A letter from Ivo of Chartres (1102-1103)

Translated letter:

Ivo, humble minister of the church of Chartres, to Adela, excellent countess, greetings and service. The charity with which I have loved your nobility from the beginning in no way cools in me, but burns more and more from your former favors to me and those to come. Wherefore by asking I admonish and by admonishing I ask your excellency that you in no way believe any insinuation that I have done or said anything against you/your men and that you desist from ordering to be done what your sergeants, driven by wrath, request that you do. For when the surrounding territory is disturbed and if intestine wars also erupt, danger can suddenly threaten the people and the city. But when with God's favor you come to us then you will learn a more accurate version of events and you will take sounder counsel on the basis of what you have heard. Fare well.

Original letter:

Ivo, humilis Carnotensis Ecclesiae minister, Adele excellenti comitissae, salutem et obsequium. Charitas qua nobilitatem vestram ab initio dilexi, nullatenus in me refrigescit, sed praecedentibus et subsequentibus in me beneficiis vestris, magis ac magis inardescit. Unde excellentiam vestram rogando moneo, et monendo rogo, ut si quid sinistrum [al., sinistri] me adversum vos vel vestros fecisse vel dixisse suggestum fuerit (epist. 121), nullatenus credatis, nec quidquam quod ira dictante servientes vestri postulent, ad praesens statuatis. Cum enim terra exterius sit turbata, si etiam intestina surgerent bella, periculum repente imminere plebi posset et urbi. Cum autem Deo prosperante ad nos veneritis, tunc omnia verius addiscetis, et secundum audita, sanius consilium capietis. Valete.

Historical context:

This and ep.121 (PL 162) are part of an ongoing dispute over sworn oaths and the need for papal dispensation for them, which was connected with the larger issue of admitting low-born men into the cathedral chapter (see LoPrete, 'Adela and Ivo,' 147 and Adela, 255-58.  

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