Read The Life of Saint Enimie. A 13th c text by Bertran de Marseille. Original Translation by Karena Akhavein. A reader's companion for the adventure novel Translatio Page 7

wish to take our lady away from us!

  1562.And you should never permit

  1563.That someone wish to take her away;

  1564.So why then do you wish to do it?

  1565.Lord, have pity on us!”

  1566.Then they threw themselves on their knees

  1567.And asked him, by God’s mercy

  1568.That he wish to do it for nothing on earth.

  1569.But he told them at last

  1570.That would not stay in the church

  1571.The body in any way

  1572.And that she was required to go with him:

  1573.“Should I not then carry my sister

  1574.There where she should have the most honor?

  1575.Yes, I will do it, know this in truth.

  1576.Lead me to the monument and show it to me!”

  1577.Immediately he entered the church

  1578.And with him all his knights

  1579.And the saintly nuns with them.

  1580.They pulled and damaged their veils

  1581.And rudely demanded of them

  1582.For the king the location of the monument

  1583.Where his sister was buried.

  1584.But the one who responded cried:

  1585.“King, never will you learn it from us;

  1586.Look for it, you will find it.”

  1587.With time, the king looked so much

  1588.That he found the monument

  1589.But he did not at all recognize which one it was

  1590.For there were two monuments:

  1591.The one of his sister, the one below,

  1592.And that of her goddaughter, the one above.

  1593.But after he had been there for a while,

  1594.And on the one above he saw written

  1595.ENIMIE and in this way thought

  1596.That the body of his sister was there.

  1597.And listen about this name, why it was

  1598.On this grave and not on the other:

  1599.When Sainte Enimie passed

  1600.From this world, and she commanded

  1601.That her god-daughter be buried

  1602.In the higher casket and that they write

  1603.The name of Enimie on it

  1604.She had indeed had her name put on it

  1605.For she had known

  1606.Since she was the good friend of God

  1607.That the king, her brother Dagobert,

  1608.Was surely to come soon

  1609.From France, from the royal land,

  1610.Into this deep valley

  1611.To demand and take away her body;

  1612.And for this reason she wanted to command

  1613.That her coffin remain without writing

  1614.As I have told it to you,

  1615.And that on the one of her god-daughter

  1616.That they put the name on the flat stone

  1617.So that, when he would see the name

  1618.Of Enimie on the tomb,

  1619.He would take the body that was in it

  1620.And hers would be left underneath

  1621.For not at all from the place where God for her

  1622.Performed so many miracles, night and day,

  1623.She wanted for nothing on earth to leave

  1624.After her death to be elsewhere.

  1625.And not at all in this manner did she sin

  1626.In requesting this

  1627.For likewise did they call

  1628.The goddaughter by her name.

  1629.–Barons, noblemen, now see

  1630.You who have gone into this valley

  1631.Men and women, cleric and layperson,

  1632.If you well owe to this virgin that

  1633.You give her good and dignified honor,

  1634.For she did not wish that her person

  1635.Be carried away from it into another place,

  1636.For the large and wide valley

  1637.Bore no fruit

  1638.Then, and this we all know it,

  1639.Nor anything on which one can sustain one’s self,

  1640.So wild was this valley,

  1641.But since she had been there,

  1642.It bore wine and grains and fruit.

  1643.And all that grew in truth was

  1644.By her, and you can see it;

  1645.For there are many people

  1646.In all more than two hundred

  1647.And there are well a hundred and twenty hearths

  1648.Full and well fed in this place.-- (*)

  1649.Now let us return to our matter

  1650.And to our initial story.

  1651.When Dagobert had well read

  1652.The name written on the tomb,

  1653.He was happy and threw himself on it,

  1654.For he thought that it was her,

  1655.And cried so excessively hard

  1656.Him and all his knights.

  1657.And when he had gotten up from the tomb,

  1658.And that he had cried and sniveled enough,

  1659.He commanded that all nicely

  1660.They break the monument.

  1661.Immediately the knights

  1662.Began to open the tomb.

  1663.The nuns, when they saw this,

  1664.It seemed good in their hearts

  1665.When they saw that he believed he had

  1666.The body of his sister in truth.

  1667.But they made no sign and no noise at all

  1668.So that he not be informed

  1669.And so they pretended that they were sad:

  1670.“Miserable ones, what bad things have we done,

  1671.So that our treasure is taken away from us!

  1672.What will we do from now on in this abyss?

  1673.Miserable ones, and what can we do

  1674.About the fact that someone wishes to steal from us thus?”

  1675.All this they said while crying

  1676.So that the king believed all the better

  1677.That the body in this monument

  1678.Was truly that of his sister.

  1679.Dagobert, when he heard them cry,

  1680.Said to them nicely and courteously:

  1681.“Ladies, and why are you crying?

  1682.I will always be good to you.

  1683.I will give you lands and honors

  1684.Of which you can have great succor.” (*)

  1685.The ladies responded to the king

  1686.Pretending that it pained them:

  1687.“Hey, Lord, know in truth

  1688.That never will we desire other riches

  1689.Nor other lands nor honors

  1690.Other than the saintly body of your sister.

  1691.For she is for us a beautiful treasure,

  1692.Much more great than silver or gold.

  1693.But Lord, since it is thus,

  1694.And that you are taking her away, remember

  1695.That this religious monastery,

  1696.That it be good and charitable!”

  1697.The king responds that willingly

  1698.Will always be good this monastery;

  1699.Then he takes the body without delay

  1700.Which, we have already explained it,

  1701.Was not the one of his sister

  1702.But that of the god-daughter who was above

  1703.For by the name and by the writing

  1704.He was deceived and duped.

  1705.When the king and the knights

  1706.Had placed on a stretcher

  1707.The body, all together they saluted

  1708.The whole church and the convent

  1709.And they returned to their country

  1710.Directly to the church of saint Denis

  1711.Where the king put in a very ornate way

  1712.The body in a silver vessel;

  1713.In which they well believe they still have

  1714.The true Sainte Enimie

  17
15.But they are deceived in their thoughts

  1716.And since they believe everything thus,

  1717.She remains here in truth

  1718.Near the mount where she died

  1719.Where still God performs for her

  1720.Great miracles, as I know it.

  1721.Now, I will tell you without hesitation

  1722.How and by which miracle

  1723.The body of Sainte Enimie was found

  1724.And by which vision,

  1725.And listen well to this

  1726.Which I will tell you completely.

  1727.After Dagobert the king

  1728.Had carried the body himself

  1729.Of the god-daughter of his sister,

  1730.And many years and many days

  1731.Had passed, and the abbey

  1732.That had built Madam Sainte Enimie

  1733.Had no more nuns due to its decrepitude,

  1734.Was built higher up another church

  1735.Close to there, on a hill

  1736.With new monks in truth

  1737.In honor of Sainte Enimie

  1738.Where she was praised night and day.

  1739.When the monastery was built,

  1740.It was the will of the Holy Spirit

  1741.That the body of his bride,

  1742.Enimie the glorious,

  1743.Would be discovered, which was no longer

  1744.Known by the people of the land;

  1745.For they thought certainly

  1746.That it was at Saint Denis in France

  1747.For they had heard it be told

  1748.That by king Dagobert her brother

  1749.She had been taken to his country;

  1750.But nothing of this was true,

  1751.For she was still in the beautiful church

  1752.Which she had first built

  1753.And for this god wanted to show

  1754.Her body and reveal it.

  1755.It happened again

  1756.That the monastery was well built

  1757.And the convent was religious

  1758.And enthusiastic to serve God.

  1759.And amongst the monks of which I have spoken to you,

  1760.There was, by the will of God,

  1761.A monk full of sanctity

  1762.Who was called Jean,

  1763.To whom the son of Saint Mary

  1764.Revealed where the body was lying

  1765.Of Enimie, His virgin,

  1766.And he showed him by this proof

  1767.Certainly and in which way

  1768.Was the vision true.

  1769.The voice of our Lord

  1770.Came to him when he was in bed in the dormitory.

  1771.The good man, when came the next day,

  1772.Reflected on the vision

  1773.And stayed deep in thought

  1774.And then did not think of it again.

  1775.But when he had remained thus,

  1776.I do not know how many days, without worries,

  1777.The angel came to him in a vision,

  1778.And spoke to him with reason

  1779.But the good man despite all these words

  1780.Did not want to listen

  1781.But nevertheless had doubts

  1782.For thus he would toss and turn in his bed

  1783.And was in deep thought

  1784.Night and day, for he did not know what to say.

  1785.But when a season had