A letter from pope Alexander III

Translated letter:

Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son the noble man William, count of Nevers, and to Ida, his mother, greeting and apostolic blessing.  As much as the monastery of Vezelay is known to pertain especially to the authority of St. Peter and our disposition, so much the more frequent attention do we give to its growth and well-being, and the more sollicitious we remain to its peace and preservation of its goods.  Thus it is that being in every way zealous about the peace and benefit of that monastery, we send our beloved son subdeacon Peter to your nobility, asking your highness through apostolic writings, admonishing and exhorting [you] in the Lord, that you attend in every way to the peace and benefit of said church and the preservation and defense of its possessions, out of reverence for St. Peter and us, that you take care to hear and also obey our said subdeacon in this, and that you altogether restrain your neighboring nobles and powerful barons from harming and injuring said monastery.  May you so acquiesce to our prayers and admonitions in this way that we may more effectively obey your prayers and petitions and indulge them to useful effect and aspire more fervently to your honor in all time.  Dated at Sens, 7th ides of September.

Original letter:

Alexander episcopus, servus servorum Dei, dilecto filio, nobili viro Guillelmo Comiti Nivernensi, et Idae matri ejus, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem.  Quanto monasterium Vizeliacense ad jus B. Petri et dispositionem nostram noscitur specialius pertinere, tanto ejus incrementis et commodis studio frequentiori intendimus, et ad pacem ipsius et bonorum conservationem magi solliciti permanemus.  Inde quidem est quod de pace et utilitate ejusdem monasterii studiosi omnimodis existentes, dilectum filium nostrum subdiaconum Petrum ad nobilitatem vestram transmittimus, magnitudinem vestram per apostolica scripta rogantes, monentes et exhortantes in Domino, quatinus ad pacem et utilitatem praescriptate ecclesiae, et rerum suarum conservationem et defensionem, pro reverentia B. Petri ac nostra, modis omnibus intendatis, iamdictum subdiaconem nostrum in hoc audire et etiam exaudire curetis, et circum adjacentes nobiles et potentes barones vestros a praescripti monasterii molestiis et injuriis penitus compescatis; ita quoque nostris in hac parte precibus et admonitionibus acquiescatis, ut nos preces ac petitiones vestras debeamus efficacius exaudire, et eis effectum utilem indulgere, et ad honorem vestrum omni tempore ferventius aspirare.  Datum Senonis, VII idus septembris.

Historical context:

In a letter to the king of France (HGF 15.834-35, #170), pope Alexander  tells him how the count and his mother attacked the monastery of Vezelay, paying no heed to reverence for or fear of God and St. Mary Magdalene whose body lies there, [how they] had their servants take away horses (riding or baggage), oxen (or cows), donkeys and sheep from the monastery and the people serving it outside; the count, he says, threatened the abbot so he did not dare leave, compelled travellers to cross through a town of his, and seized burghers coming from the fairs.  Since the monastery is under the protection of the church and of royal authority, the pope asks the king to admonish the count and his mother immediately, to coerce them if necessary with royal power, to restore everything to the abbot and the brothers without delay and to make satisfaction for the injuries and harm they had suffered and to stop molesting them.  June, 1165.  Presumably the count, like the countess before him, attempted to impose tolls on traffic to and from the monastery and reacted angrily to the monastery’s objections.

Printed source:

HGF 15.824.

Date: