Letter CDLVIII. of the monastery of S. Amand de Boisse
Charter of the same Bernard on behalf
1. Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, state publicly and give notice that I have conveyed the place of S. Amand de Boisse1 and whatever I have in it by the gift of the Count of Angouleme, and of the church of Angouleme, and of Peter Austensius, to the church of S. Amand to which are witnesses: Hugh, Bishop of Angouleme; Junius, Abbot of La Couronne; also Brother Philip, our Prior, and Brother Gerard and Brother Geoffrey, monks of our House. Done at Clairvaux in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1153.2
These are all the Letters of S. Bernard which have as yet come to light. It is probable, for the reasons given by Dom John Mabillon in the General Preface (Vol. 1. p. 17 — 19 of the English Edition), and considering farther that the “certain Letters which have not yet been brought to light” are represented in the fourth edition by an addition of forty-one Letters in all, which had been discovered by the research of D. Massuet and D. Martene, the list is now in all probability as nearly complete as it is ever likely to be.
An Appendix to the fourth Edition above mentioned contains some letters doubtfully ascribed to S. Bernard, and some others that are certainly spurious; some also written by Nicholas of Clairvaux, his untrustworthy secretary, in his name; and certain Letters by other persons, which have no necessary or even very close connection with the Saint. These (twenty-seven in all) it has not been thought needful to include in this Edition; but an exception has been made for the interesting letter of the Novice, Peter de Roya, which gives a contemporary description of the Abbey of Clairvaux, and for the Letter or Grant by the Bishop of Troyes, of the Abbey of Boulancourt, to S. Bernard and the community at Clairvaux. (E.)
Footnotes
Chapter 463 of 491