A letter to Géza II

Translated letter:

To her lord and brother G[éza], most powerful king of the Hungarian people, that exile and pilgrim sister of his [Sophia] [sends] her most sweet affection with the service of siblinghood. So long as I am pondering the glory of the magnificence of your realm, so long as I am considering the excellence of your name, most loving brother, this good fortune of your own affairs is in a certain way like a sweet consolation from the countless miseries that I have endured up until now. For having come from out of [your realm] into foreign lands, I ate the bread of sorrow day and night, and—beyond what was proper for a royal child—shame covered my face. For I was maintained not as a queen betrothed to the son of a king, but rather, so should I say, as the basest of handmaids. Accordingly, I have experienced as an exile how wretched it is in exile, how great and of what sort is the misery of human life, [and] how lamentable the Babylonian captivity is. [Therefore,] with God inspiring [me], I have decided in my soul, valuing myself little, to despise with firm steadfastness the kingdom of the earthly Babylon for the love of the immortal husband. Moreover, lest you believe, most dear brother, that I am unwilling to come to this wedding on account of the injuries inflicted by him, you should know—for certain you should know—that he is the only one [for me], because the love of Christ has made the princes of the whole world contemptible to me. Therefore, brother, I take  refuge in you as if in a tower of fortitude and humbly seek the counsel of your piety, asking that for the hope of eternal reward you not spurn the petition of my desolate condition. I truly pray and desire with your fraternal assistance to flee, naked and despoiled, from the shipwreck of this world to the haven of a monastery and a quiet life. There is, in fact, a monastery at Admont, which is subject to the most revered archbishop of Salzburg, where I have learned that there are a multitude of religious men and women serving God. Therefore, with God willing and with your grace assisting, I desire to reside in this place, which is most renowned compared to others and is bordering upon your kingdom, in order that I may be entitled to serve amidst those conversing with God, unblamably deserving of the eternal king. You should know, moreover, most dear brother, that I did not receive such counsel through man or from man but that it was the great angel of counsel who installed these things, which I have written to you through many tears, in the ears of my heart. Because if I should accomplish this as soon as possible, having obtained my wish with him partly inspiring [me], I will pray to the Lord without intermission no less for you than for me. 

Original letter:

Domino G. fratri suo Ungarorum gentis regi potentissimo exul illa et peregrina soror eius N. dulciss(imum) cum servicio germanitatis affectum. Dum gloriam magnificentie regni tui perpendo, dum excellentiam nominis tui, frater amantissime, attendo, ipsa prosperitas rerum tuarum fit quodam modo quasi dulce levamen innumerabilium quas actenus perpessa sum miseriarum. Ex quo enim in exterras regiones deveni, die ac nocte panem doloris comedi et ultra quam regiam prolem decuit, confusio faciem meam cooperuit. Non enim ut regina regis filio desponsata, sed nec, ut ita dicam, quasi vilissima procurata sum pedissequa. Proinde, quia experta sum exul in exilio quam miserabilis sit, quanta qualisque sit humane vite miseria, quam lacrimabilis sit captivitas Babilonica, inspirante deo decrevi in animo meo contempnentem me regem terrestris Babilonie pro amore immortalis sponsi forti constantia contempnere. Ne autem arbitreris, frater karissime, ob illatas ab eo iniurias ad eius nolle pervenire nuptias, scias, pro certo scias, quod ipsum solum, sed et tocius terre principes amor Christi mihi fecit contemptibiles. Ea propter, frater, quasi ad turrem fortitudinis confugio ad te tueque pietatis consilium humiliter quero rogans, ut pro spe eterne retributionis petitionem non spernas desolate conditionis. Opto sane et desidero fraterno tui auxilio ad portum monasterii et quietis nuda saltem et despoliata ex huius mundi fugere naufragio. Est quippe monasterium Admuntesse reverentissimo Salzpurgensi archiepiscopo subditum in quo religiosorum virorum ac mulierum multitudinem deo servientium esse comperi. Hunc ergo locum pre ceteris nominatissimum tuoque regno contiguum deo volente et tui gratia subveniente cupio inhabitare, quatinus inter deo conversantes digne eterno regi irreprehensibiliter merear militare. Noveris autem, frater karissime, non per hominem neque ab homine tale me consilium accepisse sed hec que per multas tibi scripsi lacrimas, magnus ille consilii angelus cordis mei installavit auribus. Quod si ipso inspirante parte voti mei compos, quantotius effecta fuero, non minus pro te quam pro me sine intermissione supplicabo domino. 

Historical context:

From Germany, where she had been sent to be educated for her marriage to Henry, the son of king Conrad III, and where she found herself marooned and virtually destitute after the death of her father and the breaking of her engagement, the princess writes to her brother, now king of Hungary,  asking him to allow her to enter the convent of Admont as a nun rather than accept a different marriage.  

Printed source:

August von Jaksch, “Zur Lebensgeschichte Sophias, der Tochter König Belas II von Ungarn,” Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung II (1888), 374-75.  The translation by Jonathan Lyon was published in “The Letters of Princess Sophia of Hungary, a Nun at Admont,” Writing Medieval Women’s Lives, ed. Charlotte N. Goldy and Amy Livingstone (New York:  Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 61-62 and is republished here by generous permission of the author.

Date: