To the venerable and greatly beloved sister in Christ, the abbess Heloise, brother Peter, humble abbot of Cluny: the salvation which God has promised those who love him.
I was happy to receive from your Grace the letter which you sent me recently1 through my son Theobald, and took it with friendly sentiments towards the sender. I wanted to write back at once to express what was in my heart, but the persistent demands of the duties to which I am obliged to give up most, or rather, all of my time, made it impossible. Now at last there is a day’s respite (scarcely that) from turmoil, when I can try to carry out my intention.2 I thought that I should make haste to repay if only in words the affection for me I discerned in your letter, and previously from the gifts you sent me, and to show you how large a place in my heart is reserved for my love for you in the Lord. For in fact it is not only now that I begin to love you; I can remember having done so for a long time. I had yet not quite passed the bounds of youth and reached early manhood when I knew of your name and your reputation, not yet for religion but for your virtuous and praiseworthy studies. I used to hear at that time of the woman who although still caught up in the obligations of the world, devoted all her application to knowledge of letters, something which is very rare, and to the pursuit of secular learning, and that not even the pleasures of the world, with its frivolities and delights, could distract her from this worthy determination to study the arts. At a time when nearly the whole world is indifferent and deplorably apathetic towards such occupations, and wisdom can scarcely find a foothold not only, I may say, among women who have banished her completely, but even in the minds of men, you have surpassed all women in carrying out your purpose, and have gone further than almost every man.
Later on when, in the Apostle’s words, ‘It pleased God who had set you apart since you were in your mother’s womb to call you through his grace,’3 you turned your zeal for learning in a far better direction, and as a woman wholly dedicated to philosophy in the true sense, you left logic for the Gospel, Plato for Christ, the academy for the cloister. You removed the spoils from your vanquished foe, crossed the desert of life’s pilgrimage with the treasures of Egypt, and set up a precious tabernacle to God in your heart. With Miriam you sang a hymn of praise as Pharaoh sank beneath the waves,4 like her in days of old, you took up the tambourine of blessed mortification, so that your skill with it sent the strain of new harmonies to the very ears of God. Now you trod underfoot what at the start you wore down by perseverance through the grace of the Almighty – the head of the serpent, the old enemy who always lies in wait for women – and crushed it so that it will never dare to hiss against you again. You make and will continue to make a laughing-stock of the proud prince of the world, and him whom the divine voice, in the words of God himself on the lips of holy Job, calls ‘the King of the sons of pride’,5 you will force to groan when he is enchained for you and the handmaids of God who live with you.
Truly a unique miracle, one to be exalted above all marvellous works, for him of whom the prophet says, ‘No cedar in God’s garden overshadowed it, and no firs could equal the height of its boughs’6 to be overcome by the weaker sex, and the most powerful of archangels to fall before a frail woman! Such a combat brings supreme glory to the Creator, but to the Tempter the greatest ignominy. This contest proves to his shame that it was not only foolish but above all absurd for him to have aspired to equality with the sublime Majesty, when he cannot even sustain a brief conflict with a woman’s weakness; while she, alone victorious, will justly receive for her brow a jewelled crown from the King of heaven, so that though she was weaker in the flesh, in the battle she fought she will appear the more glorious in her everlasting reward.
I say this not to flatter you, my sister, dearest in the Lord, but by way of encouraging you to awareness of the great benefit you have long enjoyed; so that you will be the more eager to preserve it with due care, and the holy women who serve the Lord with you, through God’s grace conferred on you, may be fired by your word and example to join eagerly in the same struggle. For you are one of those animals in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, woman though you are, and must not only burn like coal but glow like a lamp7 and give light as well. You are indeed the disciple of truth, but in your duty towards those entrusted to you, you are the teacher of humility. For surely the teaching of humility and of all instruction in heavenly matters is a task laid on you by God, and so you must have a care not only for yourself but for the flock in your keeping; and being responsible for all shall receive a higher reward than theirs. Yes, the palm is reserved for you on behalf of the whole community, for, as you must know, all those who, by following your lead, have overcome the world and the prince of the world, will prepare for you as many triumphs and glorious trophies before the eternal King and Judge.
Moreover, it is not altogether exceptional amongst mortals for women to be in command of women, nor entirely unprecedented for them even to take up arms and accompany men to battle. For if there is truth in the saying:
Even from a foe it is right to learn,8
amongst the pagans it is recorded that Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, often fought at the time of the Trojan War along with her army of Amazons,9 who were women, not men, while from God’s chosen people the prophetess Deborah is said to have roused Barach, a judge in Israel, against the heathen.10 Why then should not virtuous women also march to battle against the armed foe, become leaders in the army of the Lord, if Penthesilea could fight the enemy with her own hand, in defiance of convention, and our Deborah roused, armed and spurred on the men of Israel to fight God’s wars? Then when Jobin the King was defeated, Sisera his commander lay dead and the heathen army was destroyed, she sang at once the song she wrote in devout praise of God. For you and yours, after the victory granted by God’s grace over a far more formidable foe, there will be a far more glorious song, which you will so rejoice to sing that ever afterwards you will continue to sing it and rejoice. Meanwhile you will be for the handmaids of God, your heavenly army, what Deborah was for the Jewish people; whatever happens, you will never break off the battle for which the reward is so high until victory is yours. And because the name of Deborah, as your learning knows, means ‘bee’ in the Hebrew tongue, you will be a Deborah in this respect too, that is, a bee. For you will make honey, but not only for yourself; since all the goodness you have gathered here and there in different ways, by your example, word, and every possible means, you will pour out for the sisters in your house and for all other women. In this brief span of our mortal life you will satisfy yourself with the hidden sweetness of the Holy Scriptures, as also your fortunate sisters by your public instruction, until, in the words of the prophet, on that promised day ‘the mountains shall run with sweetness and the hills flow with milk’.11 For though this is said of the time of grace to come, nothing prevents it from being applied to an hour of glory and, indeed, it is pleasanter to take it thus.
It would also be pleasant for me to talk with you like this for longer, both because I am delighted by your renowned learning, and far more because I am drawn to you by what many have told me about your religion. If only our Cluny possessed you, or you were confined in the delightful prison of Marcigny12 with the other handmaids of Christ who are there awaiting their freedom in heaven! I would have preferred your wealth of religion and learning to the richest treasures of any kings, and would rejoice to see that noble community of sisters still further illuminated by your presence there. You too would have derived no small benefit from them, and would have marvelled to see the highest nobility and pride of the world trodden underfoot. You would see every kind of worldly luxury exchanged for a wonderful poverty of life, and the former impure vessels of the devil turned into spotless temples for the Holy Spirit. You would observe those young girls of God stolen, as it were, from Satan and the world, building high walls of virtue in the foundation of their innocence, and raising the summit of their blessed edifice to the very threshold of heaven. You would rejoice to see them in the flower of their angelic virginity united with chaste widows, all alike awaiting the glory of that great and blessed Resurrection, their bodies confined within the narrow walls of their house as if buried in a tomb of blessed hope. Yet since you may have all these joys, and perhaps greater things than these in the companions given you by God, it may be that nothing can be added as regards your zeal for holy matters; but our own community would be enriched by no small advantage, I think, from the addition of your own gracious gifts.
But although God’s providence which dispenses all things has denied us your presence, we have still been granted that of him who was yours, him, I say, who is often and ever to be named and honoured as the servant and true philosopher of Christ, Master Peter, whom in the last years of his life that same providence sent to Cluny, and by doing so enriched her in his person with a gift more precious than any gold and topaz.13 The nature and extent of the saintliness, humility and devotion of his life among us, to which Cluny can bear witness, cannot briefly be told. I do not remember seeing anyone, I think, who was his equal in conduct and manner: St Germain could not have appeared more lowly nor St Martin himself so poor. And although at my insistence he held superior rank in our large community of brothers, the shabbiness of his attire made him look the humblest of them all. I often marvelled, and when he walked in front of me with the others in the usual processional order, I almost stood still in astonishment that a man who bore so great and distinguished a name could thus humble and abase himself. And because some who profess the religious life want unnecessary extravagance even in the habits they wear, he was completely frugal in such matters, content with a simple garment of each sort, seeking nothing more.
He was the same as regards food and drink and anything for his bodily needs, and condemned by word and by his living example, for himself as well as for others, not merely what was superfluous, but everything except the barest necessities. His reading was continuous, his prayer assiduous, his silence perpetual, except when informal conference amongst the brothers or a public sermon addressed to them in assembly on sacred subjects compelled him to speak. He was present at the holy Sacraments, offering the sacrifice of the immortal Lamb to God whenever he could, and indeed, almost without interruption, after he had been restored to apostolic grace through my letter and efforts on his behalf. What more need I say? His mind, his speech, his work were devoted to meditation, to teaching and to profession of what was always holy, philosophic and scholarly.
In such a way this simple, upright man lived among us, fearing God and shunning evil; and in this way, I repeat, he stayed for some time, dedicating the last days of his life to God, until I sent him to Chalon to give him respite, since he was more troubled than usual from skin irritation and other physical ailments. I believed this would be a suitable place for him, near the city on the opposite bank of the Saône, because of its mild climate which is about the best in our part of Burgundy.14 There he renewed his former studies, as far as his ill-health permitted, and was always bent over his books; and as it is said of Gregory the Great, he never let a moment pass without praying, reading, writing or composing.15
He was engaged on such holy occupations when the Visitor of the Gospels came to find him, and found him awake, not asleep like so many; found him truly awake, and summoned him to the wedding of eternal life as a wise, not a foolish virgin. For he brought with him a lamp full of oil, that is, a conscience filled with the testimony of his saintly life. As the time came for him to pay the common debt of humanity, the sickness from which he suffered worsened and quickly brought him to his last hour. Then he first professed his faith, afterwards confessed his sins, and indeed in so holy, devout and Christian a manner; with such eagerness of heart he received the viaticum for his journey and the pledge of eternal life, the body of our Lord and Redeemer; to him he commended his body and soul here on earth and for eternity with such true faith: as all his brothers in religion and the whole community of the monastery where the body of St Marcellus the martyr lies can bear witness.
Thus did Master Peter end his days. He who was known nearly all over the world for his unique mastery of knowledge and who won fame everywhere as a disciple of one who said ‘Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-hearted,’16 steadfast in his own gentleness and humility, thus passed over to him, as we must believe. Him, therefore, venerable and dearest sister in the Lord, him to whom after your union in the flesh you are joined by the better, and therefore stronger, bond of divine love, with whom and under whom you have long served God: him, I say, in your place, or as another you, God cherishes in his bosom, and keeps him there to be restored to you through his grace at the coming of the Lord, at the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet-note of God descending from heaven. Remember him in the Lord, remember me too, if you are pleased to do so, and duly commend to the prayers of the sisters serving God with you the brothers of our community, and also the sisters throughout the world who, to the best of their ability, serve the same Lord as you.