Letters137 Letter CXXXVII. To the Empress of the Romans (A.D. 1134)
Letter CXXXVII. To the Empress of the Romans (A.D. 1134)
As Pope Innocent did not wish to restore the Milanese to his favour until they had made submission to the Emperor Lothaire, Bernard commends them to the clemency of the Empress.
In bringing over the citizens of Milan- I did not forget the instructions given me beforehand by your excellency.
Even if I had not received them I should none the less have aimed to secure your honour and the welfare of your kingdom, as I do always and everywhere as far as I can. As a matter of fact, the Milanese were not received into favour with thy lord the Pope, nor into the unity of the LETTER CXXXVIII.
Church until they had publicly abjured Conrad, and acknowledged my lord Lothaire as their king and lord, and received him, as the whole of the world does, as the august Emperor of the Romans: nor until they had taken an oath on the Holy Gospel, by the direction and command of my lord the Pope, that they would give you fitting satisfaction for the injury that they had done you. I give, therefore, hearty thanks to the divine goodness which has thus laid your enemies at your feet without the horrors of war, or the shedding of man's blood; and I ask that, when the Milanese seek through the Pope as their mediator for your favour, we may find you as kindly disposed and merciful as we have often before experienced you to be; and so they will not repent of having listened to sound advice, and you will receive at their hands the service and honour that are your due. For it is not seemly that your faithful servants who labour for your honour should be put to shame by you, as they certainly will be if, after they have held out to others the hope of indulgence at the hands of your gracious majesty, they find you inexorable when they intervene on their own behalf.
In reconciliatione Mediolanensium non obliti sumus unde a vestra excellentia praemoniti fueramus. Quod etsi non monuissetis, nihilominus honori vestro et regni utilitatibus intenderemus, sicut ubique et semper fideliter, quantum possumus, facimus. Non ante sane Mediolanenses in gratiam domini papae et Ecclesiae unitatem recepti sunt, quousque palam Conrado refutato et abnegato, dominum nostrum Lotharium in suum regem et dominum receperunt, et Romanorum imperatorem Augustum una cum toto orbe confessi sunt: et de injuria transacta, juxta consilium et mandatum domini papae, digne vobis sese satisfacturos esse tacto sacrosancto Evangelio spoponderunt. Unde magnas agentes gratias divinae bonitati, quae absque bellorum periculis, absque humani sanguinis effusione, inimicos vestros sic humiliavit; rogamus vestram satis nobis expertam clementiam, ut tempore suo, cum requisierint praedicti Mediolanenses, per dominum papam, utique mediatorem suae reconciliationis, gratiam vestram, benignos vos atque placabiles inveniamus: quatenus nec eos poeniteat sanis paruisse consiliis, et vos de eis debitum habeatis servitium et honorem. Non enim decet ut fideles vestri, qui pro honore vestro laborant, apud vos confundantur. Confundentur autem, si qui de benignitate vestra spem indulgentiae promiserunt, cum pro ipsis intervenerint, invenerint vos, quod absit! inexorabiles.