A letter from Gilbert Foliot (1148-63)

Translated letter:

G[ilbert] by the grace of God bishop of Hereford, to his beloved and always to be loved in the Lord, A[mice], venerable countess of Leicester, health/salvation which you have now, and what we hope for in the Lord. Having heard on all sides about that event which rumor laments about you, dearest, I was struck immediately in the heart and if there was any happiness or joy in my mind, anxious grief at hearing this awful happening swiftly extinguished it. For we heard you were lying gravely in a bed of pain, and the way of the flesh had almost completely entered you, what the death of the flesh can threaten to man almost succeeded. But the one whom the tears of the king, when death was knocking at the door, moved to be merciful so that he added three times five years(1), he struck by the tears of the saints, moved by the sobs of the many, desiring you himself in mind and spirit, directing you with all his affection to the blessed fatherland, I am happy to hear that he benignly restored you to your (people) and recalled you with great mercy to us as you were on the brink of leaving. You had already, I think, begun to smell the flowers of the heavenly kingdom, and perhaps you grieve for the tasted joys lamenting that they are deferred to you. I implore you, most beloved, bear the Lord patiently, who does not take away what he defers, who later gives back increased in glory what he had suspended in time. There is no one in paradise who can lack examples of the good for his progress. [But] where perfection is not, there is need for an example. We know that you have advanced many people by your example who, if you were gone from their midst, might run into doubt, whence they give thanks that they keep you as an exemplar of virtue so that having you before their eyes they understand how to conform themselves to virtue. Act, therefore, most beloved whom we have received restored by the great favor of God, take care lest we lose by your lack of care. You have worthy fathers around you faithfully helping you, embracing you with that same charity as for themselves. Obey their admonitions, I implore, assent to their counsels, your flesh quite weakened was emptied of its strength, in that it would not have escaped in the struggle with death except with the help of the Lord. I do not doubt that you are always zealous for virtue, whence I fear the current [Lenten] fasts. I implore you not to shudder at what I write, assent meanwhile to the salutary admonitions, supporting the weakened flesh, I beg, by eating flesh and as you restore a little, generously repay the Lord in his poor. I think the brothers you have around you agree with me in this, that until “Isti sunt dies”(2), you allow your weakened members and the life established on high to be sustained by the eating of flesh, and meanwhile you may provide for your defect by paying for the food and clothing of thirteen brothers, helping them in their need with benign charity. Farewell most beloved and delight the mind of a supplicant friend by piously hearing him.

Original letter:

G[ilbertus] Dei gratia Hereford[ensis] episcopus dilecte sibi et diligende semper in Domino A[micie] Leerc[estrie] venerabili comitisse, salutem que nunc est et quam speramus in Domino. Audito karissima eo quem de te fama circumquaque plangit eventu, confestim corde concussus sum, et menti mee si quid iocunditatis aut hilaritatis insederat, hoc ad diri casus auditum anxius repente dolor extinxit. Audimus enim te lecto doloris decubuisse graviter, et viam pene carnis ingressam in te totum, quod homini minari potest mors carnis, propemodum excepisse. Sed quem regis lacrime, dum prope mors pulsaret, ut annos sibi ter quinos adderet, ad miserendum inflexerunt(1), ipse sanctorum pulsatus lacrimis, multorum motus singultibus, te ipsum mente et spiritu desiderantem, te in beatam patriam affectione tota tendentem, tuis et letus audio benigne restituit, et velut in exitu constitutam ad nos clementissime revocavit. Flores ut estimo patrie celestis odorare iam ceperas, et pregustata fortasse gaudia tibi iam differri conquerendo deploras. Patienter obsecro dilectissima sustine Dominum, qui quod differt non aufert, quod suspendit ad tempus postmodum cumulatum reddit in gloria. Non est in paradiso qui ad profectum sui bonorum indigere possit exemplis. Ubi non est perfectio opus esse constat exemplo. Exemplo tui multos profecisse cognoscimus qui te subtracta de medio ne in incertum currant habent unde gratias agant, te virtutis exemplar retinent quod pre oculis habendo virtuti sese conformate intendant. Age ergo dilectissima et quam magno Dei munere restitutam suscepimus, curam adhibe ne per tui incuriam amittamus. Patres emeritos habes circa te tibi fideliter assistentes, te eadem qua seipsos karitate amplectentes. Horum obsecro pare monitis, adquiesce consiliis, defectu nimio caro tua viribus evacuata est, utpote que cum morte luctata nisi opem ferente Domino non evasisset. Te vero virtutem semper zelare non ambigo, unde et de his que nunc instant ieiuniis pertimesco. Obsecro ne quod scribo exorreas, salubribus interim monitis adquiescas, defectam queso carnem carnis esu sustentes, et modicum quo reficies in suis Domino pauperibus largiter reconpenses. Fratres qui circa te sunt in hoc mecum sentire estimo, quatinus usque ad "Isti sunt dies"(2), debilia membra tua vitamque velud supremis in labiis constitutam carnis sustentari patiaris edulio, et victu et vestitu tredecim interim fratribus erogato, tu tibi a defectu provideas, ipsorumque necessitati benigna caritate subvenias. Vale dilectissima et exauditu pio amici mentem supplicantis exhilara.

Historical context:

The countess has been seriously ill, but is recovering. Gilbert, now bishop of Hereford, formerly abbot of Gloucester, comforts her, telling her she has been spared to be an example of virtue, and advises her to be cautious in her Lenten observances, to spare her weakened body, and to substitute charity to poor brothers for fasting.

Scholarly notes:

(1) See IV Reg. 20:1-6. (2) The Introit for Passion Sunday.

Printed source:

The Letters and Charters of Gilbert Foliot, ed. Z.N. Brooke, Dom Adrian Morey, C.N.L. Brooke (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), ep.120, pp.159-60.

Date:

1148-63