A letter from Bernard of Clairvaux

Translated letter:

To his beloved daughter in Christ, Ida, countess of Nevers, brother Bernard called abbot of Clairvaux, greetings and prayers. The venerable abbot of Vezelay complained that you and your people prohibit merchants and others wishing to go to Vezelay.  Since count William of good memory and his son in the presence of the lord of Auxerre and us altogether rejected such as impious and evil, we admonish and ask that you not do it any longer in any way.  For we fear, if you began to do such things,  they might do great harm to you here and to your husband where he is, which we certainly do not want.  Believe us, therefore, and cease altogether from this malice.

Original letter:

Dilectae in Christo filiae Idae, Nivernensi Comitissae, frater Bernardus, Claraevallis vocatus abbas: salutem et orationes.  Conqueritur venerabilis Abbas Vizeliacensis quod vos et clientes vestri, mercatores et ceteros Vizeliacum volentes ire prohibetis. Quod, quia Guillelmus comes bonae memoriae et filius eius in praesentia domini Autessiodorensis et nostra penitus refutavit, tamquam impium et iniquum, monemus et rogamus ne id deinceps ullo modo faciatis. Timemus enim, si talia facere coeperitis, ne forte et vobis hic, et viro vestro, ubi ipse est, plurimum possint obesse, quod omnino nollemus. Credite ergo nobis, et omnino desistite a malitia hac.

Historical context:

Bernard warns the countess, who is acting as regent, not to close Vezelay to merchants or anyone else, something her husband and son had previously agreed not to do.  The struggle between the counts and the abbey (and the bishop and the town) was an ongoing one.  Vezelay was a popular stop on one of the major pilgrimage routes to Compostela.   Bernard had preached the second crusade there in 1146.  The countess was in conflict with the abbey for several decades.

Printed source:

Sancti Bernardi Opera, ed. J. LeClercq and H. Rochais (Rome: Eds. Cisterciennes, 1979), ep.375.

Date: