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
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
