A letter from Gilbert Foliot, abbot of Gloucester ()

Translated letter:

To the venerable and illustrious lady empress Matilda, daughter of king Henry, brother Gilbert called the abbot of Gloucester, to please the highest king in adornment of virtues. On those things which your excellency charged me, hear my response, if it please you, with equanimity. About the religion of lord Nivard, brother of our most beloved father, lord abbot of Clairvaux [Bernard], I am certain that if he came to know what happened between us and the Cerne [brothers], not only would he have no complaint against me, but he would want to hold firm what was dictated and established by the lord pope with equity and would persuade you to hold to it. For the Cerne monks went to the lord pope for a case they had against their abbot and asked judges to be named in English and they petitioned four bishops for this. They carried the letters of the lord pope to them and were solemnly heard on the day fixed, according to the tenor of those letters, and were condemned by public judgment as lacking in all ways. Not only were they deprived of the priesthood, but they were also judged defamed in perpetuity and remanded to the custody of the cloistered regulars by writing and order of the lord pope. Those things which we have received on the authority of the lord pope we can not and ought not put aside except by that authority. Let it not trouble your serenity if we obey the apostolic mandate, to repudiate whose will we consider sacrilegious. In those things, truly, in which we can and ought to acquiesce to your commands, we are ready to do so, but in what would offend the authority of the church, our full excuse is that we are being compelled to do what we must not. May your highness be well in perpetuity.

Original letter:

Venerabili et illustri domne M(atildi) inperatrici regis Henrici filie, frater G(ilebertus) G(loecestrie) dictus abbas, in decore virtutum summo regi complacere. Super his que vestra michi mandavit excellentia meum si placet responsum equanimiter audiatis. De religione domni Nivardi, fratris dilectissimi patris nostri domni abbatis Clarevall(ensis), ita michi certus sum, quod si ea que inter nos et Cernelienses acta sunt plenius agnovisset, non solum michi querelam non movisset sed que dictante equitate et domno papa statuente gesta sunt, firma manere voluisset et vobis tenenda suasisset. Cernelienses enim monachi domnum papam adeuntes, cause, quam adversus abbatem suum intendebant, sibi iudices in Anglia statui petierunt, et ad hoc episcopos quattuor inpetraverunt. Ad hos itaque litteras domni pape afferentes, iuxta earundem litterarum tenorem, die constituta solenniter auditi sunt, et per omnia deficientes iudicio publico condempnati. Preterea non solum sacerdotio privati sunt, sed etiam infames in perpetuum iudicati et custodie claustorum regularium et scripto et precepto domni pape mancipati. Cum itaque quosdam eorum domni pape auctoritate suscepimus, ipsos nisi eadem auctoritate remittere nec possumus nec debemus. Non turbetur ergo vestra serenitas si apostolico mandato obedimus, a cuius voluntate resilire instar sacrilegii iudicamus. In his vero que possumus et debemus mandatis vestris acquiescere parati sumus, verum in quo ecclesie auctoritas offenditur, plena nobis excusatio est si quod non debemus exigimur. Valeat in perpetuum sublimitas vestra.

Historical context:

Gilbert, who was a supporter of Matilda’s claims to the throne and wrote a summary of arguments in her favor, argues in this letter for papal jurisdiction over churchmen, while acknowledging Matilda’s in other matters.

Printed source:

The Letters and Charters of Gilbert Foliot, ed. Z.N. Brooke, Dom A. Morey and C.N.L. Brooke (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), ep.63