Letters31 Letter XXXI. To huco, count of Champagne, who had become a knight of the temple. (A.D. 1125)

He congratulates Hugo on having entered into a military Order, and promises remembrance of his benefits.

If for the cause of God you have, from being Count, become a simple soldier, and from a rich man have become a poor one, I congratulate you in the first place as is right, and in you I glorify God, knowing that this is the work of the Right Hand of the Most High. But I do not, I confess, anticipate without great regret being deprived, by the secret Providence of God, of your valued presence, and never more seeing you, in whose company I would wish always to be, were it possible. What then? Can I forget your friendship of old standing, and the benefits which you have so liberally bestowed upon our House? May God borne (Fraiois ChifHet). He went three times on pilgrimage to the Holy Land—the first time in A.D. 1113. the second in A.D. 1121, and the third when he joined the Order of the Templars, which was in A.D. 1125 (Alberic, Chronicle). When about to undertake this voyage beyond the sea, if Peter Pithon is to be believed (says ChifHet), he sold his county to Theobald, son of his brother Stephen, disinherited his son Eudes, and left enceinte his second wife, whom he had married after his marriage with Constance, daughter of Philip I., King of France, had been dissolved because of consanguinity in 1104. He died beyond the sea on the I4th June.

This Hugo is another person from Hugo, Master of the Knights of the Temple, to whom Bernard directed his exhortation Ad Milites Templi.

"In Nomine Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis incipit charta Comitis Hugonis. Notum sit omnibus praesentibus et futuris, quod ego Comes Trecensis, Do Deo, et beatae Mariae et fratribus Clarae Vallis, locum ipsum qui vocatur Clara-Vallis, cum pertinentiis agris, pratis, vineis, silvis et aquis, nihil omnino mihi aut hseredibus meis retinens. Unde testes Acardus Remensis et Petrus, et Robertus Aurelianensis milites mei. Et sciendum quod Gaufridus Felonia dat pasturas suas in finagio de Juvencourt, tarn in bosco quam in piano, omni tempore: etsi aliquod damnum intulerint animalia dictorum fratrum, solum capitale restituetur sine emenda. Haec autem omnia dedi in praesentia supradictorum testium. Sciendum quoque est, quod dominus Josbertus de Firmitate, cog-nomine Rufus, et dominus Rainaudus de Perceris dederunt eisdem fratribus pasturam et usuarium per totam terrain suam, et praecipue in aquis, silvis, pratis, in finagio de Perrecin. Hujus rei testes sunt Acardus Remensis et Robertus milites mei. Item sciendum quoque est, quod ego Hugo Comes Trecensis laudo et concedo eisdem fratribus libere et quiete possidere terram et silvam de Aretela. Has donationes confirmamus ego Joscerannus Lingonensis Episcopus, et ego Hugo Comes Trecensis de sigillo et annulo meo."

As to the year of foundation, which is not specified in this deed, ChifHet, following the Chronograph of S. Marianus, of Auxerre, refers it to June A.D. 1114.

Himself, for whose love you have done this, hold you in perpetual remembrance. Nor will we be ungrateful, but will keep in mind the recollection of your great kindness, and will show it, if possible, in our actions. O, how willingly would I have provided for the needs both of your body and of your soul, if it had been granted to us to pass our lives together! But as that is not possible, it only remains to assure you that though we cannot have you present with us, we shall always pray for you in your absence.