A letter from Alexander IV (01/23/1258)

Translated letter:

To the illustrious queen of the Franks. With how much very sincere affection we love and especially intend to honor your person in God, so much the more willingly we give benign audience to your requests and open the door of our hearing liberally, particularly since they savor of justice and contain equity. For not only did your magnificent works deserve this, but also those of your progenitors, for which they shone among the rest, whose memory can not be erased while they have left the grace of their merits in their [line]. Because of which we, contemplating the faithful constancy of your parents, by which they pleased their mother, the Roman church, at every opportunity, and the promptness of your service not unworthily derived from those parents, grant you with the authority of the presents that no prejudice to your right, which belongs to you from the paternal succession in the county of Provence, can be generated by letters of the apostolic see of any kind, either obtained up to now or to be obtained in the future. Let no one ... etc. Dated Viterbo, 10th kalends of February, in the fourth year [of our papacy].

Original letter:

Illustri regine Francorum. Quanto personam tuam in Domino sinceriori affectione diligimus et specialius proponimus honorare, tanto libentius petitionibus tuis benignum impertimur auditum et liberalius exauditionis ianuam aperimus, maxime que iustitiam sapiunt et continent equitatem. Meruerunt hoc enim non solum tua verum etiam progenitorum tuorum magnifica opera, quibus inter ceteros claruerunt, quorum memoria deleri non potest, dum nobis meritorum suorum gratiam reliquerunt in suis. Propter quod nos, tuorum parentum fidelem constantiam, qua Romane ecclesie matri sue in omnibus eius oportunitatibus placuere, tuam quoque obsequendi promptitudinem ab eisdem traductam parentibus non immerito recolentes, tibi auctoritate presentium indulgemus, ut per litteras sedis apostolice cuiuscumque tenoris obtentas hactenus vel imposterum obtinendas nullum iuri tuo, quod tibi ex successione paterna in comitatu Provincie competit, valeat preiudicium generari. Nulli -- nostre concessionis etc. Dat. Viterbii, X Kalendas Februarii, anno quarto.

Historical context:

With praise for the great deeds of her family, the pope assures the queen that no papal documents about the succession in Provence do or will be prejudicial to her rights there. Although Marguerite's father left the county of Provence to his youngest daughter, Beatrice, the other sisters were left a share of the land, which they were never able to possess although Marguerite and Eleanor pressed their claims all their lives.

Printed source:

MGH, Epistolae Selectae ex Alexandri IV Registro, 1258, ep.474, p.440-41

Date:

01/23/1258