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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow 91.: Letter of Bernard of Clairvaux to Lothar II, 1134. - A Source Book for Mediaeval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age

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91.: Letter of Bernard of Clairvaux to Lothar II, 1134. - Oliver J. Thatcher, A Source Book for Mediaeval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age [1905]

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A Source Book for Mediaeval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age, ed. Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar Holmes McNeal (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905).

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91.

Letter of Bernard of Clairvaux to Lothar II, 1134.

In 1130 there was a disputed papal election. Innocent II, on being driven from Rome by his rival, Anaclete II, went to France, where he enlisted Bernard of Clairvaux in his favor. Through the efforts of Bernard the kings of France and Germany were persuaded to support him. Lothar led an army into Italy, established Innocent in Rome, and received the imperial crown. He failed, however, to conquer Roger, who had been made king of Sicily by the antipope, Anaclete II (see no. 88). Bernard wrote this letter to congratulate Lothar on his success in Italy, to urge him to renew the war on Roger because he was still supporting the antipope, and to rebuke Lothar for opposing some decision of the pope in regard to a trouble that had arisen in the church at Toul.

To Lothar, by the grace of God emperor of the Romans, Augustus, Bernard, called abbot of Clairvaux, sends his blessing, if the prayer of a sinner is of any avail.

Blessed be God, who has chosen you and exalted you for a horn of salvation unto us, to the glory of his name, the restoration of the empire, the preservation of his church in this evil time, and the working of his salvation in the midst of the earth. For it is by his will that you are daily growing in strength, in honor, and in glory. And when you recently undertook the hazardous expedition to Rome to secure the peace of the empire and the liberty of the church, it was by his aid that you were able to carry it through successfully, obtaining the crown of the empire without the aid of a large army. But if the earth trembled and was silent before that little band, think what great terror will strike the hearts of the enemy when the king shall proceed against him in the greatness of his power. Moreover, the justice of your cause, nay, more, a double necessity, will inspire you. It is not my duty to incite princes to war; but it is the duty of the defender of the church to ward off all danger of schism; it is the duty of the emperor to recover his crown from the Sicilian usurper. Just as that Jew [that is, Anaclete II] rebelled against Christ when he seized the papal chair, so anyone who would make himself king in Sicily rebels against Cæsar.

But if we are commanded to render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s and unto God the things which are God’s, why is it that you have permitted the church of God in Toul to be robbed, especially as Cæsar profits not thereby? . . . For it is said that you have interfered with the pope in his efforts to bring the oppressors of that church to justice. I beseech you to act more circumspectly and to recall your intercession and let justice take its course, before that church be destroyed to its foundations. I am a poor person, but a faithful subject, and if I seem importunate it is because of my fidelity. Greet my lady the empress for me in the love of Christ.