De legatis sedis apostolice, et pace facta inter infideles et Cristianos.
Papal Legates Sent to Livonia
Pope John sends two legates to Livonia at the archbishop of Riga's urging to baptize the king of the Lithuanians and Ruthenians, arriving in Riga on October 21 and making peace between the kings and Christians.
In this same year, Lord Pope John the twenty-[?], at the urging of Brother Frederick of the Order of Friars Minor, archbishop of Riga, and of the citizens there, sent two legates to the regions of Livonia—namely, Bartholomew, bishop of [Electensemb], and Bernard, abbot of the monastery of Saint Theofredus in the diocese of Annecy, of the Order of Saint Benedict—to baptize the king of the Lithuanians and the Ruthenians. When they arrived at the city of Riga on the morrow of the blessed Matthew the apostle and evangelist, they made peace between the aforementioned kings and their subjects on one side, and the Christians on the other, and they ordered it to be firmly upheld by apostolic authority. October.
Apostolic Bond on the Peace
Any violator of the peace incurs automatic excommunication, absolvable only by the apostolic see, and must appear there within three months for correction.
—that anyone who rashly violated this peace, or who by word or deed, counsel or action, did anything by which their wholesome work could be hindered or in any way delayed, would thereby fall into the sentence of excommunication, from which he could not be absolved except through the apostolic see; and to that see he himself would also be obliged, within three months, to present himself, there to undergo the due correction for his offense.
A Message to the King of the Lithuanians
The legates send messengers to King Gedemin of the Lithuanians to propose baptism and investigate whether he and his people would abandon idolatry and embrace Christ.
This having been done, the legates sent solemn messengers to Gedemin, king of the Lithuanians, so that they might present to him the mission entrusted to them by the apostolic see, and carefully investigate whether he himself, with the people of his kingdom, would wish to receive the grace of baptism and, leaving behind idolatry, to humbly adore the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Read the original Latin
Hoc anno eciam dominus Joannes papa xxn ad suggestionem fratris Friderici ordinis fratrum minorum archiepiscopi de Riga et civium ibidem misit ad partesa Lyvonie duos legatos Bartliolomeum scilicet episcopum Electensemb et Bernardum c abbatem monasterii sancti Theofredi, Aniciensis diocesis ordinis sancti Benedicti, ut regem Lethowinorum et Ruthenorum baptizarent L Qui cum in crastino beati Mathei apostoli et evangeliste venirent ad civitatem Rigensero, fecerunt pacem inter dictos reges et eorum subditos ex una parte, et cristifideles ex altera 2, et preceperunt eam auloritate apostolica firmiter observari, adden-20. octob. tes°, quod quicunque hujus pacis fieret temerarius violator, aut aliquid ageret verbo vel facto, consilio aut opere, per quod eorum salubre negocium impediri posset, aut aliqualiter retardari, in sentenciam excommunicacionis incideret ipso facto, a qua non posset nisif per sedem apostolicam absolvi, cui sedi ipse eciam infra tres menses deberet se presentare, subiturus ibi correctionem debitam pro excessu. Hoc facto legati solempnes nuncios miserunt ad Gedeminum regem Lethowinorum, ut negocium sibi commissum a sede apostolica illi proponerent, et diligenter investigarent, si ipse cum populo regni sui vellet baptismi graciam suscipere, et relicta ydololatria nomen domini nostri Jesu Cristi humiliter adorare.
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