Eleanor, Queen of England, widow of Henry II, to Pope Celestine III, 1193

To the reverend Father and Lord Celestine, by the Grace of God, the supreme Pontiff, Eleanor, in God's anger, Queen of England, Duchess of Normandy, Countess of Anjou, begs him to show himself to be a father to a pitiable mother. I had decided to remain quiet in case a fullness of heart and a passionate grief might elicit some word against the chief of priests which was somewhat less than cautious, and I was therefore accused of insolence and arrogance. Certainly grief is not that different from insanity while it is inflamed with its own force. It does not recognize a master, is afraid of no ally, it has no regard for anyone, and it does not spare them -not even you.

So no-one should be surprised if the modesty of my words is sharpened by the strength of my grief- I am mourning for a loss that is not private; but my personal grief cannot be comforted - it is set deep in the heart of my spirit. The arrows of the Lord are truly directed against me, and their anger will drain my spirit. Races which have been torn apart, peoples which have been shattered, provinces which have been stripped, in general the whole western Church which is worn out with deep sorrow, they are all beseeching you in a spirit which has been ground down and humiliated, you whom God established above the races and kingdoms in the fullness of His power.

Please listen to the cry of the afflicted, for our troubles have multiplied beyond number; and you cannot conceal those troubles in as much as they are a mark of criminality and disgrace, since you are the Vicar of Christ Crucified, Peter's successor, the Priest of Christ, the Lord's Anointed one, even a God over Pharaohs. Father, may your face provide a judgment, may your eyes see impartially, the prayers of the people depend on your decision and on the mercy of your sec; unless your hands seize justice more quickly, the complete tragedy of tills evil event will rebound on to you. You are the Father of orphans, the judge of widows, the comforter of those who mourn and those who grieve, a city of refuge for everyone, and because of this, in a time of so much misery you are expected to provide the sole relief for everyone from the authority of your power.

In harsh times, the sons of Israel used to ask the advice of Moses, whose duties you now carry out, and they used to fall back on the Tabernacle of the Covenant in their moments of distress; Our king is in a difficult position and he is overwhelmed by troubles from every direction. Look at the state of his kingdom, or rather its sorry state, the evil of the time, the cruelty of the tyrant who does not stop making an unjust war against the king because of his greed; that tyrant who keeps him bound in prison-chains (after the king had been caught during a Holy Crusade, under the protection of God above and under the safeguard of the Roman Church) and he kills him with fear; for he despises God and His terrible judgments, he broods over his booty but there is no-one who can escape from His strength.

If the Church of Rome keeps its hands tightly clasped and keeps quiet about the great injuries to the Lord's Anointed, may God rise up and judge over our plea, may He look upon the face of His own anointed one. Where is the passion of Eli against Achab? The passion of John against Herod? The passion of Ambrose against Valentinian? The passion of Pope Alexander III, who solemnly and terribly excommunicated Frederick, father of this current prince, with the full authority of the Apostolic See, as we have heard and seen? In addition he has no due regard for the Apostolic keys, and he reckons the law of God merely as words.

All the more reason that you ought to seize the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, much more firmly. For it was written, 'He who rejects you, rejects me'. So if you do not want to see continuing injustice done either to you or to the Roman Church, you must not pretend the disgrace done to Peter or the harm done to the Lord's Anointed does not exist.

So may the word of the Lord not have been stuck in your throat, may the mortal fear in you as a man not destroy the spirit of freedom. It is easier to suffer at the hands of men than to forsake the law of God. The enemies of Christ Crucified trust in their own strength, they glory in the multitude of their own riches - their end is ruin, their glory will be in chaos.

Anything which is taken from what is needed by the Church and the poor is devoured by the insatiable appetite of avarice. But the time is nearly upon us when the hand of God will exact a timely vengeance upon them, and what Blessed Job claims to be true about the evil robber will happen: 'He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed.' For if they escape judgment during their human life, a more terrible divine judgment is hanging over them; their present joy is more like a passing moment, for in truth their eternal punishment will be fire and worms.

For is anyone who persecutes innocent men said to have escaped the avenging hand of God, which removes the lives of princes and punishes with power the powerful? To say nothing of the punishment of Hell, we often read of how the finger of God transfers kingdoms and empires as He decides; He establishes these powers just as He wishes and so He destroys them just as He wishes.

Please, I beg you, do not let a worldly eminence deter you. Moab is proud and his pride is greater than that man's strength; but on the other hand, the name of the Lord is the greatest strength.

Indeed, among the public it casts a shadow over the Church, and excites a rumor among the people (and it considerably damages your standing), the fact that in such a crisis, amid so many tears and with so many pleas coming from provinces, you have not sent those princes even one messenger from those around you. Often your cardinals, with great authority even, execute an embassy for relatively minor reasons to pagan regions. Yet for a cause so important, so distressing and affecting everyone, you still do not send even one sub-deacon, not even one acolyte; for nowadays papal legates are sent for a profit, not for a respect of Christ, nor for the honor of the Church, nor for the peace of kingdoms nor for the safety of a people. But in freeing a king, what profit or result could be more glorious for you than to exalt the honor of the sovereign Pontiff, to exalt you as the Aaron of Priests, as a Phinees?

You would not have injured the true worth of the Apostolic See too much if you had gone to Germany in person for the release of such a great prince. For the man whom one used to pay honor to so courteously in prosperous times one ought not to desert so casually in harsh times. Why do you not weigh in the scales the advantages of justice which Henry, of good repute and the father of King Richard, displayed to you, as we saw, at the critical point of your greatest suffering; and then on the other side, he exercised the tyranny of Frederick, which was to the advantage of you, the possessions of the Roman Church and of all those who were clinging faithfully to your side? For when the forenamed Frederick, author and accomplice of the great Schism, had sworn against Pope Alexander III, who, as you know, was rightly elected, and for the apostate of Octavian, and when the Church generally was in difficulties all over the world because of the confusion resulting from the Schism, the kings of England and France were approached by legates from each side; the king of France's opinion was racked with doubt, fluctuating as to which side he was on because of the different counsels he received, but King Henry was saddened at the tunic of Christ being torn for so long and so first agreed with Pope Alexander, then used great skill in bringing the king of France over to the Apostolic side; he then fortified that side with his own plans and strengthened it with support, so bringing the ship of Peter, shipwrecked from the quarrel, safely to shore.

We saw this at the castle of Ralph, where the royal generosity satisfied even the prayers of the Romans, for they themselves were publicly proclaiming a miracle, with the overflowing gifts of gold and silver. So it is a notable degrading of the glory of the Apostolic See, that any level of ingratitude could ever efface the memory of such benevolence. Whenever the ferment of schism can bubble again, may God prevent such a thing, then the memory of your present apathy and failure will be able to bring others to tears. For that old serpent, that coiling snake, may seek to impede the release of the king with remarkable devices, but we trust in the Lord that at the right time He will look upon the face of His Anointed and will give the empire to its own king.

Without doubt our anticipation has grown quite strong with an unfailing hope and a firm faith: for the prayer for him from the Church to God never ceases, but God who listens at the, acknowledged, time» who provides help on the day of salvation, will look upon the prayers of the humble and He will not despise them; for the continual supplication of the just cause is very strong; the sun stood still in response to the prayers of Joshua and the moon was not moved opposite the valley of Achilon; since a just man's prayers obtain this, so may the sun of justice not withdraw from the heart of a sinner, and the mind of a man, though it may be inclined to failure, still it may be strengthened by the durability of its virtues. For it is not so much sin that is diminished by prayer, but the punishment of sin that is avoided by the profit of prayers.

So it is good for the king to wait in silence for the salvation of the Lord; for if he is now being cleansed in the furnace of affliction by God, who surrounds him with good and bad times in the healthiest of moderation, vexation will turn to glory and instead of double shame and disgrace on earth, he shall have double good times in heaven. Therefore blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and the Lord will be his faith. Indeed, just as now the sorrows of the people and the tears of all hang over him, so he will be freed by prayers at the right time to the joy of the whole world, since his release has been rightly desired by peoples in general. 0 Lord, in your virtue will the king be exalted and the Roman Church, which must now take too much of the blame for delaying his release, will feel ashamed, and not without tears since it did not recognize how much difficulty so great a son as mine was in.