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Letter CCCLXI. To Archbishop Theobald,-* on Behalf of John of Salisbury

(Circa A.D. 1144.)

Bernard, confiding in the friendship of Theobald, re commends John to him.1

Nothing does me more honour or makes me more grateful to you than to see that my friends find favour in23 your eyes for my sake. Ye4 I seek not glory from man, but the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Thus it is that I send to your Highness the bearer of this letter, John,5 who is my friend and the friend of my friends, and I venture to ask for him the goodness and kindness which I feel assured you have for me, since I have always experienced it from you. For he has the testimony of all good men that he is very meritorious as well for his virtue as his know ledge. Nor have I learned this from those who use words rashly, but from my own sons, wrhose witness is for me as certain as if I had seen it with my own eyes. I had already recommended him to you in person, but now being absent from you, I recommend him so much the more earnestly and confidently, because I have learned from trustworthy witnesses how blameless are the life and character of the man. If, then, I have any interest with you, or rather because I believe that I have much, make for him some provision upon which he may sufficiently and honourably live, and deign to do this without delay, because he knows not whither to turn. In the meantime be so kind as to provide for his needs, and let me thus experience, my very dear father, the affection which you retain in your heart for me.

Footnotes

  1. This was William of Sainte-Barbe, who from being Dean of York became Bishop of Durham (see Letter 2.35). ↩

  2. Formerly No. 383; the former No. 361 is now No. 379. ↩

  3. Theobald became Archbishop of Canterbury after having been a monk at Bec. Mention is made of him in Letter 238. ↩

  4. Otherwise To the Chancellor Roland. But the Cistercian MS. has To Robert Pnllen, and I think more correctly: for, in the first place, Robert united with S. Bernard in long and intimate friendship (Letter 205, to the Bishop of Rochester). Then he was a man remarkable for his learning, and this suits no one so well as Robert, who taught at Paris, and also with much success at Oxford. He is said to have been sent before as Chancellor, before the Pontificate of Eugt-nius, and to his help. All these particulars suit him much better than Roland, who was not made Chancellor until the eighth year of Eugenius (see notes to Letter 205). The doubt arises from the name being written only as R. VOL. II. 58 ↩

  5. He was originally from Salisbury, and was an intimate friend of S. Thomas (Becket), Archbishop of Canterbury, to whom he attributed his obtaining the Bishopric of Chartres, as is shown by the commencement of most of his letters: " John, by the grace of God and the merits of the blessed martyr, Thomas, the humble minister of the Church of Chartres " (Spicileg. V. x. p. 39 if where the word " merits " is omitted). ↩

Chapter 361 of 491