Letters of royal and illustrious ladies of Great Britain, from the commencement of the twelfth century to the close of the reign of Queen Mary, volume 1, edited by Mary Anne Everett Wood, H. Colburn, London, 1846
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075905988&view=1up&seq=36
Above: Matilda of Scotland, Queen of England, 19th century engraving by W. H. Mote after J. W. Wright.
The letter:
Summo pontifici et universali papae PASCHALI: MATHILDIS, dei gratia Anglorum regina, ita dignitatis apostolicae iura dispensare temporaliter, ut cum iustitiae manipulis in perpetuae pacis gaudiis apostolico senatui mereatur ascribi perenniter.
Sanctitatis vestrae sublimitati, o vir apostolice, gratias et laudes quantas possum refero super iis, quae paterna vestra caritas tam pio commonitorio domino meo regi mihique dignata est iam frequenter et vivis legatorum mandare vocibus et propriis destinare scriptis. Sanctissimae Romanae sedis apostolicae frequentare limina, sanctique patris mei papae apostolici complecti vestigia, qua licet et possum toto quidem corde, tota anima, tota mente: paternis advoluta genibus, importuna opportunaque petitione orans instare nec desino nec desistam, doneec exaudiri a vobis sentiam aut submissam humilitatem aut potius perseverantem meae pulsationis importunitatem.
Non autem super hac mea temeritate, qua sic loqui praesumo, vestra succenseat excellentia, non cleri populive Romani senatus miretur prudentia. Erat enim, erat, inquam, nobis Anglorumque populo, tunc quidem felicibus, sub apostolica vestra dignitate sancti spiritus alumnus, ANSELMUS archiepiscopus, noster vere praedictique populi consulator prudentissimus atque piissimus pater. Qui quod de opulentissimis domini sui thesauris, quorum illum clavigerum noveramus, abundanter sumebat, id nobis abundantius erogabat, praesertim cum idem fidelis domini minister prudensque dispensator eroganda quaeque et sapientiae salsura plurima saporaret, el eloquentiae dulcore molliret, et mirabili quodam loquendi lepore condiret. Fiebat vero sic, ut nec deforet teneris agnellis domini lactis copia plurima, nec pascuorum ovibus ubertas uberrima, nec pastoribus alimentorum satietas opulentissima.
Cum haec igitur secus cesserint omnia, reliquum aliud nihil est, nisi gemitu plurimo clamitet quaeritans alimentum pastor, pascuum pecus, ubera fetus. Ubi dum maioris absentia pastoris, praesertim ANSELMI, praedictis singulis fraudentur singula, seu vero polius omnibus omnia: in tanti luctus lugubrio, in tanti doloris opprobrio, in tantae deformitatis regni nostri tanti damni ludibrio: non restat attonitae mihi, nisi stupore sublato corfugere ad beatum PETRUM apostolum eiusque vicarium, virum apostolicum. Confugio itaque ad vestram, domine, benignitatem, ne nos Anglorumque regni populus tanto defectu, tanto lapsu labamur. "Quae" enim "utilitas in sanguine" nostro, "dum" "in corruptionem" descendimus?
Boni igitur consulat, quantum ad nos attinet, vestra paternitas, et infra terminum, de quo vestram bonitatem dominus meus rex requirit, ita paterna viscera super nos aperire dignamini, ut et de reditu carissimi patris nostri ANSELMI archiepiscopi gaudeamus, et debitam subiectionem sanctae sedi apostolicae illibatam servemus.
Ego autem saluberrimis dilectissimisque vestris edocta monitis, quantum muliebribus suppetet viribus, adhibitis etiam mihi proborum virorum auxiliis, toto posse nitar, ut quod vestra monuit sublimitas, mea quoad poterit expleat humilitas. Valeat feliciter vestra paternitas.
English translation:
To the highest pontiff and universal pope, Paschal, Matilda, by God's grace queen of the English, trusting that he will so dispense in this life the rights of the apostolic dignity, that he may deserve to be numbered among the apostolic senate in the joys of perpetual peace with the companies of the just.
I give all the thanks and praise I can to your sublime holiness, O apostolic man, for the things which your paternal charity, as though for admonition, has deigned to send to me and to my lord the king, both frequently by the words of your legates and also by your own writings. I visit the threshold of the most holy Roman apostolic seat, and as far as it is lawful and I am able, clasping your paternal knees with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole mind, praying with importune and opportune petition, I cease not, nor will I cease, to entreat, till I know that my submissive humility, or rather the preserving importunity of my application, is heard by you. Yet let not your excellency be angry, let not the prudent Roman clergy, people, or senate, be amazed at this my rashness, that thus I presume to speak. Once, once, I say, we and the English people, — then, how happy! — had, under your apostolic dignity, Anselm our archbishop, a foster-child of the Holy Ghost, the most prudent counsellor and pious father of us and the aforesaid people. From the most opulent treasures of his Lord, whereof we knew him to hold the keys, he took abundantly, and bestowed them upon us more abundantly; for this same faithful minister and prudent dispenser of the Lord seasoned those things which he bestowed with the most excellent salt of wisdom, softened them with the sweetness of eloquence, and sweetened them by the wonderful conceits of rhetoric. And so it was that neither did the tender lambs lack the abundant milk of the Lord, nor the sheep the richest fatness of the pastures, nor the pastors the most opulent satiety of aliments. But now, when all these things are otherwise, nothing remains but that the pastor wanting food, the flock pasture, the young milk, utter forth the heaviest groans. Since, by the absence of the chief pastor, Anselm, each is deprived of something, or rather all of all things. In such lugubrious mourning, in such opprobrious grief, in such deformity and loss of our kingdom, nothing remains to me, stunned as I am, but, shaking off my stupor, to fly to the blessed Apostle Peter, and his vicar the apostolic man. Therefore, my lord, I fly to your benignity, lest we and the people of the kingdom of England perish in such a defeat and lapse. What good will our life do us when we go down to corruption? Let your paternity take good counsel concerning us, and deign, within the term which my lord the king asks of your goodness, to let your paternal bowels be moved towards us, that we may both rejoice at the return of our dearest father, Archbishop Anselm, and preserve, uninjured, our subjection to the holy apostolic see. I, indeed, taught by your most sound and gracious advice, will, as far as woman's strength will suffice, and with the help of worthy men, which I shall procure, endeavour, with my whole power, that my humility may, as far as possible, fulfil what your highness advises. May your paternity enjoy eternal happiness!
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