Letter CCCXVI. To Henry, Archbishop of Sens, and Haimeric, the Chancellor

(Circa A.D. 1135.)'

He begs them not to oppose a certain nobleman in possession of Church property who proposed to restore this to certain religious.

It is a good work for a layman to be willing to give up abbeys or ecclesiastical benefices which he possesses contrary to the canons, but when he is willing to transfer them for the use of servants of God the good is doubled. But as these resignations cannot be carried out except by the consent of the Bishop of the Diocese, it follows that a Bishop would commit a double evil by refusing this assent or a double good by giving it. What a certain knight asks of you in this matter, this you ought to have asked of him. For you, surely, cannot believe that a sanctuary of God is better as the family possession of a man of war than in that of the saints of God. If such be your view, it will be strange if all who hear do not wonder at you. Avoid this, I pray you, lest the sons of the uncircumcised should hear and rejoice. Suppose that you are able to take the captive Abbey from the hands of the powerful, and to re-establish it in its rights, which I do not at all suppose. What heir and successor, I ask, would you prefer to choose? A soldier who would do service for it in the armies of the King, or a monk who would intercede for their sins? Do, therefore, what is just, what is worthy of you, what is agreeable to God, and to all good men; what, finally, if there were no other reason, I should confidently demand of you for the sake of your affection for me.¹