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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 9, 42. Copy of the Letter Sent by the Holy Radegund to the Bishops

The abbess also read out the letter which the blessed Radegund addressed to the bishops of her own time. Of this letter she now again sent copies to the bishops of the neighbouring cities. It ran as follows:

Copy of the Letter.

‘To the holy fathers in Christ and most worthy occupants of their apostolic seats, the bishops, Radegund of Poitiers.

‘The first steps of a meet project can only move strongly to fulfilment when the matter is brought to the ears of our common fathers, the physicians and the shepherds of the fold, and commended likewise to their hearts. For the active sympathy proceeding from their love, the sage counsel proceeding from their power, the support proceeding from their prayers all unite to give it furtherance.

‘Since in time past, delivered from the chains of secular life by the providence and inspiration of the divine mercy, I turned of my own will to the Rule of religion under Christ’s guidance, and with ardent mind also considered how I might help forward others, that with the approval of the Lord my desires might become profitable to the rest, I established at Poitiers a monastery for nuns, founded and enriched by the most excellent lord King Lothar; this monastery after its foundation I myself endowed by the gift of all the property which the royal munificence had bestowed upon me. Moreover, I appointed for this community gathered together under Christ’s protection the Rule according to which the holy Caesaria lived, and which the care of the blessed Caesarius, bishop of Arles, had compiled to suit her needs from the institutions of the holy Fathers.¹ With the approval of the most blessed bishops of Poitiers and the other sees, and by the choice of our own community, I appointed as abbess the lady Agnes, my sister, whom I have loved and brought up from her earliest youth; and I submitted myself in regular obedience to her authority next to that of God. And following the apostolic example, I myself and my sisters, when we entered the monastery, made over by deed all our substance in earthly possessions, reserving nothing for ourselves, from fear of that which befell Ananias and Sapphira. But since the moments and times of man’s lot are uncertain, and the world runneth to its end, and there be those who rather seek the fulfilment of their own than the divine will, I remit to you, apostolic fathers, in my lifetime, and with all due devotion, this page containing my prayer to you, in the name of Christ.

‘And since I cannot in person throw myself at your feet, I make prostration vicariously through this letter, and by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by the tremendous Day of Judgement, I adjure you, as if ye stood before me, to protect us from any tyrant, and secure to us the favour of our rightful king. And if haply after my death any one, whether the bishop of the city, or a royal officer, or any other person shall, as I trust shall never befall, either by suggestion of wicked men or by action of law, seek to trouble the sisterhood, or to break the Rule, or appoint any other abbess than my sister Agnes, whom the most blessed Germanus in the presence of his brethren consecrated with his benediction; or if the community itself, which I may not think possible, shall murmur and seek change; or if any person, were it even the bishop of the city, shall seek to claim, by new privileges over and above those enjoyed by his predecessors or any other persons in my lifetime, either power in the monastery or over its property; or if any shall essay against the Rule to go forth thence; or if any prince or bishop or other powerful person, or any of the sisters, shall with sacrilegious intent diminish or appropriate the property which the most excellent lord Lothar or the most excellent kings his sons bestowed upon me, and I, by his injunction and permission, transferred to the monastery to have and hold, of which transmission I obtained confirmation by letters of the most excellent lords the kings Charibert, Guntram, Chilperic, and Sigibert under their oath and signature, or the gifts which others have given for the good of their souls or the sisters have bestowed out of their own possessions; may they through my prayer and the will of Christ in such wise be confronted with God’s wrath, and that of yourselves and your successors, that as robbers and despoilers of the poor they may be shut out from your grace. Resist in such wise that none may ever avail to diminish or to change in anything either our Rule or the possessions of the monastery. This also I pray, that when it shall be the will of God that the aforesaid lady Agnes, my sister, shall pass away, an abbess shall be appointed out of our congregation, who shall find favour in God’s sight, who shall safely guard the Rule, and in nothing diminish the intent of holy living; let neither her own will nor that of another person be suffered to ruin them. If any, which God forbid, contrary to the command of the Lord and the authority of our kings, shall do aught against the conditions heretofore cited and commended to your protection by prayer before the Lord and His saints, or against the welfare of the monastery, either as regards its occupants or its possessions, or shall in any way vex my above-named sister Agnes, the abbess, may he incur the judgement of God and of the Holy Cross and of the blessed Mary, and may he have as his enemies and pursuers the blessed confessors Hilary and Martin, to whom, after God, I have entrusted the protection of my sisters.

‘Thou also, holy bishop, and thy successors, whom I haste to take as my patrons in the cause of God, if there should be found any (which God forbid) to make attempts against these my dispositions, shrink not from appeal to the king who then shall rule over this place, or to the city of Poitiers, on behalf of that which hath been commended to your guardianship before the Lord, or from toil in shielding and defending justice against the unjust attack of others, that the enemy of God may be confounded and driven back. So shall no Catholic king in his own times brook such infamy, or suffer to be destroyed that which hath been founded firm by God’s will and mine intent, and the will of the kings themselves. Likewise also I conjure the princes that live after me, whom God shall ordain to rule the people when I am no more, in the name of the King whose reign shall have no end and by whose nod kingdoms consist, who hath given them their very life and their dominion: them I conjure to take under their ward the abbess Agnes and this monastery which, with permission and assistance of the lords and kings their father and grandfather, I have built and duly ordered and endowed. Let them not suffer it, that this our abbess, so many times herein named, be by any man harassed or molested, or aught pertaining to our monastery be hereafter minished, or in any wise changed; but rather see that all these be defended and secured, which cause I commend to them, for the sake of God, our lords the bishops working with them, and in accordance with my prayer to the Redeemer of all peoples; that they may be for ever united in the eternal kingdom with the defender of the poor and the spouse of virgins, in whose honour they protect the handmaids of God. And I conjure you, holy bishops, and our most excellent lords and kings, and the whole Christian people, by the Catholic faith in which ye are baptized, when God shall ordain that I pass from the light of this world, let my poor body be buried in that basilica, be it at the time completed or unfinished, which I have begun to build in honour of the holy Mary, the mother of the Lord, and wherein many of our sisters are already laid to rest. May it be that if any shall desire or attempt aught contrary, by virtue of the Cross of Christ and of the blessed Mary, he may incur divine vengeance, and that I, by your mediation, be held worthy to obtain a resting-place in that church among the congregation of my sisters. And I beseech with many tears that this my petition, signed by my own hand, be preserved among the archives of the cathedral church; and that if the action of the wicked shall compel my sister the abbess Agnes, or her community, to entreat your succour and protection, having the pious solace of your pity and the present aid which belongeth to good shepherds, they shall not proclaim themselves forsaken of me, when God hath prepared for them the protection of your grace.

‘This request I lay before your eyes, omitting nothing, through the grace of Him who from His glorious Cross did commend His virgin mother to the blessed apostle John; that as by him the Lord’s commendation was fulfilled, so by you may be fulfilled that which I in my unworthiness and humility commend to you my lords, the fathers of the Church, who now bear the apostolic name. And when ye shall have kept this trust which I leave you as beseemeth your high estate, ye shall be partakers in His merits whose apostolic charge ye fulfil, and worthily renew His example.’

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