A letter from Paschal II, pope (1/ or 2/1105)

Translated letter:

Paschal, the bishop, servant of the servants of God: to his dearest daughter Matilda, queen of the English, greeting and apostolic blessing. We are greatly saddened about your husband because although he started well at the beginning of his reign he is now trying to spoil what follows. Now, having been placed in the fullness of power, he does not fear to provoke to fury the almighty Lord who was well-disposed to him in his need. We do not believe that you are unaware of what this husband of yours promised(1) the almighty Lord in faithful devotion when he first accepted the royal crown. Now he has taken over the churches through investitures(2) and he has expelled the holy man, Bishop Anselm, from the kingdom because he opposed his wicked deeds, and has taken on counsellors of perdition.(3) Therefore we fear greatly for his salvation since we love him dearly for his previous good deeds. Therefore, beloved daughter, we beg you to watch more carefully over his keeping and to turn his heart away from wrong counsel so that he will not continue provoking God's fury so greatly against himself. Remember what the Apostle says: "The unbelieving husband will be saved by the believing wife."(4) "Reprove, beseech, rebuke,"(5) so that he may reinstate the aforesaid bishop in his see and permit him to act and preach as his office demands, and also return the churches to his God lest God take from him what he has given.(6) Otherwise we can no longer endure it without smiting him and his counsellors, and those who unrightfully take possession of churches through him, with perpetual anathema.(7) But if he consents to obey he will obtain the help of almighty God and the Apostolic See against all his enemies, and by the freedom of those churches he will gain protection within his kingdom through the grace of God.(8)

Original letter:

PASCHALIS episcopus, servus servorum dei: carissimae filiae MATHILDI, Anglorum reginae, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Super viro tuo graviter contristamur quia, cum suae potestatis initia bene coeperit, sequentia deteriorare contendit, et omnipotentem dominum, quem in exiguitate propitium habuit, nunc in amplitudine positus, ad iracundiam provocare non metuit. Non enim ignorare te credimus, quid idem vir tuus omnipotenti domino in prima regiae coronae acceptione sub fidei devotatione promiserit. Nunc autem per investituras ecclesias occupavit, et eundem religiosum virum, ANSELMUM episcopum, quia eius nequam actibus contradicebat, regno abegit, et sibi consiliarios perditionis assumpsit. Qua in re saluti eius multum timemus, quia multum eum pro priori bona exhibitione diligimus. Te ergo, filia carissima, rogamus circa eius custodiam sollicitius vigilare et cor illius a consiliis pravis avertere, ne tantopere velit dei adversus se iracundiam provocare. Memento quod dicit apostolus: "salvabitur vir infidelis per mulierem fidelem." "Argue, obsecra, increpa," ut et praefatum episcopum in sede sua recipiat, quae sui officii sunt agere et praedicare permittens, et deo suo ecclesias derelinquat, ne deus ab ipso quae dedit auferat; alioquin ulterius pati non possumus, quin ipsum cum consiliariis suis, et eos qui per ipsum ecclesias invadunt, perpetuo anathemate feriamus. Verum enimvero, si oboedire consenserit, omnipotentis dei et apostolicae sedis auxilium contra omnes adversarios obtinebit, ecclesiarum ipsarum libertate in regni tuitionem per dei gratiam potietur.

Historical context:

Paschal has reponded to both king Henry who had sent a delegation to him and to the queen who had written (ep.323). To the king the pope wrote rather angrily that he had twice before admonished him and that matters had only gotten worse, that Henry was pitting himself against God by assuming the right of investiture which belongs only to Christ, and by replacing Anselm with “counselors of perdition.” Reminding him of Saul and Samuel, he admonishes, asks, and orders him to correct his errors, to receive Anselm back in his see and recognize the liberty of the churches, or he will have to pronounce him under anathema (ep.351). To Matilda, he writes in a different tone, though with the same message. At roughly the same time as these letters, late 1104 to early 1105, Paschal wrote to Henry that Anselm could not return because of the king’s fault (ep.348), Anselm wrote to the monks of Canterbury telling them not to surrender anything more to the king (ep.349), and Matilda of Tuscany wrote to Paschal asking him to do something for Anselm, who suffers “tribulations and miseries for the Catholic faith and the holy Roman church,” and help him to return to his ministry for the good of the church (ep.350).

Scholarly notes:

(1) For the coronation charter promising liberties, see Reg.II 488; EHD 11 400-402. (2) For royal investitures after Anselm's return from his first exile in September 1100, see Epp 280, 310; and after Christmas 1103, the beginning of Anselm's second exile, see Epp 305, 306. (3) The Pope referred to them in Epp 348, 351; he will excommunicate them, see Ep 353. (4) 1 Co 7:14. (5) 2 Tm 4:2. (6) See Ep 351. (7) For the threat of excommunication, see Epp 310, 349, 351. (8) The translation is reprinted with the permission of the translator and the publisher, Cistercian Publications Inc. Editorial Offices, Institute of Cistercian Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008. All rights are reserved; downloading and copying for any purpose other than private research is prohibited.

Printed source:

Sancti Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi, Opera Omnia, ed. F.S. Schmitt (Edinburgh: T. Nelson, 1946-63), ep.352; translation and annotation from The Letters of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, trans. Walter Fröhlich, Cistercian Studies 142, 3v (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1990-94), 3.87-88.(8)

Date:

1/ or 2/1105