Interrogatio I

They [the Lotharingian bishops] say in their first chapter [p.114]:
The wife [Teutberga] of the lord king Lothar was first of all accused [?] of fornication, that her brother had committed a dreadful deed with her in masculine intercourse between her thighs, as ‘men are accustomed to commit sin with men’, and that she had thereof conceived. And that, in order that the disgrace might be hidden, she had drunk a potion and had aborted the progeny. She denied this. For the sake of proof, and in the absence of witnesses, it was decided by the judgment of the lay nobles, by the counsel of the bishops, and by the agreement of the king, that a champion of this women should go to the ordeal of boiling water. After he was found to be uncooked, that woman was restored to the marital bed and to the ordained royal union, from which she had been suspended. Then, after a length of time, the pamphlet which we sent to you [the Booklet of Eight Chapters, see below]was written by some bishops, though we do not know whether about the same act or concerning something done after the beginning of the marital union. And it was widely suggested that because of the secret confession which the booklet mentioned, all you remaining bishops should take the floor, and should definitively remove her from marital union, and, if you should demand more, that she should be compelled to give you a booklet complete with her own signature. This way, just as Ebbo, the former bishop of Reims, was removed both from his seat and his [episcopal] order thanks to a booklet of secret confession, so she, through a booklet of secret confession, should be removed from marital union.

Concerning the venerable archbishop of Reims [Hincmar], we were told that he consented to this procedure, and that through bishops, that is Wenilo archbishop of Rouen and Bishop Hildegar, he passed on his verbal agreement. And that through Adventius [bishop of Metz], who had spoken to him at Reims about this, he had sent letters of his agreement to the royal meeting and to the bishops’ meeting, and that he had sent through this same Adventius letters to the apostolic seat [Rome]. Now, we demand that you tell us, in all Truthfulness, which is God, how much of all this should be authoritatively accepted as truth.

Now, the text of the Booklet of Eight Chapters runs like this [p.115]:
Chapter 1. We bishops, who were recently convened to the Palace of Aachen, have arranged to bring to the attention of our brothers and co-bishops what we learned and what we discovered there, so that they, physically hearing and spiritually understanding[?], might discern and work out in unanimous counsel what conclusion and what end they might put to this matter.
Chapter 2. The glorious king Lothar had an informal and secret meeting with us. There, he humbly and in devoted purety set forth his own particular and specific needs, and sought advice and a remdey. We, admiring his good will, were led and bent to compassion by his tears and sighs, by God’s will. To the king as he entreated, begged and pounded [the floor], we gave counsel and medicinal remedy.
Chapter 3. As we listened, not without grief and sadness, the king began to tell us about his wife in a melancholy tone of voice. He wanted to keep her, but she with constant and insistent requests was demanding that, freed from marital chains, as unworthy by her own account of the marital bed, she should take the veil and be worthy to serve Christ the Lord.
Chapter 4. Meanwhile a messenger of this queen summoned us, asking that we would not delay to go to her. As we went, she hurried to meet us. She almost threw herself at our feet, and begged us in hese words: “For the sake of God and of your ministry, I beg you, give me counsel.”
Chapter 5.We replied to her, as we stood, “So that”, we said, “God might give us counsel, which we could pass healthily and truthfully onto you, tell us, in a stratight and true confession of your conscience: what is it that you seek advice about with such agitation [?]. For unless we know the truth, we cannot give you that which you seek. But we warn you first, and by God’s authority and our own we carefully command: you must not confess any misdeed falsely ascribed to you, whether on account of the enticements of anyone’s persuasion is deception, or by fear of any punishment or death, since this would lead us into error: may it not be so! Rather, as we said above, reveal to us the truth of the matter, neither more nor less. And we, with God’s help, will struggle to give you advice and assistance, so that you will not be cheated of your justice in any respect.
Chapter 6. “May God and my conscience be my witnesses”, she said, “and with my confessor also as a witness, I will stray neither to the right nor left in what I say and confess about myseulf, saying nothing except what is truthful. I admit,” she said, “and I know this about myself, that I am not worthy to remain in conjugal union. And I present to you this bishop Gunter [of Cologne], to whom I confessed. He knows that I am not worthy.” And she turned to this bishop, and pleading, said “I ask, bishop, that you make your co-brothers to understand, as best you can, what it is about, just as I myself bore witness [to you].” The bishop replied to her “It would be better”, he said, that you yourself should open up to my co-brothers what still remains hidden, so that they might hear what they should judge upon from your own lips”. But she said “What need is there that I should say anything other than what you know? For God’s sake, tell them my necessity, so that you together my lord [husband] might give my permission to do what I want to. Since ‘even for the whole world’, I am unwilling to lose my soul. And so I ask you, for the sake of God and the ministry which you took on, do not deny to me that which I demand, for the salvation of my soul”
Chapter 7. Then we bishops asked in concern whether, if her request was granted, she would make some protestation or prepare a trap. To this she said unconstrainedly ‘Through the faith which I nourish, I promise to you in the presence of God that I shall never in eternity make a protestation, either directly or through any cunning.”
Chapter 8. What we learned from our co-brother [Gunther], grieving, anguished , lamenting, and regretting that he had ever been aware of this confession, this we will tell our brothers and co-bishops face to face, according to the licence given us. So that, as we said in the beginning, they might understand the gist of this hitherto hidden matter, and then everyone, with one mind and one agreement, might dispel error and raise up Truth. [P.116]

Preface II

[p 108] For about Christ the apostle Peter testifies that there is no other name given to men under heaven, in which we must be saved. And just as all, whom the ark did not contain, perished in the flood, thus no-one can be saved who does not remain in the unity of holy church with right faith and good works.
But also shown by this spiritual reason, it is not a little case that is brought forward (?) about so great a dignity of a very eminent name, and such people, so that the kings of the earth and all the people, princes and all the judges of the land, young men and maidens, old men and young ought to apply their mind to this case. And truth of judgement and priestly concord and care about royal gentleness and patience and love ought to be applied towards its honour. Whence it is written: the honour of the king loves judgement and justice strengthens his throne and again justice and judgement are the preparation of your seat. And although there are other virtues, without which one cannot reach the eternal kingdom, yet a tyrant can be made without these three, which we have proposed, but no-one can profitably obtain and earthly throne. That is without gentleness, since the gentle will inherit the earth; without patience, since patience is better than a strong man and he who dominates his mind than a capturer of cities and in patience you will possess your souls; without true love, about which is said, You who love the Lord hate evil, since he who loves iniquity hates his soul. And again in the Psalms it is written: Aim, proceed fortunately and rule because of truth and gentleness and justice, since he will keep truth following gentleness with justice, so that neither will he abandon zeal of righteousness in weight of gentleness nor on the other hand will weight of gentleness disturb zeal of righteousness. Since as Wisdom says, the king who sits in the throne of judgement dispels all evil from his view, and again, the king who judges the poor in truth, his throne will be strengthened forever.
However from (?) priestly concord and the part of discrimination (?) it is said to the Lord: Your mercy is before my eyes and I delight in your truth. I have not sat with the council of vanity and I will not enter with those bearing iniquitous things. I have hated the church of the malignant and I will not sit with the impious. I will wash my hands among the innocent and I will place them around your altar, O Lord, so that I may hear the voice of your praise and recount all your marvels. But, at St Gregory says: I see others, who obtain the secret offices of accusing through the position of mastership (?), because they admitted they saw (?) something illicit, and yet since they fear to offend the favour of whatever power they do not presume to accuse. Whoever that person is, what else is he doing except seeing a wolf coming and fleeing? He flees, because he is silent; he is silent since, with eternal grace despised, he loved temporal glory more and he absconded before the face of the powerful man into the hiding places of his silence, and just like the public prosecutions (?), thus secretly he gave a place to fear. It is well said about such: They love the glory of men more than God. Therefore such a person is whoever, if these things are judged strictly and public prosecution is absent and yet he denies Christ by being silent. [end p 108]

Interrogatio 13

And tell us in the sixth chapter, if this king, after he heard these things about his aforementioned wife and had suspended carnal business with her, had perhaps committed adultery with a concubine, and this came to the notice of many people, then by what medicinal judgement should it be healed? And if it happens to come about that a man obliges himself by oath to try to do something which is illicit, should he fulfil his oath so that he does not commit perjury, or should he not do what he wrongly swore to do, so that he does not usher in a crime? And whether it is true, as many men say, that there are women who by their evildoing are able to provoke inreconcilable hatred between man and wife, and to sow an ineffable love between a man and woman. [So that] a man is unable to engage in marital commerce with his wife, yet is able to sleep with other women; but that by the same evil doing, the power of sleeping with someone and of love, formerly enjoyed, can be restored by the art of witches. And tell us what is the reason for which God allows such things, it is said, to happen in legitimate marriage. And if such male sorcerers or female witches should be found, what should be done about them?

De Divortio Preface

(p 107)To the glorious lord kings and our venerable fellow bishops and all those placed in the bosom of the catholic church, Hincmar, by name but not merit Bishop of Rheims and servant of the people of God, together with my lord colleagues and brothers, venerable bishops of the diocese of Rheims [?]

The holy Roman church, as the mother and teacher, nurse and instructress of all churches, is to be consulted about all things ducious and obscure and her healthful admonitions are to be kept. This should be done particularly by those who live in those regions in which divine grace, through her preaching, has given birth to all in faith and nourished them with Catholic milk, whom it preordained to eternal life. Since [?], just as the blessed Innocent wrote to Decentius Bishop of Gubbio, it is clear that in all Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa and Sicily, the islands and interiors [?], there were no churches instituted except those that the venerable Peter or his successor bishops founded. Therefore it is necessary that they follow what the Roman church keeps, from which church without doubt they received their origin, lest when they favour foreign assertions, the head of the institutions seems to be lost. But also since blessed Celestine, bishop of the same first see said to Venerius and the other Gallican bishops that the universal church was struck by whatever novelty and writing to Nestor of Constantinople decreed that all ought to know what is happening, since the case of all is being affected, the voice of our humility speaks to all. Since, although this is a matter of a king and queen, namely man and wife, who according to holy authority are now not two but one flesh, the case of all is generally affected, since marriage is called by the holy apostle a great sacrament in Christ and the church, in which the salvation of all is believed to consist. [end of p 107]