A letter from Constance, countess of Toulouse (1165)

Translated letter:

To her dearest father and venerable lord, and also her most beloved brother Louis, by the grace of God king of the French, C[onstance] countess of St. Giles, greetings and especially love. I make known to your nobility as to him in whom alone, with the exception of God, I confess all my hope hangs, that on the day our retainer Simon left me, I left the household and entered the home of a certain knight in the town. For I did not have anything to eat or to give my servants. The count has no concern for me, nor do I receive counsel from him or anything from his land which might be necessary to me. That is why I send to you, begging your highness, that you not believe messengers who are to come to your court if they tell you I am well. My situation is as I tell it. Indeed if I dared to write it to you, I would say more about the harm to me. Fare well.

Original letter:

Carissimo patri suo et venerabili domino, necnon etiam fratri suo dilectissimo Ludovico, Dei gratia Regi Francorum, C. Comitissa S. Aegidii, salutem et praecipue dilectionem. Vestrae nobilitati notum facio, sicut ei in quo solo, Deo excepto, omnem spem meam pendere confiteor, quod in eo die in quo Simon noster famulus a me discessit, ab hospitio discessi, et domum cujusdam militis in villa intravi. Non enim habebam quid manducare vel quid meis servientibus dare possem. Comes enim de me curam non habet, neque ab eo consilium, neque aliquid de sua terra, quod mihi necessarium sit, accipio. Quare mando vobis, vestram sublimitatem exorans, ut nunciis qui vestram curiam petere debent, si vobis mihi bene esse dixerint, ne credatis. Res pro certo de me ita se habet ut vobis mando. Si vero ausa forem vobis scribere, plus mihi mali esse mandarem. Valete.

Historical context:

Constance, having left her husband and apparently in a desperate situation, asks her brother's help. According to a letter dated 1174 from pope Alexander III to Henry, archbishop of Rheims (brother of Constance and Louis), Constance left Raymond because he "joined himself illicitly to other women" and she refused to return despite the pope's urging, until he gave up his life of depravity and dissolution (cited in HGF16 p.126, fn a).

Printed source:

HGF 16 ep.389, p.126.

Date:

1165