bonded

I do not allow him to be torn from me without immense grief (if I may say so) and to be separated from my sight across such great distances of land and sea.
000000But, on the other hand, because love knows no cost, nor faith any detriment, and no distances on earth separate those whom the bond of true love binds, I have most willingly agreed to the request made by you, to whom I can deny nothing; nor do I begrudge [it] to you in whose advancement I rejoice as in my own. For I know that one God [love] is being served in all places... whether it is [here] or across the sea.

-- from the letter of Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims, to King Alfred of Essex, c.886