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Some Letters of Peter of Blois concerning Sicily

(a)

[To G. chaplain of the King of Sicily]

For a long time a rumour has resounded, and now it has grown public, that your

lord the King of Sicily, forgetting his salvation and paternal heritage, has plotted with the

Count of Loritello for the ruin and desolation of the church of Agrigento. He proposes to

make the count‟s brother the bishop, and has violently forced him upon the unwilling

chapter. Since you yourself know this man to be a statue and a useless blockhead, I

wonder that you do not rise up against this and “pledge yourself for the house of Israel”.

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I am an unhappy man; why do I not have the resources of this count, so that I might have

some influence upon this inhuman man …

“Woe to the land whose king is a child”.

2

I lament that he [the king] presumes [to

do this] in the springtime of his dominion and soon after his royal anointing. Would that

the power of his coronation restrain him from this type of violence! Surely Scripture

shows us that after David was anointed by Saul, “the Spirit of the Lord worked in him

from that day and in the remainder of his days”. And from that day that Saul was touched

by the vial of oil from Samuel, he was changed into another man, and the spirit of the

Lord rose up in him, and when he met a group of prophets he prophesied with them.

3

…

…. In truth, neither the power of his anointing, nor the frequent exhortations of

religious men, nor fear of God, nor reverence for the Church, nor the loss of his

reputation, nor the example of paternal gentleness, has altered this man‟s obstinacy. You

have informed of the names of two men who are his courtiers [familiares] and domestic

servants. He has willingly received their friendship, even though they are ignoble both in

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mind and in descent. These people have encouraged and inflamed him in this rashness.

But "a man's enemies are the men of his own house”.

4

This most rash youth prefers the

treasonous advice of these men to that of the lord of Salerno and the Count of Avellino,

his uncles [avunculi],

5

whose trustworthiness and prudence in royal affairs have

frequently been proven, and who saved the unworthy boy from death; nor would they

agree to the kingdom being disgraced by bloodshed or the continuance of exile. But,

through the sins of the people, he has distanced himself from his friends and those close

to him, and walking upon the way of Rehoboam “he has forsaken the counsel of the old

men”.

6

Then the Lord will revenge the honour of his bride, and destroy the evildoers; “

the proud he pays back in abundance”.

7

And since this miserable youth has on the advice of sinners laid greedy hands on

the treasures of the Church, I fear that the Lord is angry with him, and what Job says will

occur: “he hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast

them out of his belly. That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it

down”.

8

It is wrong for him to stretch out a layman‟s hand to sacred property. You ought

to have pointed out to him how Uzzah was struck down by the Lord, because he had,

devotedly indeed but unworthily, placed his hand on the ark of the Lord.

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…

… Your letter says that you first discussed this with him politely and in a friendly

way. He however replied that he was not at fault, but rather it was the Count of Loritello.

When indeed you met once more, he alleged, so you claim, that you were mad – and so

you shut your mouth and left him to his own opinion. That your first try was one of

politeness, I think is prudence, for princes ought not to be infuriated by disputes but

should be gently corrected; thus the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy: “the servant of the

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Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness

instructing those that oppose the truth”.

10

But when doing this again, a second time, you

should urge him with words of exhortation, and you ought to repeat this exhortation a

third time; the number of the Trinity has perhaps made this more effective. Goliath was

laid low by the third stone. Moses overcame the magicians of Pharoah by [his] third

wonder.

11

I lament that in making excuses for his sins he [the king] should transfer the

guilt to another. God is gravely offended when someone transfers guilt to another, who is

a servant, to conceal their own wickedness, for it is written: „though hand join in hand,

the innocent shall not be punished‟.

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And Saul said of David: „let not mine hand be

upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him‟.

13

So the Jews crucified Christ

with their tongues when they said: „it is not lawful for us to put any man to death;

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and

then they gave him over to the soldiers to be killed, that the guilt should be passed on

from them to others. Nor is it surprising that he should think you insane; one should not

be surprised if a madman considers other to be mad. …

… Blessed be the Lord who has up to now preserved King Henry of the English

unscathed from such behaviour. For his hand has avoided every reward, nor in appointing

prelates of the Church has he allowed himself to be influenced by any bribe or personal

favour; hence the Lord has glorified him in the sight of kings, and has enriched him with

glory and honour according to the opinion of the great men who are in the land.

1

Ezekiel xiii.5.

2

Ecclesiastes x.16.

3

I Samuel xvi.13, I Samuel x.1, 6, 9-13.

4

Micah vii.6.

4

5

Count Richard of Avellino was a cousin of the king, but the reference to the dominus Salernitanus is

puzzling. If the intention was to refer to Archbishop Romuald II of Salerno, he was not a royal relation. It

may however refer to Count Henry of the Principate, who was indeed the king‟s maternal uncle, but this

favourable view of him contradicts that of „Falcandus‟.

6

I Kings xii.8.

7

Psalm xxxi.23 [Psalm 30.24 in the Vulgate numbering]

8

Job xx.15, 18.

9

II Samuel vi.6-7.

10

II Timothy ii.24-5

11

Exodus, chap. viii.

12

Proverbs xi.21

13

I Samuel xviii.17

14

John xviii.31

[Letter no. 10, MPL 207, cols. 27-30 . [(1171, March-December)]

(b)

Peter of Blois, to the lord Richard, by the grace of God Bishop of Syracuse,

[offering] a true greeting.

I thank you, as much as I can, for wanting me to return to Sicily, and that you are

anxious for my recall. But in truth I am not so prodigal with my life that I would wish to

exchange rest for labour, security for danger, health for sickness, my homeland for

wandering abroad, life for death, or enjoyment for anxiety. For indeed your land devours

its inhabitants, nor does it spare its people on grounds of age, nor defer to gender, nor

consider their person, nor give any favour to their condition, or make any thought for

their rank. Thirty seven souls entered Sicily with the lord Stephen, and all have been

enveloped by death except for myself and Master Roger the Norman, a man of learning,

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industry and modesty. The Lord in His mercy brought us alone from the midst of the

shadow of death in His powerful hand. Those who have once entered there are scarcely or

ever allowed to leave. I am unwilling to enter, “because those footprints frighten me, they

all lead towards you, and none lead back”.

15

Sicily is unpleasant because of its air, and it

is unpleasant through the evil of those who live there, so that it seems hateful to me, and

almost uninhabitable. Distempers of the air render it abominable to me, as does the

frequent scourge of poison through the frightful cruelty of which the naïve simplicity of

our countrymen is there constantly endangered. Who, I ask, lives there in safety, where

(apart from other trials) the mountains are always vomiting forth hellfire and throw out a

sulphurous stink? For here undoubtedly is the gate of hell, of which it is said: „From the

gate of hell, pluck, O Lord, my soul‟.

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The mountains of Trinacria are the gates of death

and hell, where men are swallowed by the earth and the living sink into hell. Your mind

has rejected the sweetness of your native English air, and all the foodstuffs of our land,

and it has come close to the gates of death. Every sort of food and drink with us is safe

and pleasant. Your people make the mistake of having a meagre diet, and they live so

much on celery and fennel, which makes up almost all of your food. However, from these

things a humour is born, which always causes a most painful death, and putrefies matter

in this death. I also add to what is read in books the help of experience, since, as it is

written that all peoples who live on islands are generally unfaithful, the inhabitants of

Sicily are treacherous friends and secret and most abandoned traitors. I would not write

this to you unless I had learned what I have told you through certain and frequent

experience. Thus while the Lord may punish other peoples who are faithful to him in a

spirit of mercy and gentleness, he scourges the people of Sicily, now as in the judgement

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on Sodom and Gomorrah, now as in the calamity of Dathan and Abiron,

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now in a spirit

of judgement and anger.

You know that Mount Etna often throws its fire a great way round about, and so for

the space of a day everything is burned and the whole face of the region is deformed. A

storm of savage flame either burns up all the inhabitants or drives them away. The

inheritance of these wretched people is given over to burning and the fruits of fire, and so

that I may express this more vividly, “fire and sulphur, and the spirit of storms is their

share of the cup”.

18

In every land and to the ends of the earth [news of] that disaster has

gone forth, that recently struck down the inhabitants of Catania in Sicily on St. Agatha‟s

eve, when that most damnable bishop, the brother of Matthew the notary, who, as you

know, took that honour upon himself, not being called by the Lord as Aaron was, and

who entered that see not by canonical election but through bribery, [was killed]. This

man, I say, offered the incense of abomination – the Lord thundered from Heaven and a

great earthquake took place. For the Angel of the Lord, striking down the bishop as

result of the Lord‟s anger, overthrew the people and the whole city. Thus it suffered

because they had given offence to the most blessed Agatha through their sins. …

… You yourself, most beloved Father, ought not to return to Sicily. England

nourishes me, who am now an elderly man, as it nourished you as a child. Father, you

should leave that mountainous and monstrous land and return to the sweetness of your

native air. Longevity and security of life, love of your native land, the law of nature, the

diet, and above and before all the love of the lord King of the English, who would

welcome you into his arms with sincere charity, ought to move you to this. Not only

should you respect the grace which is offered to you in your native land, it will [also]

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give you incomparable glory and honour. I suggest also that this will offer you burial in

your native land. Surely you wish to rest with your fathers, and that England which

produced you should receive your remains. It is proper to die in the arms of one‟s friends,

to receive the tears of those dear to you, and to be buried with one‟s forbears. [Indeed]

one reads that most of the holy patriarchs were most careful in their observance of this

matter. Fly, my father, from these mountains which vomit forth fire, do not trust the

vicinity of Etna, nor should you dwell there, so it seems in the infernal kingdom.

15

Horace, Epistles, I.1, lines 74-5

.

16

Cf.

Psalm xlix.15

17

Numbers xvi.31-3.

18

Cf.

Revelations xiv

.

10, not an exact quote, perhaps cited from memory?

[Letter no. 46, MPL 207, cols. 133-4 (c. 1170-1?)]

(c)

Peter of Blois, to his most dear brother William, Abbot of Mattina, greeting and

[wishing him] health in Trinacria.

It is unnecessary to relate how the Sicilian traitors have atrociously plotted the

expulsion of the lord Stephen, [archbishop-] elect of Palermo and royal chancellor. For

your ears resound with these and even worse matters, about which you have often heard.

However, during that disturbance and my lord‟s departure, I was labouring in ill-health.

On the instructions of the lord king, I was entrusted to the care and supervision of the

Archbishop of Salerno, who showed no little care towards me, as though I was his lord,

or his son. From this [treatment] I became strong again, and I went to the lord king,

seeking from him and the great men of the court permission to depart. However the king,

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acting through the lord Archbishop of Salerno and R[ichard], Elect of Syracuse, made

many requests of me that I remain at his court and as Keeper of the Seal; but I could be

persuaded neither by prayers nor promises, nor by presents. Indeed that land devours its

inhabitants, and fearing the evil of those who live there, I repeated that my most fervent

wish was to have permission to leave in safety. It seemed to be most perilous, both to me

and to all those who were with me, to leave Sicily on horseback by travelling through

Calabria; but the lord king gave me a Genoese ship which had been captured by Sicilian

pirates, along with its crew and goods. It was furnished with every sort of foodstuff, and

with mattresses, pillows and carpets. The Genoese took an oath to show obedience to me

and to take bodily care of me, and along with about forty followers (by a rough estimate),

in order to avoid death on land I risked death on the sea. Then, with spring being sweet

and fine and there being no wind, our ship was becalmed and for a whole month we were

unable to make headway. When we benefited from a better wind for some five days, we

were then able to make progress. I arrived at Genoa and was honourably received by the

great men of that land, and especially by those who had seen me among the Sicilians

amid the splendours of the palace. I cannot put into words very easily what service and

honour they rendered me.

[Letter no. 90, MPL 207, cols. 281-3 (c. 1169?)]

(d)

Peter of Blois, to his most dear brother William, Abbot of Mattina, greeting and

[wishing him] continuance in virtue.

I congratulate you for your magnanimity, since following the advice of my humble

self, you have rejected the insignia which the generous grace of the lord pope has

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conferred upon you, and you have freely resigned the care of the monastery of Mattina

into his hands. It is noble and generous to relinquish the dignity of such a great position,

for the acquisition of which ambition rouses many people to anxiety. It is the more

honourable in you to be contemptuous of such an honour than to have attained it; for to

have gained it is a matter of luck, to reject it requires strong-mindedness. To hunt for

honours, to amass riches, and to seek enjoyment in them is a common sin, and is the

public way of ambition; however the mark of virtue is to triumph over secular pomp, to

tread the riches of the world underfoot and to consider oneself rich only in poverty. …

… For as long as you have been in Sicily, you have been in the cauldron of the lost.

For that infernal place, which devours its inhabitants, was making your return to be

despaired of; now through the grace of God you drink in your native air, and the wines of

Blois! For if Sicily had held on to you any longer, it would have laid you out, as is

customary with its poisonous wines. You would indeed, brother, have been laying in a

stone tomb, where the inscription might perhaps have been, in a search for vainglory,

“Here lies William of Blois, Abbot of Mattina”. …

… More honour accrues to you from your works than from four abbacies. Indeed,

the appearance of gold deceived you, whence some of our people suffered the loss of the

riches of life in Sicily. Thus the lord chancellor, so they claim in Jerusalem, gave way to

fate, for since an infection of the skin [ herpes estiomenus], which is commonly called

“the wolf [lupus]”,

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took hold all over his thigh, and all the tools of the doctors were in

vain, finally he breathed his last in the holy city of God, in the arms of the king and

surrounded by a crowd of princes. I have also meanwhile heard that in revenge for the

Lord Stephen the city of Catania has been struck by an earthquake and laid low. There

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that son of pride, the brother of Matthew the notary, who fraudulently supplanted you

from the bishopric, and encouraged a treasonous conspiracy against the innocent, has

been caught and cast down, belching forth his soul which was the minister of evil and the

handmaiden of Satan. We are, brother, in sweet France, which alone, according to

Jerome, does not have monsters. “It is good for us to be here”.

20

Men are living in Sicily

who foster treason and poison to official adulation, and who caress the ears of the great

with the wind of vainglory, and make them itch with poisonous flattery.

19

Probably tuberculosis of the skin. I am grateful to Dr. Ann Christys for her expert advice.

20

Matthew xvii.4

.

[Letter no. 93, MPL 207 cols. 291-3 (c. 1170)]

(e)

Master Peter of Blois, Archdeacon of Bath, to his dearest lord and friend H. by the

grace of God Abbot of St. Denis, greeting and the fruits of the new season.

I send to you a new work, but [one that is] imperfect and uncorrected. May it be

pleasing to you when you have read it to return it for the polishing of its creator, so that,

if it shall be acceptable to your dignity, it may then be returned to you [once again] along

with others of my little works, from which it will be found more elegant in style, more

pleasing in matter, sweeter, more abundant, and fruitful. I ask, however, that, if it be

possible, you send to me the tract which you have written about the state of Sicily, or

rather about your experience there; so that one cauldron may draw from another,

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[and]

one cherubim be mindful of another, and that among old friends an exchange of writings

shall take place without hindrance. I have learned of your difficulties, I have heard of the

crosses [you bear] and of the theft of your property. I have heard the thunder of royal

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threat, and I was present in person when he roused your servants against you in riot. You

are placed in the furnace of the Lord, but enduring patience will prove your magnanimity,

which has frequently shown itself in such tight spots. He has promised peace to you in

return for large sums of money, and the kiss of a wolf-like reconciliation; he who has

obstinately closed his ears to the prayers of the supreme pontiff and the request of the

bishops and abbots of your province, to the cries of the holy virgins and the tears of the

monks. This corrupt agreement is foul, and thanks to this bribery unwelcome to [both]

God and man. May He who bears away the spirit of princes and treads down the necks of

the proud with His own strength provide you with a more honourable peace. …

21

Or „curtain shall draw curtain‟, if Gweneth E. Hood is right that this passage is intended to recall Exodus

xxv.18-19, xxvi.1-13. Nonetheless, the parallels are not exact, and the usual translation of cortina is

„cauldron‟ [Studi medievali III.xl (1999), 8].

[Letter no. 116, MPL 207, cols. 345-6 (1186-97?, if this is addressed to Hugues

Foucaud.]

(f)

Peter of Blois, Archdeacon of Bath, to his nephew, E. prior of a little monastery

[probably St. Laumer at Moustiers, in the Perche]

… For I recall that you once censured and criticised God because he had raised

nobody from our group to a seat of higher rank. Whatever you should now desire, God

will humble and imprison all our ability, mine and yours, in his service. You can indeed

ascertain through the testimony of the pope who is now in office, or various of his

cardinals who have in my time been entrusted with a legation, even my brother and the

Abbot of St. Denis and from others of the great men (magnates) who are in the land, that

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when I was the keeper of the seal (Sigillarius) in Sicily, and the teacher of King William

II, who was then a boy, and, after the queen and the [archbishop]-elect of Palermo, the

affairs of the kingdom hung to a considerable extent upon my decision, certain persons

who were jealous of me plotted to exclude me from the counsels of the king [a

familiaritate regis]. They arranged that the church of Naples should elect me as

archbishop, and through the more important members of the chapter it should seek my

appointment by common decree and unanimous vote. But although summoned I did not

go; I did not consent even though I was many times asked and invited. The bishopric of

Rochester was also twice granted to me. I refused what was offered. Thinking that this

honour would be a burden, I have confined the forces of ambition to the sober limits of

mediocrity. My dearest nephew, would that your modesty was known to all men! “The

Lord is at hand”

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He is at hand so that your day will come. And as Solomon witnesses:

„it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.

23

…

22

Philippians iv.5.

23

recte St. Paul,

Hebrews x.31

.

[Letter no. 131, MPL 207, col. 390 [before 1201] Peter also refers to this offer of the

archbishopric of Naples in an earlier letter, no. 72, MPL 207, col. 224]