae catholicae Ecclesiae filiis, presentibus et futuris, notum esse volumus quod in synodo quae apud corpus beatissimi Petri apostolorum principis acta est in mense Decembris, et indictione undecima, amabiles Deo ac spirituales filii nostri, Otto major et minor, serenisssimi imperatores Augusti, apostolicam paternitatem nostram humiliter obsecrare dignati sunt, coram archiepiscopis et episcopis, videlicet Italicis et ultramontanis, numero triginta et sex, quatenus praefatum monasterium Ganderseim, quod constat esse sub tuae filiationis regimine situm in regno citerioris Saxoniae ad honorem praedictorum confessorum Christi Innocentii et Anastasii, auctoritatis nostrae praesidio muniremus, et sub tuitione jureque sanctae sedis apostolicae perpetim susciperemus. Quorum piis congaudentes petitionibus alacri mente id fieri decrevimus, praecipientes ex ea, qua vice clavigeri coelestis regni fulcimur, auctoritate, ut praenominatum venerabile coenobium nemo unquam saecularium possideat, neque ex decimis et possessionibus ejusdem quidquam sibi aliquis usurpet, non rex, non marchio, non comes, non episcopus, nec quilibet princeps quacunque potestate praeditus, nisi forte tuendi ac defendendi causa, et hoc nonnisi tua et ejus, quae pro tempore regularis fuerit, abbatissa, sobria fiat permissione. Esto igitur ad laudem omnipotentis regis abbatissa ejusdem monasterii, et subditas tibi sorores ad coelestis patriae gaudia expetenda instigare prudenti magisterio non cesset. Sit semper eisdem sororibus facultas sive licentia ex ipsa sua congregatione post obitum abbatissae aliam sibi matrem, secundum regulam suam, substituere, et quam digniorem viderint pari animo et consensu: habeant potestatem eligere. Confirmamus vero et corroboramus ipsi sancto monasterio omnes res et possessiones mobiles et immobiles, quas nunc habet, et in antea, Deo opitulante, habere debet quolibet jure acquisitionis, ita ut amodo et usque in finem saecula [saeculorum] licenter eas teneat et possideat, omnium hominum contradictione remota. Si quis autem contra hujus nostri apostolici privilegii tutelam agere tentaverit, et ex his quae a nobis decreta sunt, aliqua pervertere molitus fuerit, hunc cum auxilio sanctae et individuae Trinitatis, et interventu beatae Mariae semper virginis, omniumque sanctorum, ex auctoritate beatissimi Petri apostolorum principis cum assensu comprovincialium pontificum, et omnium hujus nostrae sanctae sedis suffraganeorum episcoporum excommunicamus, et a liminibus sanctae Dei Ecclesiae, omniumque Christianorum societate separantes perpetualiter anathematizamus. Scriptum per manus Stephani scriniarii sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, in mense et indictione supra dicta undecima. Bene valete. Dat. Kal. Januarii per manus Widonis episcopi sanctae Sylvae Candidae Ecclesiae, et bibliothecarii sanctae sedis apostolicae, anno, Deo propitio, pontificatus domini Joannis summi pontificis et universalis tertii decimi papae in sacratissima sede beati Petri apostoli tertio, imperatoribus serenissimis dominis Ottone majore et minore. Anno imperii majoris sexto, minoris vero primo. In mense et indictione undecima.

Historical context:

This letter takes the monastery under apostolic protection, a conventional procedure which is interesting for its mention of the request made by the emperor and his son in person.

Printed source:

PL135 ep.5 c.959-60 and Pflugk-Harttung, Acta Pontificum Romanorum Inedita, Urkunden der Papste, 748-1198 1.8-9 ep.10, dated 1 January, 968.

Date:

968, January