A letter to archbishop Conrad I of Salzburg

Translated letter:

To the reverend lord and father archbishop of Salzburg, [Sophia] a poor and humble recluse  of Admont [sends] obedience and submissive service.  The blessed glory of the lord who multiplied the days of your venerable old age in the arm of his power, because in this, as I believe, he foresaw my humility which he prescribed would be comforted under the shadow of your hand, to say that I, father and lord, presume to approach the face of such majesty with letters.  I am an exile and pilgrim formerly the daughter of a king whose path, lest she be permitted to follow foreign lovers, the highest and almighty king encircled long ago with thorns and now led her with sweet inspiration into the secret places of his bedchamber.  And, because my father and my mother and all my relatives have found not a little grace in your sight,  I with that same confidence humbly beg your majesty that my smallness may obtain this from your mercy, that on the feast of St. Stephen [you] order it to be made known by letters to my brother the king of the Hungarians and the princes of the people coming together on that feast day the state of my affairs, how by permission of the king of the Romans and his son to whom I was betrothed, I might leave the iron furnace of Egypt and begin to inhabit the monastery [Admont] that is subject to your holiness, without any compulsion be given in marriage to the heavenly spouse. I ask therefore and I beg that with your paternal admonition that same brother of mine may love, approve and magnify the miracles of god done to me and may deign to honor and venerate the place [Admont] and all with whom I proposed to dwell.  And since at the same time I began to speak to my lord, I shall speak and humbly begging this that your excellence deign to admonish the said king of the Romans that in the manner in which I came to these parts according to the honor of his kingdom so he not forget the royal majesty in me and the many things I brought to him, and may restore at least a few to me.  Moreover, lord father, let your kindness not conceal that the prefect/provost of the city of Regensburg retains many things from my furnishings (household items) and distributed many for security/bail.  For these, therefore that he may respond justly to me, let your holiness not scorn to admonish him that mercy never fail you for him who wished you to be father and defender of the poor.  May divine mercy long keep you safe to the honor of holy church and our consolation.

Original letter:

Rever(endo) d(omino) et p(atri) Salzpurgensi arch(iepiscopo) N. pauper illa et exigua Admunt(essis) cenobii inclusa obed(ientiam) subiect(ionem) servicium. Benedicta gloria domini qui in brachio sue virtutis dies multiplicavit venerande vestre senectutis, quod in hoc uti credo, humilitati mee previdit quam sub umbra manus v(estre) confovendam prescivit. Ego inquam, pater et domine, prevenire litteris faciem tante presumo maiestatis. Sum exul illa et peregrina olim regis filia cui, ne sequi amatores alienos liceret, rex summus et prepotens viam spinis pridie circumsepsit et nunc dulci inspiratione in secretoria cubiculi sui introduxit. Et, quod pater meus et mater mea omnisque parentela mea non modicam in conspectu vestro invenerunt gratiam, ego tantilla eadem confidentia maiest(atem) v(estram) humiliter supplico, ut parvitas mea hoc apud misericordiam v(estram) optineat, ut in festo sancti Stephani fratri meo regi Ungarorum gentisque principibus ad eundem diem festum convenientibus statum rerum mearum litteris notum fieri iubeat, qualiter cum licentia regis Romanorum filiique eius cui desponsata eram, de ferrea Egypti fornace exierim et monasterium N. vestre sanctitati subditum absque omni coactione celesti sponsa nuptura inhabitare ceperim. Rogo ergo et obsecro, ut magnalia dei in me facta paterna v(estra) ammonitione idem frater meus diligat laudet et magnificet et locum N. omnes quibus cohabitare proposui, honorare dignetur et venerari. Et quia semel cepi ad dominum m(eum) loqui, loquar et adhuc humiliter supplicando, ut prefatum regem Romanorum v(estra) commonere dignetur excellentia, ut quemadmodum secundum regni sui honorem in has partes deveni, ita et ipse regie maiestatis in me non immemor existat et de multis que ad ipsum detuli, vel pauca saltim mihi restituat. Preterea, d(omine) pater, etiam illud almittatem v(estram) non lateat, quod prefectus urbis Ratisponensis multa de suppellectili mea retinet, multa pro vadimonio distribuit. Pro his ergo, ut iuste mihi respondeat, admonere ipsum sanctitas v(estra) non contempnat, quatinus nunquam vobis illius misericordia desit, qui patrem vos et defensorem pauperum esse voluit. Incolomem vos ad honorem sancte ecclesie et consolationem nostram divina misericordia diu tueatur. 

Historical context:

Invoking his friendship with her family and her miserable life, Sophia asks the archbishop to persuade her brother to give up ideas of a human marriage and allow her to enter the convent of Admont.

Printed source:

August von Jaksch, “Zur Lebensgeschichte Sophias, der Tochter König Belas II von Ungarn,” Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung II (1888), 375-76.

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