Letters127 Letter CXXVII. To William, count of Poitou and Duke of aqui- taine, in the name of Hugh, Duke of Burgundy. (Circa A.D. 1132)

William was of the party of the Antipope Anacletus; Bernard urges him to abandon it, and to range himself on the side of Innocent.

To WILLIAM, by the grace of God, the illustrious Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine, HUGH, by the same grace, Duke of Burgundy, sends greeting, bidding him fear Him who is terrible, and who takes away the spirit of princes.

1. I can no longer hold my peace about your mistaken line of action, though you are my near kinsman and dear friend. If any of the people perishes he perishes alone; but the error of a prince involves many, and ruins as many souls as he rules over. Nor are we raised on high, as vou know, to destroy our subjects, but to govern them. He by whom kings reign, has put us over our subjects to protect them, not to overthrow them; we are the Church's keepers, not her masters. But since you are known to have discharged that function laudably, and in a way befitting the greatness of your power, on other occasions, I can but wonder by what craft you have been induced to desert your mother and mistress in the time of her dire need, unless, indeed, those counsellors of yours have succeeded in persuading you that the whole Church has been led to recognize Peter Leonis. They are lying men whom, with Antichrist their head, the Truth shall destroy with the breath of His mouth. By the mouth of David He tells us that His Church is spread abroad to all the ends of the earth, and to all the nations of the Gentiles.

2. They have, it is true, the Duke of Apulia on their side;

but they have no other supporter of any power, and him they secured by the ridiculous bribe of a usurper's crown. I ask you, what goodness, or virtue, or honour do they bring forward on the part of their Pope that we should favour him? If what is commonly said of him be true, he is not fit to have the government of a single hamlet; if it is not true, it none the less is fitting that the head of the Church should be of good repute as well as of blameless life. Therefore, it is safer for you, my dear kinsman, when you acknowledge any one as universal Pope, not to depart from the common mind and agreement of the universal Church, and to receive him that the whole monastic order and all the kings have acknowledged; it is also more to your honour and more expedient to your salvation to receive Innocent as Pope. He appeals to his blameless life, his unblemished character, and his canonical election. His enemies have not a word to say against the two first of these; the third was indeed found fault with, but the unprincipled men who did so have been lately caught in their falsehood by the most Christian Emperor Lothaire.