Letter CCCLXXI. To the Same

(Circa A.n. 1147.)

Bernard opposes the marriage projected between the son of the Count of Anjou and the daughter of the King of France, on account of the impediment of consanguinity.¹

To the lord Abbot of S. Denys, Brother BERNARD, of Clairvaux, health and the assurance of his prayers.

I have written thus to the lord King :— " You have undertaken an enterprise important and weighty, which no one is able to carry through except by the assistance of Divine strength. The business " in which you are engaged is above the powers of man, but that is easy to God which to men is impossible (S. Luke xviii. 27).

" Knowing this you ought to take the greatest care not in any way to repulse the help so necessary to you, nor by any project of yours to offend God and to deprive yourself of the furtherance of His grace. You ought, 'I repeat, now to take the greatest care never to provoke God so that He should be angry with you, should turn away His face, and withdraw His assistance from you. For this danger affects J O not the King alone, but the whole Church of God, since the cause which you have undertaken is also that of the whole world. Listen, and you will learn the cause which induces me to remind you of these facts. I am hastening indeed to your presence, as this letter shows, but I have formed the project of keeping the vigil of S. Mary Magdalene at Laon. Nevertheless, I have taken care to forewarn you by another letter of the danger which I am anxious that you should avoid. For I have heard that the Count of Anjou is pressing you to engage under oath your daughter to his² son in marriage. Now this union is not only inexpedient, but it is not lawful; as well for other reasons as because of the impediment of consanguinity; since I know upon trustworthy information that the mother of the Queen, and of that young man, the son of the Count of Anjou, are related in the third degree. On this account permit me to urge you by no means to enter into this engagement, but to fear God and depart from evil. You have promised me that you would on no account do this without consulting me: and I should have done wrong if I had hidden from you my view. My advice then is by no means to go on with the affair. If you do, you will have acted both against my advice and that of many others who are your well-wishers; and also against the will of God. Do not think that after that God will accept your sacrifice, since it is made only in part: so that while you are combating on behalf of another kingdom, you do not leave your own in safety, while you order it against the will and the law of God, as also against what is honourable and advisable. I have now freed my own soul of responsibility: may God free yours also from lying lips and the deceitful tongue."

Footnotes

1. Formerly No. 363; the former No. 371 is now No. 323. ↩

2. That is, the Crusade; wherefore this Letter was, no doubt, addressed to Louis the Younger, who wished to marry his eldest daughter, Mary, to the son of Fulk, Count of Anjou, who was also setting out to the East. But this marriage did not take place, and Mary espoused instead Henry, Count of Champagne. VOL. ii. 59 ↩