Letter CCLXXV. To Pope Eugenius, about the Election of a Bishop at Auxerre

(A.D. 1151.)

He makes the Pope aware of the bad faith which had been shown in this election.

When I first wrote to you about the church at Auxerre I had heard of the first election, but not of the second. And lo! just as if I were a prophet, the scandal which I suspected has followed, and the fear which I feared has come. Recollect what took place at Nevers,¹ and see if it is not in like manner, by a very similar artifice, by double-dealing, and, as they say, with the very same person as promoter, that a second election has now been ventured on: when, after one candidate was nominated, both were rejected, and finally a third, whom they wished to elect, craftily brought forward. They sent to me to ask me to write to you on their behalf, and I thought it good to send a brother from my side, to learn something more certain about both actions, and to acquaint me with the facts. When he had entered the church, and made diligent inquiries about everything, he found on the testimony of all who had come together that there were on that side none of the presbyters except one, viz., Hugh, the brother of Brother Geoffrey,'² and none of the deacons except Stephen only; I must except, of course, those officials of the church who had been the chief agents in the matter, the precentor, the archdeacon, and, as it seemed, the treasurer, for he was not himself present at the time. Further, he found that there were on the other side, be sides others of the lower order, nine deacons and eleven presbyters. The twelfth, who is also arch-priest, declared that he had not subscribed, and would not subscribe, for either side, although he was in favour of the first. The above-named Hugh held the seal of the church,³ a man not of peace, but of discord, and one who in giving his account paid more attention to his own wishes than to the truth. So the matter stands. And with my usual presumption 1 say one thing: wickedness ought not to be allowed to boast itself, it is unseemly for wisdom to be deceived, inexpedient for a church to have its functions longer suspended.