THE APOSTOLICAL LETTER RECEIVED BY THE KING.
‘Benedict, bishop and servant to the servants of God, to his very dear son in Jesus Christ, Charles king of France, sends health and apostolical benediction.
‘Would to God, very dear son, that thou knewest the love and affection we bear to thy noble and potent person, and didst understand the purity of our mind, thou wouldest then be sensible of the great joy we feel in thy prosperity, and of our grief at any tribulations that befal thee. If of this thou hadst knowledge, thou wouldest not listen to those detractors, who by false tales endeavour to set thy heart against us, but love us, as a son should love a father, and then the disturbances in thy kingdom, raised up by thy persecutions against our holy church, would cease.
‘Thou knowest well, glorious prince, and hast also heard from public report, how constantly and diligently we have laboured to restore union to the church; and the advances we have made, in order to obtain peace, toward those who have foolishly encouraged the unfortunate schism, by claiming the right of enjoying the holy see, and more particularly toward Angelo Corrario, who calls himself Gregory, and is at present the adversary to the church. He, however, refuses to perform the promises he had made in various places to resign his pretensions, and prolongs the division in the holy church under frivolous and false pretences. It is, however, notorious, and cannot be denied, that it has not been owing to any fault in us that peace has not been given to the church, and all cause for schism annihilated.
‘Notwithstanding this, there are some, we hear, who are very busy in their endeavours to defame us to thee, and to lessen, in as much as they can, the purity of our good fame. Others, we learn, are weakening thy devotion, and that of the princes of thy blood, by unjustly blaming us, and charging us most falsely with want of diligence in re-establishing the union of the holy church.
‘In truth, such persons should be answered by stating the real facts, which would destroy their fictions and falsehoods; and we believe that they have been the cause why we have not received any thing in our treasury from thy kingdom for the space of two years, an edict having been issued from thy court, which has deprived us of our rights, and we are no longer obeyed in thy realm. We look, however, for consolation and assistance from thee; for thy predecessors, in times past, have laboured to destroy the schisms and errors in the church, and to preserve peace and union. But some in thy kingdom have lately rebelled against the holy see, by appealing from us, against the constitutions of the canon,—and they have been permitted to spread abroad divers errors, contrary to the purity of true religion.
‘In addition to what we have stated, we have been much hurt and affected by the conduct of thy ambassadors in this town, and in our presence. Our very dear sons Jean de Château-Morant and Jean de Coursen, noble men and thy ambassadors, have come to us from thee, and brought us letters sealed with thy seal, by which thou makest known to us, that if by the feast of Ascension next coming, union be not established throughout our holy church, and one pope or pastor of that church be elected, thyself, the clergy, nobles and people of thy realm, and of the duchy of Guienne, will observe a strict neutrality, and will not pay obedience to either of the popes, nor wilt thou suffer thy subjects to pay any attention to our mandates.
‘Thou mayest consider, very dear son, if we had not cause for grief at heart, on reading these harsh expressions. They are little proofs of that love a child owes a father, and have been followed by serious consequences; for when thou and the princes of thy blood make use of such expressions, others may carry their meaning to a farther extent, and may include thee in the perdition that may befal them.
‘Thy good renown has been also wounded by the sin thou hast committed in wishing to set bounds to divine mercy. The union thou thinkest to obtain is sinful, and a perseverance in schism; for our adversary and his followers, swollen up with pride, will not bend nor incline to peace, but will acquire greater obstinacy from the hopes thy conduct will have given them, that we shall be deprived of any power over thy subjects and kingdom. Thus those who were dejected and in despair will, from our oppressions, regain strength and courage.
‘Truly, most dear son, we to whom God has intrusted the care of his people, cannot longer suffer such things as may be injurious to the divine Majesty, and may cause the peril of souls, and tend to keep alive the schism in the holy church, and to invalidate my election and reputation.