De castis nuptiis, et virginitate ejus et reginae.
The King's Secret Vow
Pressed by his nobles to marry for the sake of succession, Edward fears for his hidden chastity and entrusts it to God, recalling how the Lord preserved the three youths in the fire, Joseph from adultery, Susanna from the elders, and Judith from Holofernes.
With King Edward's rule established, and everything settled in the deepest peace and prosperity, the nobles, concerned about the succession, came together before the king about taking a wife. The king was stunned by the treasure he feared for — hidden in an earthen vessel, it could easily be destroyed by heat.1 But what was he to do? If he resisted more stubbornly, he was afraid his cherished secret purpose would be exposed; if he yielded to those who pressed him, he dreaded the shipwreck of his chastity.2 At last, thinking it safer to yield to those who pressed and importuned him, he commended his chastity to the Lord with words like these: 'Good Jesus, your mercy once preserved three boys unharmed in the Chaldean flames.3 Through you, Joseph — when the cloak was left behind with the adulterous harlot — he escaped under the banner of chastity.4 The steadfastness of Susanna, admirable in its own right, triumphed through your power over the shameless priests.5 The singular chastity of holy Judith — which amid royal feasts and the polluted cups of Holofernes could neither be harmed nor assailed — fortifying her womanly hand with a sword for the destruction of an abominable head, freed the city from siege.6
A Virgin Fit for a King
Edward prays to Christ and His Virgin Mother for help in receiving the marriage sacrament without losing modesty, and a noble virgin is found—Edgiva, daughter of the treacherous Count Godwin—whom Christ has prepared from infancy for the king.
And what surpasses all this: you alone wished that sweetest hope of the world, that lady, my mother, yours too, to be both your wife and a virgin — nor does the marriage bond break the seal of her chastity. Here I am — your servant and the son of your handmaid — your beloved, in whatever way, and the beloved of your only mother. I don't presume to match the equality of such great majesty, but I long with a kind of fearful awe for some share in a thing so great. So then, my Lord, son of the Virgin, my Lady — you, my Lady, Virgin and Mother of my Lord — come to my aid, so that I may receive the marriage sacrament in such a way that I don't incur the risk of losing modesty. With the king therefore giving his assent to the nobles' will, a virgin was sought who, by both nobility of blood and uprightness of character, would be fit for the embraces of so great a king. Among all the powerful men of England, the most powerful was Count Godwin, a man of great resources but of singular cunning, a traitor to kings and their realms, who, trained to deceive and practiced in disguising anything whatsoever, easily swayed the people's approval toward whichever faction he chose. But just as a thorn begets a rose, Godwin begot Ediva, who indeed drew from him the substance of the flesh, but received from the Spirit of God the teaching of holiness. Christ had prepared her for his beloved Edward, inspiring in him from infancy itself a love of chastity, a hatred of vices, and a desire for virtue. In her girlish years she carried herself with an old woman's gravity, shunning the public eye and frequenting the privacy of her chamber.
The Thorn and the Rose
Edgiva's gravity, beauty, and devotion to sacred art and contemplation are described; Godwin schemes to advance through her marriage, yet even the king's loyal advisors deem the union politically necessary, and the royal wedding is celebrated with a mutual vow of chastity witnessed only by God.
She was never idle or burdened by distaste; she would read or work with her hands, adorning garments with marvelous craftsmanship, weaving gold into silk, imitating every reality in painting—and through such work and contemplation she would shun wantonness and avoid the conversations of young men. Furthermore, she was beautiful in face, but far more beautiful in the uprightness of her character. And so Godwin, wanting to win the king's favor for himself—since he feared the king not a little on account of his brother's murder and his many betrayals—worked more closely through his own friends and the king's secretaries, so that his daughter might be deemed worthy of royal marriage. But even those who clung to their Lord with the deepest devotion, having often experienced the count's treachery and fearing it greatly, judged this same marriage necessary for the king. And so, although not with the same intention, they all came into the same judgment. From the wealth of both families the wedding feast is prepared, the bishops complete the Sacrament, and the girl is blessed as a wife and crowned as queen. As they therefore come together as one, the king and queen make a vow to preserve chastity, and for this pledge they consider no witness other than God himself. She becomes a wife in spirit, not in the flesh; he is a husband in name, not in deed.
Chaste Love and Prophetic Purity
The king and queen live as spouses in name and affection alone, like a new Abishag warming but not dissolving the king; though some attribute his continence to political fear, their mutual love refutes this, and Edward's pure mind bears witness to his chastity and prophetic clarity.
Between them there endures, without physical union, a conjugal affection, and without the breaking of her virginity, the embrace of a chaste love. He loves, yet is not corrupted; she is loved, yet is not touched — and like a new Abishag, she warms the king with love, yet does not dissolve into lust; she soothes with devoted service, yet does not give in to desire. And so that no one might detract from this virtue of the king, let it be known that in those times, throughout all of England, this was so widely reported and believed that many were certain about the fact itself, though they disputed about the intention. For certain people, wise in nothing but flesh and blood, imputed this to the king's simplicity — that he had been forced to mix himself in marriage with the son of traitors, and that to avoid begetting traitors, he refrained from conjugal relations. But if you consider the love with which they embraced each other, such an opinion is easily dismissed. I have thought it right to insert this, so that it may be known that at the time no one doubted the king's continence, even though they argued at length about his motive. The purity of mind certainly offers testimony to the king's chastity — a purity refined from every stirring of vice, set far apart, so to speak, able to contemplate present things and to know future things as though they were placed before its eyes, as the following chapter declares.
Read the original Latin
Confirmato Edwardi regis imperio, omnibusque summa pace ac prosperitate compositis, proceres de successione solliciti, regem de uxore ducenda conveniunt. Stupet rex thesauro metuens suo, qui in vase fictili reconditus, facile poterat calore dissolvi. Sed quid ageret? si obstinatius obniteretur, timebat ne propositi sui proderetur dulce secretum: si suadentibus praeberet assensum, naufragium pudicitiae formidabat. Tandem opportune et importune insistentibus tutius cedere ratus, hujusmodi verbis suam Domino pudicitiam commendabat: «Jesu bone, tua quondam misericordia tres pueros in flammas Chaldaicas illaesos servavit. Per te Joseph, relicto pallio nefariae meretrici, cum titulo castitatis evasit. Admirabilis Suzannae constantia tua virtute de impudicis presbyteris triumphavit. Sanctae Judith castitas singularis, quae inter regias dapes et infecundos calices Holofernis nec laedi potuit nec tentari, femineam manum in perniciem nefandi capitis ferro muniens, urbem exemit obsidioni.
Et quod excellit his omnibus, tu unicam illam spem mundi dulcissimam dominam meam, matrem tuam, et conjugem esse voluisti et virginem, nec conjugii sacramentum castitatis solvit signaculum. Ecce ego servus tuus et filius ancillae tuae, qualitercunque dilector tuus et unicae matris tuae, non quidem ad tantae majestatis tuae aequalitatem praesumptuosus aspiro, sed ad aliquam hujus tantae rei similitudinem timens suspiro. Tu ergo, Domine meus, fili virginis Dominae meae, tu, Domina mea, Virgo et Mater Domini mei, succurrite, quatenus sic maritale suscipiam sacramentum ut pudicitiae periculum non incurram.» Rege igitur procerum voluntati consensum praebente, quaerebatur virgo quae et sanguinis nobilitate et morum honestate tanti regis esset apta complexibus. Erat inter potentes Angliae omnium potentissimus comes Godwinus, vir magnarum opum sed astutiae singularis, regum regnique proditor, qui doctus fallere et quaelibet dissimulare consuetus, facile populum ad cujuslibet factionis inclinabat assensum. Sed sicut spina rosam, genuit Godwinus Edivam, quae quidem ex ipso habuit materiam carnis, sed a Dei spiritu magisterium sanctitatis. Hanc dilecto suo Christus praeparaverat Edwardo, inspirans ei ab ipsa infantia castitatis amorem, odium vitiorum, virtutis affectum. In annis puellaribus gravitatem praetendens anilem, publicum fugiens secreta thalami frequentabat.
Ubi non dissoluta otio, nec onerosa fastidio, legere aut operari manibus consuevit, ornare miro artificio vestes, sericis aurum intexere, quaeque rerum imitari pictura; tali opere ac meditatione vitare lasciviam, colloquia juvenum devitare. Erat praeterea pulchra facie, sed morum probitate pulchrior multo. Itaque Godwinus volens sibi regis animum quem ob necem fratris proditionesque non paucas non parum metuebat, vincire arctius, egit per amicos suos regisque secretarios, ut filiam suam regiis nuptiis dignaretur. Sed et illi qui Domino suo arctiori inhaerebant affectu, proditionem comitis quam saepe fuerant experti plurimum formidantes, hoc ipsum pernecessarium regi arbitrabantur. Ita non eadem licet intentione, omnes in eadem sententiam convenere. Ex utriusque divitiis paratur nuptiale convivium, complent pontifices sacramentum, benedicitur puella in uxorem et in reginam coronatur. Convenientibus igitur in unum, rex et regina de castitate servanda paciscuntur, nec huic fidei alium quam Deum testem aestimant adhibendum. Fit illa conjux mente, non carne; ille nomine maritus, non opere.
Perseverat inter eos sine actu conjugali conjugalis affectus, et sine defloratione virginitatis castae dilectionis amplexus. Diligit ille sed non corrumpitur, diligitur illa nec tangitur, et quasi nova quaedam Abisac regem calefacit amore, nec dissolvit libidine, mulcet obsequiis, sed desideriis non emollit. Et ne aliquis huic regis virtuti fidem deroget, sciat hoc temporibus illis per totam Angliam sic divulgatum et creditum, ut de facto certi plerique de intentione certarent. Quidam namque nihil nisi carnem et sanguinem sapientes, simplicitati regiae hoc imponebant, quod compulsus generi se miscuerit proditorum, et ne proditores procrearet, operi supersederet conjugali. Sed si consideretur amor quo se complectebantur, facile contemnitur talis opinio. Hoc idcirco inserendum putavi, ut sciatur neminem tunc de regis continentia dubitasse, cum de causa taliter disputaverint. Praebet certe regiae castitati testimonium puritas mentis, quae ab omni faece vitii pulsantis eliquata, et longe posita quasi praesentia contemplari et futura potuit quasi prae oculis sita cognoscere sicut sequens capitulum declarat.
Notes
- 1 ↩The treasure in the earthen vessel is an image of chastity (pudicitia) exposed to the fires of temptation; the king's fear is for the vulnerability of his own purity.
- 2 ↩Naufragium pudicitiae — 'shipwreck of chastity' — is a vivid metaphor for the total loss of sexual purity, echoing nautical imagery for moral ruin.
- 3 ↩The reference to three boys preserved unharmed in the Chaldean flames is an allusion to the Fiery Furnace narrative (Daniel 3). Final scriptural resolution belongs to a later stage.
- 4 ↩Reference to Joseph fleeing Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:12), leaving his cloak behind. Final scriptural resolution belongs to a later stage.
- 5 ↩Reference to Susanna and the Elders (Daniel 13 / Susanna). Final scriptural resolution belongs to a later stage.
- 6 ↩Reference to Judith beheading Holofernes (Judith 13). Final scriptural resolution belongs to a later stage.
Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris companion
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