Gregory, etc., to Wratislav, etc. We give thanks to omnipotent God that you have been led by your devotion and reverence for the apostles Peter and Paul, princes of the apostles, to receive our legates with kindness and treat them with the graciousness which is becoming to your majesty. Receive the assurance of our good-will in return for this evidence of your fidelity. It has not been usual for papal legates to visit your land; this, however, is partly the fault of your forefathers, as well as of our predecessors, for the dukes of Bohemia should have requested the pope to send them legates. But some of your subjects have regarded our sending of legates as an innovation, and have treated them with contempt, forgetting the word of God: "He that receiveth you receiveth me" [Matt. 10:40]; "and he that despiseth you despiseth me" [Luke 10:16]. So in failing to show due reverence to our legates, they have not so much despised them, as they have despised the word of truth....
71. Letter of Gregory VII to Sancho, King of Aragon, 1074.
Migne, 148 col. 339.
See introductory note to [no. 68].
Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Sancho, king of Aragon, greeting and apostolic benediction.
We received your gracious letter with great joy, because of the evidence which it contained of your fidelity to the princes of the apostles, Peter and Paul, and to the holy Roman church. But indeed even if we had not received your letter we should have been well aware of your fidelity through the report of our legates. By enforcing the observances of the Roman form of service in the churches of your kingdom you have shown that you are a true son of the Roman church and that you bear the same friendship to us that former kings of Spain have borne to the Roman pope. Be firm and constant in the faith and complete the good work which you have begun; then the blessed St. Peter, whom our Lord Jesus Christ has made ruler over the kingdoms of this world, will bring to pass the desires of your heart and will make you victorious over your enemies, because of the trust which you have placed in him....
72. Letter of Gregory VII to Solomon, King of Hungary, 1074.
Migne, 148, col. 373.
See introductory note to [no. 68].
Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Solomon, king of Hungary, greeting and apostolic benediction.