69. Letter Of Gregory VII To
The Princes Wishing To Reconquer Spain, 1073.
Migne, 148, cols. 289 f.
excerpted
in MEDIEVAL HISTORY SELECTED DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY
OF EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGE , ed. O. J. Thatcher and E. H.
MacNeal (N.Y.: Charles Scribner & sons, 1906)
Gregory, pope elect, to all the princes desiring to
go into Spain,
perpetual greeting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We
suppose you know that the kingdom
of Spain belonged of old
to St. Peter, and that this right has never been lost, although the land has
long been occupied by pagans. Therefore the ownership of this land inheres in
the apostolic see alone, for whatever has come into the possession of the
churches by the will of God, while it may be alienated from their use, may not
by any lapse of time be separated from their ownership except by lawful grant.
Count Evolus of Roceio, whose fame you must know, wishes to attack that land
and rescue it from the heathen. Therefore we have granted him the possession of
such territory as he may win from the pagans by his own efforts or with the aid
of allies, on conditions agreed upon by us as the representative of St. Peter.
You who join him in this undertaking should do so to the honor of St. Peter,
that St. Peter may protect you from danger and reward your fidelity to him. But
if any of you plan to attack that land independently with your own forces, you
should do so in a spirit of devotion and with righteous motives. Beware lest
after you have conquered the land you wrong St. Peter in the same way as the
infidels do who now hold it. Unless you are prepared to recognize the rights of
St. Peter by making an equitable agreement with us, we will forbid you by our
apostolic authority to go thither, that your holy and universal mother, the
church, may not suffer from her sons the same injuries which she now suffers
from her enemies, to the loss not only of her property, but also of the
devotion of her children. To this end we have sent to Spain our beloved son,
Hugo,
cardinal priest of the holy Roman church, and he will inform you more fully of
our terms and conditions.