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Vrat Ltrs
7. Lambert of Cracow
Letter 7. Bishop Lambert of Cracow to King Vratislav
To the king of Bohemia of the glorious title and a life not less inglorious, [from] L., bishop of Cracow: the grace of the highest king and from him life, health and victory.
For the earth and its fullness is the Lord’s;1 for the kingdom is the Lord’s and he will have dominion over the nations.2 Over individual lands and individual kingdoms he sets king and lord in judgment; some of them, of sound mind, reign in judgment and justice,3 but some in pride of mind and in rapine. But because you, Lord King, in your vigilance practice nothing other than what the providence of your subjects calls for, because you judge the poor of God in judgment, humbling any oppressor,4 there is no prince, there is no powerful man whose favors and grace you should not obtain, whose promises and supplications should not advance to securing for you steadfastness in this same matter. Inspired by you, king, with confidence in these supplications, I have wished to obtain myself, as yours, something not great, indeed in no way for me but for you, in no way trusting in my merits but, most benign king, in your generosity.
This year by your grace you successfully directed our legation to the archbishop of Cologne, and then no less successfully by your grace you sent his legation back with ours at his request. But now on account of both, or rather by the prayer of both, benign king, you are asked to give these legates safe conduct. And, so that I might be silent about myself, may you direct [them] on a propitious path to that archbishop of such high office, of such illustrious life, on account of the man, since you can and it is fit for a king.