A letter from Ingeborg of Denmark, queen of France (1196)
Sender
Ingeborg of Denmark, queen of FranceReceiver
Celestine III, popeTranslated letter:
The anxiety of unexpected sorrow compels me to set forth a sorrowful exordium to you, to narrate my troubles mournfully to your apostolate in the grief of my heart. For three years have already passed since the king of France married me then of marriageable age and, as the natural order requires, rendered the marital debt to me. But afterwards, by diabolic instigation and the persuasion of certain malicious princes, he seduced the daughter of duke S[B], introduced her extraneously and retains her as his wife;(1) he ordered me to be imprisoned in a castle where I live so proscribed/outlawed that I do not dare, nor can I raise my eyes to heaven. He alleges moreover no relationship, no cause of any excess for which I ought to be separated from him; but he makes a decree of his will, law of his stubbornness, and madness of his desire. I sorrow and can not help but grieve for I eat bread with sorrow and am compelled to mix my drink assiduously with tears [cf.Ps.101:10], and not for myself alone but also for the king who, [in contempt] of the orthodox faith, gives an example of wickedness to christians and to all in his kingdom. Alas the sorrow! he does not fear to scorn the letters of your holiness, he refuses to hear the orders of the cardinals, archbishops and bishops, and spurns the admonitions of any religious. I however am completely ignorant of what I may say or do, since I am surrounded by incalculable anguish. And unless your mercy deigns to take mercy on me, I shall succumb to death in a very short time.Original letter:
Inopinati doloris anxietas me compellit exordium vobis proponere dolorosum, in gemitu cordis vestro apostolatui mea gravamina flebiliter enarrare. Jam enim triennium est elapsum quod rex Franciae me in aetate nubili desponsavit et mihi, prout naturalis ordo requirit, debitum reddidit maritale. Postmodum vero instigatione diabolica et quorumdam malitiosorum principum persuasione seductus filiam ducis S. superinduxit et retinet pro uxore; me vero in quodam castello incarcerari praecepit, ubi sic proscripta dego quod ad coelum levare oculos non audeo neque possum. Nullam allegat praeterea parentelam nullamve causam alicujus excessus pro quo ab illo debeam separari; sed facit de voluntate decretum, de pertinacia legem et de voluptate furorem. Doleo quidem, et non tristari non possum, qui panem comedo cum dolore et potum cum lacrymis assidue permiscere compellor (Psal. CI), et non pro me tantum, sed etiam pro rege, qui . . . . . . orthodoxae fidei, Christianis et universis de regno suo exemplum tribuit malignandi. Proh dolor! spernere vestrae sanctitatis litteras non formidat, audire cardinalium jussa recusat, archiepiscoporum et praesulum dicta contemnit, et admonitiones religiosorum quorumlibet aspernatur. Ego autem quid dicam et quid faciam ex toto ignoro, quoniam innumerabilibus angustiis circumvenior. Unde nisi vestra misericordia mihi misereri dignetur, morti succumbam in proximo temporali.Historical context:
After Ingeborg’s earlier letter, the pope reproached the French prelates for granting the divorce and rescinded it, telling them to forbid the king to remarry, but the king intimidated the prelates and married Agnes of Meran. Ingeburg’s brother asked the pope to put France under interdict, and Philip removed the queen from the abbey and imprisoned her in a fortress three days journey from Paris.Scholarly notes:
(1) Agnes was in fact the daughter of Duke Bertold of Andechs-Meranien, see Conklin “Ingeborg of Denmark,” Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe, ed. Anne J. Duggan, 43. Conklin also points out that “superinduxit,” a word which was used of a mistress or concubine, echoes Suger’s description of Bertrada, the wife in what was considered a bigamous relation of Philip I, this king’s greatgrandfather.