Rigg. St. Anselm of Canterbury, A Chapter in The History of Religion. 1896.

ST.
ANSELM
OF CANTERBURY
A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION
BY
M.
J. |RIGG
OF LINCOLN'S INN, BARRISTER- AT-LAW
METHUEN & CO.

36, ESSEX STREET, STRAND
LONDON
1896
PREFACE
Church has reason to be thankful that in
THE his secretary, Eadmer of Canterbury, St. Anselm
found a chronicler of his public and private life, whose
impartiality may of course be questioned, but whose
general sobriety and conscientiousness are universally
acknowledged ;
and Eadmer may be congratulated on
the scholarly edition of his Historia Novorum in Anglia
and De Vita et Conversation Anselmi, contributed by
Mr. Martin Rule to the Rolls Series of our national
chronicles and memorials. These works, with Anselm's
voluminous correspondence (Migne, Patrolog. clviii.,
clix.), the few extant letters of his suffragan, Herbert
Losinga and Osbert of Clare

(Caxton Soc., 1846),
the Lives of the Abbots of Le Bee, by Gilbert
and Miles Crispin, edited by Giles in Patres Ecclesiae
Anglicanae, Oxford, 1845, the anonymous but contem-

porary Life of Gundulf of Rochester (Migne, Patrolog.
clix.), the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Rolls Series), the
Chronicle of Florence of Worcester (Eng. Hist. Soc.),
Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum (Rolls

Series), William of Malmesbury's De Gestis Pontificum
Anglorum and De Gestis Regum Anglorum (Rolls

Series), the Historia Ecclesiastica of Ordericus Vitalis,
edited by Le Prevost for the Socie'te' de 1'Histoire de
5
IW659494
PREFACE
France, Paris, 1838-1855, the Jumieges Chronicle
(Migne, Patrolog. cxlix.), the Chronique de Robert de

Torigni and the Chronique du Bee, edited by M.
Leopold Delisle and the Abbe* Poree respectively for
the Socie"te de 1'Histoire de Normandie, Rouen, 1872

and 1883, the Chronicon Beccense, edited
by Giles (Pat.
Eccl. Angl., Lanfranc), the Life of St. Anselm by John
of Salisbury, also edited by Giles, and the St. Albans

Chronicles (Rolls Series) are the principal sources
for the history of the life and times of the saint.
They are by no means in all cases of equal or
independent authority, but the order of enumeration

is, roughly speaking, the order of their value. The
St. Albans Chronicles, by reason of their late date,
are of quite secondary importance.
In the present work I have used them all as best
I could, supplementing them by Mansi's Concilia and

Martene's De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus. The his-
toricalbackground, so to speak, I have studied from

the Annales Ecclesiastici of Baronius, Milman's Latin
Christianity, Gregorovius's Geschichte der Stadt Rom

im Mittlelalter, Giesebrecht's Geschichte der Deutschen
Kaiserzeit, Freeman's Norman Conquest and Reign

of William Rufus, the Abbe" Delarc's Histoire de
Gregoire VIL, and other historical works. I have also

consulted, with more or less, and sometimes with no
little, profit, the Lives or Studies of St. Anselm by
Mohler, Montalembert, Rmusat, Charma, Church,
Croset-Mouchet, Mr. Martin Rule, and Pere Ragey.
To the two last named writers I have especial reason
to acknowledge my obligations.
6
CONTENTS
CHURCH AND STATE

CHAPTER
.
I.
. ... PAGE
9
CHAPTER II.
THE ABBEY OK STE. MARIE DU EEC . .

19
CHAPTER III.
ST. ANSELM EARLY YEARS IN VAL D'AOSTA .

3!
CHAPTER IV.
ANSELM AT LE BEC HIS RELATIONS WITH LANFRANC .

36
CHAPTER V.
ANSELM AS TEACHER AND THINKER THE MONOLOGIOM
AND PROSLOGION . .
57
CHAPTER VI.
ANSELM'S MINOR WORKS DE VERITATE, DE CASU DIABOLI,

:
AND DE LIBERO ARBITRIO HIS MEDITATIONS,

PRAYERS, AND POEMS . .
78
CHAPTER VII.
ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY . .

104
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE . . . I2O
CHAPTER IX.
THE COMPROMISE . . . . .
135
CHAPTER X.
FURTHER TROUBLE THE APPEAL TO ROME . . .
146
CHAPTER XI.
A BREATHING-SPACE SCHIAVI LEARNED LEISURE .
-157
7
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XII PAGH
THE CUR DEUS HOMO? . . . 168
CHAPTER XIII
SPIRIT ...
THE COUNCIL OF BARI THE PROCESSION OF THE HOLY
CHAPTER XIV.
177
CLOSE OF THE COUNCIL OF BARI THE COUNCIL OF ROME

RETURN TO LYON . . . . 1
95
CHAPTER XV.
AFFAIRS ONCE MORE ...

REST AT LYON THE DE CONCEPTU VIRGINALI
CHAPTER XVI.
ENGLISH
203
RETURN TO ENGLAND FIRST RELATIONS WITH HENRY I. 214
CHAPTER XVII.
ANSELM HENRY'S GRATITUDE . ...

RETURN OF DUKE ROBERT HENRY'S CROWN SAVED BY
220
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE DEADLOCK CONTINUES ANSELM, AT HENRY'S RE-
QUEST, UNDERTAKES A MISSION TO ROME . .
230
CHAPTER XIX.
ANOTHER TERM OF EXILE AT LYON
THE END . . . ...
THE BEGINNING OF
238
PEACE AT LAST .
CHAPTER XX.
. ... 249
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CONCORDAT
END
LAST FRUIT FROM AN OLD TREE
. . . ... THE
26l
APPENDIX
CONTAINING CERTAIN MIRACULOUS INCIDENTS ATTESTED
BY EADMER IN HIS DE VITA ANSELMI AND SUP-
PLEMENTARY DESCRIPTIO
PATRIS ANSELMI .
MIRACULORUM
. ... GLORIOSI
277
ST. ANSELM OF CANTERBURY
CHAPTER I.
CHURCH AND STATE
epoch in the long and chequered history of

XJO
L ^ the Catholic Church is of more absorbing in-
terest, none exhibits more signally the marvellous
vigour of her vitality, than that which marks her
first encounter with the
organised feudal power.
During the three centuries of turmoil which inter-
vened between the collapse of the Western
Empire
under Augustulus, and its revival under
Charlemagne,
amid the fitful rise and fall of
temporal powers and
principalities Visigothic, Burgundian, Suevian, Ostro-
gothic, Lombardic the Church silently and, as it
were, by instinct, maintained, consolidated, and, where

possible, extended her oecumenicalpolity. By her
were preserved, not only what remained of
art, letters,
and the traditions of civilised
life, but the coherent
and symmetrical structure of the Roman
law, which
was to mould the nascent institutions of the
Empire,
the monarchies, the
republics of the new age. With-
out her to
interpret and administer, Theodoric and
Justinian would have legislated in vain; her part in
shaping subsequent secular legislation was by no
9
means unimportant, especially in Spain, to say nothing
of her own creation, the necessary but abused system
of canon law ;
and even parliamentary government
is but an offshoot of her conciliar system.
Towards the close of that eventful period she saw
herself menaced with the odious domination of the
Arian, or, at least,
semi-Arian, Lombard, appealed to
Pepin for deliverance, hailed his donation of the Ex-
archate of Ravenna as a gift of God, and requited
its confirmation by Charlemagne with the crown of
the Caesars. Thereby she gained, with enormous
prestige, temporal security, and compromised her
spiritual independence.
Pepin's donation, though the most important, was,
indeed, by no means the first, as it was also far from
being the last, of its kind. The greater sees and
monasteries had long held extensive domains, and
endowments were lavishly augmented by Charle-
their
magne and his successors. These grants were com-

monly made in frankalmoign ;
i.e. without express
reservation of military service; but, in course of time,
such servicecame to be ordinarily rendered, and,
pari passu, the minor benefices were converted into
military fiefs. The priest was not indeed bound to
bear arms himself, though he frequently did so; but
he took the oath of fealty to his lord, and became
responsible to him for a prescribed quota of armed
retainers. Thus the Church became an integral part
of the vast secular polity known as the feudal system,
with the result that while she did not, as, indeed, she
could not, abandon or abate her claim to spiritual
autonomy and supremacy, she was, nevertheless, in her
character of temporal power, dependent upon her
10
CHURCH AND STATE
feudal superiors. It was natural, it was inevitable,
that they should the right, should usurp the
claim
function, of legislating in her behalf, even in matters

not of purely temporal concern of reforming her, of
limiting her freedom in a variety of ways. So Pepin's

dowry brought in its train the tutelage, if not the
servitude, of the Bride of Christ. Thenceforth, busy
and supple fingers were ever at work weaving imper-
ceptibly around her the fine fibres of precedent, custom,
law. She has parted with her freedom, and she will
have to suffer and contend long and sorely before she
regain it. The relations of Church and State remained,

indeed, long ill -defined, for fine juristic theories, like
those evolved from the two lights of Genesis, the two
swords of St. Peter, the supposed donation of Con-
stantine, the supposed concession of Hadrian I., are
not woven in a day, but are the slow product of time
and events. 1 But as often as a see fell vacant, the
two powers came into close contact, if not collision.
In prefeudal times bishops had been elected by the
joint vote ofthe clergy and laity, and once duly

elected, nothing more than consecration was needed
to confer the pastoral office ; and the form, at least,
of popular election survived in the Western Church
far into the feudal period. In course of time, how-
ever, the general body of the laity ceased to exercise
their franchise, while the vote of the clergy came, in
many instances, to be little more than a form for
giving effect to the will of the emperor, king, or other

secular prince. This practice established, it was but
a logical corollary that, upon his consecration, the
bishop should receive, not merely his temporalities,
DANTE, De Monarchic
1
Cf. lib. iii. cc. 4-12.
II
but the insignia of his spiritual office, his ring and
crosier, from the prince who, in truth, made him.
To this usurpation, which may be roughly dated from
the ninth century, a certain counterpoise was found in
the stricter enforcement of the canon which required
metropolitans to sue at Rome for the pallium, or sacred

stole of office, within a prescribed period from their
1
consecration, on pain of forfeiting their authority.
Meanwhile, the independence of the Holy See was
threatened by the pretensions of the Emperors to con-
firm the election of the Popes, which still rested
nominally in the suffrages of the clergy and people

of the city of Rome, and the open violence or covert
intrigues by which lesser potentates sought to compass
the election of their own nominees. No wonder, then,
that the hard bestead Popes of that stormy period
looked none too critically at decretals which purported
to have been compiled by Isidore of Seville. The
marvel is, not that they should sometimes have clutched
eagerly at doubtful expedients for sustaining their

tottering power, but that they should have preserved
any sense whatever of the sacredness of their office, any
regard whatever for the common maxims of morals.
From their seat, by the tomb of St. Peter, the Popes
of the ninth century looked out upon a world which
seemed to be fast reeling into chaos. While rival
pretenders were parting, in arms, the heritage of

Charlemagne, the heathen Northmen carried havoc and
desolation to every coast, up every navigable river;
wherever, in short, their long-beaked galleys could
1
No distinction was made between England and the continent. From
Augustine to Lanfranc a long line of English primates either received
the pallium from Rome, or went to Rome to receive it. Will. Malmes.
De Gest. Pontif. (Rolls Ser. ) passim.
12
CHURCH AND STATE
penetrate. In the east, even before the Photian schism,
the authority of the Holy See had faded almost to a
shadow. In Spain, in Sicily, the Saracen was supreme.
Taranto, Brindisi, Bari, knew his rovers only too well.
He gained a footing in the Duchy of Benevento; he sailed
up the Tiber, and looted the churches of St. Peter and
St. Paul (846); he established a permanent camp on the
Garigliano, and harried the Campagna at his pleasure.

In the succeeding age the meteoric irruptions of the
heathen Magyars bade fair for a time to complete
the ruin of Christendom. In the second quarter of the
tenth century they traversed South Germany, overran
Southern Gaul, passed the Alps, menaced Rome (936),
and then returned to Germany, there to meet, at last,
their match in Otto the Great.
Meanwhile, under the nominal sway of a succession

of feeble or ferocious, dissolute or rapacious puppet-
pontiffs, foes hardly less formidable than the Saracen
Magyar occupied and desolated the Holy City.

or the
Her annals during this period present a motley
pageant of license, sedition, anarchy, civil strife, cul-
minating from time to time in the domination of some
master of the robes to one of the said puppets or some;
military adventurer from the Marches, prototype of

the condottieri of later days ;
or some turbulent Roman
baron, or Tuscan marquis or count, masquerading
in the antique titles of consul or patricius, senator
or prefect of the Romans; or, worst of all, some
able and intriguing Roman dame, who found in her
fatal beauty and easy virtue the means wherewith to
gratify an inordinate ambition. Wounded in her head,
and bruised in every member, the Church seemed
languishing unto death. Beyond the Alps, the impulse
13
given to learning by the schools of Charlemagne, and
to speculation by the genius of Scotus Erigena, had
spent itself. Even theology had hushed her strident

voice, as if foreboding that her doom was nigh at hand.
By the middle of the tenth century, what of letters and
science remained in Europe was almost confined to the
Saracens and Greeks. Discipline was scandalously lax.
The clergy, regular and secular alike, and almost
without distinction of rank or rule, were tainted
with simony, and sunk in sloth and licentiousness.
Here and there, indeed, as at Cluny and Glastonbury,
noble souls were struggling to realise a higher ideal ;
and a new era may well have seemed to be dawning

when Gerbert (Silvester II.) carried the lore of the
schools of Spain to Reims, and across the Rhine to
Ravenna, and to Rome. But Gerbert owed his tiara

to imperial influence; clergy, nobles, and populace
alike viewed him with suspicion, and he fell a victim
to Roman pestilence, or poison, before he had so much
as essayed the mighty task of reforming the Church.
The Tusculan dynasty which followed ruled at best
as secular princes, at the worst as licentious and
1
ferocious despots. Nevertheless, jealousy of trans-
alpine intervention kept Rome passive under their

tyranny, until the enormities of Benedict IX. provoked
a revolution ; nor was it until three pretenders had
partitioned the vicegerency of Christ, that the city
sullenly acquiesced in the consecration of the imperial

nominee, Suidger, Bishop of Bamberg, who ruled for
a space as Clement II. (25 Dec., 1046-9 Oct., 1047).
It redounds to the credit of Clement, and through
1
The only possible exception would be Benedict VIII., who made
some faint and ineffective tentatives towards reform.
CHURCH AND STATE
him of the German people, that his brief pontificate
saw the first step taken, though it was but a short

one, towards the suppression of the all but universal
practice of simony. At the Council of Rome (1047)

a decree was passed that whoso should knowingly
receive ordination from a simoniacal bishop should do
penance and meanwhile be suspended
for forty days,
from the exercise of his ministry. More was accom-

plished by Leo IX., the saintly Bruno, Bishop of
Toul.
At the councils held by him, in 1049, at Rome, at
Pavia, at Reims, at Mainz, simoniacs were degraded,
and the authority of the ancient disciplinary canons
of the Church reasserted in its full vigour. But how-
ever excellent were Leo's intentions, his methods were
not calculated to eradicate the cancer which was eating
out the life of the Church. The true cause of simony,
and not of simony only, but of the general and de-
plorable relaxation of clerical morals, lay in the
secularisation of the hierarchy, which had resulted from
its into the feudal system.
virtual incorporation As
long as the right of granting investiture of sees and
benefices remained with the laity, it was not in human
nature that the grant should ordinarily be made without
what lawyers term a consideration or, the venal practice
;
once that the clergy should retain un-

established,
impaired either their ideal of sanctity or their sense
of independence. Leo allowed his attention to be
diverted from ecclesiastical reform by his ill conceived
and worse executed schemes for the expulsion of the
Normans from Italy. He died, 19 April, 1054, without

effecting more than a temporary and trifling ameli-
oration of the condition of the Church. His successor,
Victor II. (Gebhard of Eichstadt), had larger and bolder
views. prohibiting the alienation of the Church's
By
lands to the laity he did something to retard her further
secularisation nay, he even compelled the restitution
;
of certain of the already secularised fiefs. His pontifi-

cate, however, lasted little more than two years; and
that of his successor, Stephen IX., hardly eight months.
It was for an ecclesiastic of the true Italian
type, wise
as a serpent, if hardly as harmless as a dove ;
austere as
an anchorite, yet accomplished in worldly affairs ; proud
by nature as a fallen
archangel, yet humbly self-
forgetting in the service of the Church; sharp-eyed
as a lynx; stealthy-footed as a panther; patient,
unerring as a sleuth-hound ;
staunch and tenacious as
a Spanish bulldog it was for Hildebrand of Sovana,
for all his northern name and Cluniac training a Tuscan
of Tuscans, and moreover a man of the people, 1 that

it was reserved to initiate, and for a quarter of a
century to control, the only policy that could redeem
the Church from her secular bondage.
Subdeacon to Gregory VI. and Leo IX., also Abbot
of St. Paul's at Rome, legate to the Imperial Court on
the death of Leo IX. in 1054, legate of his successor,
Victor II., at the Councils of Lyon and Tours (against
simony and the heresy of Berengar) in the following

year, legate again in Germany in 1057, Hildebrand had
seen much, meditated deeply, and already matured his
plans, when the death of Stephen IX. (1058) gave him

the long -looked -for opportunity of putting them in
execution.By an adroit stroke he united both the
Empress Agnes and her mortal enemy, Godfrey of
Lorraine, Marquis of Tuscany, against the Roman
1
His descent from the aristocratic Aldobrandeschi is merely an
etymological fable.
16
CHURCH AND STATE
baronial faction, which in haste, in arms, and at dead
of night had intruded the Cardinal-bishop of Velletri,
John Mincio, a scion of the consular Crescentian House,

into the chair of St. Peter, drove him from Rome, and set
in his place one whom

he knew he could control, Gerard,
Bishop of Florence, who took the style of Nicolas II.
Under Hildebrand's inspiration, Nicolas inaugurated
his pontificateby the memorable decree (passed at a
council held in the Lateran, in April, 1059) by which
the right of voting at papal elections was restricted to
the cardinal-bishops. The general body of the clergy
and people of Rome were thus deprived of their ancient
and long-abused franchise for, though their right of
;
approbation was expressly reserved, this was as far as

possible from carrying with it the power of veto. The
" "
honour due to the Emperor also received verbal
recognition, but in effect was reduced to a mere form.
Henceforth he had no colour of constitutional right to
influence the deliberations of the Sacred College, or
overrule its choice. For the rest, the Pope was, if
possible, to be chosen from the bosom
gremio) of the
(e
Roman Church, but need not be elected within the
walls of the city. The future independence of the
Holy See thus secured, so far as decree and anathema
could secure it, against secular dictation or influence,
the Pope provided for his own security by an alliance

with the Norman masters of Southern Italy, whose
lances formed his bodyguard. By this bold and astute
policy Hildebrand laid the basis of that future exalta-

tion of the Papacy by which, and which alone, the
Church was enabled to fulfil her mission of guardian of
the liberties, and nurse of the renascent intellectual and
spiritual life of Europe.

B 17
For the dark age, having reached its darkest, was
now passing away. The heathen
inundation had spent
its strength the hordes of grim warriors from the far
:
north, lately the terror, were now the bulwark of the

Church ;
and a new and nobler spirit, born of long
centuries of agony, was stirring the
strife, suffering,
mind of Western Christendom to its inmost depths.
The monasteries were throwing off their sloth, new
religious houses were being founded, especially in

Normandy, already distinguished by that devoutness
which it has retained to our own day. The Abbeys of
Jumi&ges, of Conches, of Fecamp, of Mont St. Michel,
of St. Wandrille at Fontanelle on the Seine, near Rouen,
of St. Amand within, of Ste. Catherine or La Trinite"
du Mont, and St. Ouen, without the walls of that

famous city, of Grestain, near Lisieux, of Le Bee,
Bernay and Cormeilles, between Rouen and Lisieux,
of St. Evroult, between Laigle and Argentan, of St.
Leufroy, between Evreux and Gaillon, of St. Pierre
sur Dives, near Troarn, were all restored, reformed, or
founded during the latter half of the tenth, or the first
half of the eleventh century. And with the revival

of religion came also the intellectual renaissance.
From Pavia Lanfranc carried to Avranches, and thence
toLe Bee, a mind disciplined by the exact study of the
civil law and the Latin classics, to find many an eager
and apt pupil among the northern barbarians. At
Tours, the spirit of Scotus Erigena lived again in the
hardy rationalism of Berengar, which spared not even
the profound mystery of the Blessed Sacrament. In
France, in Burgundy, in Aquitaine, schools of learning
sprang up as if by magic.
18
CHAPTER II.
THE ABBEY OF STE. MARIE DU BEC
of Ste. Marie du Bee (St. Mary of the

Abbey
THE Stream) owed its origin to the piety of a Norman
knight of high degree and distinguished prowess
Herlwin, son of Ansgot. On the father's side he
boasted descent from the first Danish settlers in the
duchy ; through his mother, Eloisa, he was closely

related to the Counts of Flanders. In grateful recogni-
tion of a signal deliverance from imminent peril of
death on the field of battle, he had made a vow, while
yet in the prime of life, to devote the rest of his days

and having, not without difficulty, obtained
to religion,
the consent of his immediate feudal superior, Count
Gilbert of Brionne, had built, on his own upland estate
of Burneville, now Bonneville-Appetot, a few miles
north-east of Brionne, a lowly house for monks of the
order of St. Benedict. The house was dedicated to
the Blessed Virgin in 1034, by Herbert, Bishop of
Lisieux and there Herlwin, with his brother-in-law,
;
Baldric of Servaville, and a few more of his old
companions-in-arms, took the cowl and set up his

rest. In 1037 ne received priest's orders, and the style
and title of abbot.
The of the monastery was ill-chosen, for the
site
upland was dry as a desert, and some miles distant

'9
from the nearest river, the gentle Rille, which, after
washing Brionne, winds its meandering course by Pont

Authou, Montfort, and Pont Audemer to the sea near
Honfleur. Near Pont Authou the Rille is joined, on
the right by a tiny tributary, which purls
bank,
pleasantly between two uplands clad with spruce and
larch from its source at St. Martin du Pare, a few
miles to the south-east ; and, by reason of its insignifi-
cance, has received no other than the common

appellative of Le Bee
(beck, or brook). For all its
insignificance, however, the beck has had its history,
and one which is not likely to be forgotten. For when
Herlwin and his monks, tired at last of living on such
scanty provender, mostly vegetarian, as could be wrung
from their inhospitable domain, and of fetching their
daily supply of water from a distant spring, began to
think of shifting their quarters, they pitched, as if
beguiled by the cruel spite of some malicious fairy,

but, in fact, for the very prosaic reason that no better
site was available, on some land belonging to Herlwin
on the right bank of the Bee, hard by its confluence
with the Rille. By so doing they exchanged a desert
for a swamp. Nothing daunted, however, the sturdy
Normans plied their rude mason's craft with strong
hands and willing hearts, and in the early spring of
1040 took possession of their new Abbey of St. Mary

of the Stream, a quadrangular structure of mud and
flint, extremely primitive, but containing within its
circuit provision for the needs, spiritual and temporal,
of some three score souls.

To the north and south-east of the abbey rose the
two uplands which enclose the little gorge of the Bee;
to the west, beyond the Rille towards Lisieux, stretched
20
a dense forest infested by bears, wolves, and marauders,
but of these the stout Norman monks had probably
little fear ;
and on one occasion the outlaws did them
unwittingly a signal service. It chanced that, in 1042,
Lanfranc was on his way from Avranches to Rouen,
when one of these gangs surprised him as he drew
near Le Bee, robbed him of all he had, tied his hands
behind his back, drew his hood over his eyes, thrust
him into a dense thicket, and there abandoned him to
his fate. Night fell, and he would fain have broken
the awful silence with a chant; but, rack his memory
as he might, not a canticle, not a verse, could he recall.
Conscience -stricken that, in his pursuit of secular
learning, he should so shamefully have neglected his

Maker, he vowed thenceforth to devote himself, body
and soul, to His service for the rest of his life, should
life be spared him.
So passed the night, and the freshening breeze of the
early dawn bore with it the glad sound of human voices.
Lanfranc made himself heard, and was released by the
wayfarers, who, in response to his request to be shown
the way to the lowliest house of prayer in the neigh-
bourhood, guided his steps to the Abbey of St. Mary

of the Stream. There, after a rigorous novitiate of
three years passed in almost total silence, he took the
cowl, and soon afterwards was made prior. Concerning

Lanfranc's life at Le Bee we have little authentic
information, and it is idle to attempt to supply the
void by conjecture. But it must have been there that
he meditated the argument for transubstantiation (after-
wards developed in his Liber de Corpore et Sanguine
Domini) with which, at the Councils of Rome and
Vercelli (1050), he crushed for the nonce the incipient
21
heresy of Berengar, and established his reputation as
the champion of Catholic orthodoxy and we know ;
that there and at the larger house, which was after-
wards up the stream, he gathered about

built higher
him from near and far such a goodly band of scholars
as, with the elite of the monks, transformed the abbey
into a seat of learning and an arena of intellectual
gymnastics. Conspicuous among these early alumni of
Le Bee are his nephew and namesake, his and Herlwin's
devoted friends Roger and William, the future Abbots
of Saint Wandrille, Lessay and Cormeilles, Paul, his
kinsman, and Henry, who will carry the light of sound
learning and true religion, the one to St. Albans, to
live in the pages of Matthew Paris, the other to Canter-
bury and Battle; Yves of Beauvais, Latinist and civilian,

Abbot of St. Quentin and Bishop of Chartres that is to
be ; Ernost, Gundulf, and Ralph, destined each in turn
to wear the mitre at Rochester, the last also at Canter-
bury ;
Gilbert Crispin, in whom Herlwin will find a
biographer, and Westminster an abbot, William Bonne

Ame, the future Archbishop of Rouen, and Guitmund,
champion of orthodoxy no less stout than Lanfranc,
who will shepherd unruly sheep in the new Normandy
carved out by the sword of Rainulf beyond the Gari-

gliano :* also a keen-witted Milanese, Anselm of Baggio,
who will live to wear the tiara, but not to forget his old
master and another and much younger Anselm, who,
;
2
when Lanfranc took the cowl, was still being painfully

1
Author of a treatise De Corporis et Sanguinis Christi Veritate in
Eucharistia ; afterwards Bishop of Aversa.

3 II. in
Anselm of Baggio, Bishop of Lucca, succeeded Nicolas 1061,
and assumed the title of Alexander II. He
Pope when, ten
was still
years later, Lanfranc, as Archbishop-elect of Canterbury,

came to sue for
the pallium. Alexander received him standing, honouring thereby, as he
22
initiated in the mysteries of the trivium in secluded Val
d'Aosta, little dreaming that he would one day be
the pupil and friend of the great Pavian in the distant
Norman abbey, and later on his successor in the chair of
St. Augustine.
In course of time became evident that the little
it
abbey must be replaced by a more capacious structure.

A new site, bequeathed by Count Gilbert of Brionne,
about a mile higher up the valley and on the same bank
of the stream, was in every way eligible, being provided
in the rear with a goodly extent of woodland or park,
and sheltered by the uplands of the narrowing gorge ;
and there in the spring of 1058 was founded, with no

little pomp and ceremony, the historic Abbey of Le Bee,
destined to grow in after years into one of the stateliest
and wealthiest of the religious houses of the West. It
took some three years to make it even habitable ;
for
Lanfranc's taste, as became a Pavian, was for the majestic

and magnificent and the spacious and beautiful church
;
was not completed till 1074. The solemn function of

its Lady was performed by
dedication to our Blessed
Lanfranc, then Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and the Bishops of Lisieux,
Evreux, Se"ez, and Le Mans, and in presence of a vast
concourse of Norman nobility, on 23 Oct., 1077.
The abbey was endowed by Herlwin with the third
part of the manors of Burneville, Quevilly, and Surcy,
and the entire manor of Cernay sur Orbec and its
dependencies ;
and by degrees other domains were
graciously observed, not the archbishop, but the master, at whose feet he
had sat, and to whom he owed what he had of learning. He then gave
Lanfranc two pallia, one as the symbol of investiture, the other that which
he was himself accustomed to wear in saying mass, as a token of regard ;
and at the same time named him Primate of all Britain.
23
added with rights of lordship and patronage over
parishes too numerous to detail. The abbey also put
forth not a few offshoots, dependent priories, or cells,
not only in Normandy and France, as those of St. Pierre
de Cauchy in the diocese of Amiens, Ste. Honorine de
Conflans in the diocese of Paris, and St. Pierre de Pon-
toise; but also in England, at Okeburn and Brixton
Deverill, in Wiltshire at Ruislip, in Middlesex
;
at ;
Dunton, in Essex ;
at
Balham, Streatham, Tooting
Bee, in Surrey ;
at Great Blakenham and Stoke by
Clare, in Suffolk ;
at Hoo and Preston Beckhelwyne, in
Sussex; at Steventon, in Berkshire; at Winchcombe,
in Oxfordshire; at St. Neot's, in Huntingdonshire;
at Povington, in
Dorset; at Weedon- on -the -Street,
Northamptonshire at Chester (St Werburg)

; ;
and at
1
Wivelsford, in Lincolnshire.
The jingling refrain, long current in Normandy
" De quelque part que le vent vente
L'Abbaye du Bee a rente,"
attests the impression made on
the popular imagination
by these widely-extended seigneurial rights. Most of

these estates continued attached to the abbey until the
suppression of alien priories in 1414.

The abbey had also not a few illustrious benefactors,
among them William the Conqueror's Queen Matilda ;
his nephew, William of Mortain and the Empress ;
Maud, who found her last earthly resting-place in the

sanctuary of its church (Sept., 1167).
At Le Bee the monks wore a white habit; but
except in this and a few other minor particulars, noted
in Martdne's monumental work, De Antiquis Ritibus
Ecclesiae (ed. 1788), their rule did not deviate from
1
DUGDALE, Monasticon, ed. 1830, vi. 1067.
24
THE ABBEY OF STE. MARIE BU EEC
the ordinary Benedictine type. 1 The following sketch
of the constitution and customs of the abbey may
therefore be hazarded, without risk of serious error.
The constitution was essentially feudal ;
the abbot,
though in the first instance he derived his authority
from the consent of the community, became upon
election and consecration as absolute lord and master
in the house as any baron in his castle. None might sit
in his presence except by his express permission. If
during the day he chanced to nod, none might wake him

except in case of urgent need. His word was law,
his hint a command. His very mistakes in grammar
or quantity were privileged from correction even by
his prior, though he were the greatest scholar of the
age. If, e.g.
y Herlwin took Lanfranc to task for pro-
nouncing the verb docere with the second e long,
alleging that it should be short, Lanfranc would not
dream of disputing the point, but would bow his head,
and accommodate his pronunciation to the ignorance
of his superior.
When
a postulant for reception into the fraternity
presented himself, the monks assembled in the chapter-
house, under the presidency of the abbot, of whom the
postulant, standing near the door and bowing low,
craved pardon (venia) for his intrusion. Then ensued
a brief dramatic dialogue, as follows :
Abbot. Quid dicis ? What have you to say ?

Postulant. Dei misericordiam et vestram miserationem
1
Only a few fragments of the archives of the abbey survived its sack,
and almost total demolition, during the first French Revolution. The
ruins have been converted into cavalry barracks.
Cf. the History of the
Royal Abbey of Bee, near Rouen, in Normandy, translated from the
French of BOURGET by J. Nichols, London, 1779, 8vo ; and the ABBE
POREE'S VAbbaye du Bee et ses Ecoles, Evreux, 1892, 8vo.
25
vestramque societatem volo habere. I crave the mercy of
God, and your compassion, and association with you.

Abbot. Noster Dominus det tibi societatem electorum
suorum. Our Lord grant you association with His elect.
The Monks. Amen.
The postulant would then throw himself at the

abbot's feet, rise and retire to his former position at
the entrance of the chapter-house, where the rule would
be read to him, and its rigour duly explained, that he
might know exactly what the vow he proposed to take

would involve.
On his promising obedience, the abbot would say to
him, "Deus sic in te quod promittis perficiat ut ad
aeternam vitam pervenire merearis"; and the monks
would respond, "Amen."
postulant would then make another obeisance,
The
be conducted to the church, and after kneeling for a
time at one of the altars, be duly shaven and arrayed
in the white robe of a novice. At the close of his
period of probation, if he desired, and was thought

"
worthy to be professed," he would be conducted by
the master of the novices, chanting the Miserere mei y
and attended by a brother bearing a cowl and hood, to

the church during the office of tierce, the congregation
joining in the Miserere mei^ while the novice approached

the gospel side of the altar, and there prostrated himself.
At the conclusion of the psalm he would rise, make his
profession in an audible voice, and lay it in writing
upon the altar. He would then say thrice, "Suscipe me,
Domine, secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam, et non
confundas me ab expectatione mea"; accompanying the
words with a deep genuflexion, which done he would
again prostrate himself. A special office would then
26
follow, concluding with the chanting of the Vent
Creator Spiritus; during which the novice would rise,
be sprinkled with holy water, habited with cowl and
hood, and blessed and kissed by the abbot. He would
then set the seal on his profession by the reception
of the Blessed Sacrament.
The monastery was marshalled under two
staff of the
priors, major and minor, who, as the abbot's

lieutenant
and sublieutenant, had command of the circumitores, a
sort of domestic police, at whose head they patrolled
the buildings and demesne, and who were primarily
responsible for the security of the house and the main-

tenance of order and discipline. Next below them
ranked the cantor, or precentor, who acted as dean and
librarian the library at Le Bee, at the beginning of
the twelfth century, contained between one and two
hundred volumes, comprising not only the principal
works of the great Fathers and canonists of the Western
Church, but some at least of the masterpieces of classi-
cal Latinity. Then came the sacristan, who had charge

of that specially appertained to the church and the
all
sacred offices the camerarius, or chamberlain, and the

;
cellarius, who
presided respectively over the dormitory
and refectory; the latter a functionary whose importance
was evidently felt to be out of all proportion to his
rank, for St. Benedict's rule expressly provides that he
"
is to be discreet, of formed character, not much given
to eating, sober, of a quiet, peaceable disposition, neither
chary nor lavish, but a God-fearing man, and, as it were,

a father to the entire community."
Finally, there was a magister puerorum, who had
charge of the youth who were sent to the monastery to
be taught the rudiments of learning, besides several
27
minor officials, as the infirmarius, almoner, and ostiarius,
whose names sufficiently indicate their functions.

The routine of the day was distributed into periods
of about three hours each by the recitation of the
canonical consisting of psalms, lections, and

offices,
prayers, beginning with matins in the small hours of

the morning, and ending at midnight with nocturns.
The intermediate offices were distinguished as prime
(after sunrise), tierce (the third hour from sunrise),

sext
(noon), none (3 p.m.), and vespers (before sunset), fol-

lowed, after a short interval, by compline. Mass was
said twice daily, after prime and tierce. After the first
mass in summer, during the rest of the year after the
second, the monks assembled the chapter -house,
in
to hear a lecture on some portion of the rule of St.

Benedict or Holy Scripture, and dispose of any case
of discipline that might have arisen. The rest of the
forenoon was divided between the hard manual labour
which formed an integral part of the rule, and study.
Breakfast (prandium), which none were permitted to
anticipate, was taken at sext in the summer; during

the rest of the year was deferred until none. In
the summer community took a brief afternoon
also the
siesta in the dormitory, during which such as were not
inclined for sleep might read. Dinner (coena) was
taken between vespers and compline. During both
breakfast and dinner silence was preserved, broken
only by the voice of one of the monks, who read a

passage from some edifying work. All otherwise un-
occupied intervals in the day were devoted to lectures,
private study, and the transcription or correction of
MSS. in the cloister or chapter-house, according to the
season. After compline the monks, in strict silence,
28
filed off to the dormitory, to rest until summoned to
the church for nocturns; which ended, they returned

to sleep the sleep of the just, until roused by the
matin-bell for the prayer and labour of the ensuing
day.
In ordinary, though frivolous talk was discouraged,
silence was not obligatory, and conversation was prob-
ably pretty lively after meals in the refectory or cloister.

For the rest, the monks, in the strongest possible sense,
had things in common, even the least trifle which
all
any of them might find vesting at once in the com-

munity. They could not quit the precincts of the
abbey without leave ; they were bound to yield implicit
obedience to superior orders, unless (absit omen /) mani-
festly contrary to thelaw of God, in which case they
were equally bound to disobey them at all costs they ;
were bound to confess to their superiors, and to no one

else ;
to assist with due decorum at all canonical offices
and masses ;
to observe the canonical feasts and fasts ;
to be diligent in all matters of obligation ;

and to
practise the virtue of humility in all its degrees. Dis-
was rigorously enforced by corporal punishment
cipline
in the chapter-house, in the presence of the entire
community by excommunication in very grave cases ;

;
and, in the event of obdurate contumacy, by expulsion.

Cook there was none, nor need for any. The staff
of life, washed down with a little thin wine, or more
probably Normandy cider, and supplemented by a few
pulmentaria apparently omelettes prepared by the
monks in turn, constituted their ordinary diet.
When one of the monks fell ill, he was removed to
the infirmary, to be there tended with such rude skill as
the brother in charge could command. When death
29
became imminent, and the last sacraments had been
administered, the last kiss of peace given and received,
a mat of hair cloth was laid on the floor, upon which
the outline of the cross was traced with ashes. The
dying man was then laid thereon, while the monks,
obedient to the urgent summons of the gong, gathered
from near and far around him, chanting in low tones
the Nicene Creed, that, fortified by their countenance
and prayers, their brother might depart in peace.
When life was extinct, the corpse was carefully washed,
incensed, sprinkled with holy water, reclothed in the
habit it had worn life, and buried with great solemnity
in
in the church. For thirty days after the funeral mass

was said daily for the repose of the soul of the deceased.
Besides the trivium and quadrivium, or seven liberal

i.e. grammar, or the whole
arts mystery of reading and
writing as taught by Priscian and Donatus rhetoric, ;
as expounded by Cicero and Quinctilian ; logic, or
dialectic, in which the great authorities were Boethius

and Porphyry on the Organon and Categories of
Aristotle and the Topics of Cicero; music, i.e. the
traditional and fanciful harmonics of the period and ;
arithmetic, plain geometry and astronomy, with Isidore

of Seville, Gerbert, and the elder Pliny for guides the
studies of the monks included a systematic course of
literae humaniores and theology, based upon the Latin
classics and the works of St. Augustine and Alcuin,
with the rudiments, though probably no more than the

rudiments, of Greek, canon and civil law, and medicine.
No wonder, then, that the fame of Lanfranc and his
"profound sophists" and "egregious doctors" spread
far and wide, until Le Bee became the veritable focus
of the renascent energies of Western Christendom.
30
CHAPTER III.
ST. ANSELM EARLY YEARS IN VAL D'AOSTA
year which saw the foundation of the lowly

THE retreat at Burneville, which was to prove the
nidus of the famous Abbey of Le Bee, saw also the
birth, in the ancient city of Aosta, in the heart of the

Graian Alps, of a child who was destined in after-life
to link his fortunes with those both of Herlwin and of
Lanfranc, and to make good a threefold title to immor-

tality as saint, sage, and victor in one of the most
memorable of the conflicts recorded in the stormy
history of the Church. He came into the world at the

close of a period of widespread grievous dearth, and
amid the mustering of hosts, if not the clash of arms ;
for in 1034, Val which had long been a veritable
d' Aosta,
no man's land, or land of all men a bone of inter-

minable contention between the German Emperors, the
Kings of Italy and Transjuran Burgundy, and the fierce
Saracenic hordes which, in the tenth century, penetrated

even into the fastnesses of the Alps, became the theatre
of a sanguinary struggle between Odo of Champagne
and Humbert the White-handed, and by the victory of
the latter passed definitively under the dominion of the
House of Savoy. This child, with whose history we
shall now be principally concerned, was Anselm the
name is said to signify God's helmonly son of Gundulf,
31
a Lombard, by his wife Ermenberg. His birth took
place at some date not precisely determinable, between
21 April, 1033, and 21 April, 1034. Of the lineage and
social condition of his parents little is known, except
that both were of gentle birth (nobiliter nati) and
good substance. In after-years, Anselm was acknow-
ledged a blood relation by
as Humbert II., Count
of Maurienne, a descendant of Humbert the White-
handed, who, by his marriage with Anchilia, sister of
Udelrico II., Count of the Valais, had acquired fiefs
in Val d'Aosta. There also Ermenberg held fiefs in
her own right, including, in all probability, the manor
of Gressan, at the foot of the Becca di Nona, where a
massive keep, which may or may not date from the
eleventh century, is still known as the Tower of St.
Anselm. 1 It is, therefore, not unlikely that Ermenberg
belonged to a branch of the House of Valais. She
had two brothers, Lambert and Folcerad, both reverendi
domini, canons in all probability of St. Ours, in Aosta ;
and, as names run in families, it may be presumed that

Bishop Anselm, of Aosta, who died in 1025, was also
related to her.
The clue to Gundulf s family connections has yet to
be discovered. 2 But, whoever he was, it is evident that
1
That this was not Anselm's birthplace is, however, certain. Eadmer
states explicitly that he was born in the city of Aosta, which, by the
utmost latitude of interpretation, could not include the manor of Gressan.
Equally untrustworthy is the tradition which assigns the house No. 4, Via
S. Anselmo, in the Borgo S. Orso, as the place in which he first saw the
light. (Cf. Life and Times of St. Anselm^ i. 4.)
RULE,
2
The pedigrees constructed for Gundulf and Ermenberg by the Abbe"
Croset-Mouchet, S. Anselme d'Aoste Archevtyue de Canterbury, Paris,
1859, and Mr. MARTIN RULE, Life and Times of St. Anselm, London,
1883, are more ingenious than plausible. Cf. II Conte Umberto /. e il Re
Ardoino, by DOMENICO CARUTTI, Rome, 1888.
32
EARLY YEARS IN VAL D'AOSTA
he was Ermenberg's equal in wealth and social status,
a prosperous Lombard gentleman, large-hearted, and
open-handed almost to a fault, with a fund of shrewd
worldly sense and a strong will. Ermenberg was a
faithful wife, a thrifty housewife, and a model of all
the Christian virtues and graces. Besides Anselm, this
worthy pair had one other child, a daughter named
Richera, Anselm's junior by some years. When we
add that Anselm had two cousins, Peter and Folcerad,
nephews of Ermenberg, and two consanguinei, Aimon
and Rainald, probably nephews of Gundulf, we exhaust
all that is positively known about his kith and kin.
The Benedictine Abbey of Fructuaria, in Piedmont,

had established early in the eleventh century a de-
pendent priory at Aosta, and this we conjecture to

have been the place of Anselm's early education.
There he would be grounded, probably not without
much suffering, in the three liberal arts of grammar,
rhetoric, and dialectic. What more he may have learned
we know not but in these, his subsequent eminence,
;
both as a Latinist and a logician, attests the soundness

of the instruction he received.
The want of fraternal companionship and rivalry
was, doubtless, not without its influence in moulding
Anselm's character. From the first he appears to have
been a shy, recluse child, caring play, an apt
little for
scholar, and much given to dreaming about mysteries

beyond his years. From Ermenberg's lips he early
heard so much of the sublime verities of religion as
was suited to his apprehension and in his childlike
;
faith he supposed that the heaven of which she spoke

tohim must surely lie somewhere above the fantastically-
domed and pinnacled Alpine walls of his native valley
C 33
perhaps beyond the rent ice-fretted bastions of Val-
grisanche, where nightly, in weird splendour, the sun
makes his pavilion ;
so that could he but climb so high,
he might even find hisway to the palace of the Great
King. And so full was his mind of this quest, that one
night he dreamed that he made the ascent, and actually

found the palace, and the King there alone with His
chief butler; for it was autumn, and He had sent His
servants out to gather in the harvest. And the King
called him, and he went and sat down at His feet ;
and
the King talked with him graciously and familiarly,
and bade the chief butler bring the whitest of bread, so
that he ate and was refreshed in His presence.
This dream made
a lasting impression on Anselm's
mind; and before he was fifteen he felt that he had a

vocation to the religious life, and opened the matter to
a friendly abbot. The
however, was extremely
idea,
distasteful to Gundulf, and the abbot dared not coun-
tenance the boy in thwarting his father's wishes. In
his distress Anselm prayed for ill-health, that Gundulf
might concede to his infirmity what he refused to his
devotion. He fell ill, but recovered ;
and Gundulf re-
mained as obdurate as before. Years passed, Ermenberg

died, Anselm became a man, and his religious fervour,
which had doubtless been fed by his mother, languished
for a time, to revive in greater intensity than ever, and
to encounter from Gundulf a still more determined
opposition. At last became evident to him that he

it
must act for himself. So in the early summer, probably,

of 1057, w i tn a single clerk for his companion and
servant, and an ass to carry the few necessaries for the

journey, he bade adieu to Aosta, with the intention of
placing the great barrier of the Alps between himself
34
EARLY YEARS IN VAL D'AOSTA
and his past. Instead, however, of taking the direct
route into Burgundy by the Little St. Bernard, or cross-
ing into the Rhone valley by the Great St. Bernard, the
fugitives, for some unexplained reason, bent their steps
towards the Mont Cenis. This, unless Anselm were a
much better mountaineer than his cloistered education
renders at all likely, involved a descent into Italy as far
as Ivrea, if not Turin ;
and by the time our adventurers
reached the top of the pass, their stock of provisions
was, as they supposed, exhausted. Worn out with
with hunger, and mad with thirst, Anselm
fatigue, faint
threw himself on the snow, and thrust some handfuls of
it into his mouth. His servant, meanwhile, made a last
despairing scrutiny of the provision wallet, when lo to !
hisunbounded surprise, what was it that gleamed from

its inmost recess but a loaf of the whitest wheaten
bread, which happy accident or, as perhaps simple
faith suggested, providential interposition had placed
there as in fulfilment of Anselm's early dream, that,
therewith refreshed, he might pursue his journey
towards the spiritual Canaan of which he was in
search ?
35
CHAPTER IV.
ANSELM AT LE EEC HIS RELATIONS WITH

LANFRANC
Anselm's movements we have now for nearly

OF three years no detailed record.
lived, He
apparently, the life of the roving scholar so dear to
the adventurous spirits of the Middle Ages. How
precious would have been a journal of these Wander-
jahre Anselm's own carelessly-jotted notes of a journey
through Burgundy, France, and Normandy, in the years
of grace 1057-9, showing how he got his bread, the
hostelries and monasteries at which he slept, the ad-
ventures he met with, the manifold and ever-changing
incidents of a life entirely strange to him. But, alas !
we are left own poor guesses, or those of our

to our
predecessors, without so much as a bare itinerary to

guide us. That he visited Lyon we may take for
granted; for it is morally certain that his first desti-
nation was Cluny, then in the height of its fame and ;
no traveller from Aosta to Cluny by the Mont Cenis

could well avoid
passing through Lyon. We may
conjecture also, with Mr. Rule, that after admiring the
pristine severity of the monastic life as lived at Cluny,
he passed to contemplate the still more rigorous aus-
36
ANSELM AT LE EEC
terities practised by the monks of St. Benignus at Dijon ;
nor can we readily suppose that he failed to visit Paris.

All that is recorded, however,is that by a devious
route through Burgundy and France he made his way

to the scene of Lanfranc's earlier labours, Avranches,
on the confines of Normandy and Brittany where, ;
doubtless, he laid the basis of the close and enduring
friendship with its young Count, Hugh the Wolf,

afterwards Earl of Chester, which was to exert a
determining influence in the most critical epoch of
his subsequent career and that from Avranches,
;
probably in the autumn of 1059, he passed to Le Bee

to seek and gain admission as one of Lanfranc's
pupils.
Lanfranc was then nearing the zenith of his fame.
Loyal and devout Normandy was overjoyed at
his recent return from Rome with the dispensation
needful to release her from the interdict which the
uncanonical marriage of her Duke had brought upon
her. 1
Duke William soon be King, and Matilda Queen,

will
of England, and Lanfranc, Abbot of the noble monastery

of St. Stephen, which their penitence will found at Caen,
whence he will pass to Canterbury. It is not
given to
Anselm to foreshorten the future ;
but of the canonical
impediment to the union of the Duke and Duchess;
1
The theory adopted by Freeman (Norman Conquest iii. 85), that the
',
impediment in the way of William's marriage with Matilda was no less

than that she was the wife of another man, was eventually abandoned
by him. (Engl. Hist. Rev., Oct. 18, '88.) The spuriousness of the
charters in which William of Warenne describes Matilda as his wife's
mother, and William the Conqueror recognises Gundrada as his daughter,

is now generally acknowledged. William was in the fifth degree of
descent from Rollo, from whom it is probable that Matilda was also
descended within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity.
37
of the interdict; of Lanfranc's mission to Rome to
sue for its removal ;
of his success of all this he has
heard, for it is matter of common notoriety in Nor-
mandy. Doubtless, also, he has heard of Lanfranc's
dialecticaltriumphs over Berengar at Vercelli, Rome,
and Tours, and of the vast stores of erudition which
he is reported to have brought with him from Pavia.
It is therefore, we may suppose, with no small
trepidation that he stands

in presence of the great
master in the hall of the stately abbey which has

risen, as if by magic, by the side of the little Norman
stream.
He has little real cause for fear, however ;
for
Lanfranc too good a judge of character to be blind
is
to the fine qualities, mental and spiritual, of his new
pupil. Moreover, they are both strangers in these

northern wilds ;
to both the Latin speech, the traditions
of Latin culture, are native. Neither can fail to feel
a certain instinctive contempt, tempered only by
fine Italian courtesy, for the barbarians among whom
his lot is cast. No
wonder, then, that, notwithstanding
age and learning, an unusual degree
their disparity in
of sympathy bound the two men together from the
first. Months passed, months of true guidance on
Lanfranc's part, and on Anselm's of loving obedience,
intense study, rigorous asceticism, profound meditation,
earnest prayer. Then came tidings of Gundulf's death,
and Anselm felt that he must now make the decisive
act of will on which the tenor of his future life de-
pended. He had thoughts of returning to Aosta,

there to live on his patrimony, in the world yet not of
it, devoted to good works ; thoughts also of secluding
himself in a hermitage. On the other hand, ambition
38
ANSELM AT LE BEC
prompted him to take the cowl at some house where
his learning might show to better advantage than at
Le Bee; while humility bade him remain where he

was, eclipsed by the lustre of Lanfranc's fame. In his
perplexity he naturally had recourse to Lanfranc, and

Lanfranc referred the difficult case of conscience to
the decision of the venerable Maurille, Archbishop of
Rouen. The archbishop pronounced emphatically in
favour of the monastic humility having

life, and,
triumphed over ambition, Anselm, in the year 1060,
entered upon his novitiate at Le Bee, and soon after-
wards took the irrevocable vow.
Two years later Lanfranc quitted Le Bee to take
charge of the Abbey of St. Stephen, recently founded
at Caen by Duke William, in pursuance of the pledge
given on occasion of the recognition of his marriage by

the Holy See, and Anselm thereupon succeeded to the
vacant priorate.
His elevation was ill-received by not a few of the
monks, and it needed all the address, graciousness, and
firmness of which he was capable, to establish his
ascendancy over them. He succeeded, however, in the
end, not merely in gaining their respect, but in com-
and, on
pletely winning their affection, nay, devotion
;
the death of Herlwin, 26 August, 1078, yielded, with
unfeigned reluctance, to the unanimous and reiterated

vote of the fraternity, and was installed abbot in his
room.
He was consecrated by Gilbert, Bishop of Evreux, on
the Feast of St. Peter's Chair at Antioch, 22 February,
1078-9, having first received investiture of the tem-

poralities from William the Conqueror, at Brionne,
by the delivery of the crosier.
39
His ascendancy was but the natural result of the
singular fascination of his character a fascination
which subdued even the Conqueror the charm of a

personality in which sanctity and sagacity, sweetness
and light, gentleness and strength, were harmoniously
blended, and which wrought like a spell upon all who
came in contact with it, from the raw lad whom he
initiated in the mysteries of the Latin grammar, or

the novice fighting his first battle with the flesh, to
the oldest and most opinionative brother in the house.
In sickness he nursed them with the tenderness of a
mother ;
on all occasions of doubt, difficulty, or distress,
he was their unfailing counsellor and guide while the
;
example of his own life of stern self -discipline and

ceaseless activity, spoke to them more eloquently than
words. Day and night he was ever occupied teaching,
reproving, exhorting, studying, expounding the Holy
Scriptures or the Fathers, administering the temporal
affairs of the monastery, giving counsel, or correcting
manuscripts.
No wonder, then, that Anselm came to be regarded
by not a few of his subordinates rude, half-tamed
Northmen as most of them were as almost a being of
another sphere, and that signs and wonders attended him
in all he did. As he stood in prayer in the dark chapter-
house before the ordinary hour of vigil, a mystic light

was observed to play around him. As he
lay sleepless
in bed, pondering how the prophets discerned the future
as if it were present, lo through the wall which divided
!
the dormitory from the oratory, he saw the brothers
going to and fro about the altar lighting the candles,

and otherwise making ready for matins, and ceased
to marvel how He who had made the solid wall
40
ANSELM AT LE EEC
transparent should also make the future present. His
clairvoyance extended to matters of creature comfort,
things evidently by no means despised by the good

monks of Le Belated in the woods with one of
Bee.
the brothers, and no better provision for supper than a
little bread and cheese, he had but to give the word,
and forthwith a trout, of such dimensions as had not

been seen in those parts for twenty years, was taken in
the neighbouring stream. On another occasion, when
fish ran short at Walter Tirrel's table, Anselm met his
host's apologies with the assurance that a sturgeon was
even then on its way to the castle ; and the words had
hardly left his lips when two men appeared, bearing as
fine and fresh a sturgeon as had ever swum in the
Autie.
His courage and sanctity were more than a match
for the Prince of Darkness himself. Once, during the
midday siesta, when all was silent in the house, a sick
brother was heard to cry out that two immense wolves

had him in their grip, and were throttling him.
Anselm, who was correcting manuscripts in the cloister,
was at once sent for, and the timid monks shrank

behind him, as, with raised hand, making the sign of
the cross, he entered the infirmary and pronounced the
formula of exorcism, In nomine Patris et Filii et
Spiritus Sancti. As he did so the sick man saw a

forked flame dart from his lips and light upon the
wolves, which straightway vanished into air.
Side by side with these stories, which hardly purport

to be more than the gossip of the cloister, occur two
which Eadmer places in another category. He adduces
the testimony of two monks of Le Bee, men of good
repute (non ignobilis famae) and acknowledged veracity,
41
to the healing of a nobleman from the Flemish marches
by the drinking of a few drops of the water in which

Anselm had washed his hands during mass and that ;
of the venerable Abbot Helias, of La Trinite du Mont,

near Rouen, to the instantaneous and complete dis-
appearance of a swelling in the knee, which had long
defied medical skill, upon occasion of his ordination
by Anselm.
To meanwhile, the saint was as far as
himself,
possible from seeming what he was. No man ever
was more thoroughly penetrated by the sense of his
own unworthiness in the sight of God, his own de-
pendence upon Him, his utter impotence without Him.
No man ever had less of ambition, less of the love
of spiritual ascendancy, or secular authority. Again
and again during his priorate he thought of abandon-
ing the position, of taking refuge in some remote
hermitage. Once he even went so far as to consult
Maurille on the matter. As abbot of the monastery
of Sta. Maria, at Florence, Maurille had had ample
experience of the heavy burden of care and constant

harass incident to the direction of a great religious
house, but he had not shrunk from it himself, and he
was not prevented, by his sympathy with Anselm, from
laying upon him his positive and peremptory injunc-
tion to remain where God had placed him. The death
of Maurille, in 1067, and the translation of Lanfranc
from Caen to Canterbury, in 1070, deprived him of
the two counsellors on whom he could best rely. Lan-
franc'sjourney to Rome for his pallium afforded him,
however, the opportunity of paying Anselm a visit at
Le Bee, and he was there again in the autumn of
1077, when he consecrated the new church. After his
42
ANSELM AT LE EEC
election to the abbacy Anselm was compelled, more
than once, to cross the Channel for the purpose of
inspecting* the English domains of the abbey, and
was thus able to return Lanfranc's visits at Canter-
bury.
In the meantime he kept up a regular correspondence
not only with Lanfranc, but also with Gundulf, Henry,
and Maurice, who either accompanied Lanfranc to
England or joined him there. Maurice was evidently
his favourite pupil, Gundulf his alter ego. There is
also one letter to Ernost, whom Gundulf succeeded in
the See of Rochester, and another to Paul, upon his

preferment to the Abbey of St. Albans. The cor-
respondence attests the close and cordial relations
which subsisted between the writers, but sheds no
lightupon the great public events of the period. Of
the dubious and bloody contest with the imperialist
Antipope Cadalus ofParma, which occupied the

earlier years of the pontificate of Alexander II. ;
of
the long and embittered strife on the question of
clerical celibacy which followed ;
of the election, on
Alexander's death, of Hildebrand, Pope's lord so
long, now at length (22 April, 1073), "by the will

of St. Peter," and amid the universal acclaim of the
Roman clergy and people, Pope Gregory VII.; of
his crusades against the Spanish Saracens, against
simony, and the marriage of the clergy of his ;
schemes for another crusade ;

of his theocratic aims
and claims ; of his prohibition of lay investiture at
the Council of Rome, in February, 1075 of that
;
wild scene in the crypt of Sta. Maria Maggiore, when

the Christmas-eve vigil was broken by the clash of
arms, and the Pope, stunned and bleeding, was hauled

43
by the hair of his head from the sanctuary, hurried
across the silent city to a dungeon in the Parione, to
be delivered thence, on the morrow, by the infuriated
citizens, to stand in the spirit of a primitive Christian
between their vengeance and his persecutors, and to
finish the mass with all the impassive dignity of an
ancient Roman; of his citation of the King of the

Romans to Rome, to answer for his simoniacal prac-
" "
tices and other misfeasances ;
of his deposition by
Henry and his hireling synod at Worms (24 January,
1076) of his counter-deposition and excommunica-
;
tion of the king; of the gradual but steady defection

of the king's adherents of his penitence, self-abase-
;
ment, and submission at Canossa ;

of all this, with
which, during the fifteen years of Anselm's priorate,
all Christendom was ringing, in Anselm's corre-
spondence not a word. Not a word either of Lan-

franc's heroic efforts to revivify the torpid religious
life of England, and in particular to reform the
monasteries on the model of Le Bee ;
not a word
of the rebuilding of St. Albans Abbey, of Rochester
and Canterbury Cathedrals of the vindication of the
;
ancient rights and franchises of the archbishopric
against usurpations of the Conqueror's brother

the
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux of the Conqueror's ecclesias-
;
tical policy not a word.
The last matter, however, must have caused grave

anxiety to both Lanfranc and Anselm. William's
piety was doubtless was the piety of

sincere, but it
a nature essentially despotic. He was not negligent

of the outward observances of religion; he was lavish
of gifts to pious uses he abhorred simony
; and, ;
provided they were Normans, he preferred that the

44
ANSELM AT LE EEC
Church should be served by devout and able men.
But from the first he was determined to rule as
absolutely, not in temporal matters only, but also
the rich heritage which his sword had
in spiritual, in
won, as in his Duchy of Normandy; and no sooner

did he feel himself secure in his new dominion than
he gave practical effect to his will.
He prohibited recourse to, or communication with, the
Holy See without his express consent ; deprived the

synods of their legislative power ;
and to a large extent
the ecclesiastical courts of their independent initiative.

Henceforth no Pope was to be recognised, no excom-
munication decree or canon to have effect, no ecclesias-
which any of the king's barons or servants

tical cause, in
were concerned, to be tried in England without a royal

license. These decrees were probably passed before
1073, when Lanfranc was constrained to decline an
invitation to spend Christmas at Rome, with which
Alexander II. had honoured him. Their tendency
was to rend the English Church from the unity of
Christendom. Lanfranc was, or conceived himself to
be, powerless to arrest the schism, and it was not until
after the event of Canossa that Gregory VII. had leisure

to intervene. He then did so with characteristic vigour.
In 1079 his subdeacon, Cardinal
Hubert, visited
England as
legate, two
bishops from every
cited
diocese to Rome, and demanded of the king prompt
payment of the Peter-pence, which had fallen into

arrear, and an acknowledgment of fealty in redemp-
tion of the pledge which he had given to Alexander,
when on the eve of the invasion of England he had
sought and obtained the Papal blessing on his enter-
prise, and which was represented as amounting to a
45
"
promise to hold the country of God and the Apostle."
Gregory at the same time wrote to Lanfranc, urging
him to do all in his power to secure the success of the
mission.
That Lanfranc loyally obeyed his instructions there
is no reason to doubt; but his fine diplomacy was
thrown away upon the king. " In concert with your
"
legate," he wrote to the Pope, I commended your
propositions my to lord the
king; I tendered my
advice, but I did not succeed in getting it accepted.
(Suasi sed non persuasi.)"

Except in the matter of the Peter-pence, which
William readily promised to make good, the mission
proved an entire failure. The King of England re-
tained no recollection of the promise of fealty which
the Duke of Normandy was said to have made to
Alexander II. ;
and Lanfranc was unable to refresh
his memory. The Norman prelates were by no means
to be induced to quit the realm without his permission,
and that permission was not given. Mistaking the man
with whom he had to deal, Gregory imputed the failure
of the mission to Lanfranc, reproached him with lack
of zeal, and cited him to Rome. But Lanfranc either
dared not or would not defy the king; and, turning a
deaf ear to the Pope's reproaches, he remained at
Canterbury.
It was at this juncture that Abbot Anselm he was
consecrated, be remembered, on the Feast of
it will
St. Peter's chair at Antioch, 22 February, 1079 paid in

the course of the same year his first visit to England.
He landed at Lympne, then a seaport, and rode to
Lyminge, where he was received by Lanfranc.
There he wrote the following letter, which the piety
46
HIS RELATIONS WITH LANFRANC
of the good brethren of Le Bee has happily preserved
for us :
"To his honourable and most dear brothers, who

serve God in the Monastery of Le Bee, their servant
and fellow-servant Anselm. May they ever live holily,
and attain the reward of holy living. Knowing and

the knowledge is of a truth most sweet to me that
your love toward me makes you desire with your whole

hearts intelligence of my safety and well-being, I could
not bear to occasion you the distress of the least delay.
Know, then, that the same day on which at prime

Dom Gerard left me on shipboard, the Divine pro-
tection, in answer to your prayers, brought me at none
to the English shore after a good passage, and with
none of that trouble from which many who fare by sea
are wont to suffer, and permitted me to reach our lord
and father, Archbishop Lanfranc, at eventide, and to be
received by him with joy at his manor, which is named
Lyminge. This I write on the morrow, that I may
satisfy your desire aforesaid, and remind you of your
holy intent to be ever fervent in zeal, and more and

more assiduous in good works. As a brother, therefore,
I pray you as a father, I exhort you, that you study so
;
to live in peace and piety, as becomes good monks, that

both you may reap in beatification the reward of your
diligence,and may one day participate in your joy.
I
May Lord Almighty defend you from all adversity,

the
and show you His mercy by continuing to you health
and happiness of mind and body. Let our mother and
Lady Eva know what, with no less anxiety than you,
she craves to hear concerning her eldest son; and bid
her pray that, as her prayers and yours have obtained
for me a prosperous commencement of the journey
47
you so much dreaded, so they may secure for me a
1
joyous restoration to you in joy.
From Lyminge to Canterbury is no long ride and, ;
in all probability, the same day on which these lines
were written saw Anselm installed in the rooms at

Christ Church, which Prior Henry had placed at his
disposal. He was received by the brotherhood with

the utmost distinction ;
and to evince his gratitude,
took an early opportunity of calling them together to

"
listento a little homily on the familiar text, It is
more blessed to give than to receive."
Among his auditors was a young Englishman, by

name Eadmer, afterwards his secretary and biographer,
who noted down the substance of his discourse, which
was as follows:
"Whoso," he said, "has charity, has that whereby
he earns the gratitude of God not so he who is its ;
object. For what gratitude does God owe me, if I

am loved by you, or anyone else ? But it is better
to have thatwhereby one earns the gratitude of God,
than that whereby one does not earn it and since ;
God is grateful for charity bestowed, not for charity

received, it follows that whoso bestows charity on
another has something better than he on whom it is
bestowed. Furthermore, he who is beholden to
another's love but the passive recipient of a favour,
is
e.g. a benefice, an office of dignity,

a dinner, or some
similar good office. But he who has bestowed the
favour has it still for himself. Whereof, most holy
brothers, you may see a present
example in my case
and yours. You have done me a good office ; you
have done me, I say, an office of charity, and from
1
Epp. ii. 9.
48
me it has already passed away but the charity which
;
is grateful to God remains with you. Do you not

esteem a permanent good better than a transient one ?
Add to this, that if by your good office aught of charity

has been engendered in me towards you, this also will
be but an addition to your reward, inasmuch as it is
you who have occasioned the growth of so good a
thing in me. In any case, while the good office which
you have done me has now passed entirely from me,
your charity remains yours. If, then, we only consider
these matters, we shall clearly perceive that we have
greater cause for joy if we love others, than ifwe are
loved by them. And it is because not everybody does
so, that many prefer to be loved by others than to
love."
At the conclusion of this

gracious little address,
Anselm was received into the confraternity. Eadmer
adds that he spent some days at Christ Church, during
which he spoke much, both in public and in private,
discoursing both of the duties of the monastic life,
and the mysteries of the faith, with great eloquence
and subtlety.
Of his converse with Lanfranc, Eadmer has preserved
one fragment, which, though relating to a matter in
itself of no very great importance, is not without
interest as indicative of the large and liberal spirit in

which Anselm dealt with ethical problems. And the
story is told by Eadmer with so much freshness
and vivacity, that it would be a pity to condense or
paraphrase his narrative.
"Lanfranc," he says, "was still but little of an
Englishman (quasi rudis Anglus), and was not yet
thoroughly used to the institutions which he found in
D 49
England. Hence, while he made some innovations
with good reason, he made other changes upon his
own mere and sole authority. So while occupied with
these reforms, and thinking to have the concurrence
of his friend and brother Anselm, he addressed him
"
one day familiarly as follows These English, among
:
whom we dwell, have taken upon themselves to make

certain whom they venerate into saints. But when
I cast about in my mind to determine what manner
of men these were, according to the account of them
which the English themselves give, I am not able to
refrain from doubts as to their sanctity. See, here is
one of them, who now, by the blessing of God, rests
in this holy see over which I now preside, Êlfeg by
name, a good man undoubtedly, and who in his time

held this same archbishopric. Him they reckon, not
only among the saints, but among the martyrs too,

though they admit that he was slain, not for confessing
the name of Christ, but for refusing to ransom his
life with money. For when to tell the story in their
own words the pagans, in their spite towards him and
enmity towards God, had taken him prisoner, yet from

reverence for his person, had conceded him the right
of purchasing his
liberty they demanded by way
;
of ransom an immense sum of money and as he could ;
in no other way raise it than by despoiling his own
people, and reducing some of them, perhaps, to abject

beggary, he preferred rather to lose his life than to
preserve it on such terms. This, then, is the case
upon which I crave to hear Your Fraternity's opinion."

With excellent good sense, Anselm resolved the
doubt in favour of the English and their grand Gothic
saint.
50
"It is manifest," he said, "that he who does not
hesitate to die ratherthan commit even a slight sin
against God, would, a fortiori, not hesitate to die,
rather than offend God by a grave sin. And certainly
it seems to be a graver deny Christ than, being
sin to
an earthly lord, to lay a certain burden on one's people

for the ransom of one's life. But this lesser sin it was
which jElfeg refused to commit. A fortiori, then, he
would not have denied Christ had the raging adver-
saries sought to constrain him thereto by menace of
death. Whence one can perceive that justice must
have had a prodigious mastery over his soul, since he
preferred to surrender his life rather than, doing
despite to charity, to give occasion of stumbling to
his neighbours. Far indeed, then, from him was that,
too, which denounced by the Lord against him by

is
whom offence comes. Nor unworthily, I think, is he

reckoned among martyrs, whose voluntary endurance
of death is
truly attributable to so high a sense of
justice. For even Blessed John the Baptist, who is
deemed rank of martyrs, and is venerated

in the front
by the entire Church of God, was slain not for refusing

to deny Christ, but for refusing to suppress the truth.
And what distinction is there between dying for justice
and dying for truth ? Moreover, since by the witness
of holy writ, as Your Paternity knows very well, Christ
is truth and justice, he who dies for truth and justice
dies for Christ. But whoso dies for Christ, by the
witness of the Church, is esteemed a
martyr. Now,
Blessed Êlfeg died for justice, as Blessed John died
for truth. Why, then, rather of the one than of the
other should we doubt whether he be a true and holy
martyr, seeing that a like cause kept both constant in
the suffering of death ? This, reverend Father, as far
as I can see, is what reason itself approves. But to
your wisdom it belongs, if otherwise minded, to correct
and recall me from my error, and to show by the
teaching of the Church what, in a matter of such im-
portance, ought to be believed."
This argument prevailed. Lanfranc confessed him-
self convinced by "the perspicacious subtlety" of
Anselm's reasoning, and promised thenceforth to
venerate Blessed JElfeg as "a great and glorious
martyr of Christ."
So Anselm's finer reason justified the instinctive
wisdom of the rude, but not ignoble, barbarians ;
and
the name of Blessed Êlfeg was suffered to retain its
place in the roll of those confessors who have sealed

their testimony with their blood and Lanfranc, Eadmer
;
tells us,conceived an altogether peculiar veneration for

the saint, and had his life written by Osbern, one of
Anselm's pupils, who did the work "nobly," as was
fitting ; nay, had it set to music, and chanted in church
for the edification of the faithful. 1
1
St. /rElpheg's day is 19 April. A
fragment of the mass anciently
proper to that day, and not improbably written by Lanfranc himself, has
been discovered by Mr. Martin Rule in the Vatican Library. It is as
follows :
" Dominum.
Custodiat. per
"
Praefatio.
"Eterne Deus. In cujus amoris virtute beatissimus martyr Elfegus
hostem derisit, tormenta sustinuit, mortem suscepit. Quique ab ecclesia
tua tanto gloriosior praedicatur quanto [per] sui devotionem officii bino
moderamine effulsit. Ut in uno creditum sibi populum tibi Domino Deo
conciliaret, in altero semetipsum in odorem suavi[ta]tis sacrificium offerret,
in utroque Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi fidelis imitator existeret.
Qui pro omnium salute tibi eterno Patri suo preces effudit, et peccati
typographum quod antiquus hostis contra nos tenuit proprii sanguinis
effusione delevit. Et ideo.
52
Eadmer, who evidently accompanied Anselm as he
visited the several estates which the Abbey of Le Bee
1
already held in England, is copious in praise of the
tact which he displayed in his intercourse with our
countrymen, and which ensured him a hearty welcome

and a reluctant adieu wherever he went. Following
apostolic precedent, he made himself (without offence)
all things to all men. Layman and clerk, gentle and
simple, alike felt the charm of his gracious manner and
engaging conversation. Earls and countesses vied in
doing him honour, and even the grim Conqueror

relaxed somewhat of his habitual sternness in his
presence.
Of Anselm's later visits to England, which, it is plain
"
from Eadmer, were not infrequent England," he says
"
became henceforth quite familiar to him, being visited
"
by him as diversity of occasion required we have no
"
Postcommunio.
"Grata tibi omnipotens Deus, nostrae servitutis obsequia, ut
sint,
illius interventu nobis salutaria reddantur pro cujus immarcessibili gloria
exhibentur. Per."
1
What these were, besides the manors of Streatham and Tooting Bee
(both given by Richard Fitz- Gilbert, Earl of Clare, and his Countess
Rohais), and the Priory of St. Neot's in Huntingdonshire, which, after
some years of abeyance, had recently been converted into a cell of Le
Bee, we cannot say for certain. The manors of Winchcombe in Oxford-
shire, Brixton Deverill in Wiltshire, and Atherstone in Warwickshire
the last the gift of Hugh the Wolf may, or may not, have been held of
the abbey at this time. In any case it is unlikely that the proud and
passionate, but generous and devout, seigneur of Avranches, now Earl of
Chester, whom Anselm had fascinated twenty years before, would suffer
him to pay his first visit to England without tasting the hospitality of his
county Palatine. It is matter of regret that Eadmer did not preserve an
itinerary of the tour : his language implies a long journey, but, of course,
it does not follow that the Le Bee estates were numerous. The jawbone
of St. Neot, long preserved at Le Bee, was probably removed thither by
by Anselm himself on his return to Normandy. GORHAM'S History of
Eynesbury and St. Neots t i. 6l.
53
detailed record ;
and his letters during this period,
though some of them bear internal evidence of having
been written England, while another refers to a
in
1
sojourn in Caen, shed, on the whole, but little light
on his movements. On the other hand, they are in-
valuable for the insight they afford into the monastic
life of the time. Even at this date, the greater religious
houses maintained, it is evident, regular relations with
one another, notwithstanding their separation by
distances which, in view of the imperfect means of
locomotion, and the insecurity of the roads, may justly

be considered enormous. Anselm has correspondents
not only at Canterbury and Rochester and throughout
Normandy, but in Burgundy, in Auvergne, even in
Southern Germany. To Lanzo, a novice at Cluny,
afterwards Prior of St. Pancras', Lewes, in Sussex, he
addresses more than one letter full of wise counsel
and gentle admonition. 2 From Robert, a monk of
Mont St. Michel, he hears of a noble stranger from
Venice, lately arrived at the Monastery of the Mount,
who bears a Greek name, Anastasius, and is learned in
the Greek tongue ;
and he writes praying that so rare
an acquisition may be spared awhile for the delectation

and instruction of the brotherhood of Le Bee. 3 In the
heart of Auvergne, Abbot Durand, of Chaise Dien, has
heard of the prayers and devout meditations which
Anselm has composed has even seen some of them
and writes with much deference to his saintship, to beg
that what may be wanting to his collection may be
forthwith sent to him. Anselm replies with due
1
Epp. ii. 9, 14, 1 8, 26, 27.
2
Epp. i. 2 and 29.
3
Epp. i.
3.
54
humility, disclaiming all pretensions to sanctity ;
but
"
at the same time, does not presume to refuse His
1
Paternity's" request But it is in his relations with
the saintly William, Abbot of the famous monastery
of Hirsau, near Stuttgart, that the extent of his
fame and influence is most signally apparent. As the
builder of seven monasteries, the restorer of sundry
others, the vigilant censor of themorals of the clergy,
the friend and confidant of Hildebrand, Abbot William
of Hirsau was the very life and soul of the religious
revival of Southern Germany. Yet we find him
appealing to Anselm not yet apparently abbot for
his counsel in certain grave cases of discipline, and

Anselm replying in a tone which shows that he was
by no means surprised to receive such a communication
even from the saintly Abbot of Hirsau. 2
For the rest, his letters shew him to us as the
experienced director of souls, profoundly versed in Holy
Scripture and the human heart ; as the firm yet gentle
disciplinarian, intent on the reformation of tipsy cham-
berlainsand renegade or refractory monks as the careful ;
administrator, sorely tried by want of means, and much

beholden for timely subsidies to Lanfranc, or Gundulf,
or the Countess Ida,3 or his especial patronesses and
" "
dearest mothers the Ladies Eva and Basilia, who, it
would seem, with their husbands, William Crispin,
Viscount of the Vexin, and Hugh Lord of Gournay, on
1
Epp. i. 61, 62.
2
Epp.56. i. William's letter is not extant, and Anselm's reply
is undatedbut as he describes himself simply as " frater Anselmus," it is
;
probably referable to the period of his priorate. William became Abbot

of Hirsau in 1070, and died in 1091.
3
Wife of Eustace II., Count of Bouillon, and mother of Godfrey of
Bouillon.
55
the confines of Normandy and the Beauvoisin, had
formed a retreat in the vicinity of the abbey, and there
lived devoted to the service of God and man. Nor
does this intense ascetic and shy recluse, who luxu-
riates in the holy calm of the cloister, and shuns, as far
as possible, even casual contact with the outer world,

fail now andagain to disclose another man, tender,
sympathetic, warm-hearted, who casts fond backward
"
glances towards distant Aosta and his dearest uncles,"
Lambert and Folcerad, and is one by
inconsolable as,
one, the companions of his early manhood are reft from

"
him, and are replaced by new men, strange faces, other
minds."
CHAPTER V.
ANSELM AS TEACHER AND THINKER THE

MONOLOGION AND PROSLOGION
day the abbot of a neighbouring monastery,

ONE
perhaps St. Evroult, perhaps Fontanelle, fairly at
his wits' end to know how to deal with the stiffnecked
Norman youth, whose unmanageable disposition sadly
belied their character of oblates,came to Le Bee to seek
Anselm's counsel; charging the poor lads with incor-
rigible perversity, because, under the Spartan discipline
of rigorous constraint and daily and nightly castigation,
so far from mending their ways, they only grew more
lie and refractory, and in the end turned out more like
beasts than men. Anselm listened patiently to this
roful tale, and then by a few apt analogies hinted to
the good abbot, that perhaps, without giving rein to
he might find a somewhat less harsh and more
license,
generous treatment more effectual in the nurture of

those who were as saplings in the garden of the Church,
there to grow and fructify unto the Lord, or as silver
and gold in the workshop of the smith, needing not
lerely to be rudely hammered, but also to be gently

wrought and moulded into shape. At the close of this
little homily the abbot,
says Eadmer, confessed that he
gravely erred in his disciplinary methods, and
irowing himself in shame and confusion at Anselm's
feet, craved absolution for his past misdeeds, and
57
promised amendment for the future. So we may
surmise that the lot of many a young barbarian in fair
Normandy was rendered more tolerable by the word in

season spoken in his behalf by the gentle Abbot of
Le Bee.
"
With such an ideal of the duty of the
magister
puerorum," an ideal which he could not fail to inculcate
upon the brother who had charge of the oblates of
Le Bee, it would not be Anselm's fault if the boys, as
they grew up, looked back, as many, both before and

since his day, have looked back, upon their schooldays
as the least profitable and most painful period of their
lives; and we can readily infer that his relations with
his own pupils, the chosen few of the novices and

younger monks, and the roving scholars who were
from time to time drawn to the abbey by the fame
of his lectures, must have been unusually intimate and
sympathetic ;
nor are hints and glimpses wanting
slight indeed, but significant which serve to corrobo-
rate our conjecture.
Among who studied under

the stranger - scholars
Anselm Le Bee, is probably to be ranked his
at
namesake, known as Anselm of Laon, from the famous

school of learning which he founded in that city,
and whose reputation has, perhaps, suffered unduly
at the hands of his illustrious pupil, Abelard. It is
also probable, though positive proof is wanting,

that Gaunilon of Marmoutier, and Roscellin of Com-
piegne, with both of whom we shall see Anselm

in controversy, were of the number of his pupils,
though certainly neither was professed at Le Bee.
Among the oblates was one who was especially
endeared to Anselm by his quick and keen intelligence
58
ANSELM AS TEACHER
and unusual seriousness Guibert by name, a scion
of one of the great houses of the Beauvoisin.
And when he had returned to his own land, and had
taken the cowl at St. Germer, Anselm did not fail
from time to time to find or make occasion for a
visit to St. Germer, to enjoy a causerie with his former
pupil, and drop by the way some of his golden words
of gentle admonition and wise instruction. He thus
imbued Guibert with his own passionate love of Holy
Scripture, and taught him to apply thereto the
exegetical methods of St. Gregory the Great. These

studies bore fruit in the commentaries which won for
Guibert a place of honour among the doctors of the
mediaeval Church nor when, in old age, Guibert, as
;
Abbpt of Nogent sur Coucy (diocese of Laon), wrote

his autobiography, did he
to acknowledge the debt
fail
he owed to Anselm's wise counsel and encouragement.!

Other of Anselm's pupils were William of Montfort
and Boso of Montivilliers, both high-born, high-bred
men who entered Le Bee in early manhood, drawn by
the magnetic influence of Anselm's personality, and
succeeded in turn to the abbacy. The effect of that
influence was prodigious. Towards the close of his
priorate the confraternity numbered nearly three
hundred monks, including those resident in priories
or cells belonging to the abbey on either side of the
channel, and the little colony established by Lanfranc

at Christ Church, Canterbury.
Among his pupils, Boso, of whom more hereafter,

and Maurice, whom
Lanfranc carried off to Canterbury,
to act apparently as his secretary and amanuensis,
were evidently Anselm's especial favourites. To
t MIGNE, Patrolog. clvi. 874.
59
Maurice, from whom he parted with the utmost
reluctance, he writes, after the separation, as a father
to a son, deploring his absence and
alternately
exulting in the favour he has found in Lanfranc's
eyes, now exhorting him to repair what was lacking

in his own instruction, by attending the lectures of
the great grammarian, Arnulf, and reading his Virgil
with due diligence, and again showing him how he
can be of service to his old master by procuring
still
for him a copy of the Venerable Bede, De Temporibus,

or of the Rule of St. Dunstan, or of the Aphorisms
of Hippocrates, with glosses explanatory of the Greek
or other unusual terms. 1
In Maurice's absence Anselm found solace in the
societyof Lanfranc's nephew and namesake, who,
with two friends, Guido and Osbern, came to pass
Le Bee, and for whose mental, spiritual,
his pupilage at
and physical well-being he betrays, in his letters to
Lanfranc, a solicitude almost maternal.
Both Maurice and Boso had a taste for metaphysics ;
and with them, and others, probably, whose names we

know not, Anselm pursued that method, so easy in
appearance, so hard in practice, of familiar and some-
times playful, yet always strenuous and searching, oral
discussion which the genius of Socrates, and his greater
pupil, established for all time as the most efficient
organon of metaphysical investigation.

These discussions led, as such discussions are apt to
lead, to that loftiest theme of human discourse, the true
relations between Reason and Faith ;
and so impressed
were his pupils
by manner of handling this topic,
his
that they besought Anselm to compose a formal

1
Epp. i- 34, 35, 39, 43, 5*, 55, 60, 65, 70.
60
treatise upon the subject. With some reluctance for
he was diffident of his power to rise to the height of

that great argument he yielded to their importunity,
and in due time laid before them a meditation or
colloquy of the soul with herself, de Divinitatis Essentia,
commonly known as the Monologion, in which, dispens-
ing with scriptural or other authority, he attempts to
establish the congruity of the Catholic faith concerning
God and His attributes, with the dictates of Reason.
Not that Anselm is in the common, and, after all,
only true sense of the term, a rationalist, though he

has been so described. For with the rationalist, Reason
takes precedence of Faith, whereas Anselm does not
recognize the possibility of any real conflict between

the two powers. With him Faith and Reason are
"bells of full accord." He good a Catholic
is far too
to doubt even for an instant that the Church has

in her a higher than any human wisdom but he ;
holds, nevertheless, with all the strength of his deep
speculative Gothic intellect, that Reason also has her

prerogatives, of which not the least is the right
of exploring, in profound reverence indeed, yet not
without a certain hardihood, the inmost penetralia of
the divine mysteries. Though credere has
of right
precedence of intelligere, yet the true attitude of the
Christian is not that of blind acquiescent credo, but
of a credo ut intelligam ; in other words, though the
mysteries of the faith transcend Reason, yet there is

nevertheless a reason implicit in them, which it is at
once the right and the duty of a thinking believer to
render explicit.
Accordingly, in the Monologion, having assumed the

existence of God as a verity of the faith, Anselm essays
6l
to prove that it is
implicit in ordinary experience. To
this end, he begins by analysing the experience of
desire. That which we desire, he observes, is always
some good, real or apparent, i.e. some evident or
supposed utility or intrinsic

worth, as swiftness or
strength in horse or man, or beauty.

But all particular goods, being but varieties of one
and the same species, are essentially identical, and
must, therefore, have a common original. It follows
that there is an archetypal or absolute Good, which is
the original of which all particular goods are copies.

The same argument is evidently valid of whatever,
by exciting our reverence, falls within the category of
the sublime. There must, therefore, be one absolute
Good and absolute Sublime.
Having laboured this point with some detail, Anselm

proceeds to argue that all particular beings exist in
virtue of some universal self-existent being either
within or without them, the only alternative being the
manifestly absurd supposition of reciprocal dependence.

Moreover, Nature exhibits a scale of being graduated
according to worth and as it is irrational to suppose
;
the scale to be infinite, it follows that there exists a
highest Being or a plurality of highest beings. But

such a plurality is not thinkable, since it involves the
absolute coequality of the supposed highest beings,
and such absolute coequality implies essential unity.
There must, therefore, be one absolute Summa Natura
or Highest Being.
And the unity of this Being must be not only
essential, but absolute. In other words, the " Summa
Natura" is neither a whole of parts, nor a substance
having attributes distinct from itself. For a composite,

62
whether of parts or of attributes, is conditioned by
those parts or attributes. But the Summa Natura
is unconditioned, therefore it has no parts; and its
so-called attributes are merely different ways of
denominating its essence or itself. But a being

without parts, and of which the attributes are one
with itself, is absolutely simple and immutable.
But how are we to conceive the relation of the world
of contingent existences to the Absolute ? a question
which evidently admits of but one answer. The con-
tingent cannot be a mode of the Absolute, because the
Absolute has no modes ;
neither can it be a part of the
Absolute, because the Absolute has no parts. It follows
that it was created, i.e. absolutely originated, called

into being ex nihilo, by the Absolute. No other
hypothesis is conceivable.
When as yet there was nothing out of which it could
be made, the Absolute gave existence to the world of
contingent matter; and the existence thus given is
dependent for its continuance upon the Power which
gave it; otherwise the world would be no longer
contingent, but absolute.
Thus, then, it may truly, though figuratively, be said
that the Absolute is in and through all things, and that
all things are in and through the Absolute.
Moreover: as rational soul higher in the scale of

is
being than the body, or aught perceivable by the bodily

senses, it follows that the Absolute can least inad-
equately be conceived as rational soul in its highest

perfection, "summa essentia, summa vita, summa
as
ratio, summa salus, summa justitia, summa sapientia,

summa veritas, summa bonitas, summa magnitude,
summa pulchritudo, summa immortalitas, summa
63
incorruptibilitas, summa immutabilitas, summa beati-
tude, summa aeternitas, summa potestas, summa

unitas; quod non est aliud quam summe ens, summe
vivens."
Such a Being may be said indifferently to be in all
places and times, or in no place or time. Omnipresent
in the sense of being distributed throughout space and
time, He, of course, is not, since He has no parts but ;
omnipresent He is in the sense that in His undivided

essence He present at once in every part of space
is
and every moment of time.

Thus for God the distinctions of past and future have
no existence. He neither was nor will be, He neither
foreknows nor remembers ;
but eternally is and knows.
And His knowing, willing, and indeed all His attributes,
including His eternity, are one with His essence, with
Himself. In strictness of speech, indeed, the terms
essence and substance are inapt to denote the perfect
simplicity of His nature, which is best defined as

absolutely individual spirit
In the attempt which Anselm subsequently makes,
not indeed to explain but to illustrate by human
analogies the congruity of the hypostatic triplicity with
the individual unity of the Divine nature, Anselm fares
no better than most of those before and since his day,
who have essayed by the feeble resources of Reason to

alleviate the burden of an impenetrable mystery. Our
analysis of his argument may therefore rest here.
Neither is this the place for detailed criticism of the
argument. To be adequate, such criticism would require
more space than is at our command and anything less
;
than adequate criticism would be manifestly unpardon-

able. It would, moreover, but involve us in the old
64
mazes which are but too familiar to the theologian. How
God can be at once absolutely immutable and yet free,
living, exorable, since at least the potentiality of change
appears to be involved in freedom and pre-supposed in

prayer, while process seems to be of the very essence of
life? How His omnipresence, which with Anselm
includes His omniscience, is to be reconciled with the
reality of change, of contingency ; how, if
Nothing to Him is future, nothing past,

But an eternal now doth ever last,
He can be the author of change, and therefore
cognisant thereof; how if the human will is free, and

human action therefore really contingent, He can yet
know all the actions of His creatures, and the secret
motions of their hearts before they occur ? To these
dilemmas we can here but advert and pass on. To the
last we shall have occasion hereafter to recur ;
as it is
the subject of one of Anselm's later treatises.

These however, notwithstanding, the
perplexities,
substance of the argument of the Monologion is of
undeniable force. In the world of experience we
are confronted on every hand by the transitory, the
contingent, or at least apparently contingent, the im-

perfect. These features inevitably lead the mind
upward towards a Being, conceived as eternal, neces-
sary, perfect ; of this Being we stand the best chance
of forming a not altogether inadequate idea, if we
take as its representative the highest nature which we
immediately know, to wit, our own
soul, abstracting
therefrom all its imperfections. Such anthropomorphism
is
manifestly apart from the teaching of the Church
the only possible method by which we can gain
E 65
anything approaching to a concrete notion of God and ;
the antinomies which are incident to it, even though they

should remain forever unreconciled, will never shake the
confidence of the majority of men in its intrinsic validity.
The argument of the Monologion may therefore be
pronounced essentially cogent as against all but the

pure positivist. But if we are met at the outset by a
refusal to look beyond phenomena ;
if our sceptical
friend hesitates to attempt the logical passage from
phenomena to their ground, lest such
supposed ground
should after be no more than a bare idea of his own,
all
how are we to deal with him? A

question of much pith
and moment, which Anselm is so far from ignoring that
it causes him no small travail of mind, and brings at
last a new argument to the birth.

This passage in Anselm's mental history is described
both by Anselm himself and by Eadmer; succinctly,
as is the manner of both, but by the latter with such
vivacity, that it is evident we are listening to the report

of Boso or Henry, or some other of Anselm's pupils
who had scanned his demeanour closely during what
he felt to be a crisis of supreme importance. We are
told that his meditations led him at first, and for long,
only farther and farther from his goal, insomuch that

his perplexity and anxiety grew so chronic and intense
that at last he could neither eat nor sleep, nor duly
perform his devotions, so that he began to think the

whole train of thought an inspiration of the Evil One,
from which it was his duty to divert his mind by all
possible means ;
but that the more he strove so to
do the more it haunted him, until one night during
vigil the light broke upon his mind, and he felt that
he was in possession of the very argument he had
66
so long sought. Snatching his stylus and tablets, he
inscribed its substance on their smooth waxen surface,
and entrusted them for safekeeping to one of the
brothers, by whom
they were lost. Another impression
narrowly escaped the same fate. The tablets were
found in fragments on the dormitory floor; but the
wax was gathered up and pieced together, and the
argument was thereupon committed to parchment.
Copies were multiplied but with characteristic modesty
;
it was not until 1099, and then only in obedience to the
" "
apostolical authority of Archbishop Hugh of Lyon,
then legate in Gaul, that Anselm consented to attach
hisname either to it or the Monologion.
The argument is in form an "elevation," as it is
called in the Church, or aspiration of the soul after

God ;
as is indicated by its title, Proslogion, sen
Alloquium de Dei Existentia. In substance it is an

Argnmentum ad Insipientem, or confutation of the
fool who says in his heart, There is no God ; striking,
not to say startling, in its boldness, being nothing less
than the deduction of the real existence of God from
a pure idea.
No man such in concisest summary is its tenor
not even the fool who in his heart denies God, can,
except in words, deny that a Summum Cogitabile^
or Highest Thinkable exists, at least, in thought for ;
the term is certainly intelligible, and whatever is

intelligible exists in thought. But if it exists in
thought, it exists also in fact. For the Summum

1
Anselm does not use this term ; but it is the exact equivalent of his
somewhat cumbrous circumlocution, "aliquid quo nihil majus cogitari
potest," and is as such employed in a treatise, De Primo Principio^ iv.
schol. vii. 24, which is attributed to Duus Scotus, a master of concise
and precise terminology.
67
Cogitabile manifestly involves the unity of thought
and real existence, since any thinkable, however in-
significant in the scale of being, which has real
existence, higher than any thinkable, however exalted,

is
which has none. Moreover, necessary existence is

higher than contingent existence. It is impossible,
therefore, to deny the necessary existence of the

Summum Cogitabile. E m definitionis, then, there is a
Summum Ens existing necessarily both in thought
and in fact. And in the idea of the Summum Cogitabile,
as thus defined, is implicit the idea of God, not indeed
in its fulness, for that transcends human thought, but
in a measure adequate for the confutation of the fool.
For the idea of God is the idea of a Being compre-
hending within Himself all perfections, self-existent,
and the Creator of all a highest
finite beings. Now
and as such necessary Being must manifestly be self-
existent, contain all perfections in indivisible unity,
and be related to inferior beings as their Creator. The
Summum Cogitabile, then, is God. God, then, really
and necessarily exists, both in thought and in fact.
In other words, Reason postulates the Absolute as
really and necessarily existing, and so in effect postulates
God. Reason, therefore, cannot deny God, because

she cannot deny herself. He who does so is in very
truth a fool; for he has taken leave of Reason. And,
in fact, his denial is only apparent. He has not really
apprehended what is meant by the Summum Cogitabile,

for, as soon as he does so, it is impossible for him
even to think that it does not really and necessarily

exist.
So summary a method of disposing of the atheist was

not likely to pass without challenge even in Anselm's
68
day, and it was not long before a monk of Marmoutier,
by name Gaunilon, entered the lists with a Liber pro
1
Insipiente, or
Apology for the Fool. His criticism, as
might have been anticipated, is just that of common
sense. The Summum Cogitabile, he says in effect, is a
vague idea, and can claim no higher validity than any
other idea. Nor does any idea, simply as such, avouch
real existence, except, indeed, those which cannot be
thought without such avouchment. Of these, the
Summum Cogitabile is not one.
"
Some
say that somewhere in the ocean is an island,
which, from the difficulty or, rather, impossibility of
discovering it (seeing that it does not exist), they
call the Lost Island, whereof they fable much more
than of the Isles of the Blest concerning the in-
estimable fecundity in natural resources and all man-
ner of delectable and desirable things, by which,
though uninhabited, it excels whatever lands men

till. I may hear tell of such an island, and easily
understand what I hear, for it presents no difficulty ;
but my informant were to add, 'Now you cannot

if
doubt that such an island, excelling all other lands,

exists somewhere in fact as well as in your mind,
because to exist in fact is more excellent than to
exist in imagination, and if it did not really exist,
1
Near Chateaudun, on the little river Loir, in the fertile plain of La
Beauce, lies the hamlet of Montigny-le-Gannelon, in the Middle Ages
a fortified town commanded by a strong keep, of which the author of
the Apology for the Fool was lord. He was also treasurer of the famous
Chapter of St. Martin at Tours, and founder of the Priory of St. Hilaire,
hard by his castle ; but it was at Marmoutier that, in signofidei, we
trust,
notwithstanding the evidently critical bias of his mind, he ended his days.
He was living in 1083. (Cf. Mem. de la Soc. Arch, de Touraine, torn. xxiv. ;
Hist, de Marmoutier, i.
363; and RAVAISSON, Rapp. sur les Bibl. de
V Quest, App. p. 410.)
69
any land which does so would be more excellent
thanit' if, I say, by such an argument as this he
were to try to convince me of the real, indubitable
existence of the island, I should either think he jested,
or be at a loss to say whether I or he were the more
silly I, if I should concede the point, or he, for think-

ing to establish with any certitude the real existence of
the island without first proving its existence as a real,
indubitable fact in Nature, and not merely as a possibly
false or vague somewhat in my mind."
This criticism is trenchant, but Anselm, in his brief

rejoinder, or Liber Apologeticus contra Respondentem pro
edge by pointing out the in-
Insipiente, easily turns its
effaceable distinction which subsists between the idea
of the Summum Cogitabile and any empirical idea
whatever. Of the existence of the Isles of the Blest
of Gaunilon's Lost Island, in short, of any particular
object, even though actual, it is ppssible to doubt,

because the existence of such objects is not implied
in their idea. Being things of time and sense, they
are essentially transitory. If they exist, they had a
beginning, and will have an end. No particular idea,
therefore, as such, avouches the existence of a cor-
responding object. But with the Summum Cogitabile

"
the case is quite otherwise. For the Summztm Cogi-
tabile cannot be thought except as eternal, whereas
whatever is thought to be, and is not, may be thought
as temporal. The Summum Cogitabile^ therefore, cannot

be thought to be without really being. If, then, it can
be thought to be, it of necessity is. Moreover, if it
can so much as be thought, it of necessity is. For no
one who denies or doubts the real existence of the
Summum Cogitabile denies or doubts that, if it really
70
existed, it would of necessity both in thought
exist
and in fact ;
for otherwise it would not be the Summum
Cogitabile. Whereas, whatever can be thought, but

does not really exist, would, if it did really exist, be
capable of not existing either in fact or thought.
Wherefore the Summum Cogitabile, if it can so much
as be thought, necessarily exists.
But let us assume that it need not exist merely
because it is thought. Mark the consequence. That
which can be thought without really existing would
not, ifit did exist, be the Summum Cogitabile; so
that, by the hypothesis, the Summum Cogitabile is
and is not the Summum Cogitabile^ which is in the

last degree absurd."
In other words, contingent existence, as such, con-
tradicts the idea of the Summum Cogitabile; for
necessary existence is higher than contingent exist-

ence. But it is the mark of necessary existence
that it cannot even be thought as contingent. There-
fore, the supposition that the Summum Cogitabile can
be thought without really existing, is self- contradic-
tory.
"It is certain, then, that the Sttmmum Cogitabile,
if it can so much asbe thought, also really exists;
a fortiori if it can be understood or exist in the under-
standing.
I will go further. Whatever in some place or time is
not, even though in some other place or time it be, can

be thought as not being in any place or time, just as
well as not being in this or that place or time. For
what yesterday was not, and to-day is, as it is known
not to have been yesterday, so it can be supposed never
to have been ;
and what here is not, but elsewhere is,
since it is not here, so it can be thought as being
nowhere.
In like manner, when the parts of a thing do not all
co-exist in place and time, they, and by consequence

the thing itself, can be thought as not being in any
place or time. For though it may be said that time is
in all its moments, and space in all places, yet the

totality of time is not in each moment, nor the totality
of space in every place and as the several moments of
;
time do not all co-exist, so they can all be thought as

never having been ;
and as the several parts of space
do not co-exist, so they can all be thought as being
nowhere for what is composed of parts can be de-
;
composed in thought, and so thought as not being.

Wherefore, whatever isnot undistributed in some place
or time, although it really exist, can be thought as not
really existing. But the Summum Cogitabile is not
something which, though it really exist, canbe thought
as not so existing ;
for if it could both so exist, and so
be thought, it would both be and not be the Summum
Cogitabile, which is a contradiction. By no manner of
means, then, can there be a place or time in which
is not in its undivided essence
it
present but in that ;
undivided essence it is present in alltimes and places."

In short, all that, being real, can be conceived as
unreal, can be so conceived because its reality is merely
empirical, because being conditioned by space or time,
it can be mentally represented as not being when or
where it is, and so as not really being at all. But the
Summum Cogitabile cannot be conceived as not really
existing. Whence it follows that it is not conditioned by
space or time and between it and the idea of the Lost
;
Island, or any other empirical idea, there is no parity

72
whatever. And "if anyone will discover for me any-
thing existing either in fact or in pure thought, to
which the concatenation of this my argument will
apply, I will discover that Lost Island, and make him
a present of it, no more to be lost."
The real existence of the Summum Cogitabile is proved
by the most certain of all principles, that of contra-
diction ;
for if it did not exist really, it would not exist at
all, i.e. not even ideally ;

but ideally it does exist ;
there-
fore it exists also really. "And in fine, if anyone says that
he thinks it does not really exist, I answer that what he

then thinks is Summum
Cogitabile, or nothing
either the
at all. If it isthen he certainly does
nothing at all,
not think the non-existence of that nothing. But if he

thinks, he certainly thinks what cannot be thought not
really to exist. For if it could be thought not really to
exist, it could be thought to have beginning and end but ;
this is not possible. Whoso then thinks the Summum

Cogitabile, thinks that which cannot be thought not
really to exist. But whoever thinks this, does not
think that does not really exist, otherwise he would
it
think what not thinkable. It is therefore impossible

is
to think that the Sumtmim Cogitabile does not really
exist."
Here follows a slight digression into matters which

do not concern the substance of the argument; after
which Anselm explains his reason for using the term
Highest Thinkable in preference to Highest Being
(Majus Omnibus, or, as we may conveniently say,
Summum Ens), a distinction of the utmost consequence
to the cogency of the argument.
"For if anyone says that the Summum Cogitabile
either does not, or may not, really exist, or even that it
73
may be thought not really to exist, he may be easily
refuted." But not so if Summun Ens be substituted
for Summum Cogitabile.
"
For it is not so evident that
what can be thought not really to exist is not the
Summum Ens, as that Summum Cogitabile.
it is not the
Nor is it Summum Ens really
so indubitable that if a
exist, it is no other than the Summum Cogitabile, or
might not be some other like the Summum Cogitabile,

as it is certain that the Summum Cogitabile must be the
Summum Ens. For were it to be alleged that the
Summum Ens really exists, and that it yet might be
thought not really to exist ;
and that something higher,
though it could not really exist, might nevertheless be
thought ;
would the conclusion, then it is not the
Summum Ens, follow so evidently as in the parallel

case it follows, in the most evident manner possible,
that the Summum Cogitabile is not the Summum
Cogitabile? Assuredly not; for in the one case more
is needed for the argument than the bare conception of
the Summum Ens ; whereas, in the latter case, nothing
more is needed than is already given in the Summum
Cogitabiler
In other words, the real existence of the Summum
Ens can be denied or questioned without contradiction ;
for Reason, and Reason alone, which postulates its

it is
real existence but the real existence of the Summum

;
Cogitabile cannot be denied or questioned without con-

tradiction ;
for the term itself, while it denotes the
Summum Ens, connotes therewith its real existence as
postulated by Reason.
By this time the reader, if he is philosophic, will have
so far apprehended the nature of Anselm's reasoning
as to perceive that it derives its entire force from the
74
identification of the rational and the real. That which
cannot but be thought, that of which the negation is
inconceivable, necessarily exists. The ultimate laws of
thought are laws of being logic and ontology are ;
essentially Reason postulates an Absolute, in

one.
which the apparent opposition between being and
thought is overcome and of the existence of such an
;
Absolute there can be no doubt, because so long as

the mind contemplates the Absolute, it necessarily con-
templates it as really existing. An unreal Absolute

is a contradiction in terms.
Here, then, for the first time in the history of thought,

isthe formal, explicit, articulate expression of what has
since come to be termed the ontological, or a priori
proof of the being of God the watershed, as it may

fitly be designated, of metaphysical speculation. Re-
jected, for want of perfect apprehension, by St. Thomas
1
Aquinas and the later scholastics generally, with,
however, the notable exceptions of the seraphic and
subtle doctors, 2 revived in a modified form by Descartes, 3
and 4
virtually admitted by Leibniz, converted in the
5
Cartesian form to pantheistic uses by Spinoza, sub-
jected to searching criticism after the manner of
Gaunilon by Kant, 6 and finally reformulated by Hegel, 7
1
Summ. Contr. Gent. i. 10. II.
2
BONAVENTURA, Compend. Theol. Verit. i. i ; I. Sent. Dist. viii.
pars i. art. i.
Quaest. ii.; DUNS SCOTUS, I. Sent. Dist. ii. Quaest. ii.;
De Prim. Princip. iv. schol. vii. 24.
3
Princ. i.
14.
4
With
curious obtuseness, Leibniz finds one flaw in the reasoning, to
wit, that it proceeds upon the assumption of the possibility of God.
Opera, torn. ii. pars i. 221.
5
Eth. i.
5, 6.
6
Kritik der rein. Vern. i., Th. ii., Abth. ii., Buch ii., Hauptst. Hi.,
Abschn. iv.
7
ReligionsphU. Th. iii. B. and Anhang. Vorles. 1827 and 1831,
75
this celebrated theorem will probably continue, in one
form or another, to command
the assent of the specu-
lative thinker, and provoke the mirth of the man of
the world, to the end of time. To make merry at its
expense is easy; for that purpose, Kant's imaginary

hundred thalers to set against a real debt will serve
as well as Gaunilon's Lost Island, though not so
pretty a figure in a literary sense; but when the
laugh is over, it remains incontestable that the only

irrefragable basis of certitude is rational necessity.
Assurance of the existence of aught, ourselves included,
there is none save the necessity of so thinking.
Subject, object, time, space, equality, inequality,

likeness, difference, cause and effect, law and
phenomenon, the universe in fine, with its fundamental
dichotomy of soul and world, all this complicated
subtly-woven web of relation and distinction, is
what it is for us, is all that it is for us, because we

cannot think otherwise. It is not possible, without
confusion of thought, to affirm part of it and question
the residue, which forms therewith one logical whole.
It is possible to argue that it may be all a dream ;
but it is not possible so actually to think. He who

professes so to do merely stultifies himself. And in
it is implicit, as its final unity, the idea of a universal,
all -comprehensive, eternal, necessary principle, Sum-
mum Cogitabile and Summum Ens, Highest Think-
able and Highest Actuality, Thought and Being in
one and in perfection, in a word, God. So much of
permanent value for the spiritual interests of mankind
was latent in the lonely musings of the recluse of

Le Bee; nor, so long as these interests are dear to
men, will Anselm lose the place accorded him by

76
Hegel among the few deep speculative thinkers who
1
have opened new avenues for the human mind.
1
Gesch. d. Philos. Th. ii. Abschn. ii. B. For further exposition and
criticism of the Monologion and Proslogion^ the reader whose patience
is not already exhausted may be referred to BOUCHITTE, Le Rationalisme
Chretien & lafinduXI* stick, Paris, 1842 ; SAISSET, De Varia S. Anselmi

in Proslogio Argumenti Fortuna t Paris, 1840, and Essai de Philosophic
Religieuse, Paris, 1862, ii. 267 et seq. ; REMUSAT, Saint Anselme de
Canterbury, Paris, 1856; ERDMANN, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philo-
sophie, Berlin, 1878; RAGEY, V Argument de Saint Anselme, Paris, 1893;
WEBB, Anselm's Ontological Argument for the Existence of God (a paper
read before the Aristotelian Society in 1895).
77
CHAPTER VI.
ANSELM'S MINOR WORKS: THE DE VERITATE, DE

CASU DIABOLI, AND DE LIBERO ARBITRIOHIS
MEDITATIONS, PRAYERS, AND POEMS
the most important, the Monologion and

THOUGH
Proslogion were by no means the sole fruit of
Anselm's leisure during his residence at Le Bee. To
the same period belong four dialogues, entitled re-
spectively, De Grammatico, De Veritate, De Casu

Diaboli, and De Libero Arbitrio.
The first need not detain us, being of interest only
to the curious investigator of scholastic ways of
thinking, and as furnishing the student of Dante with

the key to the otherwise insoluble enigma, why
Anselmo e quel Donate
Ch'alla prim'arte degno por la mano.
are so closely linked together among the saints of

order in Paradise (Parad. c. xii.
137-138). The others
are worth a passing glance.
The De Veritate, as its title implies, is an attempt to
solve the ancient, but ever fresh, problem of the nature
of truth, and, as might be anticipated, from a point
of view, and with a result, as far as possible removed
from those of common sense, or empirical philosophy.
Like some earlier and later thinkers, Anselm sees
78
ANSELM'S MINOR WORKS
God in all things, and all things in God. Truth
postulates God, for it transcends time, that which
is true at all being true always. It is not in the
correspondence of our thought with its object that

truth consists, for, if so, it would be temporal, coming
into and passing out of being with the act of thinking.

The truth itself the object to which, with various
is
degrees of accuracy, our thinking corresponds, or

appears to correspond. Truth may therefore be de-
fined as that to which our thinking ought to corre-
spond. And this object is one and indivisible. As
there but one space, and one time, comprehending
is
an indefinite multiplicity of places and moments, so

there is but one Truth, to which all so-called particular
truths are but approximations. Through the media

of sense, judgment, and reasoning, this one eternal
Verity fragmentarily apprehended by us; and so,
is
though our apprehension of it is ever gaining in fulness

and depth, yet we habitually think less of the one
eternal Truth than of the multiplicity of its appearances.
Nevertheless, this parcel truth betrays at every turn
its transcendental origin, inasmuch as we always regard
it not merely as being, but as being rational, as being
necessary (rectitude sola mente perceptibilis).

Perception, reasoning, are true, in so far as they
accurately report this necessary Being, in so far, that
is to say, as they reveal to us the mind of God. Thus
truth is in the intelligible sphere what justice is in
the moral sphere, and, though to us apparently diverse,
both have the same archetype, since in God there is no
distinction between reason and will, truth and justice.
Upon this theory a modern empirical thinker will be

apt to remark that, however fine its idealism, it is
79
useless for the practical purpose of discriminating
between truth and error in the affairs of daily life,
and in the exploration of nature. And this contention,
if sustainable, would, of course, be fatal; for an

idealism, however fine, which is nothing more than a
rhapsodic flight of imagination, is philosophically
worthless. But is it really sustainable ? What do
we when we discriminate between truth and illusion ?
What is the measure we apply ? What but that of
coherence with our normal consciousness ? That which
will not harmonise with the unity of experience we
unhesitatingly pronounce false. That which does
harmonise therewith we account at least probable, and
probable in proportion to the breadth, depth, and
subtlety of the resultant harmony. And is not the

goal of all our scientific explanation and philosophical
theorising a point of view from which, as in Faust's
vision, we may discern all modes of being as essentially
one Harmonisch das All durchdringen ? This
all'
ideal, however dimly conceived, however thwarted by

the multiplicity of phenomena, however clouded by
scepticism, has been the hidden source from which,

throughout the long travail of the human spirit, not
only the meditations of

philosopher the the and
musings of the mystic, but also the patient, cautious
labours of the man of observation and experiment,
have drawn their inspiration. This, and this alone,
it is which raises scientific endeavour above the level
of mere curiosity, gives to the least advance in
knowledge an ideal worth, and clothes the masters of

the mind with the character of hierophants. And
could we but realise this ideal, as perhaps posterity
may, should we not verify Anselm's intuition, which
80
is also St. Paul's, of God in all things, and all things
in God ? *
The De Casu not the most satisfactory, is

Diaboli, if
certainly not the least ingenious of Anselm's works.

In none of them is the dialectic keener, more subtle ;
none enables us more vividly to realise how much of

abysmal doubt, of intrepid speculation, was harboured
in those grey monastic halls. The problem may be
stated as follows Since all
: finite being owes its origin
to and depends for its continued existence upon the
will of God, moral evil must evidently be in some
sense ordained by Him. More specifically, it is true

not only of men, but of angels also, that all that
they have, they have received of God. (i Cor. iv. 7.)

Therefore, the will by which the good angels persevered
in righteousness, by which the evil angels
and the will
fell, were alike His

gift. How, then, are either the one
or the other praiseworthy or blameable? And more
specifically still, how is God's omission to endow the
Devil with the gift of perseverance to be reconciled
with His goodness and wisdom ? If we say that the
grace was only not given in the sense that, when

offered, it was rejected, the difficulty is only removed
a stage, since such as in the first instance was the

Devil's will, such he received it from God. Prima facie,
therefore, God would seem to be responsible for his fall.
Again, we are told that he fell by inordinate ambition,
aspiring to equality with God. And this raises another

difficulty. For as God can only be conceived as unique
in such sense that nothing like Him is conceivable,
how could the Devil desire that which he could not
conceive ? And if we interpret his desire to be as
God as meaning merely the insurgence of his will
F 81
against the Divine will, nevertheless the old perplexities
still return upon us. For whence had he that in-
ordinateness of will ? From himself or from God ?
If we say that he from himself, do we not

had it
virtually deny his creaturehood ? For how can a

creature have aught from himself ? From God, then ?
But, if so, then how is he culpable ? Moreover, why
should a being of so sublime a nature have been so
fashioned by God as to be able to change his will from
good to bad, but not conversely ?

From this apparent impasse, Anselm, like Augustine,*
finds a way of escape in denying the positive existence

of moral evil. If moral evil is nothing positive, if it
is a mere defect, then, he argues, the Devil may have

had from himself quite consistently with his having
it
everything from God. The proof that it is nothing

positive is as follows:
"We must believe that justice is the good in virtue of

which men and angels are good, i.e. just, and the will itself
is said to be good or just; and that the evil which makes
them and their will bad is injustice, which we define as

nothing else than the privation of the good; and therefore
we same injustice is nothing else than the
assert that this
privation of justice. For so long as the will first given to a

rational being, and in the giving by the Giver turned nay,
not turned, but made true to its end persisted in the right-
eousness, which we call truth or justice, in which it was
made, so long it was just. But when it turned itself away
from its end, and turned itself towards that which was not its
end, then it no longer persisted in its original (so to say)
righteousness in which it was made, and in deserting
it lost
a great thing, and instead thereof got nothing except the

privation thereof, which has no essential being, and
which we
call injustice."
* De Duab. Animab. contr. Manich. 6.
82
Moral evil, then, being the privation of original right
eousness, is irreparable by any act of the creature
himself, since he has nothing of his own ;

but the loss
is own, since it depended on his free will, and
all his
that alone, whether he should adhere to, or deviate
from, his original righteousness.

Moreover, the will by which the Devil fell was itself
nothing positive, but a mere privation. For every
natural propensity, every act or state of will, in so
far as positive, is good, being the gift of God. Even
the will to be as God
good, and the sin
is, in itself,
of the Devil lay, not in so willing, but in so willing
induly.
The question, Whence came that inordinateness into
his will? admits of no answer: it is like asking, Whence
came nothing? The
by which he abandoned his
act
original righteousness was one which had no antecedent

"
cause. It was, at once, its own efficient cause, and, if
>ne may so say, effect." Evil, in short, is a surd in

moral order, existing by the permission, but without
the positive ordinance of God, and of which the phil-
osopher can but note the existence, without attempting
either to deduce its origin, or explain its final cause./
'This theory of moral evil was adopted from Anselm
>y St. Thomas Aquinas, and so obtained general
recognition in the Catholic schools, as the only

Iternative to Manichaeism.
Recast in philosophical
form, it holds a conspicuous place in the systems of
irtainnon-Catholic thinkers, as Spinoza 1 and Hegel, 2
and, indeed, is logically involved in every monistic
theory of metaphysics. In strict consistency with it,
inselm maintains, in the De Libero Arbitrio, that
1 2
Eth. iv. 64. Encycl. 507 et seq.
83
capacity for sin is no necessary element in moral free-
dom but, on the contrary, that an impeccable being,
;
as God, is all the more free by reason of his impecca-

bility. Moral freedom, in his view, is not the power of
choosing between alternatives, but the power of per-
severing in righteousness for its own sake (potestas
conservandi rectitudinem propter ipsam rectitudinem) ;
and capacity for sin, so far from enhancing, impairs
though it does not necessarily destroy this freedom.
Sin is, in fact, pro tanto, an abdication of freedom an
abdication determined by nothing but the will itself.
Even in sinning, then, the freedom of the will is still
its power of persevering in righteousness for its own

sake, for without that power there could be no sin ;
and where the power to sin is wanting, it is simply
because the will to sin is wanting, and therefore
perfect freedom and impeccability are one and the

same. In this theory the student of modern philo-
sophy will recognise an adumbration of the essential
doctrine of Kant's Metaphysic of Ethics; while the
theologian will see at a glance how important is its

bearing on the subtle questions which concern the
relations of sin and grace. Original sin, being in
Anselm's view a mere privation, evidently need not
involve the total depravity of human nature ; and, in
fact, he expressly maintains that it does not do so.
The Fall, he insists, as it left man reason and will, left
"
him also in possession of " natural freedom left him, ;
that is to say, the capacity of recognising the claims of
duty, and of fulfilling them. Apart altogether from

the influence of Divine grace, the human will is always
stronger than temptation, for it is not capable of deter-
mination by anything but itself. It is not motives
84
which govern the will, but the will which governs
motives. The power of a motive is determined by
the will's consent ; and, therefore, it is mere idle
sophistry to speak of its ever being over-mastered by

temptation. But, though original sin does not destroy,
it does impair free will, rendering perseverance in
righteousness for its own sake a work of difficulty,
and fore-closing the way of reformation after a lapse.
Hence renders the sinner dependent for his redemp-
it
tion upon the grace of God. In short, original sin

leaves man freedom to render him culpable,
sufficient
but not enough to justify himself after the commission

:
of actual sin.
Into the question of the relation between human
freedom and Divine grace Anselm does not enter here.
It is handled, in conjunction with the cognate problem
of the reconciliation of freedom with fore-knowledge
and predestination, in a separate treatise, projected,
doubtless, and pondered during his residence at Le
Bee, but only cast into final shape toward the close of
his life ; and which, being by no means to be regarded
as one of his minor works, will receive a separate

notice inits proper place.
Amid
such heroic wrestlings with the highest pro-
blems of speculative thought, Anselm paused from
time to time to refresh his soul by the still waters
of holy meditation and prayer. His Meditationes and
Orationes, the fruit of these hours of recueillement, have
been frequently printed, and will probably never lose
their charm for people of devout and contemplative
mind. TheOrationes do not lend themselves to quota-

tion, and are inferior in literary quality to the Medita-
tiones. The latter cannot but suffer grievously by
85
translation but of the power which they occasionally
;
display some idea may, perhaps, be gathered from the
following excerpt :
"
Imagine that you see before you a valley, broad and deep
and gloomy, at the bottom whereof are all manner of instru-
ments of torture. Suppose that it is spanned by a single
bridge, in width no more than a foot. Suppose that this
bridge, so narrow, high, and dangerous, had to be crossed by
one whose eyes were bandaged, so that he could not see a
pace in front of him; whose hands were bound behind his
back, so that it was impossible for him to feel his way by a
stick. What terror, what agony of mind, would he not be in ?
Would he find place for joy, hilarity, pleasure ? I think not.
Bereft of pride, emptied of vain glory, his whole soul would
be enshrouded in the blackness of darkness of the appre-
hension of death. Suppose, moreover, that monsters and
savage birds hovered about the bridge, seeking to draw him
down into the abyss, would not his fear be enhanced?
Suppose, again, that his retreat is cut off as he advances,

the causeway slipping from under his very heels. Would not
the anxiety of our wayfarer be thereby greatly increased ?
Now meaning of the parable, and brace your
learn the
mind with The deep and gloomy valley is hell,
divine fear.
immeasurably deep, shrouded with a horrible veil of murky

darkness, and replete with all kinds of instruments of torture,
with nothing to alleviate its horror, with everything to terrify,
to excruciate, to agonise the soul. The perilous bridge, which

whoso treads unwarily is precipitated into the abyss, is the
present life, whence they who abuse it fall and go down into
the pit. The portions of the causeway which slip from under
the heel of the wayfarer are the days of our life, which glide
away never to return, and as their number grows less and less
urge us ever forward to our goal. The birds hovering about

the bridge to lure the travellers to their destruction are evil
spirits,whose minds are wholly bent on misleading men and

precipitating them into the depths of hell. We ourselves are
the wayfarers, blinded with the thick darkness of ignorance,
86
HIS MEDITATIONS
and bound as with a heavy chain by the difficulty of working
righteousness, so as not to be able to direct our steps freely to
God by the way of a holy life. Consider, then, if in so critical
a position you should not with all your might cry unto your
Creator that, fortified by His help, you may chant with con-
fidence amid the hosts of the enemy, The Lord is my light
and my salvation: of whom shall I be afraid?" Meditatio i. lo. 1
It must not be supposed that these Meditations of

Anselm are pitched throughout in the key of the fore-
going passage. On the contrary, there is much in them

that is sweet, gracious, tender, and passionate. His
Christolatry of the noblest Catholic type, blended
is
of the reverence due to God, the loyalty of a vassal

to his feudal lord, the love that passeth the love of
woman, the ecstasy of the mystic :
" "
O my God," he cries,
Saviour and my let it come ; let
itcome, I pray Thee, the hour when I may at length gladden

mine eyes with the vision of what I now believe ; may appre-
hend what now I hope for and greet from afar ; may with my
spirit embrace and kiss what now with my whole might I
yearn after, and be altogether absorbed in the abyss of Thy

1
The imagery of this sombre passage is probably, as observed by
Mr. Martin Rule (Life of St. Anselm^ i. 48), a reminiscence of the gloomy
gorge which connects Cogne with the upper Val d'Aosta. Down this
tortuous ravine a torrent, known as the Grand' Eivia (Great Water),
writhes its way to the Dora Baltea. At the point where it issues from the
neck of the pass, its banks hardly reach an altitude of 180 ft., and are
separated by a somewhat less interval. Here it is spanned by a single
arch, bearing a gallery and narrow causeway traversable by foot passen-
gers. An
inscription on the keystone of the arch informs the traveller
that was built A.u.c. 749 for two Roman magnates C. Avillius, whose
it
name, more worn by time than his work, reappears in its designation of
Le Pondel (Pons Avillii) ; and C. Aimus Patavinus, who has also left
other trace of himself in the name of the neighbouring village of Ayma-
villes (Aimi Villa). This very striking relic of antiquity must have been
frequently seen by Anselm, and may well have left an indelible impression
on his mind.
87
love. But meanwhile, bless, O my soul, my Saviour, and
magnify His Name, which is holy and full of the holiest
delights." (Meditatio ix. versus fin.)
And again :
"Good Jesus, how sweet art Thou in the heart that medi-
tates on Thee and loves Thee. And yet of a truth I know

not, for I amnot able fully to understand whence it is that
Thou art sweeter far in the heart that loves Thee, in that
Thou art flesh, than in that Thou art the Word, sweeter in
that Thou art lowly than in that Thou art lofty. . . .
Jesus,
neither can my mind conceive, nor my tongue express, how
Thou art worthy to be loved by me, who hast deigned so
much to love me. ... I love Thee above all things, O most
sweet Jesus, but far less than Thou meritest, and, therefore,
than I ought." (Meditatio xii.)
Once more :
"I have a word in secret with Thee my Lord, King of

Ages, Christ Jesus. In the boldness of love the work of Thy
hands presumes to address Thee, enamoured of Thy fairness
and longing to hear Thy voice. O desired of my heart, how
long shall I sustain Thine absence ? How long shall I sigh
Thee, and mine eyes drop tears for Thee ?
after
Thou hast clothed the sun with a splendour pre-eminent
among the stars, and brighter than the sun art Thou. Nay,
what the sun, what all created light, but darkness in com-
is
parison of Thee ? Thou hast furnished forth the heaven with

stars, the empyrean with angels, the air with birds, the waters
with fishes, the earth with herbs, the thickets with flowers.
But there is no form or fairness in any of these that can
compare with Thee, O source of all beauty, Lord Jesus !
Thou hast given the honey its sweetness, and sweeter than
honey art Thou. Thou hast given its healing to the oil, and
more healing than oil art Thou. Thou hast given all the
spices their scents, and Thy scent, O Jesus, is above all spices
sweet and grateful. Gold among the metals hast Thou fashioned
in singular excellence of beauty and preciousness. And yet
88
HIS MEDITATIONS
what is it in comparison of the priceless excellence of the
Lord and the glory immeasurable on which the angels desire

to gaze ? Thy handiwork is every stone that is precious and
pleasant to the eyes, sardius, topaz, jasper, chrysolite, onyx,

beryl, amethyst, sapphire, carbuncle, emerald. And yet how
are they better than straw incomparison of Thee, O King,
fair beyond measure and altogether lovely? Thy workman-
ship is in living jewels and immortal, wherewith, O wise
Masterbuilder, from the beginning of the world, Thou hast
richly adorned Thy superethereal palace, to the glory of
the Father." (Meditatio xiii.)
Tomultiply excerpts would serve no useful purpose.

Enough has been done to afford the reader some
insight into the bent of Anselm's
thoughts in his
hours of quiet communing with his own inmost soul.
Should he desire to know more, he will, if a tolerable
Latinist, find the Meditations by no means hard reading ;
for Anselm wrote Latin with a purity unusual in his

age. In the original they should certainly be read,
"
and with due heed to Anselm's own advice, in quiet,
nor cursorily, but little by little with concentrated and

"
severe reflection (cum intenta et morosa meditatione).
Besides the Meditationes and Orationes, not a few
Homiliae and ExJwrtationes, expositions or applications,
more or less formal, more or less familiar, of salient
passages of Holy Scripture, such as might well have
been delivered in the church or chapterhouse of Le Bee,
and which, though the freedom of their mystical
exegesis is sometimes enough to make a modern critic's
hair stand on end, were not on that account the
less likely to be appreciated by the audiences to which
they were addressed, find place in Gerberon's collective
edition of Anselm's Works, together with a
rudely
rhythmic Psalter of the Blessed Virgin, a Carmen
89
de Contemptu Mundi in hexameters and pentameters,
which exhibit a sublime indifference to scansion, and
some other metrical trifles. Most of the sermons,
however, are of doubtful authenticity, while the only
tradition which connects the verse with the saint is
both so late and so vague, 1 that it may be confidently
set aside; nor is the MS. Psalterium B. M. Virginis
preserved in the Arundel collection at the British

Museum (MS. 157, Plut), to which attention has
recently been drawn by the learned Marist, Pere Ragey,

notwithstanding that it is indubitably of the twelfth
"
century, and inscribed in the rubric as editum a sancto
Anselmo," much more likely to be his work. This tour
de force of mystical symbolism consists of a hundred
and fifty apostrophes to our Blessed Lady, usually in
the form of a trochaic quatrain introduced by the
word Ave, and having for motive a verse from one
of the Psalms, which are thus traversed in order.
There is really nothing better in the whole composition
"
than the beginning : Et erit tanquam lignum quod
plantatum est secus decursus aquarum quod fructum
:
suum dabit in tempore suo.
Ave Porta Paradisi :
Lignum vitae quod amisi

Per Te mihi jam dulcescit,
Et salutis fructus crescit."
For such work as this it is evident that the most

that can be said is that it exhibits a certain smoothness
of rhythm, and though it is probable enough that
Anselm authorised the use of the Psalter for devo-
1
The poem De Contemptu Mundi is variously ascribed to Anselm's
subprior, Roger of Caen, to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and Bernard

of Morlaix.
90
HIS PRAYERS AND POEMS
tional purposes, no one who cares about his literary
repute will readily ascribe to him a hand in its pro-

duction. The same must be said of the two rhythmic
prayers to our Blessed Lady, included by Gerberon
among Anselm's Orationes. That Anselm should have
written either of them is simply incredible.
On the other hand, the hymns for the canonical hours,
which precede the Psalter in Gerberon's edition, may
unhesitatingly be accepted as Anselm's work, and are here
printed and paraphrased for the glimpse they afford of
the devotional exercises in use at Le Bee.
AD NOCTURNAM.
Lux quae luces in tenebris,
Ex alvo nata Virginis,
Nostram noctem nos exue,
Dieraque Tuum indue.
Maria, Dei thalamus,

Posce Te venerantibus,
Virtutibus ut splendeant
Quos reatus obtenebrant.

Gloria Tibi, Domine,
Nato de Sancta Virgine,
Regnanti victo funere,
Cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu ! Amen.
AT NOCTURNS.
Light that glimmerest in the gloom,
Dayspring from a Virgin's womb,
Haste our night to put away,
And invest us with Thy day.
Mary, Thou who God didst bear,

Pray who Thee revere,
for us
That with virtue we may shine
Who in gloom of guilt now pine.
Glory to the Father be,
And the Holy Ghost with Thee,
Who didst conquer death alone,
And now reignest, Mary's Son. Amen.
AD LAUDES.
Praefulgens Sol Justitiae,
Ortus de Sacra Virgine,
Splendore tuo noxias
Nostras illustra tenebras.
Orientis castissima
Mater, fac nobis, Domina,

Vita prorsus ut decidat
Vetus, nova proficiat.
Gloria Tibi, Domine, etc.
AT LAUDS.
Hail, hail, prefulgent Lord of Morn,
Hail, Sun of Justice, Virgin-born !
With Thy pure splendours penetrate

The noisome shadows of our state.
Mother of Him that rises chaste,
Vouchsafe, we pray, our Lady Blest,

That from the old life we may turn,
And the new life to profit learn.
Glory to the Father be, etc.
AD PRIMAM.
O Christe, proles Virginia,
Altissimi compar Patris,
Per Tuae Matris merita
Dele nostra peccamina.
O mundo venerabilis,
Virgo, Mater mirabilis,

Maria, plena gratia,
Ora pro nobis, Domina.
92
AT PRIME.
Christ,Son of Mary, hear us now,

Peer of the Most High Father, Thou.
Hear us who by her merits pray,
That bore Thee : take our sins away.
Hail Mary, ever-reverend Maid !
Hail mystic Mother, lauds be said

O full of grace, to Thee for aye.
And Thou for us, Blest Lady, pray.
AD TERTIAM.
Quern credimus ex Virgine

Natum, benigne Domine,
Sit nobis haec confessio,
Peccatorum remissio.
Quae genuisti Filium

A Summo Patre genitum
Per haec tua nos merita
A lapsu mortis libera
AT TIERCE
{BEFORE CONFESSION).
O gentle Master, who by birth
Mysterious earnest once to earth,

This our confession now receive
And with us Thy forgiveness leave.
Thou that in time didst generate

The Father's Offspring uncreate,
Oh !
by Thy merits may we be
Released from mortal pravity.
93
AD SEXTAM.
Nate, Summe Rex, utero
Mariae de virgineo,
Emunda nos a vitiis,
Et orna sanctis meritis,
Dei Mater, O Domina,

Sublimis tanta gratia,
Tua, fac, exaltatio
Sit nostra relevatio.
AT SEXT.
O King of Kings, who didst assume

Our nature in a Virgin's womb,
That nature cleanse from every stain,
And in Thy likeness mould again.
Mother of God, our Lady Blest,

Of such supernal grace possessed,
Disdain not in Thy Majesty
To lift us upward unto Thee.
AD NONAM.
Fili Mariae Virginis,
Da nobis ejus meritis
A peccatis resurgere,
Et ad vitam pertingere.
Cujus est factus Filius

Deus, pro peccatoribus,
Hoc qui fide pronuntiant
Fac ut salutem sentiant.
94
AT NONE.
O Son of Mary, Christ, we pray,
By her sweet merits grant we may
From sin and death deliverance gain,
And sempiternal life attain.
Thou from whom God for sinners' sake

His human substance deigned to take,
To us, Thy faithful servants, grant
The grace to feel what now we chant.
AD VESPERAS.
Sol casto nascens utero,
Vesperascente saeculo,
Illustra nos perpetue
Nee declines in vespere.
i Solis Genitrix,
Tuis hoc sanctis meritis
Age, quo perpes maneat
Nobis, nee unquam decidat.
Ax VESPERS.
O Sun that broughtest dawn of light,

The age verging unto night,
fast
Shine on us unto endless days,

Nor shades of night obscure Thy rays.
O Mother of the Beam Divine,

By Thy blest merits Him incline
With us forever to abide
In day that knows not eventide.
95
AD COMPLETORIUM.
De casta nobis Oriens
Matre Dies indesinens,
Jugi nos fove lumine,
Culpaeque noctem semove.
Mater Diei Perpetis,

Obsiste nostris tenebris,
Ne lucem nobis dissipent
Et nos delictis implicent.
AT COMPLINE.
O Day that since Thy virgin-dawn
In splendour shinest unwithdrawn,
Dispel, we pray, the shades of sin,
And shine for aye our souls within.
Mother of the Perennial Day,

Against our darkness be our stay,
Lest missing the eternal rays
We wander lost in error's maze.
Fairest and most fragrant, daintiest and most delicate,

perhaps, of all the flowers that blow in the garden of
the Mother of God, is the modest yet queenly Mariale,
a poem of five hundred and thirty-nine stanzas, long
attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, but which may
now, with somewhat more of probability, be assigned
to the saint of Le Bee. Our survey of St. Anselm's
minor works would therefore be incomplete without a
glance at this poem.
Readers of the Paradisus Animae Christianae are
familiar with the hardly translatable hymn to our
96
Blessed Lady therein ascribed to St. Casimir 1 of
no better apparent reason than that it was
Poland, for
used by him in his daily devotions, and was found in
his tomb in 1604. St. Casimir's hymn is, in truth,
an abridgment of the Mariale in six decades, evidently
intended for use with the rosary. Those, alas! in
all likelihood but too many to whom St. Casimir and
the Paradisus are alike gather some
unknown, may
idea of the Mariale from the few stanzas which here
follow :
Omni die
Die Mariae
Mea, laudes, anima :
Ejus festa,
Ejus gesta,
Cole splendidissima.
Contemplare,
Et mirare,
Ejus celsitudinem :
Die felicem
Genitricem
Die Beatam Virginem.
Ipsam cole
Ut de mole
Criminum te liberet :
Hanc appella,
Ne procella
Vitiorum superet.
Haec persona
Nobis dona
Contulit coelestia :
Haec Regina
Nos divina
Collustravit gratia.
1
Cf. the Bollandists' Ada Sanctorum Martii (ed. 1865), torn. i. 355,
where the hymn is given in extenso.
G 97
Lingua mea,
Die trophaea
Virginis puerperae :
Quae inflictum
Maledictum
Miro transfert genuine.
Evae crimen
Nobis limen
Paradisi clauserat :
Haec dum credit

Et obedit
Coeli claustra reserat.
Propter Evam
Homo saevam
Accepit sententiam :
Per Mariam
Habet viam
Quae ducit ad patriam.
Haec amanda
Et laudanda
Cunctis specialiter :
Venerari
Praedicari
Earn decet jugiter.
Ipsa donet
Ut, quod monet
Natus ejus, faciam :
Ut finita
Carnis vita
Laetus Hunc aspiciam.
O cunctarum
Faeminarum
Decus atque gloria :
Quam electam
Et evectam
Scimus super omnia.
98
Clemens audi
Tuae laudi
Quos instantes conspicis :
Munda reos,
Et fac eos
Donis dignos coelicis.
Virga Jesse,
Spes oppressae
Mentis et refugium :
Decus mundi,
Lux profundi,
Domini Sacrarium.
Ave Maria.
Every day
To Mary pay,
Soul, thy tribute, praises high :
All her glory,

All her story
Celebrate and magnify.
Contemplate
Her lofty state,
Thyself with lowly awe possessed :
Mother hail her,

Neither fail her
To salute as Virgin Blest.
Oh ! adore her,
And implore her
Thee from sin to liberate :
Her to aid thee,

When invade thee
Passion's whirlwinds, supplicate.
By this maiden
Bounty-laden
God to earth did once incline :
Queen of Heaven
She hath given
To her children grace divine.
99
Now thy burden,
Tongue, the guerdon
Of her maiden-motherhood :
Sin's curse shifted

And uplifted
All the human brotherhood !
Eve's offending,
Far descending,
Barred the gate of Paradise :
Mary's credence
And obedience
Ope the portals of the skies.
'T was by reason
Of Eve's treason
Sentence stern on man was passed
By her holy
Hearkening lowly
Mary leads him home at last.
Her to love
It doth behove
And to praise exceedingly :
Her meet,
't is
With reverence sweet,

To extol unceasingly.
Her Son's will
To fulfil
May she not deny the grace :
That the goal

Reached,my soul
May enjoy Him face to face.
Woman fairest,
Virgin rarest,
Robed for aye in peerless sheen :
Whom translated,
And instated,
Earth and heaven acknowledge Queen.
100
Mother tender,
As we render
Thee our homage, hear our prayer :
Purge our stains,
Heavenly gains
Make us meet with Thee to share
Hope in sorrow
From Thee borrow
Whoso languish, Jesse's Rod ;
Ray celestial,
Our terrestrial
Darkness gilding, Shrine of God.
Hail Mary.
The poem, from which are taken the exquisite stanzas

thus rudely paraphrased, has a curious history. It was
discovered towards the close of the seventeenth century
by the Augustinian Jacques Hommey, in a MS. of

the middle of the twelfth century 1 preserved in the
Royal Library at Paris, and inscribed with the name

Bernard. As Saint Casimir died in 1484, the date of
the MS. disposed of his claim to the authorship of the
hymn which then bore his name, and Hommey, in
according the entire poem a place in his Supplementum
Patrum (Paris, 1684, 8vo.), attributed it to St. Bernard
of Clairvaux, but without supporting his opinion by any
solid arguments. The news of Hommey's discovery did
not penetrate to Poland, where patriotism combined
with devotion to enshrine the Hymn of St. Casimir in
the hearts of the faithful, until 1866, when Count Alex-
2
ander Przezdziecki edited the hymn from a MS. in the
Vatican Library, 3 with an appendix containing the text
1
Now MS. Lat. A. 2445 in the Bibliotheque Nationale.
8
Oraison de Saint Casimir a la tres Sainte Vierge, Cracow, 1866, 8vo.
1
Queen of Sweden's MSS., No. 29, sm. fol.
101
of the entire poem from the Paris MS. The text, how-
ever, was extremely corrupt, and it was at London, and
in I884,1 that the first critical recension, with the data
for determining the authorship of the Mariale, was given
to the world by the learned and indefatigable research

of Pere Ragey, who discovered in the Bibliotheque
Nationale and British Museum no fewer than eight early
transcripts of the poem or some considerable fragment

of it. In three of the MSS. in the British Museum the
Mariale is found intact. Of these, two 2 are of the
fourteenth century, and repeat, without confirming, the
French tradition that the author's name was Bernard.
("Auctorem sciri si sit revera necesse, Gallia Bernardum
Doctorem credidit esse.") In the third,3 an early thir-
teenth century codex, this tradition finds no place, while
the poem is introduced by the closing paragraph of
one of St. Anselm's prayers to the Blessed Virgin
(Oratio lii
[li]
in Gerberon's edition), and followed
by his prayers to St. John the Evangelist, St. John

the Baptist, St. Peter, and St. Paul. This significant
collocation affords a strong presumption that the tran-
scriber believed the poem to be Anselm's work and ;
as he was probably living within a century of Anselm's

death, his belief would be entitled to some, though no
very great weight. But this is not all. A fragment
of the Mariale, containing not a few of the stanzas
which re-appear in the so-called Hymn of St. Casimir,
isfound, without any indication of their authorship, in
a Psalter 4 compiled by Benedictines of the Province
1
Sancti Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Mariale studio et cura P.
Ragey Societatis Marise, olim Theologiae Professoris. Londini (Burns and
Gates) 1884. Editio secunda: Tornaci Nerviorum (Desclee) 1885.

2
Royal MSS. 7 A. vi., and 8 B i.
4
3 Harl. MS. 2882. Addit. MS. 21927.
1 02
of York, at the latest in the twelfth, and very possibly
in the latter half of the eleventh century. The later
date leaves the question of authorship open as between

St. Anselm and St. Bernard. The earlier date would
dispose of St. Bernard's claim. Now whoever was the
author of this fragment was also the author of the
rest of the poem, which is not only written throughout
in the same daintily cadenced metre, but has an unmis-
takable unity of tone. This tone, moreover, is singularly
in accord with the passages relating to the Blessed
Virgin in Anselm's prose Meditations. What more

likely, then,than that a poem which was already in high
repute in both France and England during the twelfth
century, and contributed more than any other single
cause to the popularisation of the devotion to the Blessed
Virgin in both countries, should have emanated from

the cloister of Le Bee, and had for author no other
than its illustrious abbot?
103
CHAPTER VII.
ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Anselm was Abbot of Le Bee, certain

WHILE events happened of no small moment to
Christendom. The scene at Canossa had raised the
spiritualpower to a plane transcending, perhaps, the
wildest dreams of monastic idealism but in its sequel
;
the desolating civil war in Germany, the king's passage

of the Alps, at the head of his victorious chivalry, his
unopposed occupation of Ravenna, his investment of

Rome (1081), saved from capture for two years only
by the strength of her walls, the unwonted loyalty of
her citizens, and the pestilence which compelled the
intermission of the blockade, the surprise in the third
year of Trastevere, all but the Castle of S. Angelo,

whence the inflexible Pontiff watched unmoved the
triumphant progress of his enemies, the occupation of

the Coelian, the consecration of the Anti-pope Guibert,
Archbishop of Ravenna (Clement III.) in St. John

Lateran, the coronation of the king as Emperor of
Germany in St. Peter's, the submission of the faithless
city, the tardy, but terrible vengeance wreaked upon
her by the Norman, Robert Guiscard ; in all this was
evidence enough and to spare that the Church was
engaged a struggle, which, whatever might be its
in
ultimate issue, was certain to be prolonged, severe, and

104
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
exhausting. From
the smoking ruins of Rome, Gregory
withdrew under his Norman escort to the stronghold
of Salerno, and there sank slowly to his eternal rest,
"
murmuring with his latest breath, I have loved justice,
and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile." (25
May, 1085.)
For nearly a year, during which the an ti- pope
gained a partial recognition at Rome, Holy See the
was vacant ; then Desiderius, Abbot of Monte Casino,
reluctantly yielded to the urgency of the Cardinals
and suffered himself to be elected. (24 May, 1086.)
As if prophetic irony, he was proclaimed by the
in
style of Victor III. and at once retreated to Monte

;
Casino, leaving Rome to the mercy of the anti-pope.

In the spring of the following year, he was brought
back by the Normans ; St. Peter's was surprised, and
the victorious Pope was consecrated (9 May) to retire
again to his beloved abbey almost as soon as the
ceremony was over. Lured thence by the Countess

Matilda of Tuscany, he was reinstated in the Vatican
after a sanguinary struggle, only to abandon the city
once more to the anti-pope, and terminate his igno-

minious pontificate a
painful death. (16 Sept.,
by
1087.) The same
year, the same month, saw the
removal from the political arena of the most command-
ing figure of that iron age. In the first week of
September, 1087, William the Norman, the Conqueror
of England, lay dying in the little Priory of St. Gervais,
near Rouen. He had sent for Anselm to attend him,
doubtless to hear his last confession, and administer to
him the last sacraments ;
and Anselm had obeyed, but
falling ill, had been removed to the neighbouring Priory
of Sotteville, on the other side of the Seine. He thus
105
missed one of the most striking, most memorable
scenes in history.
Despite the intense suffering caused by the injuries

he had received at Mantes, William retained his com-
posure, the command of his faculties, his sense of public
duty, to the last. As the hour of his dissolution drew
nigh, he called to his bedside the Bishop of Lisieux,
and the Abbot of Jumieges, his two younger sons,
William and Henry, 1 and a few of his most trusted
councillors and in the presence of them all and his
;
physicians, made his confession which was, indeed, ;

not
so much a confession as an impartial review of his
entire life, in which, while expressing profound con-

trition for his many misdeeds, he did not fail to urge
in extenuation such pleas as were fairly pleadable the ;
extremely early age at which he became his own master

and the master of others, the multifarious and extra-
ordinary temptations inseparable from his position, and
as some set-off against the sins of sixty-four years
which he despaired of enumerating, his reverential
regard, his zeal for Mother Church he had not sold ;
benefices, simony he had always abhorred, he had pre-

ferred persons of merit, as Lanfranc, Anselm, Gerbert
of Fontanelle, Durand of Troarn ;
he had founded
abbeys and other religious houses in all parts of his
duchy with more to the like effect. So he craved the
;
prayers of the Church on his behalf, and made her a

rich donation from his treasury. He then gave William
a letter of nomination to the English throne, kissed
and dismissed him assigned Henry a pecuniary portion;
;
and directed the release of his prisoners of state, in-
1
The eldest, Robert Courthose, Duke-designate of Normandy, was still
a rebel, and in exile.
106
eluding, after some hesitation, his brother Odo, Bishop
of Bayeux. His commerce with the world thus ended,
he fell deep sleep, which lasted through the
into a
night, until was broken by the sound of the Cathedral

it
"
bell ringing to prime. What is that ?" he murmured ;
and was told it was the bell of the Church of St. Mary.
Then gathering his whole strength together, he stretched
forth his hands, raised his eyes heavenwards, and said
"
audibly, and with deep devoutness, To my Lady, the
Holy Mother Mary, I commend myself, and may she,
by her holy prayers, reconcile me to her dearest Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ." And so the mighty, heavy-
laden, not ignoble spirit, passed to its doom. (9 Sept.,
1087.)
None had suspected that the end was so near, and
the last sacraments had not been administered. Nobles,
clergy, physicians alike succumbed to panic fear, and
fled from the corpse, leaving the menials to plunder
the room of all that was valuable and portable.
So, unhonoured, the body of the great king lay in
the little priory by the Seine, until a certain knight
named Herlwin, who here, and here only, emerges into
history, placed on board a ship, which from motives
it
of charity and piety he had hired for the purpose,

and carried it down the river, and thence by sea to
Caen where amid a great concourse of nobles and
;
clergy, among them Anselm, it was buried with much

pomp and circumstance in the church of the Abbey
of St. Stephen.
Not many days later (28 Sept.), Lanfranc consecrated,
in Westminster Abbey, the new King of England,
William the Red, a prince with whom Anselm, and
also a certain monk of Cluny, Otto by name, a native
107
of Chatillon sur Marne, then Bishop of Ostia, soon
to be better known as Pope Urban, 1 were destined to
come into relations more close than cordial.
On 28 May, 1089, Lanfranc passed quietly away
at Canterbury, in the eighty- fourth year of his age,
and was buried in the nave of the cathedral. His
death set the young king free to indulge his pro-
pensities without let or hindrance. And his propen-
were fraught with grave peril to both Church
sities
and State in England. He was of extravagant habits.

To an immoderate passion for the chase he added
a taste for coarse, not to say bestial, debaucheries,
which he gratified without shame. He had also the
ambition to play the part of a great prince, not only
in Britain, but, if possible, on the continent. In a
supple, adroit, audacious courtier -

clerk, by name
Ranulf, to whom the treasurer, Robert le Despenser,
gave the significant cognomen, Flambard (Firebrand),
he had at hand the adviser best fitted to pander to
his vices, flatter his hopes, and furnish him with the
means of satisfying his Flambard was of
desires.
low origin, being the base-born son of a priest of no

family at Bayeux, but of handsome person, keen
and ready wit, insinuating manners, and a cool and
calculating unscrupulousness, which permitted nothing

to stand between him and his ambition. Thus from
a page's place he had risen, by the avenue which the
Church then afforded to all men of talent and ambition,
to be William's chosen companion, his favourite, and
now at last in effect his prime minister, and his evil
genius.
1
Urban II. was consecrated on 12 March, 1088, at Terracina, Rome
being in the hands of the anti-pope.
108
The king required money, and Flambard must
find ithim, or forfeit his reputation, his place.
for
Nor was he long at a loss for ways and means. If

the existing assessments, based on the Domesday
survey, would not yield the needful revenue, there were
two very simple expedients by which so monstrous
a state of things could easily be set right. The survey
itself might be rectified, i.e. the taxable area might
be fictitiously increased by falsifying the unit of

measurement; and
assessment, too, might be
the
rectified, might
i.e. beitdoubled, or even trebled.
Moreover, the church lands were a treasure in them-
selves, and feudal customs could readily be so manipu-
lated as to placeand keep the revenues of the more
opulent abbeys and sees in the king's absolute control
for an indefinite period.
So reasoned Flambard, and having laid his
plan
wisely, he executed it thoroughly. All England soon
groaned under his exactions, and as often as abbey
or see fell vacant, vacant it remained and under colour ;
of the royal prerogative of advocatio, its rents passed

into the exchequer. Moreover, after Lanfranc's death,
appeal to the royal court on any question in which

the exchequer was concerned, became an idle for-
mality ;
for then Ranulf himself was installed as chief
justice, while he continued to hold the offices of king's
receiver and procurator, or as we should now say,
chancellor of and attorney - general.
the exchequer
Thus, throughout the reign of William Rufus, clergy
and laity alike were absolutely at his mercy, and well
did he vindicate for himself Robert le Despenser's nick-
name of Firebrand.
So the oppressed people yearned for a deliverer, and,
109
thoughts turned towards Lanfranc's
instinctively, their
pupil, Lanfranc's friend, whom they had learned to

know and reverence during his visits to their country.
Let but
Anselm, they thought, be installed in
Lanfranc's place, and the hand of the spoiler would
be stayed. The Red King, however, was too well
satisfiedwith the results of Flambard's policy to be
eager to fill the vacant see and Anselm, on his part,
;
was not the man to intrigue, or lay himself open to

the faintest suspicion of intriguing, for his own
advancement. He remained, therefore, at Le Bee,
occupied in writing a treatise against the heresy
recently broached by Roscellin, notwithstanding that

the acquisition by the abbey of the church of Clare
in Suffolk in 1090, and of the church of St. Werburg
at Chester, the gift of his old friend, Hugh the Wolf,

Count of Avranches, now Earl of Chester, more than
justified a visit to England.

In the summer of 1092, however, the Earl of Chester
fell and, believing his malady to be mortal, could
ill,
not rest satisfied to receive the last sacraments from

any hand but Anselm's. Yet it was not until Anselm
had received three messages from the earl, each more
urgent than the that he at length made up his
last,
mind to obey. He
then lost no time, for there was
evidently none to spare. Landing at Dover in the first

week of September, he hurried through Canterbury,
without even waiting to celebrate the feast of the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and, after a brief
audience of the king, who listened with patience to the
expostulations which he did not fail to offer in regard
to his treatment of the Church, pushed on to Chester,
to find the earl convalescent.
no
Though the first intention of his visit was thus
happily frustrated, Anselm found it much less easy
to quit the island than to enter it. The canonry
for such it was of St. Werburg had to be converted
into a regular monastery, in affiliation to the Abbey
of Le Bee ;
the various priories and cells
belonging
to the abbey to be visited, and counsel to be given
to prelates and nobles onall the thorny questions
which the disturbed condition of England furnished

in abundance. Hence it happened that Anselm kept
the Christmas of 1092 with the Red King at Glou-
cester, waiting a convenient opportunity to crave the

royal permit for his return to Normandy. The pre-
sence of a man
so admirably fitted to fill the chair
of St. Augustine, naturally forced upon the atten-
tion of the court the still widowed condition of the

Church of Canterbury, and led to the adoption of a
plan of concerted action. Hence, during the Christ-
mastide festivities, Rufus, to his no small surprise and
annoyance, found himself suddenly solicited by the

principal magnates of the realm to authorise a form of
public prayer for his own guidance in the choice of
Lanfranc's successor. So modest a request he could
not, in common decency, refuse it, he
; but, in granting
added scornfully that all the prayers of the Church
would not prevent his doing just as he pleased. The
task of composing the necessary form of prayer was
devolved by the bishops upon Anselm. That duty
discharged, he applied to the king for leave to return
to Normandy, and met with a refusal. Upon this,
he left Gloucester and took
up his quarters at a
manor-house in the vicinity, there to await the royal
pleasure.
in
Rufus was probably minded that Anselm should be-
come a suitor to him for the archbishopric. At any
rate, one day early in March, 1093, hearing one of
his courtiers speak of the Abbot of Le Bee's saintli-
ness, how his affections were so set on God that he
cared for nothing temporal, the king answered, with a
sneer, "No, not even for the See of Canterbury."
"That least of all, as I and many more believe," re-
plied the other. "I tellyou," rejoined the king with
animation, "that if he only thought he had a chance
of getting it, he would dance and clap his hands for
joy, and throw himself into my arms ; but, by the

1
Holy Face of Lucca, for the present neither he nor
any but I myself shall be archbishop."
These words had hardly escaped the king's lips
when he fell dangerously ill, and a few days later
(on Quadragesima Sunday, 6 March) Anselm was

summoned to his bedside. Stricken, as he thought,
by the just hand of God with a mortal illness, Rufus
consented to be shriven by the man whose sanctity
he had so lately derided and, his conscience eased
;
by confession and absolution, made in presence of

the assembled prelates and nobles a solemn vow
that, if his life should be spared, he would thenceforth
order it in clemency and justice.
Tolend additional solemnity to the act, he dismissed
the bishops to the church to present his vow to the
Lord the high altar, and at the same time bade a
upon
clerk prepare an edict investing it with the form and
force of a covenant with the nation.
1
The "Santo Volto," or "Holy Face," belonging to the ancient
preserved in the Cathedral of Lucca, was
crucifix held in profound
veneration during the Middle Ages, which was doubtless the reason why
Rufus was especially addicted to swearing by it.
112
Anselm, who had withdrawn from the king's bed-
side, tarried in the room until the edict which, after
proclaiming a general amnesty, discharge of prisoners,
and remission of Crown debts, pledged the royal faith
to "good and holy laws," and a strict and inviolate
administration of justice was engrossed, read, and

ratified. There was then a little buzz of conversa-
tion among the councillors who stood nearest to the
king, and who urged him to give earnest of his gracious

intent by filling at once the vacant See of Canterbury.
Rufus assented,
1
and, unprompted, named Anselm
primate. Then followed one of the strangest scenes
recorded in history.
Dumb, pale, riveted to the floor, stood the arch-
bishop-elect, while the bishops thronged around him,

and sought to lead him to the bedside of the king to
receive investiture. He remained immovable, deaf to
entreaty, expostulation, reproach, pleading his age,
his infirmities, his ignorance of secular affairs, his
duty to his abbey, his archbishop, his feudal

lord in Normandy, to Pope Urban, whom he had
already recognised, and from his allegiance to whom
he could not swerve for a single hour. All in vain !
By main force they partly drew, partly pushed him,

towards the king, who added his entreaties to theirs.
Still, however, he adhered to his gran rifiuto, and
1
It is plain from the authorities that Anselm had already been virtually
elected to the see by the unanimous voice of the clergy and people of
England. (Cf. Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. cap. viii. ; Milo
Crispin. Migne, Patrolog. c. 715; Joann. Sarisb. Migne, Patrolog. cxcix.
1022; Anon, de Vita Gundulfi, Migne, Patrolog. clix. 826; and the
letters of Osbern and Gundulf in Anselm's Epp. Pars. iii. 2, 3.) Yet
Freeman, Norman Conquest, v. 137, assumes that Anselm received the
see "
by the gift of the king only."
H 113
when excuses failed him, burst into so violent a
flood of tears that the blood gushed from his nose.
At a word from the king the bishops threw them-
selves at his feet, but he too prostrated himself, and
opposed to their supplications the same stubborn

resistance as before. At length, losing patience, they
raised and extended his right arm towards the king,
who attempted palm with the crosier;
to touch his
but his fist closed convulsively, nor could they do
more than force open a single forefinger, and that
only for an instant, though in the struggle they tore
the flesh, so that he cried for pain. In the end they
were fain to be content with bringing the crosier into
contact with his hand, and carrying their captive into
the church to the strains of Vivat Episcopus and Te
Deum laudamus, to which he responded with "Nihil
est quod facitis," "It is nought ye do."
The ceremony appropriate to the occasion
religious
was then hurriedly performed, and Anselm returned to
the king to enter a formal protest against the entire
proceeding as null and void. To the bishops he

pleaded once more his inability to sustain the weight
of the burden thus thrust upon him. "You are
coupling," he said,"beneath the same yoke, an un-
tamed bull and an aged and feeble ewe."
That, in the part he played at this crisis, Anselm
was entirely sincere, no reason to doubt.
there is
Sensitive by nature, and recluse by habit, he was
naturally desirous of ending his days in peace in
his beloved Le Bee. Nor was

plea of inability
his
to desert his post in any measure overstrained. The

news of the election caused the utmost consternation,
not only at Le Bee, but throughout Normandy, and it
114
was only with great and
prolonged cor-
difficulty, after
respondence, that the Archbishop of Rouen, Anselm's

old friend, William Bonne Ame, was induced to give
it his indispensable sanction. There was further diffi-
culty with Duke Robert, and, most of all, with the

monks of Le Bee nor would the latter consent to
;
renounce their claims upon their abbot, until Anselm

duty bade him accept
himself, convinced at last that
the primacy, had signified his desire to be released
from his obligations toward them. His conduct was,
of course, misconstrued in Normandy; but as the
obstacles to his advancement were one by one re-
moved, the archbishop-elect wept himself half blind

for grief.
While, however, there is no reason to seek for any

other than the natural explanation of his conduct, it
is evident that may

it have been, to some extent,
also
shaped by considerations of policy. To have accepted

investiture of the spiritualities from the king would
have been an uncanonical act. To reject the crosier
when by him, and yield only to the force put
offered
upon him by the bishops, was undoubtedly, as the

event proved, the best available method of safeguard-
ing the prerogatives of the Church. Moreover, Rufus

sick unto death was one man ;
Rufus risen from his
sick bed was likely to be quite another. Nor was it,
as he well knew, merely, or mainly, with the king that
Anselm had to deal, but with the much more astute,
more resolute, more formidable Ranulf Flambard, who
looked to enrich himself no less than his master by
the plunder of the Church, and was not likely to be
diverted from his purpose by any regard for law
human or divine.
"5
With such a monitor at his side there was little
likelihood that, in the event of his recovery, Rufus

would long adhere to pledges wrung from him by
fear of instant death. Common
prudence, therefore*
would dictate that the archbishop-elect should defer
his acceptance of the see until it was certain whether
the king was to die or recover, and how, in the latter
event, he was disposed to behave.
The king's illness was not of long duration, and, on
his recovery, his good resolutions vanished like smoke.
" Face of he swore to the
By the Holy Lucca," Bishop
"
of Rochester, God shall have no good thing from me
after all the evil He has done me." He lost no time
in revoking the edict which testified to the contrition
of which he was now ashamed; and though he made
Anselm a formal grant in writing of the temporalities
of the See of Canterbury, the document was too

vaguely worded to be of much more value than the
parchment on which it was engrossed. Even Lanfranc,
1
great though his ascendancy over the Conqueror had

been, had not been able to restore the See of Canter-
bury to ancient opulence and to pluck from the
all its ;
grasp of Rufus lands of which he had already enjoyed

the revenues for nearly four years, bade fair to be a
task of no ordinary difficulty and danger. Moreover,
Pope Urban II. had not, as yet, been recognised in

England, and, without such recognition, it was un-
lawful even for an Archbishop of Canterbury to hold
correspondence with him. In all this there was matter

enough to daunt a bolder, or teach caution to a less
wary, man than Anselm.

Accordingly, Anselm, who awaited at Rochester, as
1
RYMER, ed. Clarke, i. 5.
116
the guest of his friend, Bishop Gundulf, the arrival of
the letters from Normandy which were to release him
from his duties at Le Bee, seized the occasion of the
king's passage through the city on his return from an
interview with Robert, Count of Flanders, at Dover,
to advise him that his acceptance of the see must be
conditional upon the restitution to it of all the lands
which had belonged to it in Lanfranc's time, and an
equitable adjustment of the claims of the see to the

other possessions of which it had been despoiled before
Lanfranc's time. He added that he hoped the king
would accept him as his spiritual director, and in regard
to Urban he frankly informed him that he had already
acknowledged him as Pope. Rufus made answer that

he would restore the lands which had been held by the
see under Lanfranc as to the other points, he would say
:
nothing. He afterwards doubtless at the suggestion of

Ranulf Flambard sent for Anselm to Windsor, and
sought to withdraw from the scope of his promise certain
estateswhich he had granted to vassals on hereditary
tenures but Anselm held him to his original bargain,
;
hoping that thus, even at the eleventh hour, he might

be honourably relieved from the dreaded burden of the
archbishopric, and suffered to end his days in the
seclusion of the cloister.
It was not to be, however. Yielding to the indignant
remonstrances of his court, Rufus summoned him to
Winchester, and made him such ample promises that
he had no choice but to accept the see. Investiture he,
of course, did not receive from the king ;
that Rufus,
doubtless, though erroneously, supposed he had already

given when he applied the crosier to his hand during
the memorable scene of the preceding 6 March; but,
117
following Lanfranc's example, Anselm did not scruple
to do the king homage for the use of the archiepiscopal
temporalities an act which the Church had not, as yet,
pronounced uncanonical. The homage done, the king

gave him seisin of the temporalities. He took formal
possession of the see on the fourteenth Sunday after
Pentecost (u September), the gospel for which day,

then, as now, opened with the words from the sixth
"
chapter of St. Matthew, In illo tempore Dixit Jesus :
discipulis suis Nemo potest duobus dominis ser-

'
' "
vire words amply significant to the least super-
stitious mind in the circumstances in which Anselm
stood. His enthronisation at Canterbury took place
on 25 September, the august ceremony being marred
by the noisy intrusion into the cathedral of Ranulf
Flambard, who chose that occasion to serve the arch-
bishop with a citation to appear before the royal
court, and that, too, as Eadmer informs us, in a
matter of which, in fact, the royal court had no
cognisance.
The consecration followed on 4 December, the rite
being performed by the Archbishop of York, assisted

by the entire episcopate of England, with the excep-
tion of the Bishops of Worcester and Exeter, who were
sick. 1Nothing occurred to disturb the harmony of the
proceedings, except that, during the reading of the
formal record of the election, the Archbishop of York
took exception to the words, " totius Britanniae Metro-
politana," by which the church of Canterbury was
therein designated, as derogatory to the dignity of his
own metropolitan church of York. The objection was
" "
held well founded, and the word Metropolitana was
1
The See of Lincoln was at this time vacant.
118
accordingly struck out, and replaced by the term
"Primas." 1 This technical flaw amended, Anselm was
consecrated in the usual form, except that, in taking
his vow of obedience to the Roman Pontiff, he did so
in general terms, thus leaving open the momentous
question who the true Pope might really be.
1
In point of fact, the Archbishop of Canterbury, as inheritor of the
authority delegated to St. Augustine by Gregory the Great, was Primate
not merely of Britain, but also of Ireland and the adjacent Isles. As
such, Anselm consecrated the Bishops-elect of Dublin and Waterford soon
after his assumption of the pallium.
119
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE
any doubts lingered in Anselm's mind as to the

IFroyal disposition towards him, they were soon and
rudely dispelled. The consecration over, he hurried
to Gloucester, where Rufus, revolving warlike schemes,
kept the festival of peace. Normandy was to be

wrested from Duke Robert, and money for the expedi-
tion was in great demand, and, alas! in short, very
short supply.
Anselm, accordingly, thinking to propitiate the king,

offeredhim a modest aid of ^500. Considering how
long the king had enjoyed, and how recently sur-
rendered the revenues of the See of Canterbury, the
gift was perhaps as much as he could fairly expect,
and he at first accepted it ; then, suddenly changing
his mind, he returned it, doubtless expecting that it
would be increased. Anselm, however, merely re-
newed his offer, explaining, with much frankness, that

though the first, it would not be the last of his gifts,
and that small and frequent aids made in good will
would be more profitable to the king, and more con-
sonant with his dignity, than occasional inordinate
contributions extorted by force as from a slave ; adding
"
with emphasis, I and all that is mine shall be at
your service, so only it be a friendly and a free service ;
120
BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE
but on terms of servitude you shall have neither me
nor mine."
"Keep your gifts to yourself/' replied the king in
" "
a passion. All that I need I have. Begone !
So the interview terminated, and Anselm, after some

fruitless overtures towards reconciliation, at last took
his leave of the court, and congratulating himself that
he had escaped a possible imputation of simony, re-

turned to Canterbury by way of Harrow on the Hill,
where he consecrated to the service of God the noble
parish church which Lanfranc had built, but had not
lived to dedicate. (January, 1094.)
Meanwhile, Rufus mustered his forces and marched

to Hastings, there to wait for a favourable breeze to
carry him across the Channel. Notwithstanding his

he was not too proud to send for Anselm
irritation,
to bless his enterprise. As in duty bound, Anselm
obeyed, and towards the end of January was at
Hastings.
There, on 9 February, he consecrated Robert Bloet
to the See of Lincoln. The wind continued adverse
for some weeks ;
so that the beginning of Lent
(23 February) found the royal army still on shore.
Anselm by the occasion to read certain of
profited
the young courtiers, whose long elaborately-dressed
hair, flowing robes and mincing gait betrayed, even

at the penitential season, their nameless shame, an
Ash Wednesday homily on the duty of reforming
their lives, and to urge upon the king the advisability
of convening a council to devise measures to stem,
if
possible, the flood of moral corruption which,
emanating from the court, bade fair to contaminate
the whole of English society and also to fill the various
;
121
vacant abbacies, and otherwise set the house of the
Church in order.
Rufus listened with manifest impatience. He would
not allow that Anselm had any responsibility either
for the morals of the nobles, or the state of the abbeys.
The last were absolutely his own, to do with them,
or leave undone, what he pleased. Anselm reminded
him that he held them in trust for God and His
service ; whereupon the king peremptorily commanded
him to be silent. His language was displeasing nor ;
had Lanfranc ever dared to use the like to his father.
So Anselm took his leave.
On sounding his suffragans on the probable cause

of the king's obduracy, he was given plainly to under-
stand that the affair of the $oo still rankled in the
royal mind. Rufus would give nothing for nothing, and
" "
if the primate wished to have his peace he must even
be prepared to pay for it. A douceur of 1000 would
work wonders with him.
Anselm replied that he was not prepared to pur-
chase the king's good will at the expense of the
Church, or, indeed, at all that the voluntary aid
;
which he had offered had been rejected, that most part

of it had now been applied in charity, that he had
nothing more to offer.
When these words of just and grave rebuke reached

"
the king, they elicited a characteristic outburst. Tell
him," he said to the bishops, "that much as I hated

him yesterday, to-day I hate him more, that to-morrow
and each succeeding day I shall hate him with an
intenser and more bitter hatred ;
that I shall never more
account him father or archbishop, that I utterly execrate
and reject his benedictions and prayers. Let him
122
betake himself whithersoever he will, and wait no
longer here to bless my passage."
On receipt of this message, Anselm at once re-
turned to Canterbury. Not long afterwards, the wind
shifting, Rufus effected a landing in Normandy, which,
words of Eadmer, " at the cost
in the excellent, succinct
of an immense sum of money, he entirely failed to
subjugate." Trouble in the Welsh marches recalled

him in high dudgeon to England at the end of the
year. While making preparations for the invasion of
the Principality, he fixed his quarters at Gillingham,
near Shaftesbury, in Dorset, and thither, in January,
1095, came Anselm, to crave the king's permission to

make the usual journey to Rome, to receive his pallium
from the hands of the Pope. The rule which pre-
scribed that, upon his consecration, an Archbishop of
Canterbury must with all due speed resort to Rome to
receive this stole of white wool, woven from the fleeces
of the lambs of S. Agnese fuori le Mura, and orna-
mented with purple symbol at once of the
crosses, the
plenitude of his authority and its dependence upon

the Holy See, dated from a period long anterior to
the Norman Conquest. Anselm was therefore only
proposing to do what Lanfranc and other of his
predecessors had done, and what was strictly in ac-

cordance with canon law. Moreover, his year of grace
had already expired, and it was only by special favour
of thePope that he could hope to receive the pallium
at If it were to be refused, the see would at once
all.
become vacant. The delay had been caused by the

king's refusal Pope Urban, a refusal in
to recognise
which he still persisted. The Pope ? " he said, as soon
"
as Anselm had broached the matter "from which

123
" l
Pope would you receive the pallium ? And when
Anselm named Urban, he answered that he had not
yet acknowledged Urban as Pope, nor so far deviatec
from his own and his father's settled usage (consuetudo)
as to sufferanyone to name a Pope within the realm
of England without his leave, and that whoso shoulc
endeavour to invade this, his prerogative, should be
dealt with exactly as he had sought to rob him o
if
his crown. Anselm reminded him of what had passec

at Rochester ; how, before accepting the see, he hac
informed him that he was already pledged to Urban
and that under no circumstances could he violate his
pledge. Rufus angrily replied that Anselm could not
retain his allegiance to the Holy See, if it came in
conflict with that which he owed to his sovereign

Thereupon Anselm craved that the question might be
referred to a council composed of bishops, abbots, anc
magnates of the realm, adding that if they should

decide that the two allegiances were incompatible, he
should desire leave of absence from the kingdom unti
such time as Rufus should recognise Urban, rather
than deviate for an hour from the duty which he owed
to the Holy See.
The king assented, issued the necessary writs, anc
2
on Sunday, 25 February, 1095, all that was noblest
Angelo, with the Vatican and Lateran

1
At this date the castle of S.
was held by the Antipope Guibert of Ravenna, who, it will be
still
remembered, shortly before the death of Gregory VII., had got himsel
consecrated, and assumed the style of Clement III., and given the Imperia
crown to Henry IV.
2
"Tertia septimana Quadragesimae," the third week in Lent, accord
ing to Eadmer, De Vita Anselmi, lib. ii. ; the Sunday within which,
as
Easter Day, 1095, fell on 25 March, must have been 25 February. Ye

"
in the Hist. Nov. lib. i., Eadmer gives another date, viz. quinto Idus
Martii," /.*. n March, the fifth Sunday in Lent, or Passion Sunday.
124
in the Church and State of England met in solemn
conclave in the church of the royal castle of Rocking-
ham, to determine whether the country should still
remain part of Catholic Christendom, or plunge into
schism at the behest of a despotic prince. President
there appears to have been none. Rufus himself was
not present, nor was he officially represented. He
remained, however, in the castle, so that from time to
time one or other of the prelates could report progress
to him, or carry messages from him. He had probably
little fear of the result, for he knew the stuff of which
the Norman
bishops were made. From the outset
Anselm found the minds of the spirituality, with the
sole exception of his old friend Gundulf, Bishop of
Rochester, hopelessly prejudiced against him. He
opened the proceedings himself.
" "
My Brothers," he began, children of God's Church, all
ye who are met together here in the name of the Lord,

hearken, I pray, and lend, as far as in you lies, the aid of your
good counsel to the matter for the discussion of which you
are here assembled. And as many of you as have not as yet
fully understood the nature of the matter in hand, listen, if it

so please, and you shall shortly hear it. Between our lord
the king and me certain words have passed, which seem to
engender discord between us. For when of late, according
to the custom of predecessors, I craved of him permission
my
to resort to Urban, Bishop of the Apostolic See, to receive
from him my pallium, he replied that he had not as yet
acknowledged Urban as Pope, and, therefore, would not suffer
me to have recourse to him for that purpose. Furthermore,
The discrepancy was first pointed out by Mr. Martin Rule, in his scholarly
edition of Eadmer in the Rolls Series (1884), Preface, p. 62, and is
doubtless to be explained, as he suggests, by supposing that Eadmer, in
writing the passage in the Hist. Nov., inadvertently postdated Easter-day

by exactly a fortnight. The same error will reappear later on.
125
{
he said, If, in my realm, you acknowledge as Pope, or treat
as so acknowledged, either this same Urban or anyone else,
without my recognition and authorisation, you act in breach of
the allegiance which you owe to me, and wrong me no less
than if you were to attempt to take away my crown. Know,
then, that you shall have neither part nor lot in my realm
unless you give me the most unequivocal assurances that you
will renounce, as I require you, all submission to the
authority
of this Urban.' Which hearing, I was lost in wonder. I was,
as you know, an abbot in another realm, leading, by the grace
of God, a life without reproach in the sight of all men. It
was neither hope nor desire of episcopal office that brought
me hither, but certain just obligations which I could by no
means ignore. When the king fell ill, all ye, who were then
about him, urged him before his death to provide, by the
institution of an archbishop, for the well-being of his mother,
and Church of Canterbury ; and, in
yours, the brief, the king
approved your counsel, and concurred with you in electing me

to the office. I made several excuses, desiring to escape the
responsibility of the primacy, but ye would not have it so.

Among other pleas I urged this, that I had already acknow-
ledged Urban as the successor of the Apostle, and that, so
long as I lived, I would not depart for a single hour from my
allegiance to him. To all this you had none of you a word to
object. Your reply was to seize me by force and thrust upon
me the common burden, upon me, I say, whose burden of
physical weakness was already so great that I was scarce able
to hold myself upright. Therein, perchance, you thought to
answer my secret desire. How I desired your gift, how sweet
I have found it, what pleasure I have had of it, I think it
needless at present, since in truth it is nothing to the purpose,

to explain. But lest any, through ignorance of my inner
mind, should find occasion to misconstrue my conduct in this
matter, I profess, in all sincerity, that, saving the submission

due to the will of God, I had preferred at that time, had the
option been given me, to be cast on to a stack of blazing
faggots to be burned, than to be raised to the archiepiscopal
dignity. But, seeing your importunity, I yielded to you, and
126
accepted the burden which you laid upon me, confiding in the
hope of the aid which you promised me. Now, then, is the
time, now
the occasion for you to lighten my burden by your
counsel. For to the end that I might have your counsel,
when these words of which I have spoken passed between our
lord the king and me, I craved an adjournment to the present
day, that, meeting together, you might, by your collective

wisdom, examine this matter whether I am able, without
trenching upon my allegiance to the king, to maintain intact
my submission to the Holy See. an adjourn-
I craved, I say,
ment, and I had it ; and lo !

by the grace of God, you are
here present. but you especially, my Brethren
All, therefore,
and colleagues in the episcopate, I pray and exhort that
you examine diligently of these matters, and, with a well-
considered judgment, such as is worthy of you, and on which
I may securely rely, advise me how to reconcile the sub-
mission which I owe to the Pope with my fealty to our lord
the king. Ill can I brook the idea of setting at nought the
authority of the Vicar of Blessed Peter, or of breaking the
faith which, under God, I have sworn to the king, or that it is
impossible for me to adhere to the one without violating the

other." 1
When Anselm had done, the bishops drily answered

that on so weighty a matter they could not presume
to advise a man of his recognised wisdom and sanctity.
They hinted, however, that he had better make un-

conditional surrender to the king, to whom, with his
permission, they would report the substance of his

speech. Anselm bowed assent, and the session was
adjourned. On the morrow the council reassembled,
and the bishops reiterated their sentence of the pre-
ceding day. Then Anselm, in an impassioned speech,
1
This speechis from Eadmer (Hist. Nov.) lib. i.) who was present on
the occasion, and whose scrupulous veracity is universally admitted. It
is, probably, as nearly as possible in the actual words used by Anselm.
127
appealed from them and their king to the supreme
Pastor and King of kings, who had given His apostles
and their successors the power of binding and loosing
on earth and and bidden them render unto
in heaven,
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the
"
things that are God's. Know then," he concluded,
"all of you, that in those matters that are God's I
will yield obedience to the Vicar of Blessed Peter, and

in those things that rightly appertain to the state of
my earthly king I will render him, to the best of my

capacity, faithful counsel and service."
Upon this the bishops, with one accord, rose in
tumult, and refused to carry such high words to the

king. Anselm accordingly saw Rufus himself, and
represented to him the substance of his speech. The
audience over, he returned to the church, and went
quietly to sleep in his chair.
Meanwhile the bishops were closeted with the king
in long and anxious consultation. Few of them
probably bore Anselm any positive ill-will, or wen
specially zealous for the royal prerogative, or care<
or knew much about the merits of the controversy.
They were, for the most part, ignorant, apatheti<
subservient courtiers who looked on the Church
a means to their worldly advancement. John
Touraine, Bishop of Bath, was more skilled in the
use of simples than in the Scriptures, or canon law;
Losinga, Bishop of Thetford, was an accomplished syco-

phant ; Robert Bloet, the recently-consecrated Bishop
of Lincoln, an indifferent -honest man of the world.
These, and these, were likely to take an

such as
extremely practical view of the situation. Anselm's
high ideas might be all very well for him, but Urban's
128
I
position was not yet secure, and it was a far cry from
Rockingham to Rome. The Red King did not brook
contradiction, and had a heavy hand. They were his
men, and his will must be law to them. At the same
time there was no good reason why they should whet
the edge of his anger against the primate; for who
could say what, after all, the ultimate issue of the
contest might be? So, like Dante's
Caitiff brood
Of angels, who nor faithful to God were
Nor yet rebellious, but for themselves stood
(Inferno, c. iii. 37~39)
they temporised, counselled submission to the primate

in the church, and propounded no definite policy to
the king in the privy-chamber.
Amongthem, however, was one of another stamp

William of St. Calais, Bishop of Durham, an able and
ambitious prelate who hoped, by compassing Anselm's
downfall, to succeed to his place. This man had been
Rufus' prompter and evil genius throughout the affair,
and he now came forward as the king's accredited
agent.
Towards evening Anselm was awakened to hear the
royal ultimatum unconditional and instant surrender
to which the bishops added their doubtless well-
meant and, by this time, very explicit counsel, that,
in his own interest, he "should renounce his obedience
to that Urban, who, in a quarrel with the king, could
be of no manner of help to him, and, if he made his
peace with the king, could do him no manner of hurt ;
should shake off the yoke of subjection, and freely, as

became an Archbishop of Canterbury, submit his will
in all matters to that of his lord the king," with more
i
129
in a similar strain ;
to which he answered, as before,
that "renounce his obedience to the Pope he would
certainly not," adding that "the day was far spent,
let the session be adjourned to the morrow, and he
would then give his final decision, as God might direct

him." The
however,
king, suggestion, andat the
through the mouth, of William of St. Calais, insisted

on having Anselm's final answer there and then. If
he delayed further, added the bishop in a tone of
menace, he would assuredly be called to account for
his presumption. Brought thus to bay, Anselm replied
with quiet dignity that " if any sought to call him to
account for maintaining inviolate his allegiance to the
Pope, he would answer the charge as and where he
ought."
These words completely changed the aspect of
affairs ;
for
they brought mind the forgotten fact
to
that an Archbishop of Canterbury was amenable to no
jurisdiction but the Pope's. Moreover, signs were not
wanting that the feeling of the laity was on Anselm's
side. A murmur of indignation ran through their
ranks, and at length a knight, more courageous than

the approached Anselm, knelt before him, and
rest,
said, "My Lord and Father, your children, by my

mouth, pray you not to let your heart be troubled by
what you have heard, but to bethink you of blessed
Job who, on his dunghill, conquered the Devil, and
avenged Adam, whom the Devil had conquered in
Paradise."
This timely manifestation of sympathy was of in-
valuable service to Anselm. The voice of the people,

he said to himself, is it not the voice of God ? And so
with fresh courage and beaming face he resumed the
130
debate, and with triumphant logic maintained it until
the approach of night rendered a further adjournment
necessary.
On the morrow, the difficulties of the situation
became only more apparent. The primate could not
be legally tried the temper of the laity plainly forbade
;
the forcible removal from the archbishopric and expul-

sion from the kingdom which William of St. Calais now
proceeded to urge as the only practical expedient. In

vain Rufus, through the bishops, formally withdrew
from Anselm his confidence, countenance, and the pro-
tection of the law; in vain the latter, at the king's
bidding, renounced their fealty to him, and declared

their intention of holding no more intercourse with him.
Anselm replied with suave dignity :
"I understand you. In withdrawing from me all the

obedience, fealty, and friendship which you owe me as your
primate and spiritual father, because I am determined to

maintain inviolate the obedience and fealty which I owe to
Blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, you do ill. But
God forbid that I should return you evil for evil. On the
contrary, I shall manifest towardsyou the charity of a father
and brother; I shall hold you ever as my brothers and the
children of our holy mother, the Church of Canterbury; I
shall do my utmost, so far as you will permit me, to reclaim
you from the error into which fear has led you, and by the
power which the Lord has given me to recall you to the path
of rectitude. As for the king, who deprives me of the pro-
tection of the law within his realm, and refuses any longer to
recognise me as his archbishop and spiritual father, I promise

to give his laws all
possible support, and to render to himself
every service that is in my power; and if he will permit, I

will have the care of a loving father for the interest of his
soul, while remaining faithful to the service of God and main-
taining undiminished the power, reputation, and office of

Archbishop of Canterbury, whatever may be the persecutions
to which, in my worldly estate, I may be subjected."
This answer served, of course, only to exasperate

the king still further. "What he says is altogether
an offence to me," he broke out, "and I renounce
whosoever may take his side." He then appealed to
the barons to follow the good example set them by
the bishops, by making a formal renunciation of " faith
"
and friendship to the disgraced primate.
This move was miscalculated. The haughty barons
of England were by no means inclined to proceed to
extremities against the man whom they had raised to
the rank of first grandee of the realm, at the bidding
of a monarch of whose power they had too good reason
to be jealous. Moreover, they had their answer ready.
"
We were never his vassals," they said. " We cannot
abjure a fealty which we have never sworn. He is our
archbishop ;
his it is to govern the Church in this
country, and by consequence we, as Christians, cannot

withdraw ourselves from his authority, more particu-
larly as there is not a single blot upon his life which
could incline us to act otherwise."
These words, so grave, so well-weighed, so unanswer-
able, were received by the king with mute, ill-disguised
chagrin, and by the laity at large with transports of joy.

The prelates hung their heads in shame, as "Judas the
" "
traitor," or Pilate," or Herod," or some other laconic
and expressive comment on their and their master's
part in the day's transactions, came hissing through

the stern lips of baron or knight.
The cup of their humiliation was up when the
filled
suspicious king called them to his presence one by

132
one, and required them to answer, categorically, the
embarrassing question, whether, in
renouncing fealty to
Anselm, they had done so unconditionally, or only with
respect to what he might enjoin upon them in the name
of the Pope. Taken thus off their guard, the majority
took refuge in prevarications and evasive circumlocu-

tions only a few had the consistency to make their
;
repudiation of the primate's authority complete and

unequivocal. These received every mark of the royal
favour, while the former were banished to a distant
part of the castle, there to await their sentence. They
acquired their liberty by the one unfailing method of
conciliating the Red King the payment of a round
sum of money.
It was now evident to Anselm that the time had
come for bringing matters to a decisive issue. The
king had done his utmost to array both clergy and laity
against him, and had in effect declared him an outlaw :
became the dignity of an Archbishop of Canter-

it ill
bury to acquiesce in a position so humiliating. He

would leave the kingdom, or be reinstated in the
position of trust and honour which belonged to his
office. He accordingly applied to the king for a safe
conduct to the coast. This demand, as Anselm doubt-
less foresaw, had the effect of still further aggravating
the embarrassment of the king. To suffer the newly-
elected primate to leave the realm, to receive, doubtless,
the pallium from the hands of the Pope, to enlist the
sympathy of the faithful throughout the length and

breadth of Christendom in his behalf, while the Church
of Canterbury remained widowed and desolate, could
not fail to reinforce to a dangerous degree the already
strong and growing discontent of the English laity.

It was a prospect which Rufus dared not face. He
accordingly laid Anselm's proposition before the
barons, and by them it was decisively rejected. With
the good sense of practical statesmen, they advised
that the whole question should remain in abeyance
until the octave of Pentecost, the king, in the meantime,
guaranteeing the archbishop the protection of the law,

and maintaining with him as friendly relations as
possible. During this period of time they doubtless
anticipated thatsome compromise would be effected.
Their proposal was communicated to Anselm in the
church, on the fourth day of the council, and was at
once accepted by him. The king also assented, and
the council thereupon broke up, Anselm returning at
once to Canterbury. So ended the first phase in the
struggle for the rights of the Church, in which Anselm

was destined to be involved during the best part of the
remainder of his life.
134
CHAPTER IX.
THE COMPROMISE
A NSELM had not long to wait before he dis-

*! covered that the "truce" arranged at Rocking-
ham was, on the part of the king, but a veiled war.
One by one the monks on whom he most relied for
help in the administration of the practical affairs of

the diocese were banished the realm among them his
especial friend Baldwin while the chicanery of the

law was strained to the uttermost to harass the
vassals of theChurch of Canterbury. Meanwhile, two
of the royal chaplains, Gerard (afterwards Bishop of
Hereford and Archbishop of York) and William of
Warelwast 1 (the future Bishop of Exeter) were busy
at Rome, commissioned to ascertain who the true Pope
really was, and to induce him, if possible, as the price

of his recognition by the king, to transmit to him
the pallium of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leaving
undecided the all-important question who the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury might be.
Evidently, if the Pope should fall into this trap,
William, the precious pallium once in his hands, would
be able to confer it on whomsoever he might contrive
to get elected in Anselm's place, and so, by the Pope's
own act, render himself independent of the Holy See
1
Now Veraval, near Yvetot, in Normandy.
135
during the lifetime of the new primate. The plot,
however, was far too transparent to succeed, and
Urban, whom
the envoys found themselves compelled
to recognise, while he made no difficulty about send-
ing the pallium to England, took care to commit the

sacred stole, enclosed in a silver casket, to the custody
of his own legate, Walter, Cardinal-bishop of Albano,
who landed in England with the chaplains shortly
before Pentecost. On his arrival he went straight
to court, avoiding all intercourse with Anselm, who
remained as ignorant as the rest of the world of the
object of his mission. In his interviews with the
king the legate observed strict silence in regard to

the question of the pallium, but in all other matters
assumed an air of entire subservience to the royal
will. He thus induced Rufus to accord Urban a
formal recognition, and then listened with polite sur-
prise while the king made proffer of certain liberal

annual subsidies to the Holy See as the price of
Anselm's deprivation. With profound chagrin Rufus
heard his overtures summarily rejected by the cardinal.
He perceived that he had been caught in his own snare,
that by clumsy stratagems he had but succeeded in
his
covering himself with shame. He had appealed to

Rome, he had recognised Urban as Pope in the hope
of obtaining the disposal of the pallium. The pallium
was actually in England, but as far from his reach as
when it lay on the tomb of St. Peter. He had
attempted corrupt the Holy See, and the Holy
to
See, in the person of its legate, had disdained his

bribes. As all this flashed upon his mind his heart
failed him. Anselm, it was plain, must have the
pallium, but perhaps he might be induced, even at
136
THE COMPROMISE
the eleventh hour, to take it from him, and pay him
well for it.
Accordingly, when Pentecost arrived, Anselm, who

kept the feast at the archiepiscopal manor of Mortlake,
received a summons from the king to attend him at
Hayes, in the neighbourhood of Windsor Castle, and

there,through certain of the bishops, was given to
understand that the royal amity and, indeed, the
pallium, now actually in the country, were to be had
for a due pecuniary consideration. The least he could
offer, they urged, would be the cost of the journey to
Rome, which he was now spared. Anselm, however,

cut them short.
"
Neither that," he said curtly, " nor
aught else will I give him, or do for him on this
account. You waste your words. Have done."
Foiled again, Rufus now condescended to summon
Anselm to court, and to treat him with an ostentatious
appearance of cordiality, which elicited from the legate
"
the ironical comment, Lo ! how good and sweet it
is for brothers to dwell together in unity!" Mean-

while certain of the courtier-bishops buzzed about him,
insinuating that at least he might now so far conciliate

the king as to consent to receive the pallium from his
hands. This resource, however, also broke down before
the primate's suave inflexibility. He "could not, if
he would," he quietly observed, " receive from the king

that which did not lie in the
king's gift, but in that of
the successor of Blessed Peter." This logic admitted
of no reply, but Rufus was
obstinately determined that
the pallium should not be given by the legate. Matters
thus seemed at a deadlock until, at length, a marvellous
expedient was discovered whereby, without abatement

of the papal claims, the
royal dignity was salved.
The legate carried the pallium to Canterbury, and
there, on the second Sunday after Pentecost, in presence
of a vast concourse of clergy and laity assembled in
the cathedral, laid it upon the high altar. Then Anselm,
robed in full canonicals, but walking barefoot, and
attended on either hand by most of his suffragans, two

of whom, Robert of Lorraine, Bishop of Hereford, and
Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, had already craved and

received his absolution for their defection from him at
Rockingham, advanced to the altar, took down the

pallium, and after it had been devoutly kissed by the
assembled multitude, in token of reverence to St. Peter,
vested himself with it, which he celebrated high

after
mass. The gospel for the day was the same which had
furnished his prognostic, on his consecration viz. the ;
parable of the great supper, from which the bidden

guests with one accord made excuse for absenting
themselves. This ominous coincidence is duly noted
by Eadmer, who thereby affords the means of rectifying
the error by which, repeating a previous miscalculation,
he fixes the date of this curious scene as 10 June, i.e.
the fourth Sunday after Pentecost. A
glance at the
contemporary Canterbury lectionary, preserved in Harl.
MS. 562, shews that then as now, the parable in question
was appropriated not to the fourth, but to the second
Sunday after Pentecost, which in 1095 fell on 27 May.
In this curious compromise, the Church, it is evident,
had the best of the bargain; inasmuch as besides
recognising the Pope, the king tacitly waived his claim
to confer the pallium. To this result grave political
anxieties probably contributed, no less than the subtlety
of the legate and the constancy of Anselm. Con-
spicuous by his absence from the court, notwithstanding

138
THE COMPROMISE
the peremptory summons of the king, was the stern
warden of the Scottish marches, Robert of Mowbray,
Earl of Northumberland, nephew and heir of Geoffrey
de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances, and nephew-in-law

of Hugh the Wolf, Earl of Chester. This haughty and
powerful noble was suspected of being the head of a

widespread conspiracy, having in view nothing less than
the deposition of the king in favour of his cousin,
Stephen of Aumale, son of Odo, Count of Champagne,

and Lord of Holderness, by Adelaide, sister of William
the Conqueror. His absence was therefore tantamount
to a declaration of war, and was so understood by the
king. At such a crisis, William had neither time nor
patience to spare for the protraction of an ecclesiastical
however important might be its ulterior issues.
dispute,
Mowbray was understood to have active and powerful
friends in Normandy, and, by the custom of the realm,
the Archbishop of Canterbury was, virtute officii, warden
of the south coast As soon, therefore, as the recon-

ciliationwith Anselm was effected, he received the
king's orders to attend him at Nottingham, to pro-
nounce his benediction upon the army which William
had hastily gathered there for a forced march upon
Earl Robert's stronghold of Bamborough Castle. He
obeyed, and, after blessing the troops, returned at
William's command to Canterbury, there to muster the
array, and hold himself in readiness to resist any

descent which might be made upon the coast.
Meanwhile, Rufus pushed rapidly northward, sur-
rounded by traitors. In a certain wood, on the confines
of Northumbria, an ambush had been placed, and next
the king rode the very men who were to give the
signal for his assassination. At the pinch, however,
their resolution failed, or their conscience smote them ;
and their ringleader, Gilbert of Tunbridge, falling on

his face before the king, confessed the plot, and im-
plored his forgiveness. Thus forewarned, William
passed the wood in safety, reduced Newcastle-upon-
Tyne and Tynemouth, and invested Bamborough. As
the reduction of this strong fortress bade fair to be
a slow process, William varied the monotony of th<
siege operations by making, with part of his force*
a raid into Wales ;
but before Christmas Bamborougl
had Earl Robert, taken in a monastery in which
fallen,
he had sought sanctuary, was a prisoner, and the
had returned to Windsor.
Meanwhile the legate, after making certain in-
opportune proposals to Anselm for a conference 01
ecclesiastical abuses, a thing impossible in the absenc<
of the king, had left England, carrying with him t<

the Council of Clermont, which opened its memorable
ten days' session on 18 November, not only the formal
announcement of Urban's recognition by the King ol
England and Anselm's investiture with the palliui
but, mirabile dictu, some arrears of Peter-pence. So far,
thanks to firmness, patience, and the political chaptei

of accidents, has the spirit of concession to Rom<
been at length carried in England. But if the Chui
has on the whole been a substantial gainer by the
compromise of Windsor, there is, it must be observed,
another and less satisfactory side to the transactioi
Hugh of Flavigny speaks of a convention made
"
between the king and the legate ne legatus Romam
ad Angliam mitteretur nisi quem rex praeciperet ";
:
whence it would appear that Cardinal Walter hj

1
MIGNE, Patrolog. cliv. 353.
140
THE COMPROMISE
carried his complaisance towards the king to the point
of ostensibly investing him with a new prerogative,
that of choosing whom the Pope should send him
as legate. The convention, of course, was ultra vires.
No legate could by his own act annul the freedom
of the Pope in so vital a matter as the choice of

his own agent, and it is hardly conceivable that the
cardinal acted in good faith. He probably gave the
pledge, foreseeing
that it would be repudiated at Rome,
because to do so would smooth his relations with the
king; perhaps for there is no reason to suppose
that his virtue was of a very austere type because
itwas profitable to himself. An act of such signal
bad faith on the part of so high a dignitary of the
Church could not fail to seriously damage her prestige
and justly exasperate the king when its true character
came to be discovered. But this was not all, or the
worst. Hugh of Flavigny continues : "And to such
a degree had the authority of Rome been degraded
among the English by the avarice and greed of legates,

that in the presence of the same Bishop of Albano
[the cardinal-legate] without protest on his part, nay,
with his consent, and even by his direction, the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury had sworn fealty to Blessed Peter

and the Pope so far as consistent with his fealty to his
lord the king (salva fidelitate domini sui regis)."
This oath, of which Eadmer says nothing, must have
been taken by Anselm on the reception of the pallium.
It is evident that it was susceptible of two interpre-
tations on the one hand, the king could urge that in
:
case of conflict it postponed Anselm's fealty to the
Pope, to his fealty to his sovereign on the other

;
hand, Anselm could plead that "salva fidelitate domini

141
regis" was no more than a courtly form of words;
that it was impossible for an Archbishop of Canter-
bury to swear conditional fealty to the successor of
St. Peter; that, if he attempted so to do, his oath
would be invalid in the sight of God, and therefore

in no way binding on his conscience; and that,
by
waiving his claim to confer the pallium, the king had
virtually decided the question raised at Rockingham
in the Pope's favour.
The compromise, therefore, was no final settlement,

but only a temporary makeshift and it was inevitable
;
that the entire question of the relation of Church and

State in England should be reopened at no distant
date. In the meantime, the condition of the Church
remained what it had been before the advent of the
legate. The
royal prohibition against holding inter-
course with the Pope remained the royal
still in force ;
grasp was still tight on church lands and revenues the ;
See of Worcester, then vacant, and that of Hereford,

which had since fallen vacant, were vacant still ;
the
See of Durham l
was also in the king's hands, and likely
there to remain ;
or nothing was done to restore
little
ecclesiastical discipline, and a simoniacal and profligate
clergy daily betrayed the cause they should have de-

fended throughout the length and breadth of the land.
The report, therefore, which Cardinal Walter carried
from England to the Council of Clermont was such as
Pope Urban food for anxious meditation and
to afford ;
though he was occupied with no less weighty a matter
1
William of St. Calais, the Bishop of Durham, was one of Mowbray's
; and on the suppression of the rebellion was arrested and
adherents con-
fined in Windsor Castle, where he died on i Jan., 1096. The see was
afterwards leased by the king to Ranulf Flambard.
142
THE COMPROMISE
than the marshalling of the hosts of united Christen-
dom against the Saracen, he did not allow himself to
be so engrossed with it as to neglect the English
question.
Conspicuous the potentates of Europe by the
among
ostentatious indifference which he exhibited towards
the sufferings of the Eastern Christians, and the dese-
cration of the Holy Sepulchre, was the King of England.
Rufus was evidently what in these days would be called
an enlightened monarch. He was for non-intervention,
except where English interests were concerned, and

English interests were in his mind in no way concerned
in the Crusade. If certain dark stories told by the
chroniclers can be credited, he was capable at times
of repeating the sin of Judas and it is likely enough
;
that his intellectual hold on the Christian faith had

become seriously impaired.
In any case, the Crusade was to him but a fool's
errand, to further which he was not prepared to sacrifice
a single English man-at-arms. But, however indifferent

he might be to the Crusade itself, it incidentally opened
to him a prospect to which he was by no means
indifferent. His gallant but improvident brother, Duke
Robert, had taken the cross, but lacked the means to
equip a contingent of troops befitting his rank. He

must therefore borrow money upon the security of
his duchy ;
and to whom should he so naturally apply
for the needful loan as to his dear brother of England ?
William had always coveted Normandy and were he ;
once in possession of the fair province, it would go

hard, even supposing Robert to return from the Holy
Land safe and sound, if he ever relaxed his grasp of
it.
Meanwhile, the opportunity which the situation
H3
afforded for renewed intervention in English affairs, did
not escape the watchful eye of the Pope, and he lost
no time in despatching another legate to England, for
the purpose, in the first place, of negotiating the loan

between William and his brother, and then doing what
might be done to repair the mischief wrought by

Cardinal Walter, and seriously grapple with the grave
questions which he had ignored.

The new who landed
legate, in England in the spring
of 1096, was Abbot Jarenton, of Dijon, a man of tri<
sagacity, probity, and firmness, in every way a contrast

to the supple Cardinal-bishop of Albano. William saw
at a glance that he was not a man to be cajoled, bribed,
or intimidated. He therefore assumed an air of
cordiality, and lent his best attention to the legate's
outspoken remonstrances and reproofs; so that "all

"
the faithful," says Hugh of Flavigny, were overjoyed
at the advent of one in whose presence the Church
breathed more freely, and regained with the free
exercise of the authority of Rome, her ancient glory
and vigour."
Their delight was soon exchanged for consternation,
when, shortly before Whitsuntide, the legate suddenly

left England in obedience to what he took to be a
papal mandate. He is said by Hugh of Flavigny, who

appears to be the only authority for this obscure passage
of history, to have been imposed upon by some nephew
of the Pope or petty official of the Curia, whom Rufus,
with the royal sum of ten marks, had bribed to per-
sonate a special envoy sent by Urban with authority to
postpone until Christmas the further "discussion of the

various matters at issue between the king and the Holy
See, in consideration of the prompt payment of what

144
THE COMPROMISE
was due in the way of Peter-pence. However this may
be, it is certain that, for some reason or other, Jarenton >
abruptly left the country without accomplishing the

main purpose of his mission. Rufus had, indeed, so far
yielded to his representations as to suffer the vacant
Sees of Worcester and Hereford, and the vacant Abbey
of Battle, to be filled. Otherwise the state of the
Church remained what it had been or even grew
worse.
The most probable account of the legate's mysterious
return to the continent would seem to be that the
negotiations between William and Duke Robert re-
quired his presence with the latter. Certain it is, in
any case, that he had an interview with Duke Robert,

and arranged with him the terms of a treaty by
which the duchy was pawned to William for three
years or five years the chroniclers differ about the
length of the term for the sum often thousand marks;
that thereupon the duke set out for the Holy Land,
attended by the legate as far as Pontarlier, and that in
the following September William crossed to Normandy,
and took possession of his pawn.
The ten thousand marks were raised by contributions
levied upon the religious houses, a fifth part of the
amount being furnished by the monastery of Christ
Church, Canterbury to secure which Anselm assigned
;
forseven years his archiepiscopal manor of Peckham.

Thus the king got his lease of Normandy for nothing,
and the Church paid for setting Duke Robert free to
fight her battles.

CHAPTER X.
FURTHER TROUBLE THE APPEAL TO ROME
Crusade was not the only topic of European

THE interest discussed at Clermont. The misconduct
of Philip I. of France, who had put away his wife
Bertha, to marry the fair Bertrade, Countess of

Anjou, could not
escape the censure of a Synod
of the Church, even though it sat in his dominions ;
and Urban's first act, after opening the proceedings,

was to excommunicate him. He then passed to
the perennial question of the relations of Church
and State. The mantle of Gregory VII. had fallen
upon him, and he had proved himself worthy to
wear it. He had strengthened the hands of the
Church's faithful daughter, the Countess Matilda of
Tuscany, by uniting her with the son of Guelf the
Great, Duke of Bavaria. He had vindicated, in the
most exemplary manner, the sanctity of Christian
marriage, by parting the Emperor from his injured but
guilty spouse,and laying him once more under the
ban of the Church. He had enlisted his son, Conrad,
in the Church's cause, had recompensed his devotion
and confirmed his loyalty by the gift of the crown of
Italy, and made assurance doubly sure by wedding

him to a daughter of Roger Guiscard, Count of Sicily.
He had reduced the antipope to impotence. The time
146
FURTHER TROUBLE
was now come to resume the struggle for the emancipa-
tion of the Church. So, before giving rein to that
impassioned eloquence, which, kindling at once the

military spirit and the religious fervour of the Frank,
hurled the flower of Western chivalry against the armies
of the alien, Urban not only renewed the decree of the
Council of Rome against lay investiture, but took the
further and extremely bold step of forbidding the
clergy any longer to do liege fealty to the laity. It is
"
evident, from the wording of his decree, Ne episcopus
vel sacerdos regi vel alicui laico in manibus ligium
fidelitatem faciat? that the liege fealty which he pro-

hibitedwas no mere oath of fealty, such as at a later
date came to be recognised by jurists as the proper
homage of a "man of religion," but "manual homage"

homage, that is to say, in the strictest, most onerous
sense of the term, "liege fealtyby intromission of
"
hands ; by which, whoever paid became thenceforth
it
the "liegeman" of his lord, bound to aid him on all

occasions, in all quarrels, just or unjust, to the utmost of
on pain of forfeiture of his goods, his lands,
his ability,
and even his life. It is evident that homage of this sort

must at this time have been commonly, if not generally,
exacted from churchmen by their feudal superiors,
otherwise it would not have been worth the Pope's
while to prohibit it;evident, also, that it was radically
"
incompatible with the character, the duties of a man
of religion," whose undivided liege fealty was due to
Christ and His Vicar. If the Church was ever to
regain the independence needful for the fulfilment of

her spiritual mission, liege homage by the clergy must
clearly go the way of lay investiture ; and, in so
decreeing, Urban did not act an hour too soon.

147
It is probable, though not certain, that it was liege
homage which had been exacted from Anselm by
Rufus upon his consecration and though Anselm was
;
not present at Clermont, he was represented there by

his friend Boso. 1 We may therefore assume that the
decree was made, not at Anselm's suggestion, at
if
any rate with special reference to his case; with the

view, that is to say, of strengthening his hands in the
event, which could not be an open rupture
far distant, of
with the king, or the possible early demise of the latter.

If so, events amply justified the action of the Pope.
Early 1097, William was recalled to England by

in
an insurrection, which the united forces of the Earls

of Chester and Shrewsbury had failed to quell. Before
marching westward, he demanded from Anselm a con-

tingent of troops for the war which Anselm, as in;
feudal duty bound, provided from the tenantry of the
archiepiscopal estates. Apparently these warriors gave

but a sorry account of themselves in the brief campaign
from which the king returned triumphant towards
Whitsuntide ;
for Anselm then received from him a
curt missive, informing him that he would be held to
account in the royal court for the ill-found condition
and unsoldierly bearing of the men. Rufus was
evidently determined that the Primate of England
should learn the duties belonging to a vassal. He also
doubtless hoped that Anselm would compound the suit
by a liberal aid. Anselm, on his part, chafed at the

anomalous position in which he found himself. Secular
business of all kinds he detested ; military affairs he
held in especial horror ; and that he, who had spent the
best part of his life in a cloister, should now in his old
1
Vit. Bos. (Patr. Eccl. Angl. Lanfranc i.) 2.
148
FURTHER TROUBLE
age be called upon to act as commissioner of array,
and be held personally responsible for the equipment
and behaviour of the men-at-arms, whom, at a hasty
summons, he put into the field, was more than even
a saint's patience could well be expected to endure.
Moreover, he had no faith in the sort of treatment he
was like to meet with in the royal court, believing, with
too good reason, that there the tyrant's will would be
the only law recognised. Meanwhile, for aught that
he could do to succour the forlorn state of the English
Church, he might as well be at Le Bee. He could not
remain indefinitely an idle spectator of wrongs he could
not right, a passive recipient of affronts which lowered
his order in the eyes of all men. At all costs he would
repair to Rome, and seek the counsel of the Pope. He
therefore ignored the royal letter, went to court as
usual, and at the close of the Whitsuntide festivities,
craved, through certain of the barons, the king's leave

of absence for his projected journey to Rome, alleging
no particular reason, but only " absolute necessity."
William either was, or feigned to be, amazed at the
audacity of the proposal. "He shall by no means go,"
"
he answered abruptly, for we do not credit him with
having committed any sin so heinous as to oblige
him to seek the absolution of the Pope himself; and
so far are we from supposing that he stands in need
of advice in any matter, that we know that the Pope
stands in greater need of his advice than he of the
Pope's." After delivering himself of this curiously frank

testimony to Anselm's abilities, Rufus, who evidently
feared to push him to extremities, directed that the
suit against him should be suspended nor were the
;
proceedings ever resumed.

149
was not long before Anselm renewed his request
It ;
which was again refused. Nothing daunted, he made at

Winchester, in October, a third application upon which ;
the king fairly lost patience. " Such excessive impor-
tunity about a matter which he had made up his mind

not to concede, was vexatious. He would hear no
more of it ;
and Anselm must make such satisfaction
as should be adjudged for the annoyance he had

already caused."
Therefore Anselm raised his tone, no longer praying
the leave of absence as a favour, but claiming it as a
right, which he was prepared to vindicate by argument.

Rufus would hear no argument, and gave him to under-
stand that if he left the country the entire see would
be confiscated, and he would never be reinstated as
archbishop.
This ultimatum caused no excitement at court,
little
where Anselm still had his sympathisers. In the hope

that even at the eleventh hour the king might be
induced to relent, they prevailed upon him to defer his
answer to the royal message until the following morning.
The king, however, remained inexorable, and Anselm
persisted in his determination to quit the realm, if
possible with his leave ; if not, without it. Then

followed a scene closely resembling that at Rock-
ingham.
Anselm called a council of such of his suffragans as
chanced to be at court, Vauquelin, Bishop of Winchester ;
Robert, Bishop of Lincoln Osmund, Bishop of Salis-

;
bury; John, Bishop of Bath; and making them sit

down on his right and on his left addressed them thus :
"Brethren, I have called you to me, because your

office it is, postponing all other matters, to discuss,
150
FURTHER TROUBLE
order, and maintain the things which belong to God.
For you are bishops, prelates in the Church of God, sons
of God. If then you are prepared in my cause to
devote to the maintenance of the rights of God and His
justice the same faithful and exact consideration which
in the case of the king you devote to the maintenance
of the laws and customary rights of a mortal man, and
will so promise ;
I will unfold to you, as to the faithful
servants and sons of God, the scope of my present
design, and will hear and follow such counsel as your
faithful zeal to Godward may suggest." Whereto the
bishops replied :
"
We will
please you, speak, if it
together, and
then give you our joint answer."
will
They then rose, exchanged a few words apart, and sent

the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln to the king to
seek his instructions. On their return Anselm received
the joint answer of the four Fathers in God, as follows :
"
Lord and Father, we know that you are a religious
man and holy, and that your conversation is in heaven.
We, however, attached to earth by our kinsfolk whom
we support, and the multiplicity of secular affairs which
we love, confess that we cannot rise to the height of
your life, and disdain the world with you. But if you
are willing to descend to our level, and walk in the
same way with us, we will make your interest ours, and
in your affairs, whatever they may be, when occasion
shall arise, will give you our aid as if they were our own.
But you have made up your mind to go on as you
if
have begun, having your regard fixed on God alone,

you will be in the future as in the past entirely isolated
from us. We shall not deviate from the fealty which

we owe to the king." "You have well said," rejoined
"
Anselm, Go, then, to your lord ;
I will remain faithful
to God." Thereupon the bishops withdrew, and left
Anselm alone with a few faithful adherents occupied in

silent prayer for Divine guidance in this
emergency.
Their orisons were soon interrupted by the return of
the bishops, accompanied by some of the barons, who
brought a message from the king. The message briefly

recapitulated the course of events since the Council of
Rockingham, Anselm's reconciliation with the king, the
oath he had taken on the assumption of the pallium,
which bound him thenceforth in all respects to observe,
and faithfully maintain against all men, the laws and
customs of the realm; characterised his "threat" of going
to Romewithout the royal licence as a manifest breach
of good faith and required him, without more ado,
;
to forswear appeals to Rome in all cases whatsoever,

or forthwith to leave the realm. In the event of his
taking the prescribed oath he was to be tried by the
royal court for having repeatedly harassed the king,
by advancing a claim in which he was not prepared to
persevere.
This message delivered, Anselm craved, and obtained,
an audience of the king; and, seating himself, as was
usual, on his right hand, repeated it to him word for
word, and asked him if it were really his. Satisfied on
"
this head he proceeded : You say that I have promised
to observe your customary rights, and faithfully to
maintain them against all men that, I profess, I would
;
acknowledge to be true, if, in so saying, you recognised

the distinction which, at the time when the promise
was made, I distinctly remember to have been admitted
in respect of them. I mean that I know that my
promise was to the effect that, in accordance with the

will of God (secundum Deum), I would observe and
152
THE APPEAL TO ROME
maintain, by all just means, to the full extent of my
power, the customary rights which you have in your
realm, in accordance with the just law of God (per
rectitudinem et secundum Deum)" Here he was inter-
rupted by the king and his nobles, who asseverated,

not without oath, that the promise had contained no
mention of either God or justice. "How then," cried
Anselm, promptly demurring to their objection, "if
the oath had, as you say, no mention in it of God or
justice, whose is its sanction ? Far be it from any

Christian or maintain laws or customary
to observe
rights which are known to be contrary to God and
justice."
To king and council returned no answer but
this the
inarticulate noises, and gestures of dissent, which ceased

as Anselm, with unruffled mien and irrefragable logic,
proceeded with his argument. No custom of the realm,
he urged, could foreclose the right, or annul the duty,
of an Archbishop of Canterbury to seek counsel of
the Vicar of Christ, in matters pertaining to the well-
being of Church and State. Nor could he justly be

charged with breach of faith in persisting in his inten-
tion so to do, since the whole force and validity of
an oath depended on its supernatural sanction, and
therefore could notbe pleaded in justification of that
which was contrary to the law of God, as the alleged
custom unquestionably was. The demand that he should
renounce the right of appeal to Rome was tantamount
to a demand that he should renounce Christ. When
he did so, and not till then, he would submit to
whatever sentence the royal court might impose upon
him for the wrong he had done in applying for the
leave of absence.
153
Unable to deny the force of this argument, Rufus,
as Anselm was leaving the presence-chamber, sent
messengers him with the required leave. "You
after
shall go," ran the curt formula, "but understand that
our lord forbids you to take with you anything that
is his."
"I have horses, clothes, and personal chattels," re-

"
plied the Primate ; perhaps it will be said that these
belong to the king. If he forbids me to take them, let
him know that I will rather go naked and afoot than
desist from my purpose."
This shamed the king. " Oh," he said, " I did not
mean that he should go naked or afoot. But he must
be at the port of departure on the eleventh day from
now, and there he will meet my messenger, who will
tell him what he and his suite are at liberty to take
with them."
Nor
did he refuse Anselm's parting blessing, when, in
the fulness of his great heart, the saint returned to
thank him for the concession thus tardily and hardly
wrung from him. This, which proved to be Anselm's
last interview with the king, took place on 1 5 October,
1097.
Returning with speed to Canterbury, he took the
all
staff and scrip of a pilgrim, bade an affectionate fare-
well to the monks and good people of the city, and,
accompanied by Baldwin and Eadmer, rode post-haste

to Dover. There he was detained for a fortnight by
an adverse wind and, when at last he was about to
;
embark, the messenger of whom Rufus had spoken,

who proved to be William of Warelwast, arrested his
baggage on the beach, and subjected it to rigorous
scrutiny, as if he had been suspected of carrying away
154
THE APPEAL TO ROME
what did not belong to him. This last indignity en-
dured, he received permission to depart, and set sail
for Wissant, a port to the south of Boulogne, then
much frequented, which he gained after an unusually

speedy and tranquil passage.
From Wissant, Anselm and his two companions
journeyed to the celebrated Abbey of Saint Bertin,
near Saint Omer, where they were hospitably enter-
tained, and rested some days. But the news of
Anselm's arrival being carried to Saint Omer, a
deputation of canons from that church waited on
him, and prayed him, without delay, to go thither
to dedicate their new altar to St. Lawrence the
Martyr. He complied, and, after performing the
ceremony, and dining with the canons, courteously
declined their eager proffer of further hospitality, by
quoting our Lord's injunction against going from
house to house, and announced his intention of re-
turning at once to Saint Bertin. Some
years, however,
had elapsed since the good folks of Saint Omer had
seen a confirmation, and Anselm was not suffered
to leave the town without administering that sacra-
ment to a multitude of young people of both sexes.
It was thus late at night before he reached Saint
Bertin. Nevertheless, the next morning saw him

again in the saddle, his face set towards Burgundy;
and though his progress was somewhat retarded by
the immense and enthusiastic crowds which assembled
at every principal halting-place to do him honour,
he succeeded in reaching Cluny before Christmas.
After a brief halt there he pushed on to Lyon, where,
fairly worn out with fatigue, he was fain to make a

prolonged stay under the hospitable roof of Arch-
155
bishop Hugh. Meantime he wrote to Urban, advising
him of the cause of his journey, and received in
reply an urgent summons to Rome. The letter gave
him new vigour; and, quitting Lyon on 16 March,
the Tuesday before Palm Sunday, 1098, and maintain-
ing the strictest incognito, for the partisans of the
anti-pope were known to be in force on both sides

of the Alps, he pushed rapidly across the Mont Cenis,
and was in Rome soon after Easter.
156
CHAPTER XL
A BREATHING-SPACE SCHIAVI LEARNED
LEISURE
his arrival at Rome, Anselm found that by the

ON forethought of the Pope, rooms had already been
assigned him in the Lateran Palace, where Urban was
then residing. A
day was allowed him for repose ;
and on the morrow the Pope, surrounded by the Roman

nobility, received him with marked distinction. Waiving
the customary homage, Urban had a chair placed for
him that he might be seated in his presence, and when
Anselm, passing the chair, knelt at his feet, the Pope at
once raised him, gave him the kiss of peace, and amid
the acclaims of the Curia, bade him welcome to Rome ;
concluding with an eloquent tribute to his intellectual

and spiritual eminence, his devotion to the Holy See,
and his
profound humility.
"Yes," so ran the peroration of his speech, "even so
it is. And yet this man, trained from his youth up in
all the learning of the liberal arts, whom we hold as our
master, whom we deem justly to be reverenced as in

some sense our peer, the Pope and patriarch of another
region, is yet so humble, and in his humility so con-
sistent, that neither the perils of the sea, nor the
fatigues of a long journey through foreign countries,
have deterred him from presenting himself here to do
homage to Blessed Peter in our humble person, and
157
crave, touching his affairs, advice from us, who, with
far more might seek advice from him. Bethink
reason,
you, then, with what love, with what honour, he is to be
received and embraced."
Passing then to business, the Pope listened while

Anselm laid before him a detailed account of the
forlorn condition of the Church in England, and of his
own relations with the Red King. The gravity of the
situation was thus, for the first time, revealed to him
in its full extent and degree. He
pledged himself to
support Anselm to the uttermost, and at once wrote
an admonitory letter to the king, which, with another
from Anselm himself, went to England by the same
messenger.
From this by no means excessive exertion of apos-
tolic authority Anselm probably expected nothing; it
was dictated, however, by the extreme caution which in
Urban tempered a resolution hardly less heroic than

that of Hildebrand ;
there was nothing for it but
to await in patience the answer of the king. Mean-
while, by the Pope's desire, Anselm remained at the
Lateran until summer heats rendered change of
the
air necessary. Then he was claimed by an old alumnus
of Le Bee, John, now Abbot of S. Salvatore, a
monastery situate between Telese and the confluence
of the Galore and Volturno, who carried him off to his
villa on the neighbouring plateau of Schiavi, 1 on the
skirts of the Samnian Apennines. As he drank in the
pure and delicate air of this ideal summer retreat, and
scanned its vast ethereal prospect, " Here," said the
1
Schiavi will be sought in vain on the modern map of Italy, progress,
as understood in that country, having changed the name to Liberi. It is
situate in the district of Formicola, towards Caserta.

I 58
A BREATHING-SPACE
weary saint, with a sigh of relief, "here is my rest
here will I make my habitation " and with the delight
;
of one who, after much wandering in foreign lands,

finds himself at length at home, he resumed once more
the old of devout exercises and profound theo-
life
logical meditation, for which he had never ceased to
sigh since he had left Le Bee. Nor did he forget what

was due to the simple folk among whom he sojourned,
but gained their confidence at once by his ready sym-
pathy and gentle, gracious ways; so that they came to

look upon him as a being belonging to a sphere little
removed from the celestial, yet by no means disdainful
of ordinary mortals and their common earthly needs.
One so learned, wise, and holy must surely, they
thought, know where to sink a welland where was
;
such a gift more opportune than at Schiavi, where

there was but one well, and that by no means always
adequate to the wants of the inhabitants ? The brother
from S. Salvatore, who acted as major domo at the
villa, made their necessity known to Anselm, and had
great hopes that God would work a miracle by his
agency, if with prayer and benediction he would choose
a spot for the men to dig, and himself begin the
operations. Unwilling to offend his host, Anselm con-

sented, led the way to one of the rocks which overhung
the villa, and, having prayed that God would thence
grant an abundant and unfailing supply of sweet water,
struck it thrice, and bored a small cavity in its surface.
The villagers then
proceeded to deepen the cavity, and
few days thus spent were equally delighted and
after a
amazed by the sight of a limpid fountain welling up

out of the hard rock ; which, though lapse of time has
changed much in the neighbourhood, still perpetuates
the memory of St. Anselm among their descendants by
the abundant supply of sweet water which, in the
1
popular belief, it has never failed to
yield.
Pentecost had come and gone when Anselm, still at
Schiavi, was recalled to a sense of the outer world by
the arrival of messengers from Roger Guiscard, who
had succeeded to the Dukedom of Apulia on the death
of his father, Robert, in 1085.
He was now, with Count Roger of Sicily and a well-
found army, before the walls of Capua, intent to bring
the city back to the allegiance, which it had renounced,
to its Norman prince, Richard of Aversa. With him
also was daughter of Robert, Count of
his wife Adela,
Flanders, and Queen-dowager of Denmark a devout

woman, whom Anselm had known in earlier days ;
and
it was,we may suppose, rather at her suggestion than of
his own motion that the duke had sent to Schiavi to
invite Anselm to visit his camp and witness some of the
operations. However reluctant the saint might be to
exchange the peace of his mountain hermitage for th<
clash of arms, he was too gracious to decline a proposal
dictated by courtesy ; and the duke consulted the tastes
of his guest by providing him with a tent in the quietest
part of the camp. Thither too, in due time, came Urban,

to offer his mediation between the belligerents. 2 Hh
overtures were rejected by the infatuated
city, which
was reduced no long resistance
after but, pending ;
the negotiations, he occupied a pavilion immediately
adjoining Anselm's tent, so that the two men lived for

a time in the closest intimacy, and were able to discuss
at their leisure the news from England; which proved,
RULE, Life and Times
1
of Anselm , ii. 192.
2
MURATORI, Rer. ItaL Script, v. 47, 600.
160
SCHIAVI
as might have been anticipated, far from reassuring.
Hardly had Anselm left the country when the king
resumed possession of all the estates belonging to the
See of Canterbury, annulled all that Anselm had done
since his consecration, and instituted a persecution of
the Church so ruthless and systematic that the tribu-
lations which had followed Lanfranc's death seemed
trifling in comparison. His animosity had pursued
Anselm to Italy. Duke Roger had received a letter
from him defamatory of his guest and, by secret emis-
;
saries wellprovided with money, he had attempted to

create a party hostile to Anselm in the camp. There
were also dark rumours afloat that he was on the very
verge of open apostasy.
William's machinations failed entirely with Duke
Roger, who, on the of Capua, made Anselm an
fall
earnest proffer of further hospitality, nay, even gave

him the choice of his fairest domains, to be his, if he
so willed, for life.
This noble offer Anselm declined, and, having taken

leave of the duke and duchess, quitted Capua with the
Pope for Aversa. The bad news from England preyed
on his mind, and for the time completely broke his
resolution so that at Aversa Urban listened with
;
surprise and undisguised indignation to his importunate

entreaties to be released from the burden of the arch-
bishopric, administered a sharp reproof, and dismissed

him to Schiavi, with a monition to attend a council
which would meet in the autumn at Bari, where his
cause would be fully discussed.
At Schiavi, Anselm found such leisure for literary
work as he had not known since he had left Le Bee.
In England, indeed, the storm and stress of his conflict
with the king, and the heavy burden of his official
duties, had rendered much sustained intellectual effort
impossible and, except the treatise against the heresy

;
of Roscellin, begun at Le Bee, none of his works can

be assigned to that period. This work had for him a
special and personal interest, for Roscellin, upon the
first censure of his thesis, had sought to make both
Anselm and Lanfranc sponsors for it. Anselm had
lost no time in vindicating both his own and his
master's orthodoxy in a letter to his old pupil, Fulk,
Bishop of Beauvais, which Fulk was authorised to

communicate to the Council of Soissons (1092), before
which the heretic was cited to appear. 1 Meanwhile he
had quietly proceeded with the formal refutation of the
obnoxious thesis, intending to give it the shape of a
letter to the Pope, but laid it aside on hearing of Ros-
cellin's recantation. When, however, Roscellin retracted
his recantation, Anselm took up again his unfinished
work, recast and completed it, retaining of the original
epistolary form no more than a prefatory dedication.
The work thus slowly elucubrated, which bears the title
De Fide Trinitatis^ seu de Incarnatione Verbi, was

pro-
bably complete, and in the hands of the Pope, before
Anselm's final rupture with the king. The present,
however, is the most convenient place to give account
of its contents.
John Roscellin, a native of Compiegne, studied at

Soissons and Reims, and taught logic at Tours and
Locmine, near Vannes, in Brittany, where he had for
pupil the illustrious Abelard. He afterwards held a
canonry at Besangon. He was a bold thinker, and has

1
Epp. ii. 35, 41; De Fid. Trin. Praefat. Baluz., ed. Mansi, 1761, ii. 174.
Prantl, Gesch. d. Logik, ii. 77.

162
LEARNED LEISURE
been classed among nominalists ; nor, though we have
not his logical doctrine in his own words, is there reason
to doubt that it was substantially identical with that
afterwards developed by Abelard, and which, whether
strictly nominalistic or not, certainly involved the
denial of the reality of universals. Such a doctrine,
it is evident, if applied to theology, would be utterly
subversive of Catholic orthodoxy ; for the Catholic
doctrine of the Holy Trinity imports that, while God
is simple numerically one in respect of His essence,
He is, nevertheless, universal in respect of the com-
prehension therein of a threefold personality. The

nominalist must therefore make his option between
Sabellianism and tritheism. Which alternative Ros-
cellin ultimately adopted is not clear; but the trend
"
of his thought was apparently tritheistic. If," he
"
argued, the three Persons are but one Being (res),
and not merely three Beings, each separate from the
other, like three angels or three souls (but so that they
have one and the same will and power), it follows that,
in the incarnation of the Son, the Father and the Holy
Spirit were also incarnate." In other words, the
assumption of human nature by the Son alone is
incompatible with the unity of the Godhead. Such

was the thesis censured at Soissons, and to the con-
futation of which Anselm addressed himself in the
De Fide Trinitatis.
Before asking how far he is successful in this under-
taking, something must be premised concerning the

philosophical question thus early raised by Roscellin's
imperious logic, and which, in one shape or another, has

occupied the subtlest minds of every succeeding age.
His postulate, it is evident, is that the individual is that
163
which exists in and by itself; in a word, the atomic.
Grant this, and his logic is irrefragable, actunt est de

Fide Catholica. But
the assumption justifiable ? Is
is
not the individual per se, the mere individual as mere

an abstraction as the universal per se ? Is not the
actual a blend, so to speak, in which the universal and

the individual exist as mutually determining elements ?
Consider any given object, as this rose or ring, abstract
all that it has in common with other roses or rings, all
that they and it havein common with other objects of
sense-perception, and how much of its actuality is left

behind ?
Evidently nothing at all ;
for its individual
characteristics are not self-supporting, they exist only

in the synthesis which, by your analysis, you have
destroyed. Every object, then, so far as given in
perception, is at once individual and universal nor
;
is there any reason to suppose that in itself, if in itself
it really exist, it exists as a mere individual. The

unknown cause or combination of causes, whatever it
may be, which affects me

with the sensuous impression
of an object having both individual and universal
characteristics, must surely have corresponding charac-
teristics. In itself, then, as well as for us, it would seem
that actuality is essentially universal and individual.

At the present day, this is easily seen and said but il ;
was otherwise the eleventh century, and therefore

in
must not expect from Anselm any formal refutation

of Roscellin's logical doctrine.
It is enough for him that Roscellin is one of "those
dialecticians, nay rather dialectical heretics of our time,
who reckon universals nothing more than empty words."

So crazy a theory he will not deign even to examine, but
passes at once to a criticism of his theological positioi
164
LEARNED LEISURE
It isremarkable, however, that his criticism presupposes
throughout the true realism. Roscellin's fallacy, he
says, in effect, consists in treating the universal and the

individual as essentially repugnant inter se, whereas, in
fact, they are not so. Each of the Persons of the
Godhead is what is common to all, and is also what
is peculiar to Himself. They are therefore in very
truth three Beings, but not three separate Beings, like
three angels, or three souls ;
and the incarnation took
place by the assumption of human nature into the unity
of the Godhead, not as immanent in all three Persons,
but only as immanent in the Person of the Son. The

union, indeed, in one and the same spiritual subject,
of three Beings individually distinct, is a matter for
which human
experience furnishes no perfectly apt
analogue ;
we are not wholly left without type
yet
and symbol to illustrate this transcendent mystery.
" Let us
suppose a fountain, whence issues a stream, which
flows until it is gathered into a lake, and let us call it the
Nile. Speaking then precisely, we use these three terms
fountain, stream, lake, distinguishing the fountain from the
stream, and both from the lake. Yet the fountain is called
the Nile, and the stream is called the Nile, and the lake is
called the Nile; and the two together, the fountain and the
stream, are the Nile; and the fountain and the lake are the
Nile; and the stream and the lake are the Nile; and the
three together, the fountain, the stream, and the lake, are
the Nile. But as there is not one Nile, and another Nile,
but only one and the same Nile, whether each of the three
severally, or two together, or the three together are called the

Nile; so there are three fountain, stream, and lake, and yet
one Nile, one river, one nature, one water; and it is im-
possible to define exactly what the three are. For the three
are neither three Niles, nor three rivers, nor three natures,
nor three waters, nor three fountains, nor three lakes. Here,
165
then, one is predicated of three, and three are predicated
of one; and yet the three are not predicated equivalently.
But if Roscellin objects that no one of the three, neither the
fountain, nor the stream, nor the lake, nor any two of them,
are the perfect Nile, but only parts of it ; let him consider
that this whole Nile, from the moment when it
begins to be,
to the moment when ceases to be, throughout its entire
it
life, so to speak, does not exist in its entirety, but only in
part in any given place or time, and, in fact, is not complete

until it ceases to be. For the Nile has some similarity t(
human speech, which, while it flows from the fountain of
the mouth, is incomplete, and by the time it is complete,
no longer is. For whoso attentively considers until he
understands this matter, will see that the fountain, the stream,
and the lake are equally the whole Nile ;

and yet that the
fountain is neither the stream nor the lake; that the lake
is neither the fountain nor the stream. For the fountain is
not the same as the stream or the lake, although the stream
or the lake is the very same as the fountain, i.e. the sai
Nile, the same river, the same water, the same nature,
then three are here predicated of one perfect whole, am
one perfect whole is predicated of three ;
and yet the thi
are not predicated equivalently. And although it is only ii
another much more perfect manner that this can hold good
that Nature which is perfectly simple, and free from all con-
ditions of space, and composition of parts; yet ii
and time,
it is seen to hold good to some extent of that which
composed of parts, and subject to conditions of space aru
time, it renders it not incredible that it may hold gc
perfectly in that highest and unconditioned Nature.

also is to be considered, that the fountain is not from tl
stream, nor from the lake ; but the stream is from the fountain
alone, not from the lake ; while the lake is from the fount
and the stream; and so the entire stream is from the entii
fountain, and the entire lake both from the entire fountain
and the entire stream ; just as we affirm of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. And just as it is in one way that the rive
is from the fountain, and in another way that the lake is froi
166
LEARNED LEISURE
the fountainand the stream, so that the lake is not called
the stream; so it is in one way peculiar to Himself
that the Word is from the Father, and in another way that
the Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Word, so that
the same Holy Spirit is not Word or Son, but proceeding.
I have yet another thing to add, which amid much dis-
similarity, nevertheless offers a certain similitude to the

Incarnation of the ; Word
and though the reader may perhaps
scorn it, I will nevertheless mention it, because I myself
should not scorn it, if it had been said by someone before
me. If, then, the stream were to run in a conduit from the
fountain to the lake, should we not say that it was the stream
alone (though in fact it is as much the Nile as the fountain or
the lake) that was enclosed in the conduit? Even so it is
the Son alone that was incarnate, though no other God than
the Father and the Holy Spirit."
The similitude is ingenious, and subtly wrought out ;
but like other attempts to illustrate by physical

all
analogies mysteries which transcend the scope of human

reason, it is only likely to be of service to those whose
faith hardly needs corroboration ;
and it is with a certain
sense of relief that on turning the page we find ourselves
once more in the company of Blessed Augustine and
theHoly Apostle Paul, and are reminded that to them
no more than to us was it given in this life to see
God as He is ;
but only as through a glass darkly, and
by way of figurative adumbration to catch some distant,
albeit not delusive, glimpses of His shrouded majesty.
167
CHAPTER XII.
THE CUR DEUS HOMO?
masterly little treatise analysed in the last

THE chapter has its appropriate sequel in a much more
elaborate work, which has attained a wide and enduring
celebrity, rather, perhaps, by reason of its theme, style,

and popular method of treatment, than the intrinsic
merits of its thought. Begun in England "in great
tribulation of heart," finished in the serene atmosphere
and restful solitude of Schiavi, it
unquestionably, is
from a point of view, Anselm's masterpiece,

literary
and even at the present day can be read with pleasure
by those least versed in the mysteries of Catholic
theology.
Cur Deus Homo ? such is its title
;
but its scope is
not, as might be inferred, the determination of the
final cause of the Incarnation. We should look in vain
in its pages for an anticipation of the subtle question
afterwards discussed by Duns Scotus, whether the
Incarnation was contingent upon the Fall, or did not
rather lie in the Divine idea as the complement, so to
speak, of the creation, so that it would equally have

taken place though man had
persevered in his original
righteousness ; but, assuming that its final cause was
the restoration of the fallen race to its pristine dignity,
168
THE CUR DEUS HOMO?
Anselm seeks in this treatise to vindicate its propriety
if such an expression be allowable, as the economy

of redemption.
Was the Incarnation derogatory to the majesty of
God ? What was the nature of the obstacle which the
Fall opposed to the Divine forgiveness? Could not that
obstacle have been removed insome other way than by
the Incarnation? How, as a matter of fact, was it
removed by the life, suffering, death, and resurrection
of the Incarnate God?
Such are the questions with which Anselm deals,
working the subject out dialectically in the shape of

a dialogue between himself and his friend Boso, the
latter playing the part of Advocatus Diaboli against
the entire providential scheme.
The question discussed relates to the necessity
first
of the Incarnation. Was it necessary? If so, how

is such
necessity compatible with the Divine omni-
potence ? Could not God have redeemed man in
some other way than by Himself assuming his nature,
and suffering and dying on his account? If He could
have so done, why did He choose so painful and
costly a method instead of one exempt from cost and
suffering? Are we not compelled either to bind God
fast in fate, or to save His freedom at the expense
of His wisdom ?
Having thus propounded his antinomies, Boso pro-

ceeds to notice only to reject, not without a touch of
scorn the solution propounded by Origen, the theory,
that is to say, of a ransom paid to the Devil, whose
vested interest in man, acquired through the Fall,
God could not in justice disturb without providing an
adequate compensation. Boso sees clearly enough that
169
it was not power of His Satanic Majesty to
in the
acquire any such vested interest; and Anselm smiles

assent while he triumphantly dismisses that theory
to the limbo of grotesque fictions. He then presses
Boso for a more exact definition of his objections.
Why should that which the Church confesses in the
article of the Incarnation be deemed a thing un-
reasonable ? To which Boso replies that it seems
unworthy of the Highest that He should stoop so low,
of the Omnipotent that He should take such pains.
This Anselm meets by a simple enunciation of what
he takes to be the Catholic faith concerning the
f hypostatic union. The Incarnation, he suggests, in-

volved no humiliation or labour on the part of God,
but simply the exaltation of humanity. After, as
before, the assumption of humanity into Himself, God
remained in His Divine nature impassible; the seat
of His suffering and humiliation was His human
nature.
This, it is evident, is not wholly satisfactory; and

Boso might fairly have urged in reply that, though
it was only as man that Christ suffered and was
heavy laden, yet, inasmuch as His human nature
was anhypostatic, His suffering was, in very truth,
the suffering of God ; and, indeed, that it was
essential to the redemption that it should be so. To
deny that God, in very truth, suffered on the cross,
would be a form of Nestorianism ;
and therefore,
though the initial act of the Incarnation did not, its
sequel certainly did involve humiliation ;

so that the
1
objection is not met.
1
Dante, whose theory of the Atonement need not be ignored by
it is enshrined in noble verse, had evidently
theologians, merely because
170
THE CUR DEUS HOMO?
Boso, however, does not take this point ;
but pro-
ceeds to argue the case in another way. Assuming
the validity of Anselm's distinction, he takes exception
to the entire idea of vicarious satisfaction, as involving
nothing less than the condemnation of the just in lieu

of the unjust, the punishment of the guiltless, in order
that the guilty may go free.
This Anselm repudiates as a gross misconception.

The Passion was not, he insists, in any sense a punish-
ment, but merely the natural result, in the circum-
stances in which Christ was placed, of His adherence
to His righteousness and was in no other sense willed
;
by the Father than as He was consenting to it, in

order that thereby man might be saved. But on this
head Anselm has so much to say that is interesting
and suggestive, that he must be allowed to speak for
himself.
deeply pondered this problem. His solution, perhaps the best that can
be offered, is given in the Paradiso, c. vii. 109-120.
La Divina Bonta, che il mondo imprenta,
Di proceder per tutte le sue vie
A rilevarvi suso fu contenta.
Ne tra 1'ultima notte e il primo die
Si alto e si
magnifico processo,
O per 1'una o per 1'altra fu o fie.
Che piii largo fu Dio a dar se stesso,
A far 1'uom sufficiente a rilevarsi,
Che s'egli avesse sol da se dimesso.
E tutti gli altri modi erano scarsi
Alia giustizia, se il Figlinol di Dio
Non fosse umiliato ad incarnarsi.
The Love Divine, who all creation's frame
Seals with Himself, in His great bountyhead,
To raise you up by every means did aim.
Nor aught so noble, so sublime was sped,
Or ever shall be, from the primal morn,
Till night shroud all things, as that twofold deed.
For more of grace He showed who showed the way,
Himself that way, for man himself to raise,
Than had He him dismissed, no debt to pay.
And justice, too, had failed by other ways :
Nought could suffice, but that the Son of God

To take our nature should Himself abase.
171
"Ans. You do not deny that the rational creature was
created in righteousness, and to the end that he might be
blessed in the enjoyment of God?
Bos. No.
Ans. You would think it incongruous if God, having
created man in righteousness for a beatific end, should
compel him to be miserable though he had done no wrong?
Now to die against one's will is to be miserable.
Bos. It is plain that, had man not sinned, God ought not
to have exacted death from him.
Ans. Therefore God did not compel Christ to die, in whom
was no sin; but He Himself, of His own accord, endured
death in obedience to a law, which required not of Him the
surrender of His life, but the maintenance of His righteous-
ness; in which He so bravely persevered that thereby He
brought death upon Himself. And as for that
saying of His, 'I came not to do my own will, but His who
sent me' (John vi. 38), it is much the same as that other,
'My doctrine not mine' (John vii. 16); for that which
is
one has not from oneself, but from God, one must call not
so much one's own as God's. But no man has from himself
the truth which he teaches, or a righteous will, but from God.
Christ, therefore, do not His own will but the
came to
Father's, because the righteous will which He had was not

from His human nature, but from His Divine Nature. And
the words God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him
'
up for us all' (Rom. viii. 32), mean no more than that He did
not liberate Him. For many similar phrases are found in the
Holy Scriptures. But where He says, 'Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me : nevertheless not as I will, but as
Thou wilt
'
(Matt. xxvi. 39)

; and
cup may
'
If this not pass
away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done' (Ibid. 42) ;
He signifies by His own will that natural instinct of self-
preservation, by which His human flesh shrank from the pain
of death. And He speaks of the will of His Father, not
because the Father preferred the death of His Son to His
life, but because the Father was unwilling that the
human
race should be restored unless man should do some great
act such as was that death
172
THE CUR DEUS HOMO?
It may also fairly be understood that, by that pious will by
which the Son willed to die for the salvation of the world, the
Father gave Him (yet not as by compulsion) the command
and the cup of suffering, and spared not Him, but delivered
Him up for our sake, and willed His death ; and that the Son
was obedient unto death, and learned obedience by the things
which He suffered. For as it was not from Himself as man,
but from the Father, that He had the will to live righteously ;
so was only from the Father of Lights, from whom is

it
every good gift and every perfect gift (James i. 17), that He
* 1
could have that will by which He willed to die, that He might
accomplish so great a good. As the Father is said to draw ]
those to whom He gives a will ;

so He may
not incongruously
be said to impel them. For as the Son says of the Father,
'No man cometh to me, unless the Father draw him' (John
vi. He might have said, Unless the Father impel him.
44); so
Similarly He might have said, No man goeth cheerfully to
'
death for my name's sake, unless the Father impel or draw

[him.' For since every man is drawn or impelled by his will
to that which he steadfastly wills, God is not incongruously
said to draw or impel him when He gives him such a will ;
in which drawing or impulsion is understood no coercion of
necessity, but only the man's spontaneous and loving adhesion
|Jo the good will which he has received. If then, in

thisj
manner, it cannot be deemed that the Father in giving His
Son the needful will, drew or impelled Him to death, who may
not see that it was in the same way that He gave Him the
command to suffer death voluntarily, and the cup, to drink it
not unwillingly ? And if the Son is rightly said not to have

spared Himself, but for our sake, by a spontaneous act of will,
to have delivered Himself up to death, who would deny that
the Father, from whom He had that will, did not spare Him,
but for our sake delivered Him up and willed His
to death,
death ? In this way then, by steadfastly
also, and of His own
accord holding fast the will which He had received from His
Father, the Son was made obedient unto death, and learned,
by the things which He suffered, obedience ; i.e. how great a
work may be achieved by obedience. For therein is true and
173
pure obedience, when a rational being, not of necessity, but
of his own accord, holds fast the will which he has received
from God. There are other ways, also, in which it may fairly
be understood that the Father willed the death of the Son.
For as we say that he wills who makes another to will, so we
say that he wills who does not make another to will, but
approves his willing; and when we see one willing bravely
to endure hardship that he may accomplish a righteous will,
although we confess that we will him to bear that suffering,

yet we do not will or delight in his suffering, but in his will.
We are also accustomed to say that he who, being able to
prevent, does not prevent, wills that which he does not

prevent. Since, then, the will of the Son was pleasing to
the Father, and He did not prevent from willing or Him
fulfilling what He willed, He is rightly said to have willed
that the Son should so piously, and to such good purpose,
endure death, though He \Jid not take delight in His suffering.
And as for what He said, that the cup could not pass away
unless He drank it, He said that, not because He could not
have avoided death had He so willed; but because, as has
been said, it was impossible that the world should be other-
wise saved, and He Himself steadfastly willed rather to suffer
death than that the world should not be saved. And His
purpose in saying these words was to teach us that the human
race could not otherwise be saved than by His death, not to
signify that he could in no wise avoid death. For this, and

all similar utterances concerning Him, must be interpreted
consistently with the belief that He died not by necessity,
but of His own He was omnipotent, and of
free will. For
Him we read that He was offered, because He Himself
'
so willed' (Isaiah 7) and He Himself says, 'I lay down

liii. ;
my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me,

but I lay it down have power to lay down my
of myself. I
life, and to take again.' (John x. 17.)

it What, then, He
Himself did by His own power and will, He can by no means
rightly be said to have been compelled to do."
To these arguments Boso replies that the real ques-

i74
THE CUR DEUS HOMO?
tion, after all, lies much deeper; for "why was God
unable to save man otherwise ? or, if He was able, why
did He choose this method ? For it seems incongruous
that God should have saved man in this way; nor
does it appear how the death availed to the salvation
of man. For it is marvellous, if God has such delight
in, or need of, the blood of an innocent person, that,
except by His death, He is unwilling or unable to

pardon the guilty."
This objection is evidently crucial, and Anselm feels
"
that he must, as lawyers say, change the venue. Let
us assume, then," he says, "that the Incarnation, and
what we have said of the Incarnate God, had never
been and let it be agreed between us that man was
;
created for a blessedness which is not to be had in

this life, and to which none can attain unless his sins
be forgiven, and that no man can pass through this

life without sin, and other things which must be believed
in order to eternal salvation." Boso assents, and

Anselm proceeds deduce from these postulates a
to
rationale of the atonement, which may be summarised
as follows :
Man, as a creature, owes to God absolute obedience,

and that debt he cannot, by reason of his original sin,
pay. By the commission of actual sin he incurs a debt
which cannot be satisfied by penitence, since that is
merely its due sequel. Neither can God exercise His
prerogative of mercy by merely ignoring sin, since it
necessarily defeats the end for which man was created,

to wit, union with God. In order, therefore, to the
reconciliation of the race with God a man must arise,
who shall not only perfectly fulfil the Divine law, but
also offer to God satisfaction for the sin of his fellow-
175
creatures, not merely adequate, but so superabundant
as may entitle him to claim the race as his own posses-
sion for ever, that by his example, and the infusion of
his grace and merits, it may be conformed unto his
likeness, and so restored to its pristine dignity. But
a work so great as this was beyond the power of any
mere man to accomplish. The Incarnation was, there-
fore, so far as human reason can judge, the only possible
means of effecting the redemption and regeneration
of man. By His sinless life and His voluntary sub-
mission to death, from which, by reason of His sinless-
ness, He was merely as man exempt, Christ did as man
discharge the debt due from the creature to the Creator,

and also provided a superabundant satisfaction for the
sins of the whole world ;
in virtue whereof, upon His
resurrection and ascension, He received from the Father
allpower over men, and became to them not merely
an ensample for their imitation, but a perpetual fountain
grace and of merit.
Such, in brief, is the view of the economy of re-
demption developed by Anselm in this lively dialogue,
the course of which is interrupted from time to time
by digressions into matter more curious than relevant.
Despite lucidity and ingenuity, its hard juridical

its
character, the limitations to which it seems to subject

at once the love, the freedom, and the omnipotence of
God, prevented its gaining acceptance either among the

schoolmen or the later doctors of the Church. It did
much, however, to stimulate thought on the profound
and, perhaps, impenetrable mystery of which it treats,
and, in fact, marks a new epoch in theological specu-
lation.
176
CHAPTER XIII.
THE COUNCIL OF BARI THE PROCESSION OF

THE HOLY SPIRIT
the morning of i Oct., 1098, Duke Roger of

ON new Church of St. Nicholas, at Ban,
Apulia's
built, asbecame a Norman Duke, in all the austere
grandeur of vaulted roof and granite column, wore an
unwonted festal appearance. The floor of the sanctuary,
from the shrine of St Nicholas to the gradual, was
carpeted with rich fabrics woven in the looms of the
East. In the nave sat Pope Urban, in chasuble and
pallium, near him the aged Archbishop of Benevento,

magnificent in a golden broidered cope, the gift of
,/Egelnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury, whom as a
young man he had visited, on an errand of charity,
in the days of pious Canute and good Queen Emma :
on either hand a hundred and eighty-three prelates,

some of them Easterns, in their copes, besides abbots
and other high dignitaries not a few; among whom
Anselm, attended by Eadmer, glided unheeded to a
lowly place.
The acts of this noble council, as Baronius calls it,
have perished ;
but from Eadmer, and William of
Malmesbury, we learn that the first matter discussed
thereatwas the long-standing controversy with the
M I 77
Eastern Church, concerning the dogma of the Pro-
cession Holy Ghost
of the and that it afforded;
Anselm an unexpected and unique opportunity for

the display of his theological learning and dialectical
skill.
Thepreliminary mass over, the Pope ascended the

gradual, and taking his stand on the predella with
his back to the high altar, opened the discussion with
the Greeks.
How he handled the subtle question in dispute we
know not, except that in the course of his argument
he drew upon Anselm's treatise against Roscellin,

quoting, doubtless, the similitude of the fountain,
stream, and lake in which the lake may be said

with justice to proceed from both fountain and stream,
not as two separate sources but as one undivided
source by way of illustrating the Latin doctrine of
"
the Procession ab utroque" but that finding him-
\
self hard pressed by the objections of the Greeks,

he at length interrupted his discourse, and eagerb
scanning the assembled Fathers cried out, with a loud
voice :
"
Father and
Master Anselm, Archbishop of th<
"
English, where art thou ?
Whereupon Anselm, rising from his seat, responded,
"
Lord and Father, what are thy commands ? Hei
am I."
Upon which the Pope bade him come up intc
the sanctuary, and succourMother Church in h<
struggle with those who were seeking to rob her oi
the integrity of her faith.
Amid some confusion and many murmurs of "Wh<

is he?" for to most of the bishops the Archbishoj
178
THE COUNCIL OF BARI
of the English was as yet quite unknown Anselm
obeyed ;
and when order was restored, the Pope
introduced him to the council as a man of holy and
laborious life, who had suffered many persecutions for
righteousness' sake, and had at length been unjustly
expelled from his see : after which it seemed good
to adjourn the session until the morrow, that the
Archbishop of the English might have freer scope for
the exposition of his views.
The morrow came ;
and Anselm standing where the
Pope had stood on the preceding day, "so handled,
discussed, concluded the
Holy Spirit
matter, the
guiding his mind and tongue, that in the assembly

there was none but was convinced by his argument."
At its close, when the hum of applause with which
it was received had died away, the Pope rose, and,
turning towards him, pronounced his solemn bene-

"
diction : Blessed be thy heart and thy mind, blessed A""
be thy mouth and the words which it hath uttered."

To the argument thus struck out, as it were, on the
spur of the moment, Anselm afterwards gave articulate
and permanent form in a systematic treatise, De Pro-
cessiom Spiritus Sancti, which, though completed only
shortly before his death, displays in perfection his rare

aptitude for keen dialectic and luminous exposition ;
and as the principal monument of mediaeval thought

on the subtle question with which it deals, still merits
the attention of all serious students of Christian
theology. Before, however, proceeding to analyse its

contents, a word or two must be said on the previous
history of the controversy, which, abstruse and barren
though it may at first sight appear, is yet not without
its own peculiar interest.
179
That the Holy Spirit is in some very real sense the
Spirit of the Son, as well as of the Father, lay in the
mind of the Church from the beginning, being, in fact,
implicit in what is revealed in the New Testament
concerning His mission by the Son. But the Church
defines nothing until it is absolutely necessary; and so
long as she was
preoccupied with the question of
paramount importance at issue in the first phase of
the Arian controversy, she had no occasion to formu-
late her Pneumatology with nice exactitude ;
nor was
it until the second General Council (381) confessed
the Holy Spirit's personality and procession from
the Father, that the question of His relation to the
Son acquired substantive importance. Then, as the
Church pondered on all that is implicit in the unity
of the Godhead, it gradually became apparent to her
that, in proceeding from the Father, the Holy Spirit
must also proceed, either immediately or derivatively,
from the Son. The Eastern Church, in which the
tendency towards Arianism was never wholly over-
come, adopted the theory of a derivative procession
from the Son, the theory, as it came to be formulated
of a procession from the Father through the Son
The Western Church, with her deeper sense of the
co-equality of the three Divine Persons, felt that such

as is the relation of the Holy Spirit to the Father
such also must be His relation to the Son, and
spake accordingly of the procession as from Father
and Son ; and her instinctive wisdom was amply
by events.
justified
Towards the close of the fourth century the Spanisl
Church became deeply infected with Gnosticism, in th<
form given to that farrago of heresies by the gloom]
180
PROCESSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
and fantastic genius of Priscillian, and in the succeed-
ing age the militant Arianism of the Visigothic invaders
threatened to sweep the Catholic faith from the penin-
sula.
The of the struggle with these heresies is

history
written in the acts of the Councils of Toledo in which ;
nothing more remarkable than the prominence given

is
to the Latin doctrine of the Procession of the Holy
Spirit. To enter here into the vexed question of the

precise date at which the doctrine made its appearance
in the Spanish Church would be waste of labour. Its
early reception there is sufficiently attested by the sanc-

tion obtained for it from Pope Leo the Great by Bishop
Turibius of Astorga in 447 j 1 upon which it was formu-

lated in a confession of faith. 2 Evidently Leo felt with
the Spanish theologians that so long as it remained
open to regard the Holy Spirit as holding to the Son
a relation essentially diverse from that which He holds
to the Father, neither the coequality and consubstan-
tiality of the Persons of the Holy Trinity could be

made good against the Arians, nor the reality of the
" "
hypostatic proprieties be vindicated against the
Priscillianists. Evidently also the latter, at any rate,
regarded the Latin doctrine as implicit in the Nicene

Creed, at least as amplified by the Second General
Council ; imposing that creed under anathema
for, in
upon King Reccared and his subjects on their abjura-

tion of Arianism in $89,^ they did not scruple (notwith-
" "
standing the prohibition of every other faith by the
Council of Chalcedon) to render it explicit by the
"
insertion of the words et Filio."
1
See Leo's Letter (Ep. xv.) in MIGNE, Palrolog. liv. 678.
2 3
MANSI, iii. 1002 vi. 494. MANSI, ix. 990.
181
Thenceforward the doctrine maintained its position
as an integral part of the faith of the Spanish Church ;
from which, passing the Pyrenees, it made its way

into the Prankish Church, and into the Athanasian
Creed, if, as is most probable, that symbol is of Prankish

and seventh century origin. In England it was acknow-
ledged as a fundamental verity of the faith as early

as 680, at the synod held in that year by Theodore
of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, and his suffragans
at Hatfield. 1 As such, a century later, it was reaffirmed
in the Caroline Books (iii. 3) in opposition to the Greek
formula, rov Ilar/oo? Sia rot' "Yiov, approved by the
e/c
Patriarch Tarasius at the Seventh GEcumenical Council
(Second of Nicaea) in 787.

Tarasius had communicated his profession of faith
to Pope Hadrian I., who had suffered it to pass un-
censured. The Carlovingian theologians, however,
detected the Arian tendency latent therein, and, so
far as in them lay, made good what they doubtless
deemed the Pope's lack of zeal for the Catholic faith.

2
They argued, not without force, that the Greek formula
was open to misconstruction, as if the Holy Spirit were
in temporal and creaturely dependence upon the Son
"
doubtless with reference to the text, For of Him, and
"
through Him, and to Him, are all things (Rom. xi. 36)
1
Hist. Eccl. ed. Stevenson, 1841,
BEDA, 304.
2
"ExPatre enim et Filio . . . procedere recte creditur et usitate
confitetur : quia non per Filium ut pote creatura quae per ipsum facta sit,
neque quasi posterior tempore, aut minor potestate, aut alterius substantis
procedit, sed ex Patre et Filio ut coaeternus, ut consubstantialis, ut
coaequalis, ut unius gloriae, potestatis, atque divinitatis, cum eis exister
procedere creditur. Alteram namque vim habet, praepositio ex, et alt

per. UndeDei Filius natus ex homine, non per hominem creditur, id<
et
non per coitum, non per humanam operationem sed ex Virgine earn*
assumendo natus." Lib. Carol, iii. 3 (MiGNE, Patrolog. xcvii. 1118).
182
by which, in fact, it was commonly supported whereas
the Latin doctrine was entirely consonant with the
coeternity, consubstantiality and coequality of the three

Persons.
The answer to this criticism is not apparent; nor
did Hadrian, in adverting to the question in his letter
to Charlemagne upon the recent council, which had
1
discussed without deciding the question, attempt any ;
but contented himself with citing a number of patristic
authorities in favour of the Greek doctrine. He was
getting old, was indisposed authoritatively to determine
the question, and was principally concerned to preserve
the peace of the Church. His irenicon, however,
failed, as irenicons are apt to fail, of its intended effect.
It was an age of active theological speculation. The

Prankish Church was distracted by the Adoptianist
controversy ;
and lax views of the doctrine of the
2
Holy Trinity were widely prevalent. Charlemagne
felt that it was not a time to bate a jot or tittle
of the Catholic verity, and gave practical effect to

"
his views by introducing the word " Filioque between
" " "
Patre and " procedit in that version of the Nicene
Creed which it was already the custom to chant in his
3
chapel at Aix. There some monks belonging to the
Prankish monastery of Mount Olivet heard it so chanted,
and on their return to the East introduced the same
practice in their house. Taxed with heresy in con-
sequence, they appealed to Hadrian's successor, Leo III.,
citing the imperial precedent. Leo forwarded their
1
MANSI, xii. 1120, xiii. 759.
8
See the Acts of the Councils of Frankfort (794), Friuli (796), and
Rome (799), in Mansi.
3
It was not as yet the practice to chant the Nicene Creed at Rome.
183
letter to Charlemagne, who in November, 809, convened,
at Aix la Chapelle, a council at which nothing was
determined ;
but the entire question, both of the com-
parative orthodoxy of the Latin and Greek doctrines
and the lawfulness of the addition made to the creed,
was remitted by legates to the Pope. A curious report
of the conference between Leo and the legates may
be read in Baronius, Ann. 809, liv. In the result the
Pope decided nothing except that the Latin doctrine
was orthodox, and therefore binding on all who could
attain to an explicit belief in it, and by all means to be
taught. By reason, however, of its extreme subtlety
and mysteriousness, he deemed it unfit for incorporation

with the creed. At the same time he did not per-
emptorily enjoin the erasure of the Filioque but ;
advised that the practice of chanting the creed in the
imperial palace should be discontinued. It is plain
that he did not regard the Chalcedonian canon as in

itselfprecluding any and every addition to the creed ;
but merely held that the particular doctrine in question

was not one in favour of which an exception should be
made. Later popes were less cautious and by giving ;
countenance,if hot express sanction, to the general use
of the amplified symbol, furnished Photius with the

most specious of the pretexts by which he sought to
justify his rupture with the Holy See.
This supple and accomplished courtier and scholar,
who in 857 supplanted the austere Ignatius in the
favour of the Byzantine Emperor, Michael III., and

in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, sought by an
affected zeal against Iconoclasm to obtain recognition
by Pope Nicolas I.
Before according it, Nicolas through his legates

184
demanded evidence of the voluntary resignation of
Ignatius, and learned instead that after a fruitless
attempt to wring a resignation from him by torture,
a forged abdication had, with the connivance of his
bribed or terrified legates, been accepted as authentic
by a synod subservient to Photius. He therefore (863)

passed sentence of excommunication against Photius
and all his adherents, and decreed the restoration of
Ignatius to his office. Both decrees, however, remained
bruta fulmina. Secure in the protection of the Emperor
and the adhesion of his servile suffragans, Photius met
anathema with anathema, excommunication with ex-
communication, arraigned the Roman Church of heresy
and schism in eight articles, among which the cor-
ruption of the sacred symbol of Constantinople, by

the insertion of the Filioque, held a place of capital
importance, and asserted the primacy of the See of

Constantinople (867). He had hardly done so, how-
ever, beforehe was deposed and banished by Basil
the Macedonian, the murderer and successor of Michael
III., who restored Ignatius to the Patriarchate. He

was reinstated in the Patriarchate on the death of
Ignatius (877); and in return for his recognition by

Pope John VIII., convened (879) a synod at Constan-
tinople, by which an anathema was launched against
all who should make spurious additions to the Nicene
Creed. 1 Thus, in personal ambition, political intrigue,
and violence, was initiated that revolt of the

corruption,
Eastern Church, which culminated under the Patriarch
Michael Caerularius in the definitive schism of 1054.
Thereafter the controversy slumbered, until in 1098 the
Crusade suddenly drew East and West together, and
1
MANSI, xv. 159-179, 803-812, xvii. 515,
brought the Greek bishops to Bari, to try if by any
means short of submission the breach might be healed
with what result we have seen.
In the De Processione Spiritus Sancti, Anselm's argu-
ment moves in the main within the lines traced by
St. Augustine in his classical treatise, De Trinitate}-

The unity of God is absolute, save so far as limited
by His threefold personality. The Son and the Holy
Spirit differ from the Father only in respect of their
relations to Him, and inter se only in respect of the
diversity of those relations. In this diversity there is
nothing to preclude the Holy Spirit from bearing to

the Son the same relation as to the Father and as it is ;
more consonant with the Divine unity that so it should

be, even so it must be. Such is Augustine's, and such
also is Anselm's essential idea, though the later thinker
has of course given to it that articulate and elaborate
expression, which only stress of controversy elicits.
He begins by setting forth what both sides hold in

common one God in three Persons, Father, Son, and
:
Holy Spirit, of whom the third is in a certain sense,
relative to the other two. "For although the Father

is spirit and holy, and the Son
is spirit and holy yet ;
the Father not predicated of a subject as the spirit

is
of that subject ; neither is the Son so predicated ; as,

on the other hand, the Holy Spirit is; for He is the
Spirit of God, and the Spirit of the Father and the
Son. For notwithstanding the Greeks deny that He
proceeds from the Son, yet they do not deny that He is
the Spirit of the Son.
They believe also, and confess, that God is from God

by generation, and that God is from God by procession ;
1
v. 14.
186
for the Son is God from God the Father by generation,
and the Holy Spirit is God from God the Father by
procession. Nor do they think that there is one God

who is generated, and another by whom He is gene-
rated ;
one God who proceeds, and another from whom
He proceeds although the terms, importing that there
;
is a being from whom a being is generated, and a being
who is generated from a being, and a being who pro-

ceeds from a being, acknowledge a plurality ; so as that
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are several and
distinct from one another.
Moreover, the Greeks concur with the Latins in
holding that the relations between the Father and the
Son, and the Father and the Holy Spirit, are diverse.
"For the Son is from His Father, i.e. from God, who
is His Father. But the Holy Spirit is not from God
His Father, but only from God who is Father. There-
fore the Son, in respect of His being from God, is
said to be His Son, and He from whom He is
said to be, His Father; but the Holy Spirit, in re-
spect of His being from God, is not His Son, nor is
He from whom He is, His Father. It is also agreed

that Godnot Father or Son or Spirit save of God,
is
and that God is no other than this same Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit. And as God is one, so there is but
one Father, one Son, one Holy Spirit. Wherefore, in
the Trinity, the Father is the Father of the Son, and of
the Son alone the Son is the Son of the Father, and
;
of the Father alone the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of

;
the Father and the Son, and of the Father and Son
alone. Herein, then, alone and essentially consists the
plurality which is in God, that Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit cannot be predicated equivalently, but are distinct
187
one from another, because God is from God in the two
ways aforesaid which may all be summed up in the
;
term relation for since the Son is from God by genera-

;
tion, and the Holy Spirit is from God by procession,

they are so related to each other by the distinction
between generation and procession as to be diverse and
distinct from one another."
From these premises Anselm deduces the Latin
doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Spirit by the
following cogent argument. The unity of the Godhead
prescribes that whatever is predicable of God, as such,
is predicable of His three Persons save so far as their

individual characteristics may stand in the way.
Either, then, (i) in being begotten of the Father, the
Son is begotten of the Holy Spirit
also or (2), in ;
proceeding from the Father, the Holy Spirit also

proceeds from the Son. But we know by necessary
implication that the Son is not begotten of the Holy
Spirit otherwise it would not have been expressly
;
revealed that He is begotten of the Father. The first

alternative may, therefore, be unhesitatingly dismissed.
With the second alternative it is otherwise. We know
by express revelation that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit,
not of the Father alone, but also of the Son, and
therefore His proceeding from the Father by no means
necessarily implies that He

does not also proceed from
the Son ;
nor can due effect be given to the unity
of the Godhead except by assuming such procession.
The assumption is, therefore, not only legitimate, but
necessary.
Against this logic the only resource of the objector
is to deny that the Holy Spirit is God from God, a
position which, it appears, was actually taken by one
1 88
of the bishops at Bari. Evidently, if the Holy Spirit
is not God from God, then, as He is not essentially
one with the Father and the Son, His procession from
the Father, however it is to be understood, will not
necessarily imply His procession from the Son. This

desperate expedient, however, involves the denial either
(i) of the Godhead of the Father, or (2) of the Godhead
of the Holy Spirit, or (3) of the procession of the Holy
Spirit from the Father ;
and thus equivalent to
is
an apostasy. But if it be admitted that the Holy

Spirit God from God, the argument from the silence
is
of the Nicene Creed can no longer be urged against His
procession from the Son; for that symbol is equally

His being God from God.
silent as to
Holy Spirit is God from God proceeding,

In short, the
and when He is said, whether in the Gospel or the
Creed, to proceed from the Father, no less is intended
than that He
proceeds from the unity of the Godhead,
and thus equally from the Father and the Son and ;
this view is corroborated by the fact that His temporal

mission is expressly revealed to be from both Father
and Son.
To the objection that the Latin doctrine, by making
the procession of the Holy Spirit conditional upon the
generation of the Son, introduces an element of grada-
tion into the Trinity, Anselm answers that its entire
force derived from a confusion between temporal and

is
metaphysical conditionality as if the generation of ;
the Son were the temporal pritis of the procession of

theHoly Spirit, whereas in fact both are coeternal.
As the Son is none the less very God of very God
because He is begotten of the Father, so the Holy
Spirit is none the less very God of very God because
189
He proceeds from the Son and His procession, though
;
from the Son, is yet coeternal with the generation of

the Son.
This misconception disposed of, Anselm adverts to
the rival Greek doctrine of the Procession from the
Father through the Son ;
which he finds to be neither
supported by authority for the single text urged in its
"
behalf, the Quia ex Ipso et per Ipsum et in Ipso sunt
omnia " (Rom. xi. 36) evidently has reference to crea-
tion nor intelligible in itself; inasmuch as there is no
sense in saying that the procession is through the Son,
when it is one and the same Deity that begets, and is
begotten, and proceeds.

And if it be objected that the same logic which proves
that in proceeding from the one Godhead the Holy
Spirit proceedsequally from the Son as from the

Father, proves also by a parity of reasoning that He
proceeds from Himself, the simple answer is that such
a conclusion negatived by the character of the hypo-
is
static relations. As well might it be argued that in

being begotten of the Father the Son is begotten of
Himself. This, we know, is not the case and the ;
unity of the Godhead being consistent with the genera-

tion of the Son by the Father and the Father alone, is
equally consistent with the procession of the Holy

Spirit from the Father and the Son alone.
In short, the Latin doctrine is consistent both with
the unity of the Godhead and the fixed character of the
hypostatic relations; while the Greek doctrine either

makes a distinction without a difference, or rends the
unity of the Godhead, by annulling the coinhesion

of the three Persons. In being begotten of the Father,
in proceeding from the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit
190
do not depart from the Father, but remain within Him.
Unless this be denied, there is no force in the distinc-
" "
tion between proceeding through and proceeding
" "
from the Son.
The Greek doctrine can only be made significant by
being made heretical.
From this same principle of the coinhesion of the
three Persons it follows that the procession of the
Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, not as
is
from two principles, if, where all are coequal, such an

expression may be allowed, but as from one. In other
words, it is not from the Father and Son as distinct
Persons, but from the one God who is both Father and
Son, that the Holy Spirit proceeds.
Nor can any objection be raised against the Latin
doctrine from the silence of our Lord when, in promising
the Paraclete, He calls Him the Spirit of Truth who
proceeds from the Father. (John xv. 26.) For this
is
only a compendious mode of speech not unusual with
Him; as when He says Peter "Blessed art thou,

to
Simon Bar-Jonah : for flesh and blood hath not revealed
"
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven (Matt,
xvi. 17), He cannot be taken to mean that either the
Son or the Holy Spirit had no partin giving the revela-
"
tion. For, since it is not as Father that the Father
reveals, but as God, and the same also Son and God is
Holy Spirit; what the Father reveals,

it follows that
that is also revealed by the Son and the Holy Spirit.
And when He says No man knoweth the Son, but the
'
Father neither knoweth any man the Father, save the

;
Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him

'
(Matt. xi. 27) ;

asthe Son alone knows and reveals
if
the Father and Himself, and the Father alone knows

191
the Son then it is to be understood that this re-
vealing and knowing is common to the three Persons ;
for not by virtue of their distinctness, but by virtue

it is
of their unity, that the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit
know and reveal. For when He says that the Father
knows the Son and the Son knows the Father, and
reveals Himself and the Father, He plainly means it to
be understood that the Father knows the Holy Spirit,
and that the Son knows and reveals the Holy Spirit;
since what the Father is and what the Son is, that also
is the Holy
Spirit. Similarly, when He says 'Who
seeth me, seeth also the Father' (John xiv. 9), the
Holy Spirit is not to be excluded ;

since he who sees
the one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, cannot
see one of these three Persons without the other two.
Of the Holy Spirit, also, He says to the apostles :
" '
But when that Spirit of Truth is come, He shall
teach you all truth' (John xvi. 13), as if the Holy
Spirit alone were to teach all truth ; whereas He cannot

teach the truth without the Father and the Son. For it
is not in that He is the Spirit of the Father and the
Son, but in that He is one with the Father and the Son,
i.e. in that God, that He teaches all truth."

He is
From all which Anselm draws the very evident

inference that, throughout the Holy Scriptures, what is
affirmed of any one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity
is to be understood of the others, except so far as their
" "
hypostatic proprieties preclude such an interpreta-
tion and so returns to the point from which he set out,
;
viz. that in proceeding from the Father the Holy Spirit

must likewise proceed from the Son, unless (per im-
possibile] the Son should be begotten of the Holy
Spirit.
192
He then clinches the argument by the following very
neat dilemma. The Greeks confess that the Holy
Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Father,
and the Spirit of the Son. Now this must be under-
stood either univocally or equivocally ; i.e. either the
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the

Father, in the same sense in which He is the Spirit
of the Son, or in some other sense. But He is the
Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Father, in the sense
that He proceeds from God, from the Father. Either,

then, He is the Spirit of the Son in the sense that He
proceeds from the Son, or in the sense that He is given
by, without proceeding from, the Son for which neither
;
reason nor authority can be alleged. The Greeks must

therefore either accept the Latin doctrine, or adopt one
which is entirely arbitrary which case they ought
;
in
in fairness to give up censuring the Roman Church for
drawing a plain deduction from premises acknowledged

by themselves, in a matter not expressly determined by
revelation.
Passing to the subordinate question of the addition

made to the Nicene Creed, Anselm defends it as
necessary for the quieting of doubts among the less
intelligent members of the Church, and in no way
contrary to the true spirit of the Chalcedonian canon ;
and urges, justification of the independent action

in
taken by the Roman Church in the matter, her own
inherent prerogative and the confusion of the times,
which rendered the assembling of a general council a
matter of extreme difficulty.
He then concludes with a lengthy recapitulation of
the whole argument, in which we need not follow him.
Equally needless is it to trace the subsequent course
N 193
of the controversy, if indeed that can be called a
controversy in which all the sound reasoning is on one
side.
That the Greek Church, after twice acknowledging

the truth of the Latin doctrine once, on its definition
by Clement IV., at the second Council of Lyon in 1274,*

and again at Florence in 1439 remains still in schism,
is a fact known to all the world, as also that there is
no apparent likelihood of the schism ever being ended.

1
The Council was held under Gregory X. ; but the definition had been
framed by his predecessor. (BARONIUS, Ann. 1274, xiv. ; MANSI, xxiv. 81.)
194
CHAPTER XIV.
CLOSE OF THE COUNCIL OF BARI THE COUNCIL

OF ROME RETURN TO LYON
the dizzy altitudes of theological speculation,

FROM
the council of Bari descended to discuss the
posture of affairs in England, and the misdeeds of her

king. Urban dilated on his oppression of the Church,
his gross and shameless profligacy, his contumacy
towards the Holy See, his iniquitous treatment of
Anselm, and appealed to the Fathers for their advice.
They were unanimous that the time had come to
"strike with the sword of St. Peter," and the fatal
" "
Ita est fell from the Papal lips. The blow, however,
was not struck ;
was by Anselm that it was
and it
averted. Throwing himself on his knees before the

Pope, he prayed that the sentence of excommunication
might not pass, and Urban reluctantly yielded to his
intercession. Shortly afterwards the council was dis-
solved, and Anselm returned with the Pope to Rome.
Anselm's conduct on this occasion is inexplicable.
To appeal Holy See against the delinquent,
to the
and then stand between him and the just reward of
his evil deeds, was certainly as illogical as it seems
impolitic. We
can only conjecture that he yielded
to one of those sudden
impulses which sometimes
completely overpower sensitive natures. The sequel,
195
however, will show that, as a matter of fact, nothing
was lost by the suspension of the decree.
Meanwhile the nuncio bearing Urban's letter, and
that which accompanied it from Anselm, had reached
the English court. Anselm's letter Rufus had refused

so much as to receive, and the papal missive he had
treated with hardly less conspicuous contempt. Though
he made himself acquainted with its contents, he dis-
dained a written reply, and recognising the nuncio
as one of Anselm's men, bade him make his best
speed out of England, or, by the Face of God, he
would put his eyes out At the same time he com-

missioned his trusty henchman, William of Warelwast,
the same who had overhauled Anselm's baggage on
Dover beach, to proceed to Rome with a verbal
answer, and such an answer !
"My lord the king," said Warelwast as soon as he

was admitted to the Papal presence, "lets you know
that it is a matter of no small amazement to him
that it should so much as enter your mind to address
him on the subject of the restitution of the tempor-
alities to Anselm. If you want to know the reason,
it is this. When
he proposed to leave the country
the king openly threatened him that, on his departure,
he would confiscate the entire see. Now, as Anselm
paid no heed to this threat, but left the country, he
deems that, in acting as he has done, he has acted
justly, and is unjustly censured by you."
" "
Does he accuse him of aught else ? enquired the
Pope.
"
No," replied Warelwast.
"Oh!" exclaimed the Pope, forgetting his dignity
" To
in his excitement, whoever heard the like !
196
THE COUNCIL OF ROME
despoil a primate of all his temporalities simply
because he would not forego a visit to the Holy
Roman Church, the mother of all churches Truly !
and unreservedly we may say that nothing of the

kind was ever heard since the world was. And was
it to deliver such a message as this, strange man, that
you gave yourself the trouble of coming hither?
Return return with speed all and lay upon your
master the injunction of Blessed Peter, that, without
further parley, he reinstate Anselm in all his tempor-
alities on pain of excommunication. And see that
he lets me know what his intentions are before the
council, which I am about to hold in this city, in
the third week after Easter. Otherwise, let him be
assured that in that same council he will incur the
punishment of the just sentence which he has

provoked."
The speech was worthy of the successor of Hilde-
brand ;
but it fell on sceptical ears, and only elicited
from the Norman clerk the cynical rejoinder, "Before
I go I must deal more secretly with you."
Warelwast tarried accordingly in Rome
; where,
though apparently he had no further interview with
the Pope, he succeeded, by a liberal bestowal of
money and promises among the prelates who formed

the papal court,
averting in excom- the threatened
munication, and eventually, at Christmas, secured its
formal postponement until the following Michaelmas. 1
On learning of this arrangement, Anselm applied to
1
According to William of Malmesbury, De Gest Pontif. (Rolls Ser.),
P. 34, it was the Pope himself whom Warelwast bribed. This, however,
is
by no means borne out by Eadmer, whose account has been followed
in the text.
197
Urban for leave to return to Lyon and his good friend
Archbishop Hugh. But of this Urban would not hear,
and kept him in Rome, giving him legal title to his
rooms in the Lateran, and precedence before all other
dignitaries in public receptions, processions, and other
solemn functions. He also frequently visited him, and,
in short,endeavoured, by every means in his power, to
mitigate the inevitable bitterness of his exile. Thus
the weeks slid by winter passed into spring, and with
;
the spring came bishops to the number of one hundred

and fifty, besides a multitude of abbots and other
clergy, from all parts of Italy and beyond the Alps,
to discuss once more in council the perennial questions
of discipline and the relations of Church and State.

At this council, which assembled at St. Peter's on
25 April, 1099, there was much ado to determine
Anselm's proper precedence. The presence, says Ead-
mer, of an Archbishop of Canterbury at a Roman
council was a thing as yet unwitnessed, unheard of,
and none knew where he ought to Pope, sit. The
however, ordered his chair to be placed in the corona,
or hemicycle a position of no small dignity. There
he sat, wrapt in melancholy meditation, while Bishop
Reinger, of Lucca, who was chosen for the purpose
because he was tall and strong of lung, read out the
decrees to the somewhat tumultuous assembly. Worded

with peculiar care, so as to avoid, as far as possible, mis-
construction or evasion, they reaffirmed the Hildebran-

dine canons against lay investiture, and that of the
Council of Clermont against liege fealty, placing under
excommunication not only all laymen who should give
investiture of spiritualities, and all clerks who should
receive such investiture, or should consecrate such
198
THE COUNCIL OF ROME
recipients, but also all clerks who should do homage
"
to laymen for their temporalities, affirming it to be a
thing execrable beyond measure that hands which

were exalted to such super-angelic dignity as by their
ministry to create God the Creator of all, and offer
Him before the eyes of God the Father Almighty for
the redemption and salvation of all the world, should
be degraded to such an abyss of ignominy as to become
subservient to hands which day and night were polluted
by contact with obscenities, and stained by habitual

commerce with rapine and the unjust effusion of blood."
This tremendous assertion of sacerdotal prerogative
was preceded by other decrees of minor importance,
the reading of which proved a somewhat tedious
business and Reinger had not proceeded far with it
;
when, either by a happy inspiration or of premeditated

purpose, he diverted the attention of the Fathers from
the dry questions of law to the concrete facts repre-
sented by the presence among them of the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury. Fixing his audience with an

eager, penetrating glance, he exclaimed with sudden
animation of tone and gesture, ''But alas! what shall
we do? We
burden subjects with our ordinances, and
withstand not the ruthless atrocities of tyrants. For of
the oppressions wherewith, in their unbridled license,
they the churches, despoiling those who are set

afflict
to watch over them, come daily tidings to this see,

from which counsel and aid are sought, as from the
head of all; but with what effect, alas! is known to,
and deplored by, the entire world. From the farthest
part whereof one, even now, sits among us, distinguished
by his gentle mien and modest reserve, whose silence is
an eloquent appeal, whose humility and patience, the
199
more lowly they are and long-suffering, are the more
exalted in the sight of God, and the apter to move our
sympathies. He has come hither he of whom I speak

most cruelly oppressed, most unjustly despoiled of all
that he has, to implore, in his behalf, the justice and
equity of the Apostolic See. It is now more than a

year since he came among us ;
but alas ! what succour
has he so far found ? If by chance any of you are
ignorant ofwhom I speak, know that it is Anselm,
Archbishop of England."
So spoke the stout Bishop of Lucca, and, as he
concluded, struck the pavement thrice with his crosier,
while a low hiss of rage escaped his tightly-compressed
lips.
Then Urban's bland voice was heard: "Enough,
enough said, Father Reinger ; good counsel shallbe had
in this matter."
"Ay, it had need," retorted Reinger, with real or
simulated impatience, "else the Judge of all will not
pass it over." He then concluded the reading of the

decrees, after which he again briefly adverted to
Anselm's wrongs, and the session terminated.
The council over (i May), Anselm at once set out
on his return journey to Lyon. The

ordinary routes,
however, were unsafe, by reason that the Anti-pope
Guibert, who had not yet ceased to trouble the peace
of the Church, being minded to play the brigand, had
snatched a sketch of the saint's features, and distributed
copies among his partisans with instructions to waylay
and arrest him. He therefore turned aside, and made
a long detour by way of Piedmont and the Black
Forest, resting some days under the quiet roof of
Kloster Hirsau, the scene of the devoted labours and
200
RETURN TO LYON
Abbot William
holy death of his old correspondent, ;
and leaving memories behind him which still smell
sweet in the pages of a later abbot, good, gossipy John

Tritheim, or Trithemius, of Spanheim, in whom, in the
fifteenth century, the archives of Hirsau found an
editor.
1
He also spent some time with his sister,
Richefa, and her husband, Burgundius, though whether

at Aosta, or elsewhere, is not clear. Richera, it will be
remembered, was Anselm's junior by many years, and
her husband had still so much vigour in him that he
was thinking of breaking a lance in the holy war.
They had had several children, but only the eldest, a
lad who bore his uncle's name and was resolved to
had survived.
tread in his uncle's footsteps, So when 2
Anselm left, Richera bade a tearful adieu to her son;

and when Anselm reached Lyon, he wrote her a
tenderly affectionate letter to assure her of young
Anselm's safety and well-being, and, as far as might be,
to console her for her loss. This letter, as it shews the
saint in a new light, may fitly close this chapter.
"Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, to his dearest sister,

Richera, health, and the consolation of God in all her
tribulations. I know, sister best beloved, that there is no
man on the earth, except your husband, of whose health and
well-being you would so gladly hear tidings as of my own
and that of your son, Anselm, who is with me ; for I am your
only brother, and he your only son. Of what concerns us,
our messengers will be better able to inform you by word of
mouth than I by letter. Know, however, that your son, my
dearest nephew, after he left you, had a long and severe
1
The incident is recorded under date 1077, but the context shows that
it
belongs to 1099.
2
He was afterwards successively Abbot of S. Saba in Rome and
St. Edmunds in Suffolk. He died in 1148,
201
illness, from which, by the mercy of God, he is now com-
pletely recovered. Of myself, I may say, with truth, that I
am well in body, but my mind is distraught with great
tribulation. For so it is, that abandon England, for the fear
of God, I dare not, nor yet live there in any peace, tranquillity,
or quietude. I live in daily suspense, as if about to go hence ;
but, however I may be situated, I rejoice, on your account,

because your messengers have brought me tidings of your
health and good fortune. But, as the good and evil fortune
of this life are brief and transitory, let us despise them, study
to avoid that evil fortune which is eternal, and strive, by
living well, to earn that good fortune which is
perpetual. So
then, dearest sister, as you have not, in this life, that wherein
your heart may take delight, turn it all to God that, in the life
to come, it may be able to have joy in Him. Farewell ! If
your husband, on his return, desire to come to me, I bid him

on no account so to do."
202
CHAPTER XV.
REST AT LYON THE DE CONCEPTU VIRGINALI

ENGLISH AFFAIRS ONCE MORE
after Anselm's arrival at Lyon, Pope Urban

SOON
closed, in curious contrast to Gregory VII., a
pontificate of exile, by a peaceful death at Rome. He
had been consecrated at Terracina; and, after holding a
single council at Rome had been compelled to

(1089),
abandon the city to the anti-pope nor did he recover
;
possession of it until, in 1097, the expulsion of his rival

from the Castle of St. Angelo sealed the discomfiture
of the imperial faction. Thus the council at which
Anselm was present was only the second, as it was also
the last, which Urban held in Rome. He died on 29 July
the same year, just a fortnight after the storm of
Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon, in the palace of the

Frangipani, which then adjoined S. Nicola in Carcere,
between the Tiber and the Capitoline Hill ;
and was
laid to rest in St. Peter's, near the oratory of his great
predecessor, Hadrian I. His successor, like himself
a Cluniac monk, was Cardinal Rainer, Abbot of S.
Lorenzo fuori le Mura, who took the style of Paschal II.
Paschal was elected by the unanimous vote of the
Sacred College ; and the death of the Anti-pope
Guibert, followed not long after. He had to contend,
however, with three successive pretenders, whom the
203
disaffected had
still strength
enough in Rome to array
against him; and the affairs of Germany, where the
emperor was mustering his forces for a final trial of

strength, demanded his vigilant attention. England
and Anselm were, therefore, for a time neglected.
During this period of suspense, Anselm was enter-
tained by Archbishop Hugh a guest than as his
less as
superior lord and honoured master. By a gentle com-

pulsion, he found himself forced against his will to play
the leading part, in the less laborious and more honorific
ecclesiastical functions of the archdiocese which served
;
to wean his mind from melancholy reflections, while

leaving him abundant leisure for pursuing his favourite
theological studies. Two opuscula were the fruit of
these tranquil hours. The one, which bears the title
Meditatio Redemptione Humana (xi. in Migne's
de
collection), an
isinformal summary of the main argu-
ment of the Cur Deus Homo ? and calls for no special
notice. The other, a systematic tractate, De Conceptu
Virginali et Originali Peccato, is devoted to the
dis-
cussion of the perplexing problem implicit in the then
prevalent opinion of the Blessed Virgin's subjection to

original sin. From St. Augustine Anselm inherited not
indeed the traducian theory of the origin of the soul,
but the belief in the transmission of original sin by
natural procreation. Applying this principle to the
mystery of the Incarnation, he found himself face to
face with the question which it was not in his nature
to shirk, "Quomodo Deus accepit hominem de massa
peccatrice humani generis sine peccato?" In what way
did God assume human nature from the sinful substance
of thehuman race, yet without sin ?
In other words, as Christ took His human nature
204
THE DE CONCEPTU VIRGINALI
from the substance of His mother, and she was con-
ceived in the natural way of procreation, and therefore
subject to original sin, how is the blasphemous con-
clusion to be avoided, that He took from her a nature
tainted with original sin ?
The solution formidable problem Anselm

of this
seeks in the virginal birth of our Lord arguing, some- ;
what inconclusively, it must be owned, that partheno-

genesis is in itself a bar to the assumption of original
sin, so that even had Christ been mere man He would
equally have been the second, unfallen, Adam. In the
curious reasoning by which he reaches this result we
need not follow him ; for, until the adoption by
the Church of the Augustinian theory, it has little
relevance. That which is of capital interest to us is
the relation of his argument to the doctrine of our
Lady's sinlessness. Was that sinlessness a necessary
part of the economy of redemption, or merely con-

gruous therewith ? That is the real question which is
in Anselm's mind; and his treatise is designed to
answer it in the latter sense.
Into the question of the Immaculate Conception of
our Lady he does not enter, being doubtless swayed
by the example of his
master, St. Augustine, who,
throughout polemic against the Pelagians, practises
his
a studious economy in regard to that topic. But that
when our Lord took flesh of her substance, that sub-
stance was sinless, he assumes ;
and his whole contention
is that it was so not of necessity, but only of congruity.
Such a position is manifestly quite compatible with the
doctrine of theImmaculate Conception.
But Anselm had best be allowed to state his doctrine
in his own words which he does as follows
;
:
205
"
Although, then, the Son of God was most truly conceived
of a most pure Virgin, yet was not this of necessity it was :
not that, in the nature of things, it was not possible for a

righteous offspring to be generated by this mode of pro-
creation from a sinful parent, but only that it was congruous
that the conception of that Man should be by a mother most
pure. Congruous, indeed, was it that with a purity, than

which none greater is conceivable below the Divine, that
Virgin should be adorned to whom God the Father decreed to
give His only Son ; whom, begotten from His own heart, equal
with Himself, He loved as Himself; that, entering the natural
order, He might become her Son as well as His ; and whom
the Son Himself chose to make His mother, substance of
His substance ;
and of whom the Holy Spirit willed and
decreed to effect that of her should be conceived and born
He from whom He Himself proceeds. Of the manner in
which, before the conception, she was purified, I have
spoken in that place where I have given another account of
this matter." (De Concept. Virg. cap. xviii.)
The other account here referred to is the Cur Deus

Homo ? cap. xvi., in which the material passage is the
following :
"Ans. That Virgin, from whose substance that Man was

assumed, was of those who, before His birth, were purified
from sin, and in her purity He was assumed from her substance.
Bos. What you say would please me much were it not that,
whereas He
ought to have His purity from sin from Himself,
He seems to have it from His mother, and not by Himself to
be pure, but by her.
Ans.Not so. But since His mother's purity, by which
He was pure, was only derived from Him, He was Himself
pure by Himself and from Himself."
Briefly stated, then, Anselm's position is as follows :
Itwas not necessary that the Blessed Virgin should be

immaculate in order that her Son should receive from
206
THE DE CONCEPTU VIRGINALI
her an immaculate human nature; but it was fitting
that so it should be, and therefore she was entirely
sanctified before she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Whether she was herself conceived immaculate he
leaves an open question, but it is manifest that the
argument from congruity, if valid at all, is valid a
fortiori for the doctrine of the immaculate conception.
What more congruous with the Divine majesty can be
imagined than that the Mother of God should, in virtue

of her foreknown faith and obedience, be full of grace
from the first moment of her conscious life ? As-
suredly the argument from congruity is valid at
if
all, coherent thinking demands that it be pressed to

its logical result.
And perhaps, after all, this is not Anselm's last word
on the topic. We know that the Feast of the Immacu-
late Conception was already observed England in in
the first half of the twelfth century, and ancient and

credible tradition attributes its inauguration to St.
1
Anselm; while a short tractate containing a lucid
exposition of the doctrine, included by Migne among
the spurious works ascribed to him, is
unquestionably
assignable to his nephew and namesake, and may there-
fore represent his final opinion. 2 The observance of
the feast at Lyon, in 1140, is attested by one of the
letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and, taken in con-
nection with the known nature of Anselm's studies
during his sojourn there, raises a fair presumption that
it was due, 3
directly or indirectly, to his influence.
1
MANSI, xxv. 829.
*
MIGNE, Patrolog. clix. 302, et seq. ; OSBERT OF CLARE, Ef. viii.
(Caxton Ser.).
8
MIGNE, Patrolog. clxxxii. Ep. clxxiv. ; RAYNAUD, Hagiolog. Lugdun.
(1662) p. 328 ; RAGEY, Hist, de Saint Anselme, ii. 243-247.
207
From these abstruse scholastic studies Anselm found
relief, from time to time, in visits to the neighbouring
towns and religious houses to Vienne, to Macon, to
Chaise Dien (in Auvergne), to Cluny celebrating mass,
preaching, healing the sick in mind and body wherever
he went, and everywhere receiving the same tribute
of devout homage.
Nor was he unobservant of the course of affairs in
England, though the prospect of return to that dis-
tracted islandseemed only to grow more remote. On
hearing of Urban's death Rufus had remarked, with
his usual good taste, "God's enmity attend him who
regrets it." Then he had asked what manner of man

was his successor, and being answered, "Such a one
in some respects as Anselm," had responded, " By the
Face of God, then, if such he is, he is no good but ;
let him keep himself to himself. For this time I vow

his Popeship shall not get the better of me. Meanwhile
I will use my freedom to do as I like." What that
meant we know.
The See of Durham, vacant since the death in 1096
of William of St. Calais, he had just bestowed, doubt-
less not without due consideration, on Ranulf Flambard,
to whom he had also leased the now vacant See of

Winchester, besides eleven abbeys scattered throughout
the country. The profits arising from these nefarious
transactions, added to the revenues of the See of

Canterbury, would be augmented as often as another
abbey or see lapsed, as before the end of the year
the See of Salisbury actually did lapse, by the death
of Bishop Osmund, into the voracious maw of the royal
rise. Such was the freedom which Rufus meant to use
"
as he chose. God," he had once said to the Bishop ol
208
Rochester, "shall never have any good thing from me
in return for the evil He has done me." And he meant
to keep his word.
All this, and probably much more, was only too well
known to Ansel m, who received regular advices from
England, and was once perhaps tempted to hope for
better thingsby the appearance of a royal envoy at
Lyon, who bore a commission to discuss his case with
Archbishop Hugh. What terms Rufus offered we do
not know whatever they were, they were rejected,
; but,
and on the departure of the envoy, Anselm, as a last
1
resource, appealed once more to Rome. His letter,
which has fortunately been preserved, is as follows :
"To his Lord and reverend Father, Paschal, Supreme

Pontiff, Anselm, slave of the Church of Canterbury,
his heart's due submission and the good offices, if
aught they avail, of his prayers.
That, after I rejoiced and gave thanks to God, to hear

certain tidings of your elevation, I delayed for so long a time
to send a messenger to Your Highness, was by reason that
a certain envoy of the King of the English came to our
venerable Archbishop of Lyon to discuss my affairs, bringing,
however, no proposition that could be accepted; and having
heard the archbishop's answer, returned to the king, promising
shortly to come back to Lyon. His return I awaited, that I
might know what might be able to impart to you concerning

I
the king's disposition, but he came not. And so I now lay

before you my cause, succinctly, because during my stay at
Rome I often detailed it to
Pope Urban and many others,
as, I think, Your Holiness knows. I observed in England
many the correction of which belonged to my office,
evils,
which could neither correct, nor, without sin, tolerate. For
I
the king required of me, as of right, that I should accede to

his wishes ;
which were neither in accordance with the law of
1
Epp. iii. 40.
O 209
the land nor the will of God. For he forbade recognition of
the Pope to be had, or appeal to him made, in England,
without his authorisation; forbade me to communicate with
him by letter, or receive a letter from him, or obey his decrees.
He suffered no council to be held in his realm from his acces-
sion for the space of as it now is thirteen years. The lands
of the Church he gave to his own men. In regard to all these
and similar matters, if I sought advice, all in power in his
realm, even my own suffragan bishops, refused to give any

but such as chimed in with his will. Observing these and
many other things, which are contrary to the will and law of
God, I sought leave of the king to pay a visit to the Apostolic
See, that I might there receive ghostly counsel and instruction
in regard to my duty.
The king replied that the mere making such a request
was an offence against him, and gave me the option either
to make satisfaction to him as for a fault, and pledge myself
to to repeat it, and on no occasion to appeal
him never again
to the Pope, or to quit his dominions forthwith. I chose
rather to leave the country than to concur in iniquity. I
came to Rome, as you know, and laid the whole matter before
the Pope. The king, as soon as I had the country, laid
left
tax upon the very victuals and clothes of our monks, invaded
it to his own use.
the entire see, and converted Admonished
and enjoined by Pope Urban to set this right, he treated his
words with contempt, and therein still persists.
It is now the third year since I left England. The little
money which I brought with me, and the large sums which I
borrowed, and for which I am still a debtor, I have spent.
So, more owing than having, I am detained in the house of
our venerable father, the Archbishop of Lyon, being sup-
ported by benign generosity and generous benignity.
his
I say not as being desirous of returning to England,

this
but because I fear lest your Highness should resent my not
I pray, therefore, and beseech, as earn-
notifying it to you.
estly as I may, that you by
no means bid me return to
England, unless on such conditions as may enable me to set
the law and will of God and the apostolic decrees above the
210
will of man ;
and unless the king shall have restored to me
the lands of the Church, and whatever he has taken from the
archbishopric on account of my recourse to the Apostolic See,

or at least have made the Church a
sufficient compensation
therefor. For, otherwise, should give countenance to the

I
idea that I ought to prefer man to God, and that I was justly
deprived of my temporalities for determining to have recourse

to the Apostolic See. And it is evident how injurious, how
execrable a precedent this would be for posterity. Some not
very sagacious people ask why I do not excommunicate the
king ; but the wiser and better advised counsel me not to do
so, because it does not belong to me to both lay the plaint
and execute judgment. And, in fine, some of my friends who
are subjects of the same king have sent me word that my
excommunication, if it took place, would be despised and

turned into ridicule by him. In regard to all these matters,
your authority and wisdom need no advice from me. I pray
that God Almighty may so direct all your acts as that they
may subserve His good pleasure, and that His Church may
long rejoice under your prosperous governance. Amen."
From appears that Anselm had all but

this letter it
given up hope of restoration to his see on honourable

terms during the life of the king; and as he was now
aged and infirm, while Rufus was in the prime of life,
that meant a virtual postponement of his return until

the Greek Calends. He was only solicitous lest, in a
moment of weakness, Paschal should accept an un-
worthy compromise. The residue of his days could
at most be but brief; and he would rather spend it in
honourable exile at Lyon, than in splendid ignominy
at Canterbury.
Meanwhile, Rufus flourished like the proverbial green
bay-tree. His sway was absolute, his will was law, in
England as in Normandy. Only in Maine, the suze-
rainty of which he claimed as appendant to Normandy,
211
had he cause for anxiety. The sturdy Manceaux dis-
puted his title to their allegiance, and under Helie de

la Fleche, Count of Le Mans, had asserted their inde-
pendence, and only been subdued after an obstinate
struggle, which Helie suddenly renewed in the summer
of 1099. William heard the news as he was on his
way from Clarendon to the New Forest upon a hunting
expedition. With characteristic precipitancy, he at once
turned his horse's head, rode almost unattended to the
coast, and threw himself into the first available ship.
The sky was overcast, the wind contrary, the sea bois-
terous, the ship unfit to face rough weather; the crew

shrank from attempting the passage. But William
would not hear of delay. "I have never heard," he
said,"of a king perishing by shipwreck. Cast loose
the cables, and you will see that the elements will
conspire to obey me." And a prosperous passage, and

safe landing atTouques, seemed to justify his boast.
Hastily gathering an army, he marched straight on
Maine, relieved the garrison of Le Mans, failed to take
another town or two, and satisfied with this partial
success, hurried back to England to mature much
larger plans of conquest.
William, Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine,
was bound for the Crusade ; but, likeDuke Robert, was
sorely in need of ready cash. The freedom which
Rufus had used with the lands of the Church placed
him in a position to advance the money, of course
upon a proper mortgage of the Duchy of Aquitaine.

Aquitaine in his power would serve as a base for the
extension of his dominion far into the south of Gaul.
As he revolved his schemes of aggrandisement in the
spring of noo, he promised himself that he would be
212
at Poitiers by Christmas. Some, however, of those
who watched the culmination of his star, cast his
horoscope very differently. During the summer a
presentiment that his end was at hand, taking shape
in dreams and visions, ran like an epidemic through
England and Normandy, and even reached Anselm's

ears, though he closed them against it.
1
The sequel is matter of general history. On Thurs-

day, 2 noo,
August, William was hunting with
Anselm's old friend, Walter Tirrel, near Brockenhurst,
in the NewForest, when, whether by accident or design
will never now be known, he was stricken through the
heart by an arrow, and fell lifeless on the ground. The
corpse was carried to Winchester, and buried hastily
and unceremoniously in the Old Minster. On the
following Sunday, Henry I. was crowned at West-
minster by Maurice, Bishop of London.
1
This presentiment seems to be too well and widely attested to be
dismissed as a mere vaticiniutn post eventum. The evidence is collected
by Freeman, Reign of William Riifus, vol. ii. 318 et seq., 657 et seq.
213
CHAPTER XVI.
RETURN TO ENGLAND FIRST RELATIONS WITH

HENRY I.
was towards the end of August when Anselm,

ITthen at Chaise Dieu, heard of the death of Rufus.
Unmanned for a moment by the horrible news, he

burst into tears ; then, mastering himself by a con-
vulsive he protested, amidst his sobs, that to
effort,
save the king such a fate he would willingly have died

himself. Then came the inevitable reflection that the
removal of the king materially altered his own position,
and he lost no time in taking horse for Lyon. Arrived
there, he found a letter awaiting him from the Christ
Church monks, urging his immediate return to Canter-
bury. So, early in September, he bade an affectionate
farewell to Archbishop Hugh, and, amid the liveliest
demonstrations of grief on the part of the good towns-

folk, took his departure from Lyon, making, in the first
instance, for Cluny. On the way he was stopped by

a messenger from the new King of England, who bore
a missive for the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anselm
broke the seal and read as follows :
"
Henry, by the grace of God, King of the English, to his
most pious, spiritual Father Anselm, Bishop of Canter-
bury, health and all friendly greetings.
Know, dearest Father, that my brother, King William, is
214
RETURN TO ENGLAND
dead and I, by the will of God, being chosen by the clergy
;
and people of England, and, though against my will by reason

of your absence, already consecrated king, call upon you,
as my father joining my voice to that of the entire people
of England to come hither with your best speed to afford
me, and the same people of England, the care of whose souls
has been committed to you, the help of your counsel. Myself
and the people of the entire realm of England I commit to
your guidance and theirs who ought to unite with you in
council ; and I pray you not to be displeased because I have
received consecration from other hands than yours ; for from
you would I more gladly have received it than from any other
man. But needs must in such a case ; for my enemies
designed to rise against me and the people whom I have to
govern and, therefore, my barons and the same people would
;
not consent to a postponement ; in such an emergency, there-

fore, I received it from your suffragans. I would have made
you a remittance of money by some of my courtiers, but the

death of my brother has caused such a commotion throughout
the dominion of England that they could by no means have
reached you in safety. I therefore advise you not to travel
by way of Normandy but by Wissant, and I will have my
barons at Dover to meet you with money; so that you will
find, by God's help, wherewithal to repay what you have
borrowed. Make haste, then, Father, to come hither, that
our mother, the Church of Canterbury, long agitated and
distressed on your account, may sustain no further loss of
souls.
Witness, Gerard, bishop, and William, Bishop-elect of

Winchester, William of Warelwast, and Count Henry, and
Robert, son of Haymon, and Haymon, lord chamberlain,
and others both bishops and barons."
Fair words, and not quite as false as fair. Henry

a scholar, and, though licentious, was not without
ras
a certain dim sense of religion. He had viewed with

disgust the bestial orgies and shameless ecclesiastical
215
policy of his brother. He was really anxious for an
accommodation with the Church. He dismissed
Ranulf Flambard, purged the palace of the effeminates
who had ministered to his brother's pleasures, and
formed his council from his father's companions in
arms, among whom was Anselm's old friend Hugh

the Wolf, Earl of Chester. In short, he was bent upon
treading in his father's footsteps. He would not bate
a jot of what he deemed his prerogative, but neither
would he assume an attitude of wanton hostility to the
Church. Anselm he respected, perhaps revered, as a
scholar and a saint; and, moreover, Anselm could be
of real service to him.
Duke Robert was hourly expected in Normandy,
and might even show his face in England. Anselm's
presence would give moral support to Henry's as yet
by no means secure tenure of the throne. Anselm
must therefore return without delay, and then perhaps
means might be found of arranging matters with the
Pope. Anselm could read between the lines, and the
significance of the royal letter could hardly be missed
by him, as he turned its contents over in his mind,
while he rode towards Cluny. No time was evidently
to be lost; so he pushed on at a rate which must
have been extremely trying to a man of his years,
landed at Dover on 23 September, and at once
hurried to Salisbury, where Henry had his court. There,
or on his way, he was apprised of two facts which
gave him cause for rejoicing (i) Ranulf Flambard
:
was already in the Tower on a charge of malversation ;
(2) Henry had signed, upon his coronation, a charter,
by which he "made the Church of God free"; free,

that is to say, as a subsequent clause explained, from
216
FIRST RELATIONS WITH HENRY I.
simoniacal traffic and confiscation of her revenues by

1
him.
About investiture and homage the document was
silent; and in his first audience of the king, Anselm
found that he was as little disposed as his predecessor
to concede the papal claim in regard to them. Henry
plainly intimated that he expected Anselm to do him
homage, and to receive investiture from him and ;
Anselm as plainly answered that, in that case, he had

better return whence he came, explaining, at the same
time, the bearing of the decree of the recent council
upon the situation. Not feeling himself as yet so

secure upon his throne that he could afford to dispense
with Anselm's counsel and countenance, Henry adopted
a temporising policy. Anselm received restitution by
deed, with warranty of quiet possession, of the tem-
poralities of the See of Canterbury, such as they had
been in the times of Edward the Confessor and
William the Conqueror, 2 on the understanding that
the question of investiture and homage should be
adjourned until Easter, so that Henry might try the

effect of an appeal to the
Pope.
In the meantime, Gerard, Bishop of Hereford, was
translated to the See of York, vacant by the death of
Archbishop Thomas on 18 November. Some of the
1
Henricus Dei gratia Rex Anglorum omnibus hominibus, baronibus,
fidelibus suis tarn Francigenis quam Anglicis salutem. Sciatis me Dei
misericordia communi consilio baronum Regni Angliae eiusdem Regni
Regem coronatum esse quod Regnum oppressum erat iniustis ex-
:
actionibus. Ego respectu Dei et amore quern erga vos omnes habeo
sanctam Dei Ecclesiam in primis liberam facio ita quod nee vendam nee
:
in firmam ponam, nee mortuo archiepiscopo, sen episcopo, sive abbate

aliquid inde accipiam de dominio Ecclesiae vel de hominibus ejus donee
successor in earn ingrediatur. (Harl. MS. 458 f. i.)
2
RYMEK, ed. Clarke, i. 9.
21?
vacant abbacies had already been filled, and others
were before the end of the year.
filled William Giffard
had also been elected to the See of Winchester, but had
not as yet been consecrated and Anselm, of course,
;
now declined to consecrate him while as yet uncertain

of his own status in the realm.
During the winter, however, Anselm's attention was

engaged by a matter much more interesting, if of less
intrinsic importance, than the question of investiture and
homage. Henry was by birth an Englishman, was per-
haps not without English sympathies, was at any rate

astute enough to appreciate the political value of an
English wife and in the seclusion of Romsey Abbey,

;
wearing a nun's veil, under the tutelage of her somewhat

rigorous aunt Christina, a fair English princess, as intelli-
gent as fair, and as learned as intelligent, Edith, daughter
of Malcolm III. of Scotland, by Margaret, sister of Edgar
the Atheling, and grandniece of Edward the Confessor,
was languishing her young life away for want of a
husband. Henry was minded to wed her, sounded her
inclination, and found it by no means adverse. In
short, all that stood in the way of the match was the
lav/ of the Church, which claimed the lady as the bride
of Christ. In this emergency Edith laid aside her veil
quitted the convent, and laid in general terms the state
of the case before Anselm. At first, under the im-
pression that she had taken the vow, he bade her return
to the convent ; but on learning that she had never
made any any inclination towards the
profession, or felt
conventual life, had assumed the veil solely at
that she
the bidding of her aunt, who had deemed it necessary
for the protection of her honour, during the license of
the preceding reign, he convened at Lambeth a council
218
FIRST RELATIONS WITH HENRY I.
of clergy and laity, before whom he laid the entire case in
due form, with the result that the Lady Edith was set free
to follow the bent of her natural inclinations. In this
he did but follow a precedent set by Lanfranc but he ;
thereby earned the enduring gratitude of the future

queen. The way thus cleared, the was
marriage
hurried on, the rite being performed by Anselm in
Westminster Abbey, on n November, noo, seven
weeks after his return to England. Queen Edith, better
known in history by her more imposing name Matilda,
amply vindicated the wisdom of Henry's choice.
Devoted to her husband, and notwithstanding her
early aversion to the life of the cloister to the Church,
to God, and good works, she won golden opinions of
her warm-hearted subjects, who loved to call her the
good Queen Maud ;

nor was ever daughter more
attached to father than she to the aged, infirm, and
careworn churchman, to whom she owed her all too
brief portion of earthly felicity. 1
1
She died on I
May, 1118, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
2I 9
CHAPTER XVII.
RETURN OF DUKE ROBERT HENRY'S CROWN

SAVED BY ANSELM HENRY'S GRATITUDE
winter of 1 100 was probably spent by Anselm

THE in giving final shape to his treatise on the Pro
cession of the Holy Spirit ;
in composing, for the
behoof of Bishop Waleran, of Naumburg, who had
Greek proclivities, a brief tractate on another question
much agitated by the Eastern Church to wit, whether
leavened or unleavened bread should be used in the
celebration of the mass, and in quietly reorganising,

so far as was practicable, the monastic life of the arch-
diocese, now sunk, in all probability, to much the same
level of laxity from which Lanfranc had raised it. On
all hands there would be abundant need for inspection,
admonition, exhortation. Hence it is likely that not a

few of Anselm's extant pastoral letters are to be referred
to this period.
While he was thus engaged, an event occurred which
brought him into sharp collision with the king. Among
the abbacies filled by Henry upon his coronation was
that of St. Edmund ;
to which, with ostentatious dis-
regard of propriety, he had nominated Robert, son of

Hugh the Wolf, who had taken the cowl at St. Evroult,
probably for no better reason than that there happened
220
RETURN OF DUKE ROBERT
to be then nothing else for him to take. His intrusion
was vehemently resented by the monks of St. Edmund's,
and was only made good by military force. After
remonstrating in vain with Henry on this high-handed
procedure,Anselm wrote to the Abbot of St. Evroult;
imploring him to recall the intruder, but without
success. He then laid the case before his old friend,
Archbishop Bonne Ame of Rouen, who also did not

see his way to interfere. So the king had his way, and
the monks of St. Edmund's were fain to make the best
of "thelittle wolf," as Anselm, with bitter pleasantry,
termed the new abbot. The affair did not tend to

improve Anselm's relations with Henry.
Towards the end of the year, Guy, Archbishop of
Vienne, afterwards Pope Calixtus II., made his appear-
ance in England as legate of the Holy See. He had
received his commission before the death of Rufus,
and ithad been already determined by virtue of
Anselm's return for it was then part of the ancient
;
privileges of the See of Canterbury that its incumbent

for the time being should, while in England, have full
and exclusive legatine powers as incident to his office.
Guy, therefore, left the country without disclosing the
object of his mission.

Easter (noi) came, but brought with it no news from
Rome and the question of investiture and homage
;
was accordingly again adjourned. happened, the As it
delay served somewhat to strengthen Anselm's hands.

The year wore on, the kingdom was agitated by
rumours of an imminent invasion by Duke Robert,
who had returned from the Holy Land flushed with
glory, and eager to pay off old scores against his
brother. He had been joined by Ranulf Flambard,
221
who had contrived to escape from the Tower, and was
now roving about the Channel in command of a
squadron of privateers.
In England a powerful party among the barons,
disgusted with Henry's English marriage, and no

doubt, also, with his abandonment of the policy of
Rufus, favoured the cause of the chivalrous duke and ;
of their disaffection Henry was only too well aware.

To confirm their wavering loyalty, he convoked the
principal tenants in capite, and proffered them in
return for a renewal of their vows of fealty a solemn
pledge on his part of just and equitable government.
The barons assembled, and with one accord chose
Anselm to act as intermediary between them and the
king.
Thus, by the time Duke
Robert's galleys sighted
the English coast, the aged primate, who but a year
before had been an exile and a pensioner on the
bounty of the foreigner, had tendered to England's

king and the flower of England's nobility, in the
great hall which Rufus had built by the side of the
Abbey of Westminster, the oaths which made Eng-
land once more one ;
and when the invader, easily
vanquishing the fleet which Henry had hastily gathered
to oppose him, made good his landing near Ports-
mouth, he found himself confronted by so formidable
a force that he was fain to make a hasty peace.
Anselm had accompanied Henry to the field; and
throughout the anxious interval, during which the king
was still uncertain how far his nobles would abide
by their recent vows, or desert to the enemy, he
threw the whole weight of his influence on his side ;
so that, if Eadmer is to be trusted and his general

222
HENRY'S CROWN SAVED BY ANSELM
trustworthiness is beyond dispute Henry owed to
him his crown, if not his life.
While the issue was still undecided, Henry was

profuse in protestations that in the event of success
the Church should have no more loyal son, the Pope
no more obedient servant, than he; and Robert had
hardly reshipped his army for Normandy, and renounced
his pretensions to the throne of England, when the
sincerity of the king's protestations was suddenly put
to the proof.
The envoys whom he had sent to Rome returned

with a letter from Pope Paschal, in which a little
complimentary verbiage served merely to emphasise

as high-pitched an assertion of the supernatural pre-
rogative of the Church as could have emanated from

Hildebrand himself.
"Paschal, bishop, servant of the servants of God," so ran

the papal missive, "to his beloved son, Henry, King of the
English, health, and apostolic benediction.

The message conveyed to us through your envoys,
dearest son, we have received with joy ; would also that with
your promises were joined obedience. You promise, indeed,
by your message to accord the Holy Roman Church within
your realm those rights which she had in the days of your
the same time exacting from her the recognition of
father, at
those prerogatives which your father had in the days of our
predecessors. All which, indeed, at first sight might seem
only fair, but on a closer examination, with the help of the

oral explanations of your envoys, revealed itself as a grave and
exorbitant demand. For this is to claim, in effect, that the
Roman Church should concede to you the right and power of

making bishops and abbots by investiture, so that what
Almighty God has ordained shall be done by Himself alone,
should become a part of the royal prerogative. For the Lord
saith, / am the door. By me if any shall enter^ he shall be
223
saved. But when kings arrogate to themselves the function
of the door, follows of a surety that those who enter the
it
Church by them are to be accounted not shepherds, but

thieves and robbers, for the same Lord saith, Whoso entereth
not by the door into the sheepfold^ but climbeth into it by
another way, is a thief and a robber. Now, in sooth, if Your
Grace were to ask of us some great favour which might be
conceded consistently with what we owe to God, to justice, to
the weal of our order, we should
very gladly grant it. But
this claim is so oppressive, so prejudicial, that the Catholic
Church can on no account admit it. Blessed Ambrose was

prepared to suffer the extremity of torture rather than concede
dominion over the Church to the emperor.
Witness his reply: 'Abuse not your mind, O Emperor,
with the idea that your imperial authority extends to the
things which are of God. Exalt not yourself; but if you

would prolong your sway, be subject unto God. For it is
Render to God the things that are God's, and to Caesar
written,
the things that are Caesar's. To the emperor belongs the
palace, to the priest the Church ; to you the public buildings,

to the priest the House of God. What have you to do with
an adulteress ? And an adulteress is that church which is not
united in lawful wedlock with her spouse.' Mark, O
King,
that church is called an adulteress which is not lawfully
wedded to Christ. Now every bishop is deemed the spouse
of the Church. ... you are a son of the Church,
If, then,
as assuredly every Catholic Christian is, suffer your mother to
contract a lawful marriage, i.e. suffer the Church's nuptials to
be duly solemnised, not by men, but by God, and Christ the
God-man. . And herein, O King, be not carried away by
. .
any profane imagining, as if we wished in aught to derogate

from your prerogative, or to amplify our own authority in the
creation of bishops. Nay, rather, if henceforth for God's sake
you abandon that claim which is manifestly contrary to the
law of God, which neither can you enforce with God's
blessing, nor we concede with safety to ourselves or yourself,
we shall readily grant whatever indulgence you may hereafter
crave ; so only that it be in accordance with the will of God ;
224
HENRY'S CROWN SAVED BY ANSELM
and shall with zeal endeavour to promote your aggrandisement.
Nor deem that your power will rest on a less firm basis, if you
abandon this profane usurpation. Nay, rather your dominion
will then be the more secure, the more solid, the more glorious,
when God shall bear sway within your realm."
And so, commending the king to the guidance of

the Almighty, the Pope brought his somewhat lengthy
allocution to a close.
Onreading the letter, Henry determined to convince
Anselm of the true value at which a Norman prince's
promises should be rated. He summoned him to court,
and, in the presence of the bishops and other chief
magnates of the realm, bade him do him homage, and
consecrate his nominees to the vacant bishoprics and
abbacies, or leave the kingdom without delay. Anselm
declined to do either the one thing or the other. He
could not, he said, without placing himself under the
ban of excommunication, violate the canons of the
Council of Rome ; and, instead of leaving the realm,
he would return whither his duty called him, to his
diocese, there to remain until he was carried thence by
force.
By this answer Henry was no little disconcerted.

He was not as yet prepared to proceed to extremities
against the man who had so recently saved his throne,
and whose immense influence with his subjects might
still be of use to him. Doubtless, also, Matilda's inter-
cessionon behalf of the refractory prelate counted for
something. So Anselm was suffered to return to
Canterbury and remain there in peace, while Henry's
thoughts turned once more towards Rome. Perhaps,
after all, he mused, if the case were restated, were
solemnly argued before the Pope, some compromise

p 225
might yet be arrived at.
He would sound Anselm on
the matter. So he wrote, inviting him to
Winchester to
talk the affair over amicably. To Winchester, accord-

Anselm went, and readily assented to the
ingly,
the king, with the concurrence of
proposal which
his council, then made. Henry was to nominate three
commissioners, and Anselm other two, and
the five
the
were to proceed together to Rome, and lay before
precise state
of the case ; to wit, that, unless
Pope the
he receded from his position, Anselm would certainly
be remitted to exile. The on the part of the
envoys
king were Gerard, the
new Archbishop of York, who
had not as yet received his pallium, Herbert Losinga,
Bishop of Norwich, and Robert, Bishop of Chester;
Anselm chose for his representatives two monks,
Baldwin of Le Bee, and Alexander, of Christ Church,
with them an instal-
Canterbury. The envoys carried
from the king,
ment of Peter-pence, and two letters
one a formal application for the archbishop's pallium,

declaration
the other an unequivocal and unconditional
the matter of investitures and
of war d entrance in
the
homage. Anselm also wrote
to Pontiff, explaining
came be in the embassy, and

how he to represented
in favour of his brother of York,
adding his testimony
in all respects worthy
as a good and loyal churchman,
of the pallium.
them to Rome. Suffice it to
It is needless to follow
in the matter of the pallium,
the
say that, except
on the return of the
mission proved a failure; that
the Pope's definitive
envoys with the letter containing
Non in the summer of 1102, Henry sum-
possumus?
moned Anselm to a council at London, and, ignoring
to concede the
the letter, required him point-blank
226
HENRY'S GRATITUDE
entire question at issue or
quit the realm ;
that Anselm
thereupon demanded that the letter be read ;
that this
the king obstinately refused, but suffered the
companion
letterto Anselm to be read; and
that, as no means
could be devised of evading its
plain purport, the
Archbishop of York, and his worthy confreres of
Norwich and Chester, trumped up a lame
story to the
effect that the Pope had confided to them
privately, by
word of mouth, that it was only meant for and show,
that Henry need not fear excommunication if he
disregarded its contents. However transparent the
duplicity of the envoys, it admitted of no immediate
answer. It was in vain to
urge that the papal missive
spoke foritself when an
Archbishop of York pledged
hisword that it was a mere
nullity, on the strength of
what had passed at an alleged
private interview with
the Pope. Anselm was, therefore, compelled to remit
the cause once more to Rome in the meantime, if the
;
king chose to grant investitures, he would neither

consecrate nor excommunicate the Ex-
recipients.
ultant at the success of his chicane,
Henry at once
gave the See of Salisbury to one of his clerks named
Roger, and that of Hereford to another Roger, his
larderer. The larderer, dying soon afterwards, was
succeeded by Reinelm, another of the clerks. royal
The king now found it convenient to ignore the under-
standing recently arrived at, and required Anselm to
consecrate these worthy persons,
together with William
Giffard, Bishop-elect of Winchester. The latter, it will
be remembered, had been elected
during Anselm's
exile, but had neither consented to the election nor
received investiture. On this account Anselm was not
unwilling to consecrate him. The other two he, of
227
course, declined to consecrate. Henry, however, in-
sisted that all should be consecrated or none, and

instructed the subservient Archbishop of York to
perform the function, only to find himself baffled by

the sudden penitence of Reinelm, who returned the
ring and crosier by which he had been invested, and
the constancy of William Giffard, whom neither bribes
nor menaces could induce to submit to consecration
without Anselm's consent. Reinelm was accordingly
banished the court, and Giffard the kingdom, to find an
asylum with Duke Robert in Normandy.
Meanwhile Anselm succeeded in obtaining from the
king one important concession leave to hold, at
London, a convocation of clergy and laity to take

in hand, in earnest, the long-delayed, and now terribly
serious business of ecclesiastical reform.

At this convocation several salutary things were
done. Simony was formally condemned, and Guy,
Abbot Pershore, Wimund, Abbot of Tavistock,
of
Ealdwin, Abbot of Ramsey, were deprived for that
offence, while the election of some abbots, as yet not

consecrated, was avoided on the same ground. The
" "
little wolf was also happily ousted from St.
Edmund's Abbey. Canons were also passed disquali-
fying bishops for holding secular courts, and

regulating their dress and company, prohibiting the
farming of the office of archdeacon, or the holding
of that office by persons not in deacon's orders,
enjoining celibacy and enforcing continence on the
secular clergy, and strengthening the bonds of dis-
cipline within the cloister. Severe penalties were

also enacted against all, whether clergy or laity, who
should be found guilty of the hideous vice which had
228
HENRY'S GRATITUDE
been so flagrant during the reign, and under the
countenance, of the late king. Such, in substance,
were the canons passed by the Council of London in
the autumn of 1102, "which," says Eadmer, with
characteristic sententious brevity, "had not been held
many days before it made many transgressors in every
rank of life."
229
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE DEADLOCK CONTINUES- ANSELM, AT HENRY'S

REQUEST, UNDERTAKES A MISSION TO ROME
behalf of the exiled bishops, and especially of

ON William Giffard, Anselm used his best endeavours
with the king, but without success. Meanwhile the
deadlock, of course, continued, until Henry, to whom
it proved as little satisfactory as to Anselm, made, in
mid-Lent, 103, a pretext for visiting Canterbury, and

1
re-opened negotiations with the primate not obscurely ;
hinting that were the question of his customary rights

not speedily settled to his mind, unpleasant con-
sequences would ensue.
The Pope's answer to the childish story fabricated
by the Archbishop of York was, at that very time,
in Anselm's possession. The seal had not, as yet,
been broken, and he begged the king to let the
document be opened and read.
Henry, however, had no faith in parchment. He
would not even look at the letter.
"Enough of these circuitous procedures," he broke
"
out, losing, for the moment, his self-restraint I ;
demand a final determination of the cause. What

have I to do with the Pope in a matter which con-
cerns my own rights ? The prerogatives which my
predecessors had in this realm, the same are mine.
230
THE DEADLOCK CONTINUES
If any man seek to deprive me of them, let whoso
loves me know for certain that that man is my
enemy."
Anselm quietly replied that he had no desire to
deprive the king of aught that was his ; but that, not
even to save his life, would he concur in the contraven-
tion of the decrees which he had heard pronounced
in the Council of Rome, unless the same Holy See,
from which they derived their binding authority, should
issue a decree annulling the interdicts by which they
were sanctioned.
Again and again Henry returned to the charge,
to find the primate inflexible asadamant.
Meanwhile the protraction of the negotiations, which
probably lasted some days, gave rise to rumours,
speculation, and excited gossip of all kinds, so that
the public mind became gravely disquieted, and the
Church betook herself to prayer.
Suddenly Henry changed his tone. Convinced at
last that menace was unavailing, he became concili-
atory. Anselm, he urged, in a tone of entreaty

Anselm would at
go Rome, and arrange
least to
matters, if
possible, with the Pope.
Anselm, of course, did not anticipate any good result
from such a mission, and probably saw, clearly enough,
thatthe king was now chiefly concerned to remove
him from the country, without taking the unpopular
course of openly banishing him. He therefore pro-
posed that the matter should be held over until
Easter; then, if the bishops and magnates of the
realm in council assembled concurred with the king
in advising the mission, he was ready to undertake
it ; and, when Easter came, the unanimous vote of the
231
council was that he should do so. He had, therefore,
no option but to accept which he did ;
in the following
terms :
"Since you are of one mind that I should go, I,
though weak body, and on the verge of old age,

in
will not shrink from the journey, but will go whither-
soever you advise, as God, the end of all, may grant

me strength. But if so be that I make my way to
the Apostolic Father, be assured that neither at my

request, nor by my advice, will he do aught that
may impair either the freedom of the churches or
my honour."
"
The council answered, Our lord the king will send
with you his legate to make known to the Pontiff his
petitions, and the concernment of the realm in these
matters your
; part will be merely to attest the truth
of what he may say."
"
What I have said I have said," rejoined Anselm ;
"
nor, by the mercy of God, shall I be found to
contradict anyone who speaks the truth."
So matters rested until the Easter celebrations were
over. Then Anselm hurried his departure from a land
in which, indeed, there was no longer any inducement
to tarry in which he could not even consecrate a bishop
;
without rendering himself liable to excommunication ;
in which he found himself deserted by those who should
have supported him, and surrounded by suspicion and

intrigue, so that he dared not even open the Pope's
letter lest he should find himself taxed with tampering
with its contents in which, in short, his presence was
;
powerless for good, and a source of perpetual suffering

to himself. Four days at Canterbury sufficed to make
the necessary preparations for the long and hazardous
232
A MISSION TO ROME
journey which was before him ;
then taking an
affectionate farewell of his faithful monks, he embarked,
accompanied by Eadmer and Alexander, and on
27 April, landed at Wissant. He travelled through
Normandy, and made his first considerable halt at Le

Bee, renewing old friendships, reviving memories of the
past, the sweeter for the suffering which had intervened.
There he broke the seal of the Pope's letter, and found
that not only contained a categorical and indignant
it
denial of the Archbishop of York's story, but placed

him and his colleagues in infamy under excommu-
nication, together with all bishops who had received
consecration or investiture, pending the appeal to the
Holy was now more than ever evident that

See. It
the mission on which he was engaged could come to
nothing, and that he must make up his mind to another

more or less prolonged exile. The prospect was
probably not unwelcome for the situation in England
;
had become intolerable, and the battle of the Church

could as well be fought in Rome, or Lyon, or Le Bee,
as at Canterbury or Westminster. In the meantime,
there was nothing for but to possess his soul in
it
patience, until the tedious farce of the mission was
played out.
From Le Bee he journeyed by easy stages to Chartres,
where he found an old friend and alumnus of Le Bee, in
Bishop Yves, who had fought his own battle for the
Church, not without suffering and eventual triumph. 1
1
Yves had beentranslated from the Abbey of St. Quentin to the See
of Chartresby Pope Urban, in place of the simoniacal prelate Godfrey, in
1090 but had no little trouble with his metropolitan, Richer, Archbishop
;
of Sens, who declined to recognise him, wrote him abusive

letters, and
even cited him for heresy before the Council of Etampes, in 1091.
Yves appealed to the Pope, who exonerated him from the charge, and
233
There also he found Beauclerc's sister, the widowed
Countess Adela of Blois, a devout woman, and his
good appear in the sequel. His stay at

friend, as will
Chartres, however, was but brief. The summer heats

were this year unusually severe, not only in Italy, but
throughout the continent and, by Yves' advice, Anselm,
;
now, it must be remembered, an aged and infirm man,

returned to await the autumn in the cooler air of Le
Bee. From Le Bee he wrote to both Henry and
Matilda, praying the one to spare the Canterbury
estates, and the other to exert all her influence with her
husband in behalf of the Church. 1
By mid -August he was again on the road, and
in the autumn he reached Rome. On his arrival,
Paschal bade him rest a day or two at the Vatican he ;
then received him with all honour, and assigned him

the rooms in the Lateran which had been placed at his
disposal by Urban.
At Rome Anselm found
the royal envoy ;
who proved
to be our old acquaintance, William of Warelwast,
busily occupied in making interest for his master in the
papal court. A day was soon fixed for hearing the

appeal; and Anselm listened in silence and apparent
indifference while the voluble and plausible clerk
magnified the dignity and munificence of the King of

England, and more than hinted that the Pope would do
well to conciliate his favour, while yet there was time.
Paschal also allowed him to run on in this strain, until,
encouraged by some signs of sympathy on the part of

confirmed him in his see. His spirited conduct in refusing to assist at the
marriage of Philip I. with Bertrade, wife of Fulk, Count of Anjou

amply justified Urban's choice. (RiTZKE, De Ivone Episcopo Carnotensit
Wratislaviae.)
1
Epp. iii. 79, 81.
234
A MISSION TO ROME
some of the audience, he called them to witness that,
be the result what it might, his lord, the King of the
English, would as soon part with his kingdom as with
the right of investiture. Then the Pope broke silence :
"If, as you say," he observed with quiet emphasis,

"your king would as soon lose his kingdom as forego
the right of ecclesiastical investiture, understand I say
it in the presence of God that Pope Paschal would as

soon lose his head as concede it to him."
Recognising at once that the Pope meant exactly

what he said, Warelwast made no further attempt to
argue the
appeal. Paschal, however, probably at
Anselm's suggestion, saw fit to grant Henry a tempo-
rary immunity from excommunication, while subjecting
thereto all clerks who should take, or had taken investi-
ture from him. The reconciliation of such offenders
with the Church was left entirely in Anselm's hands.
Not long afterwards, Anselm took his leave of the
Pope from whom he received with his blessing a letter,
;
confirming to him and his successors in the See of

Canterbury in perpetuity, primatial authority through-
out the British Isles no less plenary than had been
accorded by Gregory I. to St. Augustine.
The date of this letter, 17 November, 1103, is
probably that of Anselm's departure from Rome, for

he was at Lyon before Christmas. He travelled under
an escort by the Countess Matilda, the
furnished
staunch ally in old days of both Urban and Hildebrand,
now an aged woman, whose thoughts were turning
towards the cloister. On his journey, or more pro-
bably from Lyon, Anselm wrote her the following
1
eminently characteristic letter i
1
Epp. iv. 37.
235
"Anselm, servant of the Church of Canterbury, to his Lady
and Mother in God, the Countess Matilda, uninter-
rupted and prolonged enjoyment of happiness in this
present life, and perpetual bliss in that which is to
come.
"
I would thank Your Highness, but cannot find words for
the purpose worthy of your merit. For, in truth, that not

once only, but several times, God has through your instru-
mentality delivered me out of the hand of my enemies, who
were waiting to take me, I acknowledge as a very great
obligation. But when I consider the way in which it was
done, your benignity, piety, motherly affection towards me,
I perceive that it is quite beyond my power to thank you
worthily. For I cannot forget the anxious prayers and en-

with which, by my brother and son, Alexander, you
treaties
besought me on no account to expose my person to peril,

and the zeal with which you commanded your servants to
take no less, nay, if possible, more care of my person than
of your own, and to conduct me to a place of security by
a circuitous and than by a direct and hazardous
safe, rather
route. Which they have faithfully done, understanding such
to be your will. The desire of my heart, indeed, is not
wanting to the utterance of my gratitude, but words and
pen are inadequate to express what my heart feels. As, then,
I cannot, I pray God that He will reward you, and defending
you from all your enemies, temporal and spiritual, bring you
to blessed and
eternal security. I am ever mindful of your
holy desire, with which your heart yearns towards the con-
tempt of the world ; but therewith conflicts the holy affection
which you bear towards Mother Church, and which she
cannot spare. Wherein it is manifest that your piety is in
either way pleasing to God, and therefore you ought quietly
to await some certain sign of God's will, and sustain with
patience and good hope the burden which you bear in His
service. This, however, I take upon myself to advise, that
if in themeantime, which God avert, you should discover
yourself to be in imminent danger of death, you should give
yourself entirely to God before leaving this life, and to that
236
A MISSION TO ROME
end should have ever ready at hand a secret veil. Be my
words as they may, this is my prayer, this the desire of my
heart, that God should commit you to no other than His
own disposal and guidance. Your Highness sent me word
by my son, Alexander aforesaid, that the prayers or medi-
tations which I have composed, and which I thought you
had, you have not ; and therefore I send them to you. May
Almighty God ever guide and guard you with His blessing."
237
CHAPTER XIX.
ANOTHER TERM OF EXILE AT LYON THE

BEGINNING OF THE END
A NSELM by Florence and Piacenza, and

travelled
** at the was joined by William of
latter place
Warelwast, who accompanied him across the Mont
Cenis, and as far as Lyon. There the Saint halted
for Christmas; and, as he took leave of Warelwast,
who was bound in hot haste for the north, he
learned from him that his stay might be protracted

at his pleasure.
"
had thought," said the Norman significantly, " that
I
our cause would have had another issue at Rome, and

therefore I deferred until now communicating to you a
message with which my lord charged me for you.
Now, as I am in haste to no longer keep
depart, I will
it secret. He says then, that he will welcome your
return to England, if you come back prepared to
shew yourself such in all respects towards him as your
predecessors were towards his predecessors."
" "
You have no more to say ? said Anselm.
"
I speak to a man of sense. I have no more to
say," replied the other.
"I know what you mean," rejoined Anselm; "I
understand."
238
EXILE AT LYON
Thus Anselm entered on his second period of exile.
He resumed his former place in the household of Arch-
bishop Hugh, and lost no time in making his intentions
clear toHenry in the following letter :
"To his revered Henry, King of the English,

Lord,
Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, his faithful service
and prayers.
"Although you may learn through William of Warelwast what

we did at Rome, yet I will briefly set forth so much as relates
to myself. I came to Rome, I explained to the Pope the
reason wherefor I had come; he replied that he was deter-
mined on no account to depart from the decrees of his
predecessors, and moreover he enjoined me to have no
communion with those who should receive investiture of
churches from your hands after notice of this prohibition,
unless they should do penance, and surrender what they had
received, and therewith all thought of reinstatement. He also

forbade me to hold communion with the bishops who had
consecrated such persons, unless they submitted them-
selves to the jurisdiction of the Apostolic See. Of all
this William aforesaid may, if he will, be witness. Which
William, after we had severally left Rome, admonished me
on your part, reminding me of the love and goodwill which
you have ever borne towards me, that I should so order
myself as that I might return to England on the same
footing on which my predecessor stood with your father ; in
which case you would treat me in the same honourable and
liberal spirit in which your father had treated my predecessor.
Wherefrom I gathered that unless I was prepared so to

order myself, you did not desire my return to England.
For your love and goodwill I thank you. But assume the
same relations with you which my predecessor had with your
father, I cannot; for I can neither do you homage, nor by
reason of the prohibition aforesaid made in my hearing, hold
communion with those who have received investiture of
churches from your hands. Wherefore I pray you, if it
239
please you, to let me know your will whether it be possible for
me to return to England on the terms I have indicated, with
your peace and inplenitude of the authority which
the
belongs to my For
office. I am ready, to the extent of my
powers and skill, faithfully and in all due subjection to your
authority to discharge the trust committed to me by the will

of God in your behalf, and that of your people. But if it
shall not please you to receive me on these terms, I suppose
that any loss of souls that may result will not be imputable to
my fault.
"
May God Almighty so reign in your heart as that you
may reign for ever in His grace."
This letter Anselm took the precaution to draught in

triplicate. The original he of course sent direct to the
king. Of
the two copies one went with his seal to his
faithful friend Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, that in
the not unlikely event of the authenticity of the original
being disputed, the means might be at hand of attesting

it. Gundulf was to shew it to William of Warelwast
and Ernulf, Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, but to
none other until the king had seen the original. Then
he was to shew it to the bishops. The other copy was
transmitted to Ernulf with instructions to keep it secret
until the king had shewn his hand, when it was to be
forthwith published. By these means Anselm hoped to
defeat the chicane which he had too good reason to
1
anticipate.
Meanwhile William of Warelwast sped northward
bearing the following letter from the Pope to the
king:
1
Epp. iv. 34, 40.
240
EXILE AT LYON
"
Paschal, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the
illustrious and glorious King of the English, Henry,
health and apostolical benediction.
"By the letter which you lately sent us through your con-
fidential agent, and our beloved son William, the clerk, we
were apprised both of your well-being and of the happy
successes which the Divine benignity has accorded you by the
overthrow of your enemies. We learned, moreover, that your
desires had been gratified by your noble and religious consort
giving birth to a male child. And overjoyed as we are by the

news, we think the occasion opportune to inculcate upon you,
with some earnestness, the precepts and the will of God ;
seeing that it is now manifest to you in how extraordinary

a degree you are indebted to the favour of God. We also
would fain unite our own goodwill towards you with the
Divine favour, but are distressed that you seem to demand
from us what we by no means can grant. For were we to
give our consent or permission to the granting of investitures
by Your Excellency, the danger would, without doubt, be
enormous both to us and to you. In which matter we would
have you consider what you would lose by not granting them,
or gain by granting them. For, in making this prohibition,
we neither exact from the churches a more strict obedience,
nor obtain for ourselves an ampler freedom, nor seek to
derogate in aught from your rightful power or authority, but
only that the wrath of God to youward may be lessened, and
that so all your affairs may prosper. For the Lord saith, /
will honour those who honour me. But those who contemn rme
shall be of no reputation. You will say, however, This is part of
my prerogative. Nay, not so ;
it belongs not to earthly
sovereignty, imperial or royal, but to God. His alone it
is, who said, / am the Door. Wherefore in His name,
whose this office is, I call upon you to surrender it to Him.
To Him resign it, to whose love you owe all that is yours.
As for us, why should we oppose your will, close the avenues
to your grace, were it not that we know that to concur with
you in this matter were to resist the will, to forfeit the grace, of
Q 241
God? Why should we deny to you aught that might rightly
be conceded man, seeing the extraordinary favours

to mortal
which we have received from you? Consider, dearest Son,

whether it redound to your honour or dishonour, that on this
account the wisest and most devout of the Gallican bishops,
fears to adhere to you, to
Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury,
abide in your kingdom. What will they, with whom your
reputation has hitherto

stood so high, think of you, say of
abroad far and wide? Why,
you, when this fame
is bruited
the very men who, in your presence, applaud your exorbitant
surety be the most strenuous
of a in denouncing
claims, will
them when they have left your presence. Back, then, dearest
back to own heart for God's sake, and His mercy,
Son, your ;
and for the love of the Only -begotten, recall your pastor,
we recall your father.
pray you,
And if, what we do not
when you have abandoned the claim to grant
anticipate,
investitures,he should shew himself severe towards you in any
as may consist with the will of God, will
respect, we, so far
incline him to your will. Of you we ask only that you should
set and your kingdom free from the stain of his
yourself
banishment. This done, then whatever you may crave of
us, though it be weighty, so only it may be conceded without
offence to God, you shall assuredly obtain;
and with the
Lord's help we will be mindful to pray to Him
for you,
the merits of the holy apostles, will procure abso-

and, by
lution from sin, and indulgence for you and your
consort.
whom noble and glorious consort has

Your son also, your
the
borne you, to whom, as we have heard, you have given
t .Vme of your illustrious father, William,
we will cherish with
it shall be as if
su;h assiduity that whoso shall wrong him,
he'had wronged the Roman Church. The course which you
to in to these matters for the honour of
propose adopt regard
God and the glory of His Church, we beg you to communicate
to us, without delay, through the medium of
such legates
whose accuracy may be relied upon by us and you.

" at the Lateran, 23 Nov."
Given
242
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
On receipt of this letter, followed at no great interval
by that of Anselm, Henry's first thought was how to
gain time. Anselm was now aged, and worn by
vigils, austerities, anxieties. His life might drop at any
moment, and then a more pliable primate might surely
be found. He must, therefore, be kept where he was
until that auspicious event should happen.
So he sent Anselm, in the first instance, what appears
(for the letter is lost) to have been nothing more than a
formal ratification of Warelwast's message then after ;
a considerable interval he wrote to him, briefly indeed,

but in the suavest possible terms, regretting that they
should be separated
still there was no mortal man
whom he would so gladly have in his dominions as
Anselm, Anselm would but consent to his terms
if
intimating that he was about to send yet another

embassy to Rome, in the hope of at length arranging
matters with the Pope, and in the meantime making
Anselm an allowance out of the Canterbury revenues,
1
a delicate hint that they were to be confiscated.
Nor was long before a Canterbury monk brought
it
tidings of the sequestration of the entire temporalities

of the see. Then followed doleful accounts of the
sacrilegeand rapine that stalked abroad throughout
the province, mixed with bitter reproaches, natural
enough in men unversed in State secrets, that Anselm

should in such a crisis desert the Church of God. To
the monks Anselm replied in a long and confidential
letter, setting forth the true state of the case; to the
king somewhat briefly, and in a tone designed to
prepare the royal mind for excommunication.

Meanwhile Queen Matilda was busy attempting to
1
This letter is in Anselm's correspondence, Epp. iii. 94.
243
mediate between Anselm and the king. To Anselm
she addressed the following moving appeal :
"To the truly exalted Lord and Father, Anselm, by the

grace of God, Archbishop of Canterbury, Matilda,
Queen of the English, his lowly handmaid, the
tribute of her most devoted service.
"Lord, Father, holy and compassionate, convert, I pray

you, my lamentation into joy, and clothe me once more
with happiness. Lo my Lord, your humble handmaid pros-
!
trates herself before the knees of your mercy, and stretches

forth her supplianthands to you, soliciting the tender regard
of your wonted benignity.
"
Come, my Lord, come, and visit your servant ; come, I
say, my Father, and let my groans cease, my tears be wiped
away, my grief be assuaged, my lamentation have an end, the
desire of my heart be satisfied, my prayers answered. But,
you will say, I am withheld by law, fast bound in the fetters
of certain canons, decrees of my elders, which I dare not
transgress. Nay but, bethink you, Father, of the Apostle of

the Gentiles, the vessel of election, how, though he strove
might and main for the abrogation of the law, yet he did not
scruple to sacrifice in the Temple, lest he should give offence
to those of the circumcision who believed; how, though he
condemned circumcision, he yet circumcised Timothy, that he
might become all things to all men. How, then, should his
disciple be blameworthy, if as a son of mercy he exposed
himself to the risk of death for the redemption of those in
bondage. You see your brothers, servants with you of the
same Master ; you see the people of your Lord suffering ship-
wreck, tottering now on the very verge of ruin, and you
succour them not ; you
hold not out to them the right hand ;
you brave not the struggle. Was not the Apostle ready to
pray that he might be accursed from Christ for the sake of his
brethren ?
"
So, my good Lord and devout Father, moderate this yoi
severity, and soften, forgive me for so saying, your iron heart.

244
Come and visit your people, and, among them, your hand-
maid, who, with all her heart, yearns after you. Find out a
way in which you, our shepherd, may advance without offence,
and yet the prerogatives of the Crown be respected. Or if no
such compromise is possible, come, then, at least, as a father
to your daughter, as a lord to your handmaid, and teach her
how she should act. Come to her before she leaves the world,
for should it so chance that I should die without seeing you
I speak as a sinful woman I fear lest, even in that land of
living delights, I should be cut off from all occasion of re-
joicing. You, indeed, are my joy, my hope, my refuge. Without
you my soul is like an arid desert; wherefore to you have I
stretched forth my hands that you may sprinkle its waste
places with the oil of exultation, and drench it with the dew
of eternal sweetness. If, however, neither my tears nor my
uttered prayers avail to move you, I will lay aside my regal

dignity, divest myself of the insignia of my rank, and scorning
guards and diadem, and spurning purple and fine linen, will in
tribulation of heart make my way
to you. The ground you
have trodden embrace; your feet I will kiss; nor shall
I will
Giezi, though he come, separate me from you till the longing

of my heart is satisfied. The peace of God which passeth all
understanding keep your heart and mind, and fill
your soul
with the abundance of compassion." 1
We have not Anselm's answer to the well-meant but

misconceived exhortations of the warm-hearted queen ;
but,from their subsequent correspondence, it is manifest
that he satisfied her of his inability to comply with her
wishes, and showed her that her duty lay in remaining
at court and using her influence in favour of the Church,
rather than in making a romantic pilgrimage to Lyon.
But in this enterprise she had another and a stronger
man than Henry to reckon with; for the mantle of
Ranulf Flambard had fallen upon one, who, if less
1
This letter is also in Anselm's correspondence, Epp. iii. 93.
245
unscrupulous, was no less resolute than he. This was
Robert de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, the doyen of
the Norman noblesse, who had now gained a complete
ascendancy over the king. Starker knight never
brandished battle-axe, and at the council board he was
as sagacious and as resolute as he was gallant in the
field. Nearly forty years before his had been the arm
that clove the way through the English stockade at
Senlac, and his prowess had been rewarded with many
a broad acre in the midland shires. On the continent
he had succeeded to the important fiefs of Pont
Audemer, Beaumont (now Beaumont le Roger), Meulan,
the key of the Vexin, and Brionne sur Rille. He had
rendered Rufus signal service in his campaigns in
Normandy, Maine, and France. He had adhered
steadfastly to Henry during the anxious time which
immediately succeeded his coronation. To Anselm
he was well known, was indeed one of his earliest
acquaintances in those northern parts, and had been
foiledby him in a certain not very creditable design
he had once entertained upon the seigneury of Le Bee.
He was now a gaunt, ascetic man, no friend to the
gluttonous Saxon a Norman of Normans, not un-

;
devout, but somewhat jealous of the priesthood, and

especially of the Papacy. He had
consistently sup-
ported the royal prerogative, both at Rockingham and
at Winchester, and he was now determined that the
battle should be fought out to the end. Under such
conditions, Matilda's mediation, of course, came to
nothing; and the king's new mission to Rome, which,
after due procrastination, was at length got under
weigh, was only intended to prolong the suspense.
Anselm, meanwhile, had his trusty agent, Baldwin,
246
at Rome, invested with plenary power to represent him
in Papal presence, and had commissioned John,
the
Bishop of Tusculum, and another John, a cardinal, to

add their instances to those of Baldwin in his behalf.
Their representations of the need of prompt action
were reinforced by urgent letters from the Queen of
England and the Countess of Tuscany; yet unaccount-
ably the Pope stayed his hand. He seemed to have
abandoned Anselm to his fate. Yet, though sick at
heart with hope deferred, the heroic primate strove
manfully to sustain, by his animating letters, the faint-

ing courage of his suffering children in England nor ;
faltered for an instant in his resolution, or lost his

habitual serenity of tone.
So month aftermonth wore away and the spring
;
of 1105 found Anselm still at Lyon, when, like a bolt

from the blue, came the following letter from Paschal :
"Paschal, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our

venerable Brother Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury,
health and apostolical benediction.
"By the wrong done to you, the members of the Church

suffer no little, since, as saith the Apostle, if one member
suffer, the other members suffer with it. For, though we are
separated from you in bodily presence, yet we are one, having
one and the same head. For your wrongs, your repulses, are
to us as our own. It also gravely distresses us that the realm
of England should be deprived of your pious care. For sheep
left without a shepherd the wolf devours and scatters. Hence
we are solicitous to compass your return by all means in our
power. Wherefore, in a council lately holden, it has been

decreed, with the common consent of our brethren in the
episcopate, that the advisers of the king, by whom he is
impelled upon his evil course in the matter of investitures,
and those who have received investiture from him, should
247
be excommunicated because they attempt to change the
;
freedom of the Church into bondage. Which sentence we,

under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, have promulgated
against the Count of Meulan and his accomplices, and confirm
the same, under the guidance of the same Holy Spirit, against
those who have received investiture from the king. The
king's sentence has been delayed by reason that he ought
to have sent us his envoys at Easter of last year.
"Given at the Lateran, 26 March." 1
The blow had fallen tardily, but it had fallen ;

and
it was proof that Anselm was not deserted. Hope
revived, and he determined to draw nearer the scene
of action.
1
The last clause is somewhat obscure. The royal envoys had been
expected about Easter, 1104, but had not made their appearance.
248
CHAPTER XX.
PEACE AT LAST
scene the novelists say, to Normandy,

shifts, as
THE
where Henry was now engaged in a somewhat
squalid kind of crusade against Duke Robert. That
gallant and adventurous, but prodigal and luxurious
prince, had mismanaged matters sadly in the duchy
had, in fact, allowed it to lapse into chronic anarchy,
and desperate condition Henry had discerned not
in its
merely the opportunity of extending his dominion

under pretext of restoring order to a distracted land,
but also the means of strengthening his hands against
the Church. The Pope would think twice nay, thrice
so doubtless he reasoned, before excommunicating
the conqueror of Normandy, the champion of its
suffering Church. So Holy Week, 1105, found him
surrounded by his long-haired knights and
at Barfleur, ;
on Holy Saturday, in the little church at Carentan,
Bishop Serlo of Sez witnessed his solemn vow to

give peace to the Norman Churchnay, saw him kneel,
and after him the flower of his chivalry, while a common
pair of scissors, deftly manipulated by the episcopal

fingers, set the seal on their sincerity, by relieving them
of their redundant locks.
His enterprise thus blessed by Holy Church, Henry
had opened the campaign with vigour. From Holy
249
Week is no long interval, but it sufficed
to Whitsuntide
for theburning of Bayeux, the reduction of Caen, and
the investment of Falaise. Falaise, however, held out
stoutly; and Henry was still before its walls when

couriers arrived from his sister Adela, Countess of Blois,
with tidings which caused him no little disquietude to
wit, that he must prepare for excommunication.
On leaving Lyon, Anselm had set his face towards
Reims; halting, however, at La Charite sur Loire, he
had learned that the Countess Adela, whose spiritual
director he had been, and to whom he was much
beholden for pecuniary aid during both his present and
his former exile,was dangerously ill in her castle at
Blois,and craved a visit from him. Such a request was
by no means to be denied, and Anselm accordingly
hastened to Blois. There he had found the countess
convalescent, but at her instance had tarried some days
in the castle, and in the course of conversation had
disclosed to her the object of his northward journey.
The time had come, he had frankly told her, when the
wrong which, now for two years and more, her brother
had done to God in his person, must be avenged by
excommunication. Much distressed, the countess had
at once assumed the office of mediatrix, had accom-
panied him to Chartres, and thence had sent forward

her couriers to Falaise, to acquaint her brother with the
posture of affairs.
To be excommunicated just at the time when, to his
own profit, he was playing the part of devout son of
the Church, was by no means to Henry's mind. More-
over, the Church had undeniably gained of late in
prestige and power. He had before his eyes the

example of his brother, Philip of France, who, after
250
PEACE AT LAST
struggling for ten years against the papal anathema,
had been reduced at last to make public submission to
the Church with bare feet and bowed head, at the
recent Council of Paris (2 Dec, 1104). Nay, a greater
potentate than Philip, even he who had once wielded
the whole might of the Holy Roman Empire, and had
wrestled mightily, and at last not unsuccessfully, with
Gregory VI L, even he now cowered beneath Paschal's

excommunication ; and, shunned as a leper by his
prelates, his nobles, his very son that younger son,
Henry, to whom he had given Conrad's birthright

sat moodily at Mainz, musing what the end might be.
At such a juncture,
the very suspicion of impending ex-
communication could not fail to disconcert all Henry's
plans the thing itself might cost him his crown.
;
It was evidently time to adopt a conciliatory attitude.
He, therefore, gathered his barons together, and, with

their concurrence, replied to his sister's message by
inviting her to bring Anselm with her
Normandy, into
and condescending to hint that an interview with him
might have the happiest results.
So at Laigle, half-way between Falaise and Chartres,
the king, on 22 July, met the countess and the arch-
bishop. What passed at that interview we know not in
detail, but the upshot was, on Henry's part, nothing less

than unconditional
surrender. Without, apparently,
stipulation of any kind he gave Anselm restitution of
the temporalities, and restored him to his favour. Then
emerged the awkward question which, in his haste to

make peace, the king had ignored of the position of
those clerks who had received investiture from him
during Anselm's exile. What would be Anselm's atti-
tude towards them in the event of his return to England?
251
They were one and all excommunicate. But Henry
could not, in honour, desert them. Anselm, he urged,
must restore them to communion. But this, of course,
Anselm could not promise on his own responsibility.
So, without breach of amity, it was arranged that he
should remain on the continent until the Pope's
decision could be obtained. Some days later Anselm,
who from first to last was treated by Henry with every
show of distinction, left Laigle for Le Bee, there to
await the return of the envoys who were to proceed to
Rome.
With due would have been possible to
dispatch, it
obtain the Pope's decision in less than six months in ;
point of fact, it took a full year to do so, for, though

Henry was as good as his word in the matter of the
Canterbury estates, which he at once released from

sequestration, he was by no means disposed to accele-
rate a final settlement of the dispute. Delay, delay,
delay, that was the keynote of his ecclesiastical policy.
Several weeks, therefore, passed before he so much as

notified to Anselm, who, in the meantime, had shifted
his quarters toReims, the name of the envoy, our old
friend William of Warelwast, whom he had chosen to
represent him at the Curia. When he did so, he
suggested that Anselm should nominate Baldwin to
accompany him, but fixed no date for their departure.
In reply, Anselm pointedly drew attention to this
omission, adding that if the king's envoy were not on

his way to Rome before Christmas, his own would
certainly leave without him.

This had the desired by Christmas
effect, and
Warelwast and Baldwin were actually on their way to
Rome.
252
PEACE AT LAST
Meanwhile Henry, having failed to complete the
subjugation of Normandy, had returned to England
to raise funds for a new campaign. His fiscal methods,
and upon the country, are described by
their effect
Eadmer, from the report of eye-witnesses, with unusual

vivacity.
"The tax-gatherers," he says, "had respect neither for
religion nor for humanity, but levied an oppressive and

exorbitant contribution from all by barbarous means. Those
who had nothing to give were either turned out of their
humble dwellings, or, their house doors torn from their hinges
and taken away, were left entirely
unprotected against violence,
or were reduced to total penury by the confiscation of their
paltry belongings, or were, in other ways, subjected to extreme

and cruel hardship. Against others, who seemed to have
something to lose, novel accusations were devised, and, as
they dared not plead their cause against the king, they
witnessed with heavy hearts the confiscation of their goods.
Some will, perhaps, think these matters the less worthy of
remark because they were not peculiar to Henry's reign, but
many similar things had been done in his brother's time, to
say nothing of his father. But they seemed the more grievous
and less tolerable, because much less was now raised from a
people already exhausted by spoliation. Moreover, at the
Council of London, as we said above, celibacy and continence
were enjoined upon all the priests and canons of England,
many of whom had transgressed this decree during Anselm's
exile, either keeping their
women, or, at least, resuming inter-
course with them. This offence the king would not suffer to
go unpunished, but bade his agents implead the accused, and
take money from them in expiation of their wrong-doing.
But, as many of them turned out
to be innocent of the
offence, the funds which

was sought in this way to raise for
it
the use of the king proved less abundant than the tax-
gatherers had anticipated. So, changing their methods, and

condemning the innocent with the guilty, they laid every
253
parish church under contribution, and held it to ransom in a
fixed sum for the parson who ministered in it. Lamentable
scenes ensued. While the storm of exaction raged most
fiercely, and some, who either had nothing to give, or, to
manifest their execration of unheard-of injustice, refused to
give anything for such a purpose, were insulted, arrested,

thrown into prison, tortured, it chanced that the king himself
came to London. Upon which occasion, as he was passing
to his palace, some priests, to the number, it is said, of nearly
two hundred, barefooted, but wearing their albs and sacerdotal
stoles, presented themselves before him, with one voice im-
ploring him to have mercy upon them. But he, preoccupied,

as happens, with a multiplicity of cares, was in no way moved
to pityby nor even deigned to accord them the
their prayers,
honour of an answer of any kind ; but, treating them as men
entirely without religion, ordered them to be summarily re-
moved from his presence. Overwhelmed with confusion, they
had recourse to the queen, whom they besought to intercede
with the king on their behalf. She, it is said, was moved to
tears by pity, but refrained, through fear, from intercession."
Henry's usurpation of jurisdiction in ecclesiastical

cases did not, of course, pass without protest on
Ansel m's part ;
and equally, of course, the protest
was unavailing. The gravity of the situation, how-
ever, brought at last even his suffragans to his side,
as appears from the following letter :
"To their Father, dearly beloved, Anselm, Archbishop of

Canterbury :
Gerard, Archbishop of York ; Robert,
Bishop of Chester ; Herbert, Bishop of Norwich ;
Ralph, Bishop of Chichester ; Samson, Bishop of
Worcester; and William, Bishop-elect of Winchester,
greeting.
"We have endured, hoping for peace, and it has receded

farther from us; we have looked for good things, and our
anxiety has increased. The ways of Sion lament because
254
PEACE AT LAST
the uncircumcised tread them. The temple mourns because
the laity have broken into the holy of holies, and invaded
the very altar. Arise, as did of old the aged Mattathias;
you have your sons the valour of Judas, the strenuousness

in
of Jonathan, the wisdom of Simon. They, with you, will
fight the battle of the Lord; and, if before us you should be
gathered to your fathers, we will receive from your hand the

heritage of your labour. But now is no time for delay.
Why tarry you in a foreign land while your sheep perish
without a shepherd ? No longer will God hold you excused ;
for not only are we ready to follow, but, if you so bid, to go
before you. Come, then, to us come quickly ; or bid us, or

some of us, come to you, lest, while we are separated from
you, the counsels of those who seek their own should deflect
you from the straight course. For ourselves, in this matter,
we seek not our own, but the things of God."
To this Anselm replied as follows :
"Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, to his friends and

brethren in the episcopate, whose letter he has re-
ceived, greeting.
"I condole and sympathise with you in the tribulations
which you and the Church of England endure but at ;
present I cannot come to your aid, as I, no less than you,

desire because I cannot tell what may be the scope and
;
extent of my power until, through our envoys, whose early

return from Rome I now anticipate, I learn what they have
been able to effect with the Pope.
Good, nevertheless, it is,
and grateful to me that, at length, you recognise the pass to
which your long-suffering, to use a mild term, has brought
you, and that you promise me your aid in what is not my
cause, but God's, and invite me to come to you without
delay. For, though I cannot so do, because the king will
not have me in England, unless I disobey the Pope's mandate
in order to obey his will, and I am not yet certain what
my
powers are, as I have said; yet I rejoice by reason of the
good will and constancy, worthy of your episcopal office,
255
which you promise, and the exhortation wherewith you
exhort me. But as to your suggestion that I should summon
some of you to me, lest, while we are parted from one
another, judgment should be perverted by those who

my
seek their own interest, I conceive that there is no present
occasion so to do. For I trust in God that no one will be
able to divert my mind from the truth, so far as I know
it; and that God will soon shew me what to do; which I
will then, as soon as may be, notify to you. How to act
in the meantime your own wisdom may suffice to instruct
you one thing only I say, that I, as I know my own

:
conscience and have hope in God, would not, to ransom

my life, give countenance or furtherance to the injustice
which, I hear, has recently been decreed against the Church
of England. Farewell."
This letter was probably written at Rouen, where

Anselm awaited the Rome.
return of the envoy from
His old friend, Archbishop Bonne Ame, had, by some
breaches of discipline, incurred suspension from office,
and Anselm had availed himself of the opportunity
afforded by the despatch of the envoys to intercede on
his behalf Hence it was that the
with the Pope.
papal letter Anselm
which free to return to
set
England, also detained him a while longer in Nor-

mandy, by remitting to him the decision of Bonne
Ame's case. The letter which was read by William
of Warelwast to a synod at Rouen, in the summer of
1 1 06, was as follows:
"Paschal, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his

venerable Brother Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury,
greeting and apostolical benediction.
"
Since Almighty God has deigned to incline the heart of
the English King towards obedience to the Apostolic See, we
give thanks for His mercy to the same Lord, in whose hand
256
PEACE AT LAST
are the hearts of men. This, without doubt, we impute to
the influence of your love, and the importunity of your
prayers, that in this respect the Divine compassion should

have regard to that people which is the object of your
solicitude. Our conduct in so far condescending towards
the king and those who seem to be guilty, know to be
prompted by compassion, and a desire to place ourselves
in a position to raise the prostrate. For none by extending
his hand towards the fallen will ever raise him so long as he
himself stands erect, but he must first bend towards him. For
the though bending seems to tend in the direction of a
rest,
fall, yet does not lose the quality of uprightness. Accord-

it
ingly we release you, Brother in Christ most venerable and

dear, from the scope of the canon, or, as you conceive it,
excommunication decreed by our predecessor, Pope Urban,
of holy memory, against investitures and homage. Those
who have received investiture, or consecrated those who have
done so, or done homage, having made such satisfaction as we
notify to you by the joint envoys, William and Baldwin, men

faithful and veracious, receive, the Lord helping you. You
have our authority to consecrate them, or to demit their
consecration to such as you may appoint, unless you should
find in them some other sufficient reason for excluding them
from the sacred ministry. For the rest, excommunicate the
Abbot of Ely, as long as he shall presume to hold the abbacy
into which, in contempt of our prohibition pronounced in his
hearing, he has presumed to intrude himself by a new investi-
ture. But such as hereafter shall receive preferments without
investiture,even though they do homage to the king, let them
by no means on that account be refused consecration, until,
by the grace of Almighty God, the king, his heart at length
softened by the gentle rain of your admonitions, may consent
to forego this ceremony. Towards the bishops who brought
back, as you know, a false report of our words, we feel no
slight resentment, not only because they did us wrong, but
also because they deceived not a few simple folk, and
urged
the king on a course of action at variance with the tender
regard due to the Apostolic See. Wherefore, the Lord being
R 257
our helper, we will not suffer their crime to go unpunished.
Yet, because our son, the king, is more than ordinarily instant
with us on their behalf, even to them you will not refuse
communion, until they receive our precept to repair to us.
The king and his consort, and the nobles who at our instance
have laboured, and still strive to labour in the interest of the
Church about the king, whose names you will learn from
William of Warelwast, you will absolve, according to our
promise, from their penances and sins. And now, since
Almighty God has vouchsafed to us to effect so great a
reform in the realm of England, to His glory and that of
His Church, be it your care for the future to bear yourself
towards the king and his nobles with such gentleness,
discretion, wisdom, and foresight, that what still remains to
reform may, with the help of God, be reformed by your zeal
and solicitude. In which undertaking know that our support
is we will
with you in such sense that what you shall loose
loose,and what you shall bind we will bind. The case of
the Bishop of Rouen, and the inhibition justly laid upon
him, we have committed to your decision. Whatever in-
dulgence you may allow him we allow. God keep you safe,
our Brother, for many years to come.
" Given
23 March."
letter, it is to be observed, bates not a jot of the

This
papal claim in the matter of investiture: it merely
empowers Anselm to make the best of a bad situation

by dealing gently with existing offenders, and to tolerate
homage for the future, provided it be not coupled with

investiture. Meanwhile, Anselm and the papal party
at court are to labour incessantly to procure the entire
emancipation of the Church.

This timely irenicon not only smoothed the way for
Anselm's return to England, but, by the substantial
concession made in regard to homage, laid the basis
for a durable settlement of a dispute of which both

258
PEACE AT LAST
king and Pontiff were now heartily weary. Henry sent
Warelwast to Anselm, inviting him, in handsome terms,
no longer to delay his return. He started accordingly,
but fell ill at Jumieges, and was compelled to return to
Le Bee. There he grew worse, and lay for some time
between life and death. The grave news brought from
Henry the following letter, which bears apparent traces
of Matilda's inspiration :
"Henry, by the grace of God, King of the English, to

Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, his dearest Father,
greeting and amity.
' *
Know, kind Father, that your bodily suffering and in-
firmity occasions me the extreme grief which it ought. And
know, also, that, had I not awaited your return, I should now
have been in Normandy. For delighted had I been, could I
have found you in my country before leaving it ; now, how-
ever, I make my prayer to you, as a son to a father, that you
be more indulgent to the flesh for a while, and macerate not
your body, as you are wont. I also will and enjoin that you
exercise the same authority throughout my Norman posses-

sions as on your own estates, and glad shall I be if you will
do so. Await me now in Normandy, for I am about to cross.
1
"Witness, WALDERIC, at Windsor."
In the course of a month Anselm was sufficiently

recovered to return from Jumieges to Le Bee, but only
to suffer an alarming relapse. Hearing that he was at
the point of death, Henry, now in Normandy, hurried
to Le Bee to receive his parting benediction ;
but the
danger was past when he arrived, and on the Feast of
the Assumption (15 August) he heard the still feeble,
but convalescent, primate say mass in the abbey church.
After the office, the negotiations suspended at Laigle
1
From Anselm's correspondence, Epp. iv. 75.
259
were resumed with the happiest results. The king
shewed himself fully disposed to reciprocate the con-
adopted by the Pope. He definitively
ciliatory attitude
renounced the policy of pillage, and made the Church
of God free throughout the length and breadth of
England. The work of that day was to Anselm the
best of all restoratives,and after a fortnight's repose he
was able to face the fatigues of the journey to England.
So, taking with him his old and dear friend, Boso, with
whom he was wont to say he would rather live in a
desert than without him in a palace, he crossed from
Wissant to Dover early in September. At Dover he
was met, amid the universal and jubilant acclaim of
high and low, by Queen Matilda, who, with every mark
of filial piety, attended him to Canterbury. There, in
due time, he received from Henry a letter announcing
the signal victory of Tinchebrai, gained on 28 Sep-
tember, the fortieth anniversary of the Conqueror's
landing at Pevensey. This success, which the king
piously ascribed to the Divine favour, and the faithful
were not slow to connect with the primate's return to
England, completed the subjugation of Normandy.
260
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CONCORDAT-LAST FRUIT FROM AN OLD

TREE THE END
Eastertide, 1107, Henry celebrated at London,

AT with no small pomp and circumstance, histriumph
over his brother. In his capacity of first grandee of
the realm, Anselm was fain to assist at the tedious
ceremonies, but at their close he gladly sought relief

in the quietude of St. Edmund's Abbey. His stay
there was protracted by an attack of fever until Whit-
suntide, and a convocation which was to have been then

holden was postponed to allow time for his complete
recovery. It assembled on I August "in the palace
of London," by which our informant,

the king, at
Eadmer, probably intends Westminster Hall, as the
Tower of London does not appear to have been as
yet used as a royal residence. Though it sat for
but three days, it was no ordinary convocation, but
a council of the principal notables of the realm in
Church and State, the king himself presiding. Anselm,
still barely convalescent, absented himself during the
first two days, which were spent in discussing the terms
of the concordat arranged at Laigle; nor did they
pass without severe scrutiny by the still strong and

numerous antipapal party.
Henry, however, was faithful to his royal word ;
261
and on the third day, in Anselm's presence, formally
renounced the right of investiture; upon which
Anselm, with solemnity, gave his assurance
equal
that homage done by a spiritual person upon his
election to an office in the Church, should thenceforth
be no bar to his consecration.
To this arrangement, ratified by the general consent
of the council, effect was at once given by the insti-
tution of bishops (without investiture by ring and
crosier) to most of the sees then vacant in England,

and some Norman sees.
A week lateron Sunday, n August the

viz.
metropolitan Church of Canterbury was gladdened by

the novel sight of the consecration by the primate,
assisted by the Archbishop of York, and six suffragans,
of no fewer than five bishops -elect, to wit, William
Giffard, Roger the Chancellor, William of Warelwast,
Reinelm, and Urban, to their respective sees of Win-
chester, Salisbury, Exeter, Hereford, and Glamorgan.
By the concordat thus ratified and sealed, and which
governed, so far as law could govern, the collation of

ecclesiastical offices, the Church, for all that has been
written to the contrary, was a substantial gainer.

In the article of investiture, the question of principle,
which in matters spiritual is always the question
of substance, her victory was complete while the ;
homage which she consented to tolerate was

probably, from the first, in the form defined in
the reign of Henry II. at the Council of Clarendon,

i.e. was accompanied by express reservation of the
rights of the spirituality. Probably, also, it did not,

as it certainly did not when Littleton wrote his classical
treatise on Tenures, involve the humiliating intromissio
262
THE CONCORDAT
Manuum, whereby a lay homager made himself the
man of his feudal lord. And if the king retained a
prepotent voice in the election of the archbishops,
bishops, and mitred abbots, it must be remembered that

from first to last of the controversy the question of
freedom of election had not been mooted.
It was the day of small things the emancipation of ;
the Church, as events were soon to prove, was far from
complete; but the true measure of her gain is the

magnitude of the evil which she averted and that ;
was nothing less than the total forfeiture of her

existence as a spiritual power. Thus the victory rested
with her, and that victory was emphatically won by
Anselm.
It is no disparagement of either Urban or Paschal,
whose energies were absorbed by the mightier and
more momentous contest with the emperor, to say that
but for the indomitable tenacity with which, through
fourteen years of persecution, exile, isolation, he main-
tained their standard in the North, the twelfth century
would have seen the Church in England effectually
reduced to the position of a royal peculiar, and the
spiritual heritage of our race squandered upon the
minions of a feudal court.
We English, having been from time immemorial a
stiff-necked, restless, fighting folk, are very proud of
the native vigour, the high courage, the resolute in-
dependence of spirit, which have prompted so many of

our race in every age to rough-hew their own destiny
according to their own heart's desire; bidding defiance
to all human authority, whether political, social, in-
tellectual, or spiritual, in the constitution of which
they had not their voice or vote; resisting every
263
encroachment upon their rights with the same obstinate
determination as if the fate of the nation was at
stake; of all this we are proud, and justly proud;
for it has made and kept us at once free, pro-
gressive, and conservative, has wrung for us from
Nature her most jealously-guarded secrets, stretched our
dominion to the ends of the earth, and whitened every
land with the bones of our adventurers. Not ignobly,
then, do we boast of of
this
temper high self-reliance,
of sober self-respect, which is the dominant note of
our national character. May it ever so continue to
be. But, perhaps, we
are too apt to forget that there
are interests higher even than the maintenance of in-
dividual freedom, of national integrity, the conciliation
of order and progress, the exploration of Nature, the
foundation and sway of empires ; and that to safeguard
them are needed men of another mould, men whose
eyes are ever set on that which by most of us is ignored,

or, at best, but fitfully regarded, men who hold firm
as seeing the invisible who, lacking, perhaps, the
;
incentives to heroic action,draw from absorption in

a spiritual ideal a constancy more than heroic and ;
who thus, from conflicts not of their seeking, sustained

by a strength not their own, emerge, at length, spent,
perhaps, and suffering, broken, it may be, but triumphant.
Of such was Anselm of Canterbury ; and should the
time ever come when the memory and example of men
of his type, whatever forms they thought in, whatever
cause they fought in, shall cease to be treasured by
us among our most sacred heirlooms then, no matter ;
how strong our arm, how vast our material resources,

how exuberant our intellectual life, the hour of our
decadence will have struck.
264
THE CONCORDAT
The remainder of Anselm's days was spent in
brief
comparative tranquillity. Not only the king, but the

Count of Meulan, was now in a measure won over to
his side. So, though he still retained his influence with
the king, and used it to prevent the preferment of
Englishmen to offices in the Church, he offered no
opposition to the several reforms which Ansel had m

more especially at heart. Of these, one was the pro-
tection of the people against the depredations of the
purveyors to the court. A royal progress in those days

was almost as disastrous an event as the march of an
invading army. Not content with making the neces-
sary requisitions, the purveyors, aided by the wilder
sort of the cavaliers, levied indiscriminate and exorbitant
toll on high and low, rich and poor, and took a savage
delight in destroying, before the eyes of the unhappy
owners, whatsoever they could not profitably use, or
conveniently carry away. And to these invasions of
proprietary rights were added the violations of the
domestic upon the sack of a town. For
sanctities, usual
the repression of these disorders, Henry passed a severe
law, making the offenders liable to the loss of eyes,
hands, or feet, or other mutilation, according to the
gravity of their misdeeds.

Another reform concerned the currency, which had
become seriously depreciated by the issue of false
coinage by private minters. It was accordingly enacted
that whoso should make, or knowingly take such coins
should lose his sight.
It remained to deal with the ever-recrudescent scandal
of clerical incontinence. For this purpose, Anselm
held at London, at Whitsuntide, 1108, a great council
of clergy and laity, which Henry dignified with his
265
presence, and by which various stringent canons were
passed.
Meanwhile, Anselm lost his old and tried friend,
Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, who, after a period of
gradual, almost insensible decline, passed peacefully
away on 8 March, 1108, with the words of the
fifteenth verse of the seventy-ninth Psalm upon his
"
lips : Deus virtutum convertere respice de coelo, et
;
vide, et visita vineam istam" (Ps. Ixxx. 14, 15 in the
English version). Anselm, summoned hastily from

Canterbury, arrived at Rochester in time to preside at
the obsequies. Gundulf had designated as his successor
one of his own monks, Ralph, Abbot of Seez, whom
Anselm afterwards (9 August), consecrated at Can-
terbury, not perhaps without a presentiment that, as
the event proved, at no distant date, his own mantle
would fall upon Ralph's shoulders.
The death of Gerard, the mendacious Archbishop of
York, followed hard upon that of Gundulf, and the new

Archbishop-elect, Thomas, son of Samson, Bishop of
1
Worcester, proved a thorn in Anselm's side. Jealous
of the primacy of Canterbury, and instigated by Ranulf
Flambard, whom Henry had weakly forgiven, and
reinstated in the See of Durham, Thomas applied at
Rome for the pallium, without waiting for consecration
by Anselm ;
and there were even rumours that he
entertained the extravagant idea of himself consecrating
a Durham monk, named Thurgod, to the vacant See
of St. Andrew's.
By the canon law Thomas was bound

to present
himself at Canterbury for consecration within three
months of his election. The canonical time, however,
1
Thomas was born in wedlock before Samson received holy orders.
266
THE CONCORDAT
slipped by, and the archbishop-elect did not make his
appearance, Anselm accordingly wrote to him, requir-
ing his presence at Canterbury not later than the 6th
of September, and peremptorily forbidding him to con-
secrate Thurgod. To Anselm's brief and business-like
missive, Thomas
returned a lengthy and evasive reply,
alleging what was, doubtless, not without a substratum

of truth, that the mendacious Gerard had also proved
the rapacious Gerard, and had left the See of York so
impoverished, that even the means of transit to Canter-

bury were hardly to be come by. That he had sent
to Rome for the pallium he acknowledged, but averred
that he had done so by the authority of the king.
The rumours about the intended consecration of
Thurgod were unfounded. For his attendance at
Canterbury he craved some further grace.

Anselm replied briefly as before, fixing 27 September
for his appearance at Canterbury, and warning him
that the application for the pallium could not but
be fruitless, as the sacred stole was never conferred

before consecration. He then wrote to the Pope,
apprising him of Thomas's uncanonical behaviour. His
letter had the desired effect, and the archbishop-elect's
suit made no progress at Rome.
Meanwhile, however, Thomas still neglected to put in

an appearance at Canterbury, expecting, no doubt, that
the primate, whose life was now visibly ebbing away,
would either give up the contest, or be removed by the
hand of death. So he pursued his miserable tactics
until Anselm, his patience at last fairly exhausted, laid
him under This proved to be his last official
interdict.
act of
importance, and the now dying primate be-
queathed the dispute which the reader, who is now

267
probably heartily sick of it, will be relieved to learn
was eventually decided in favour of the See of Canter-
bury to his successor, Archbishop Ralph.
Ever since Anselm's return to England, it had been
apparent to close observers that his end was near but ;
though prostrated from time to time by severe illness,

he had rallied as if by miracle, and thrown himself
with renewed ardour into the discharge of his multi-
farious and onerous duties. Nay, amidst them all he
had found time and strength to wrestle with those
knottiest of all the knotty problems of metaphysical
theology, which are implicit in the relations of sin and

grace, freewill and foreknowledge and if his Tractatus
;
de Concordia Praescientiae et Praedestinationis nee non
gratiae Dei cum Libero Arbitrio, in which this last effort

of his genius is enshrined, fails to afford a complete
solution of questions which are perhaps beyond the
reach of human thought, that is rather to be imputed
to the topic itself than to the decline of his powers.
Into the labyrinthine mazes of this question it
would be presumptuous to enter here. The essential

moments of Anselm's thought are, however, as follows.
Strictly speaking, God neither foreknows nor fore-
ordains, but only knows and ordains, since all things
are eternally equipresent to Him. It is only because
what to us is future is to Him eternally present, that by
a convenient license of speech He is said to foreknow
and/<?m>rdain. Moreover, as His essence is absolutely
simple, His knowing and ordaining are one. But His
ordaining is both positive and negative, i.e. what is
good He ordains positively, and what He ordains
positively is on the other hand, moral evil is only

good ;
negatively ordained, i.e. permitted by Him. Indeed, as

268
THE CONCORDAT
we saw in the dialogues, De Casu Diaboli and De Libero
Arbitrio, moral evil is itself nothing positive, but a

mere defect, a want of correspondence with the positive
will of God and free will does not necessarily involve
;
the power of choosing between good and evil (otherwise

God, who cannot sin, would not be free), but is the
power of persevering in righteousness for its own sake
(potestas servandirectitudinem propter ipsam recti-
tudinem) ;
and though in man impaired by the Fall, so
that, without the grace of God, he cannot, without
difficulty, persevere in righteousness for its own sake;
yet it remains in him in such measure as to render him
responsible for his lapses, though impotent to restore

himself. For his redemption from sin, therefore, man is
absolutely dependent upon the grace of God. Nay,
his very freedom is itself but that same grace. For as
a creature he has nothing positive of himself, and
therefore even that freedom which is called natural is
really a grace. Alike then for his natural virtue, as for

his supernatural holiness, man is entirely beholden to
God.
And hence arises the antinomy of which, in this
treatise, Ansel m seeks the solution. For, as God is
omniscient, and man absolutely dependent upon Him,
under the influence of the Divine grace,
his behaviour,
must be known to, and thus ordained by, God from all
eternity. In what sense then can he be held responsible
for his acts ? If not only his probation, but the issue
of his probation, was foreknown and predetermined,
"lucis ante originem," is not the probation thereby
robbed of all reality a puppet in the
? Is not man
hands of an inscrutable stage-manager, who, by the
fine fibres of motive, guides him to a goal, which,
269
whether for good or for evil, he can neither seek nor
avoid.
The solution of this formidable antinomy Anselm
seeks in a distinction between sequent and antecedent
necessity. Whatever is, or is to be, is necessary in the

sense that it is ordained of God (sequent necessity) ;
but not things are necessary in the sense that they

all
are products of constraining force (antecedent necessity).

That which, in the case of God fore- human volition,
knows, is simply how man The will freely act.

apparent
repugnancebetween the Divine foreknowledge and human
freedom, is due to a mere confusion of sequent with
antecedent necessity. But on a topic of such difficulty,

Anselm had best be allowed to speak for himself.
"The foreknowledge of God," he says, "and free will
seem to be repugnant, because what God foresees must of

necessity come to pass, and what is done by free will comes
to be by no necessity; but if they are repugnant, it is
impossible that the foreknowledge of God, which embraces

all futurity, should consist with aught being done by free will.
But if it be shown that there is no such impossibility, the
apparent repugnance is altogether removed. Let us assume,

then, the co-existence of the foreknowledge of God, by which
the necessity of future events appears to be determined, and
the freedom of the will, by which many things are believed
to be done without any necessity; and let us see whether
it be impossible for them to consist. Now, it is the mark
of an impossibility that it should give rise to another im-
possibility; for that is plainly impossible which, being
assumed, another impossibility follows. But whatever is to
be without necessity, that very thing God foresees, since He
foresees all futurity ;
and what God foresees, that of necessity
must come to be, as it is foreseen. It is necessary, therefore,
that there should something which is to be without

be
necessity. Whoso, then, rightly understands the matter, will
270
by no means find the foreknowledge of God, which deter-
mines necessity, repugnant to the freedom of will, which
excludes necessity; since it is both necessary that God foresee
what is to be, and true that part of what He foresees is to be
without any necessity. But you will say, 'This does not
relieve me of the necessity of sinning or not sinning, since
God foresees that I shall sin or not sin ; and, therefore, it is
or not sin if I do not sin/
necessary that I should sin if I sin,
To which I reply, You ought not to say, '

God foresees that
without qualification, but God foresees
' *
I shall sin or not sin
that I shall sin or not sin without necessity '/ and so it follows
that, whether you sin or do not sin, in either case it will be

without necessity, because God foresees that that which is to
be will be without necessity. You see, then, that it is not
impossible that the foreknowledge of God, by virtue of which
the future events, which He foreknows, are said to be of
necessity, should consist with the freedom of the will, by

virtue of which many things are done without necessity.
For, were it impossible, some other impossibility would follow
from it; but hence arises no impossibility.
Perhaps you will say, Not as yet, however, do you release
' c '
my soul from the constraint of necessity, when you say that it

is necessary that I should sin or not sin without necessity,
because this is what God foresees ; for necessity seems to have
in it the ring of constraint or restraint. Wherefore, if it is
necessary for me to sin voluntarily, I understand thereby that

it is by some occult force that, if I sin, I am constrained to
the sinful act of will, or, if I sin not, am restrained therefrom.
So that, whether I sin or sin not, it seems to be equally of
necessity.'
"I answer, You must know, then, that we often describe
as being of necessity that which is under the constraint of
no force whatever, and as of necessity not being that which
is prevented from being by no restraint. For we say it is
necessary that God should be immortal, and it is necessary
that God should not be unjust, not because any force con-
strains Him to be immortal or restrains Him from being
unjust, but because nothing can make Him mortal or unjust.

271
And so, if I say it is necessary that you should sin or sin not
by your own mere will,as God foresees; it is not to be
understood that the volition which will not be is by any force
restrained from being, or that the volition which will be is by
any force constrained to be ; for, in foreseeing that something

is to be by mere volition, God foresees this very thing, that
the will is not compelled or restrained by anything but itself,
and that so what is done voluntarily is done freely.
"Let this once be thoroughly understood, and I think
it will appear that there is no incompatibility between the
foreknowledge of God and the freedom of the will. In fine,

if one considers the proper meaning of the word itself, by
the very fact that a thing is said to be foreseen it is affirmed

that it will be ; for nothing but what will be is foreseen, since
knowledge is only of truth. Wherefore, when I say what-
soever God foresees, that must of necessity come to pass ;
it is
the same as if I said, If it will be, it will of necessity be ;

but
by this
necessity nothing is either constrained to be, or
restrained from being. For it is because the existence of the
is that it is said of necessity to be, or because its
thing posited
non-existence is said of necessity not to be,
posited that it is
not because necessity constrains it to be, or restrains it from

being. For this necessity signifies nothing more than that
what will be cannot at the same time not be."
This doctrine of the twofold nature of necessity,

derived by Anselm from Boethius, De Consolat. Phil.
1
v. 4, 6, affords, perhaps, the nearest approach to a
1 " " "
Cf. Dante, Farad, c. xvii. 37-42, where necessita stands for ante-
"
cedent necessity," and " contingenza for "sequent necessity."
La contingenza, che fuor del quaderno
Delia vostra materia non si stende,
Tutta e dipinta nel cospetto eterno.
Necessita perb quindi non prende,
Se non come dal viso in che si specchia,
Nave che per corrente giu discende.
Contingency in matter close confined,
Your coarse corporeal sense may not transcend,
Yet all is imaged in the eternal mind ;
Nor to necessity doth thereby bend ;
No more than ship iswafted by the sight

Which mirrors how she down the stream doth tend.
272
solution of which this transcendently mysterious problem
admits.
And yet, it may be urged, is it not, after all, true
that God's perfect prevision, and, therefore permissive
predestination of human action, must, in some measure,

limit human freedom ? As little, it may be replied,
as a license to travel a certain road, which, of course,
carries with it an implicit prohibition of deviation, im-
poses upon the grantee the obligation of travelling. If

he travel, he must travel by the prescribed route but it ;
is open to him to travel or not as he pleases.

But to this comes the inevitable rejoinder that it is
known to God from all eternity, not only by what

route the traveller will travel, but whether he will travel
or no.
To say, with Anselm, that what God ordains is just
that man shall freely fare upon his predestined course,
may be all that there is to be said ;

but it certainly
leaves the relation of the Divine and the human will
1
shrouded in impenetrable mystery.
Hardly had Anselm's spirit emerged from the dark
and cavernous recesses of speculation, into which we
have just cast a shy glance, than it winged its ecstatic
flight straight for the empyrean, seeking its own source
in the Source of In other words, he began to
all light.
meditate a treatise on the origin of the soul.

But while the mind remained strong and keen as
ever, the fleshly tenement was swiftly wasting away ;
eating became almost an impossibility, and by the

spring of 1 109 he was too weak to walk or even stand.
1
A concise and luminous account of the later history and present
position of this vexed question will be found in F. Bernard Boedder's
still
Natural Theology (Stonyhurst Series of Manuals of Catholic Philosophy).

s 273
ST. AlSfSELM OF CANTERBURY
He was then at Canterbury, and being unable any
longer to say mass, had himself carried daily into his
chapel to hear it. On Palm Sunday, 18 April, one of
the clergy, noting his extreme weakness, said to him,
"
Lord and Father, as far as we can see, you are about
to leave this world for the Easter court of your Lord."
He replied, "And, indeed, if it be His will, I shall
gladly obey it ;
but should He rather will that I remain
with you yet so long a time as that I may solve a
problem which I am turning over in my mind, as to the

origin of the soul, should welcome the delay, because
I
I know not whether, when I am gone, there will be

1
anyone left to solve it."
From that hour he sank painlessly and peacefully.
Speechless, but still conscious, he made his last sign

of the cross on the following Tuesday evening, in
answer to the Bishop of Rochester's whispered request
for his blessing on those who stood by, and the rest
of his spiritual children, the king and queen and

royal family, and the people of England. At matins
one of the brothers read to him the gospel of the day, 2
the gospel of the Passion according to St. Luke. When
he came to the words " Vos autem estis qui perman-
:
sistis mecum in tentationibus meis. Et ego dispono

vobis, sicut disposuit mihi Pater meus regnum, ut edatis
" "
et bibatis super mensam meam
regno meo Ye in
are they which have continued with me in my temp-

tations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, even as
my Father appointed unto me, that ye may eat and
1
He was doubtless feeling his way towards a reconciliation of crea-
tionism with the transmission of original sin. Cf. De Concept Virgin.
c. xxiv. et seq.
8
Wednesday in Holy Week.
274
THE END
"
drink at my table in Anselm began to
my kingdom
draw breath more slowly. Then, seeing that the hour of
his passing was at hand, they raised him from the bed
and stretched him on the floor, where the freshly-
strewn ashes traced the emblem of his faith and hope,
the ensign of his warfare and victory. And so they
watched and listened, while the night wore on, and
the breathing grew fainter and more faint, until, towards
daybreak, it was manifest that Anselm had solved the

problem of the origin of the soul.
On the morrow, the saint's mortal remains, washed
with loving care, and anointed with the holy chrism,
were laid to rest in the nave of the cathedral, next the
tomb of Lanfranc. 1
1
Thence they were soon afterwards removed to the chapel of SS. Peter
and Paul on the south side of the chancel, where they are still supposed
to rest. Relics of him were, perhaps still are, venerated at Antwerp,
Cologne, Bologna, and Prague. GERVASE OF CANTERBURY (Rolls Ser.),

i.
15. Bollandists' Acta Sanct. April, (ed. 1866) ii. 862.
275
APPENDIX
CONTAINING CERTAIN MIRACULOUS INCIDENTS
Attested by Eadmer in his De Vita Anselmi and supplementary
Descriptio Miraculorum Gloriosi Patris Anselmi.
Anselm would hardly be complete

of St.
ALIKE
without some notice of the principal miraculous
phenomena recorded by Eadmer in connection with
his death and for obvious reasons Eadmer had
;
best be allowed to tell his own tale which is as ;
follows :
"There was a monk of Canterbury, by name Helias,

honourably distinguished by the purity of his morals and
the simplicity and innocence of his life. One night, about
three months before the death of Father Anselm, this man
saw himself in a vision standing the oratory alone, his
in
mind bent, as God prompted him, on prayer. While thus
engaged he looked, and lo ! Father Anselm lay in prayer in
front of the tomb And as Anselm prayed,
of St. Dunstan.
Helias observed that the upper part or roof of the tomb
moved, and gradually shifted from its place. And when
Anselm, disturbed by the movement, rose up from praying,
he saw Blessed Dunstan in the tomb gradually raise himself
towards a sitting posture ; but he was impeded by the roof of
the tomb, which had not yet so far receded as to allow him
room to sit upright. Anselm put forth all his strength to
force the mass out of his way, but in vain. He therefore
beckoned to Helias, who was standing some way off, to come
277
near, thatby their joint efforts they might effect what his own
unaided strength could not. He came, and where the one
had failed the two succeeded. And so the obstacle being
removed, the most holy father sat upright, and turning
towards Anselm, said to him, 'Dearest friend, know that I
have heard your and extending his right hand, he
prayers,'
offered him a goldenring, saying, 'Be this a sign unto you
that I have spoken truth.' And when Anselm stretched forth
his hand to take the ring, Blessed Dunstan withdrew his hand,
and said to him, This time you shall not have the ring but
'
I will keep it, and you shall receive it from the hand of the
Lord on the fourth day before Easter.' This vision the same
brother Helias related to me [Eadmer] while we were gossiping
on the following day ;
but I, desiring the life rather than the
death of my master, did not then think of interpreting it in the
manner in which it afterwards came true. But when the day
had come, the event itself proved what the vision had por-
tended in a figure ; for, in truth, it was at the dawn of that day

that the father was taken from this life." (Descript. Mime.)
" There was a man not too well provided with worldly goods,
but abounding above the common measure, as he had power,
in zeal for the service of Christ, who, when Father Anselm
was dying, lay himself at Canterbury dying of a grievous
disease. And while he was thought to be already loosed

lo !
from the body, in the hour when that glorious servant of the
Lord departed this life, a young man of noble mien appeared
to him, and asked him what ailed him. He answered, I die, '
as you see, and do you ask what ails me?' He rejoined,

'The father of this city and of this whole country is even
now hastening to God, that he may exchange the world for
eternal life, and shall you die? By no means. Nay, rather
arise whole, and glorify God the Father that does this work in
you, and glorifies your father aforesaid eternally in recompense

of his merits.' And so, to the amazement of all those who
had gathered for his funeral, the man recovered, and they ask,
How came it that he was so suddenly restored to health?
278
APPENDIX
Whereupon he told them distinctly what he had seen, what
he had heard, what he had learned concerning Father
Anselm's glorification. And so, leaving him, they hurry to
the Church of our Lord the Saviour, and find it even as they
had heard ; to wit, that the said chosen vessel of the Lord had
just been translated from this life." (Ibid.)
"After the washing of Anselm's body, his steward,

ritual
Baldwin, of whom
frequent mention has been made here-
tofore, prayed that the face of the deceased father might be
anointed with an unguent, of which, the bulk of it being
lost, all that remained was a very small quantity in a little
vase; hoping and earnestly desiring that by that means it

might be preserved ever so little longer from corruption.
We acquiesced, embracing his proposal. So the bishop took
the vase containing the liquid in hand, and for the purpose
of anointing the face of the deceased, thrust his finger into
the vase until it touched the bottom ; then, drawing it out,
and finding the top of it hardly moistened, thought the

ointment would by no means suffice to anoint the face.
He therefore ordered the unguent which was kept in the
greater church, for the purpose of making the chrism, to
be brought; being desirous that both Anselm's head and
his right hand, with which he had said and written many
good and divine things, might be honoured with such anoint-

ing. In all this I was with the bishop, and assisted him
in the function. I thrust my finger after him into the
vase containing the unguent, and drew it out as little, or

perhaps moist than his.
less I accordingly asked the bishop
to the vase over the palm of my hand, to see if

invert
perchance a drop or so would run out of it; he assented;

and forthwith, to the amazement of all, the liquid gushed
forth in a copious stream, covering my hand and overflowing.
The same thing was repeated again and again many times,
in fact. In short, an all but empty vase furnished such
a plentiful supply of unguent, that, without recourse to the
vase belonging to the church, we anointed not only the head
279
and hands, but the arms and chest, the feet, and in fine,
Anselm's entire body, not once only, but several times. He
was then dressed in the sacred vestments proper to his office
of chief pontiff, and carried with due reverence into the
oratory.
"Onthe following day, while he was being committed to
the tomb, it was discovered that the
sarcophagus, which some
days before had been made ready for him, was indeed of the
right length and breadth, but was a great deal too shallow.
Whereat we were disconcerted, being by no means able to
endure the idea that he should sustain any injury by the
pressure of the upper stone. And while the minds of most
fluctuated to and fro, some suggesting this, some the other
solution of the difficulty, one of the closely -packed crowd
of brothers who stood around took the crosier of the Bishop
of Rochester, who presided at the funeral ceremony, and
extending it over the body of the father, began to wave it

to and fro transversely to the sarcophagus; whereupon he
found, to our great wonder, that it rose above the body on
every side." (De Vita Anselmi, ii.
67-68.)
"A nobleman, a stout soldier, known in many parts of
England, Humfrey by name, being stricken with a very
grievous disease, to wit, that which some call dropsy, and
despaired of by the physicians, lay, as was thought, at the
point of death. He had been known to Anselm, and had
taken note of the many signs of his sanctity. So, prostrated
by his malady, he ever had him on his ever prayed,
lips,
nothing doubting sake of

that, for the his merits and prayers,
God would be propitious to him. One of his old friends,
named Haimo, was a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury.
So he sent messengers to the prior of the monastery, and
sought and obtained permission for Haimo to come to him ;
thinking that it would be some relief to him in both body
and soul, if in his last moments he might have the solace
of his company, and that of the brother who would attend
him. The brother came, and brought with him Father
Anselm's girdle. For he was my nephew, being my sister's
son, and had the girdle from me in his custody. He, seeing
280
APPENDIX
the man, by reason of the aggravated character of his dis-
order, swollen in every part of his body, and to such a degree
that all who saw him thought him ready to burst, gave him
the girdle, telling him whose it was, and from whom he had
received it. He gave a groan, and calling to mind the
sanctity of the blessed father, and first praying devoutly that,
for the sake of his merits, God would
graciously have mercy
upon him, took the girdle, kissed
it, and disposed it about
his person, its ends hardly meeting, by reason of his extreme
distension. So he kept it on him a short while, and lo !
strange to tell, little by little his body began to diminish

in bulk, until the ends of the girdle overlapped for a little
distance, fully the length of a man's foot ; which he perceiving,

straightway passed the girdle to and fro over his swollen
limbs, and at its touch the exorbitant swelling which had
invaded them vanished entirely and at once. Nor did the
abundance of evil humour, which was the cause of the
swelling, find its way out by any channel, which may,
perhaps, cause you even more surprise, but perished by
resolution into nothing.
" So the man
recovered, and some days afterwards came to
Canterbury, and presented himself at the tomb of the father
to give thanks there, and told the whole story in the assembly
of the brethren, and besought and obtained their thanksgivings
to God, and His blessed servant on his behalf. I confess that
hearing these things gave me great joy. And, turning to the

man, I said,
'
The girdle belongs to us : be so good as to
restore it, as is fitting.' To which he '
answered, I know, 1
know that
it is as
you say. But be assured that you will
recover most speedily by coming to my house for it.' I
it
assented ; and some days later, necessary business intervening,

I went thither, and received the girdle from him. At his
request, however, I cut a strip from it very narrow, but the
full length of the girdle, and left it with him; and so we
parted. His health gave us no more concern until, after a

considerable interval of time, we heard at Canterbury that he
had been seized with his old complaint, and was in grievous
suffering. I therefore went to him, but found him free from
281
the alleged malady. So, wondering whether I had come
thither on a false report, I asked him whether he had really
been ill, as we had heard. Upon which he avowed that he
had been ill, and, in answer to my further enquiries, told the
manner of his recovery. He said that, overcome by extreme
suffering, he called to remembrance what he had gone through
before, and how he had been cured, and bethought him that
though he had not the entire girdle, which had been the
means of his recovery, yet he whose it was might, perhaps, if
he would, cure him by the part of it which he had as well as
'
by the whole. In which hope,' he said, I disposed the

'
strip which you gave me about my person, and straightway,

as you see, I was restored to health.'
"After when, on the petition of Alexander, King of

this,
the Scots, I had been translated to the pontificate of St.
Andrew's in Scotland, and, having spent some time there,
had become known to the natives of that country, and was
well received by them ; it chanced that a matron of a noble
English family, and well approved on all hands in the

Christian religion, Eastrildis by name, suffered from a grievous
bodily disease, and to such a degree that whoever visited her

she had nothing to anticipate but death.
testified that She
had heard the fame of the sanctity of Father Anselm, and
being then more fully instructed therein by me for she took
great delight in hearing of the virtues of others notwith-
standing her desire was rather to be loosed from the body

and be with Christ, yet she permitted the girdle of the father,
concerning which I have recorded certain matters above, to
be placed around her. Which done, she at once began to
mend, and after a few days was completely restored to health,
to the amazement of all. This I witnessed, being present,
and for the favour thus vouchsafed, not I alone, but also
many with me, with great joy gave praise and thanks to God.
"
Later on, when the zeal of the fear of God, and solicitude
for the salvation of my soul, compelled me to leave Scotland
suddenly, and return to the Mother-church of all Britain the

282
APPENDIX
Church, I mean, of Canterbury, which had nurtured me from
infancy to seek counsel concerning those things which lay
heavy on my soul, I came thither, but found there nothing

of which I had come in search. For, in truth, Archbishop
Ralph was ill; nor did health return to him, so long as he
remained in the present life. At this time the hearts of many
were afflicted with poignant grief, on account of one of the
brethren, who had been taken with a sharp attack of fever ;
for he was a young man, and, by the tokens of goodness

which he displayed, gave certain promise of a life fruitful to
the Church of God. He then, as his malady increased in
severity,being all but despaired of by himself and others,
turned himself by all ways to God, and was solicitous, as
far as he might, to remove every hindrance to the passage
of his We were with him, earnestly seconding his

soul.
prayers. While thus engaged, we bethink us of the great

favours which Blessed Anselm used to procure for his
children; which leads us to speak of the wonders which,
after his removal from the world, he wrought by his girdle.
Then, without delay, at the request of the sick man, I brought

the girdle, which was fastened about his neck. The same
hour the fever subsided, nor did it again attack him.
" So the brother and we God
recovered, all gave thanks to
the Saviour for his recovery through His faithful servant. But
enough of this; for were I to record, one by one, all the
wonders which have been wrought by means of that girdle,
without doubt I should be burdensome to all my readers.
For it is the regular practice for all men who are in any
manner sick, and especially for women in danger
by travail,
to have recourse to the girdle with a devout intention, relying
with a firm hope on their release from peril by its timely use.
Nor have we hitherto heard of any being disappointed in their
hope of those, that is to say, of whose sincerity in having

recourse to the girdle for their relief in full faith, we have no
reason to doubt.
"One other case, however, I can by no means persuade
myself to pass over, the case of one of the brethren of Christ
Church, Canterbury, who was grievously afflicted with a
283
ST ANSELM OF CANTERBURY
tumourous growth, in the shape of a large and smoothly-
rounded sphere beneath his navel, but who was completely
restored to his former health; the pain, which had reached
his heart, subsiding at once at the touch of the girdle, and
the swelling soon afterwards entirely disappearing." (Descript.
Mirac.)
NOTE. Though Anselm was thus early invested with the

aureole of the saint, the process preliminary to his canonisa-
tion, committed to the care of Becket by Alexander III. in
1163, was abandoned in consequence of the subsequent

troubles; nor was it revived until 1494, and then, in the
irony of fate, by Alexander VI. of evil memory. Whether
it but Anselm belongs
resulted in a decree does not appear ;
to the number of those Blessed Doctors whom the ancient

and universal consent of the Church has canonised. His
feast, 2 1 April, was raised from a semi-double to a double by
Clement XI. in 1720. Materials for the History of Thomas
Becket (Rolls Ser.) v. 35; Wilkins' Concilia^ iii. 641; Bullar.
Clement. XL, 8 Feb. 1720.
284
INDEX
Adela, Countess of Blois, 234; Le Bee, 57~59 his speculations,
;
mediates between St. Anselm and 60-84 5 his meditations, prayers,

Henry I., 250. and poems, 85-103 ; becomes
Adela, Duchess of Apulia, a friend Archbishop of Canterbury, 113-
of St. Anselm, 160. 118; first relations with William
Êgelnoth, Archbishop of Canter- Rufus, 1 20 ; raises the question of
bury, 177. the pallium, 123 ; is deserted by
Êlfeg, St., Archbishop of Canter- his suffragans, 127; assumes the
bury, martyr, 50-52. pallium, 138; proposes to go to

Agnes, Empress of Germany, 16. Rome, and obtains the king's
Aimon, cousin of St Anselm, 33. consent, 149-154 ; journey to,
Aix la Chapelle, council convened and reception at, Rome, 155-158 ;
at by Charlemagne, 184. sojourn at Schiavi, 158-160; in

Alexander, monk, represents St. the camp before Capua, 160-161 ;
Anselm at Rome, 226 attends ; his De Fide Trinitatis and Cur
him to Rome, 233. Deus Homo? 162-176; at Bari,
Alexander II., Pope, pupil of Lan- hisZte Processione Spiritus Sancti,
franc, 22, 45. 177-194; averts the excommuni-
Anchilia, wife of Humbert the cation of Rufus, 195 ; returns to
White-handed, 32. Lyon, 200-202 ; to England, 214-

Anselm, Bishop of Aosta, perhaps 216 ; arranges and solemnizes the
ancestor of St. Anselm, 32. marriage of Henry I., 218 saves ;
Anselm, of Baggio, see Alexander II. his crown, 221-222 ; refuses him
Anselm of Laon, master of Abelard, homage, 225, 228 ; reforms abuses,
perhaps pupil of St. Anselm, 58. 228 returns to Rome, 232-234;
;
Anselm, nephew of St. Anselm, his second exile, 238, 248 ; is re-
201, 207. conciled with Henry, 251 ; returns

Anselm, St., birth and early years, to England, 260 ; his treatise on
32-35 ; at Le Bee, 37 ; pupil of grace, freewill, and foreknowledge,
Lanfranc, 38; prior, then abbot, and death, 269-274.
39; his reputation for sanctity, Anastasius, of Venice, at Mont St.
40-42 ; first relations with Eng- Michel, 54.

land, 46-53 ; correspondence, 43, Ansgot, father of Herlwin, 19.
54-56 ; closer view of his life at Antipope, see Cadalus and Guibert.
285
Aosta, birthplace of St. Anselm, 31. Bonaventura, St., accepts the onto-
Aquinas, St. Thomas, rejects the logical argument, 75.
ontological argument, 75* Bonne Ame, William, Archbishop
Arnulf, grammarian, at Canterbury, of Rouen, 22, 256.
60. Boso, pupil of St. Anselm, repre-
Augustine, St., certain views of, sents him at Clermont, 148 ;
82, 1 86, 204, 205. figures in the Citr Deus Homo?

Autie, river in Normandy, 41. 169.
Aversa, Guitmund, bishop of, pupil Brionne, Count Gilbert of, 19.
of Lanfranc, 22. Brindisi, menaced by Saracens, 13.
Avranches, Lanfranc teaches at, 18, Brixton Deverill, Wiltshire, cell of
21. Le Bee at, 24.
Bruno, St., Bishop of Toul, after-
wards Pope Leo IX., 15.

Baggio, see Alexander II. Burgundius, brother-in-law of St.
Baldwin, friend of St. Anselm, Anselm, 201.
banished by Rufus, 135.
Burgundy, Transjuran, kingdom of,
Balham, cell of Le Bee at, 24.
Si-
Bamborough, siege of, 140. Burneville, now Bonneville, original
Bari, menaced by Saracens, 13 ;
site of Herl win's monastery, 19.
council at, 177.
Basilia, Lady, 55.
abbey of, 22, 145.
Battle, Cadalus, Bishop of Parma, anti-pope,
Beaumont, Robert de, Count of 43-
Meulan, 246. Caen, St. Stephen's Abbey at, 39.
Becca di Nona, mountain in Val Cam pagna, Roman, ravaged by Sara-
d'Aosta,32. cens, 13.
Bee, Le, abbey of, 19. Canossa, historic scene at, 44.
Bede, Venerable, works of, studied Canterbury, Cathedral of, rebuilt by
at Le Bee, 60 ; cited, 182, note. Lanfranc, 44 ; Christ Church, St.
Benedict VIII., Pope, his attempts Anselm received at, 48 ; See of,
at reform, 14, note. and its privileges, 118.

Benedict IX., Pope, enormities of, 14. Canute, King of England, cope given
Benevento, duchy of, in the hands by, 177.
of the Saracens, 13. Carentan, curious scene at, 249.
Berengar, heretic, 18, 38. Caroline Books, cited, 182, note.
Bernard, St., of Clairvaux, 96. Casimir, St., hymn of, 97.
Bernay, monastery of, 18. Chaise Dieu, in Auvergne, 54;

Bertha, Queen of Philip I. of France, visited by St. Anselm, 208, 214.
146. Chalcedon, council of, 181.
Bertrade, Countess of Anjou, 146. Charlemagne, confirms Pepin'sdona-

Bloet, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, tion, 10 ; intervenes in the Filioque
121, 128. controversy, 183.
Boethius, De Console*. Phil, re- Chartres, visited by St. Anselm;
ferred to, 272. see Yves of Beauvais.
286
INDEX
Chester, St. Warburg's Monastery .
Eadmer, secretary and biographer of
at, 24. St. Anselm, 48; and his com-
Christina, aunt of Henry I.'s queen, panion in exile, 154.

Matilda, 2 1 8. Baldwin, Abbot of Ramsey, de-
Christolatry, St. Anselm's, illus- prived for simony, 228.
trated, 87. Edith, Lady, see Matilda.
Church, debt of civilization to, 9-10; Eloisa, mother of Herlwin, 19.
gradual feudalization of, 10-12; Emma, consort of Canute, 177.
consequent corruption, 15 ; at- Erigena, see Scotus Erigena.
tempts at reform of, 15-16 ; mar- Ermenberg, mother of St. Anselm,
vellous regeneration of, 17-18. 32.
Cicero, works of, studied at Le Bee, 30. Ernost, Bishop of Rochester, 22, 43.
Clarendon, council of, 262. Ernulf, Prior of Christ Church,
Clement IV., Pope, defines Proces- Canterbury, 240.
sion of the Holy Spirit, 94. Eva, Lady, 55.
Clermont, council of, 145-147. Evil, moral, theory of St Anselm
Cluny, monastery of, 14, 36 ; Popes on, 83.
trained at, 16, 107, 203.
Conches, monastery at, 18.

Falaise, siege of by Henry I. 250. ,
Conrad, son of Henry IV. of Ger-

Fall, The, theory of St. Anselm on,
many, revolts, and is crowned
84, 269.
King of Italy, 146.
Fecamp, monastery at, 18.
Constantine, supposed donation of,
Flambard, see Ranulf Flambard.
ii.
Florence, council of, on Procession
Cormeilles, monastery at, 18. of the Holy Spirit, 194.
Crispin, Gilbert, monk of Le Bee,
Folcerad, uncle of St. Anselm, 32.
22.
Folcerad, cousin of St. Anselm, 33.
Crispin, William, Viscount of the
Fontanelle, monastery at, 18.
Vexin, 55.
Foreknowledge, theory of St. Anselm
Crusade, The, preached by Pope
on, 268, 272.
Urban II. at Clermont, 147.
Freedom, moral, theory of St. Anselm
on, 85, 269.
Fructuaria, abbey connection
Dante, cited, n (note), 78, 129,
with Aosta, 33.
of,
171, 272.
Fulk, Count of Anjou, 234.
Descartes, revives the ontological
Fulk, Bishop of Beauvais, 162.
argument, 75.
Desiderius,Abbot of Monte Casino,
afterwards Pope Victor III., 105. Gaunilon, monk of Marmoutier
Donatus, works of, studied at LeBec, criticizes the ontological argument,
30; linked with St. Anselm by 69.

Dante, 78. Gebhard of Eichstadt, Pope Victor
Duns Scotus, accepts the ontological II., IS-
argument, 75. Gerard, clerk, represents Rufus at

Dunton, Essex, cell of Le Bee at, 24. Rome, 135 ; afterwards success-
287
ively Bishop of Hereford and Guy, Abbot of Pershore, deprived
Archbishop of York, ib.; represents for simony, 228.
Henry I. at Rome, 226 ; lies, 227 ; Guy, Archbishop of Vienne, legate

further notices of, 257, 262, 266. in England, 221.
Gerard, Bishop of Florence, Pope
Nicolas II., 17.
Giffard, William, Bishop-elect of Hadrian I., supposed concession of,
Winchester, 218, 227; banished II ; his attitude towards the
for adhering to St. Anselm, 228 ;
Filioque controversy, 182.
consecrated, 262. Harrow-on-the-Hill, church of, con-
Gilbert, Bishop of Evreux, conse- secrated by St. Anselm, 121.
crates St. Anselm Abbot of Le
Hegel, reformulates the ontological
Bee, 39. on moral
argument, 75; theory of,
Gilbert of Tunbridge, rebel, 140.
evil, 83.
Gillingham, Dorset, interview of Helias, Abbot of La Trinite du
St. Anselm with Rufus at, 123.
Mont, 42.
Glastonbury, centre of light in the Helie de Le
la Fleche, Count of
dark age, 14.
Mans, rises against William Rufus,
Gloucester, interview of St. Anselm
212.
with Rufus at, 120.
Henry, monk of Le Bee, Prior of
Godfrey of Lorraine, Marquis of Christ Church, Canterbury, and
Tuscany, 16.
afterwards Abbot of Battle, 22;
Grace, theory of St. Anselm on, 269.
corresponds with St. Anselm, 43 ;
Great Blakenham, Suffolk, cell of
receives him at Christ Church, 48.
Le Bee at, 24.
Henry IV., King of the Romans,
Gregory VII. , Pope, see Hildebrand.
cited to Rome by Gregory VII.,
Gressan, in Val d'Aosta, 32.
does penance at Canossa, 44 ;
Grestain, monastery at, 18.
takes Rome, and is crowned
there
Guibert, Archbishop of Ravenna,
emperor, 104 ; excommunicated
anti-pope, in possession of Rome,
104, 124.
by Urban II., 146; by Paschal
II., deserted by his younger son,
Guibert, oblate at Le Bee, afterwards
monk of St. Germer's, and Abbot Henry, 251.
of Nogent-sur-Coucy, 59. Henry I., King of England, recalls
Guido, pupil of St. Anselm, 60.

St. Anselm, 214; marries the Lady
Guiscard, Robert, Duke of Apulia, Edith, 2 1 8; repels Duke Robert's
sacks Rome, 104 ; dies, 160. invasion, and conquers Normandy,
247-260; remits St. Anselm to
Guiscard, Roger, Count of Sicily,
father-in-law of Conrad, son of exile,and sequestrates the See of
Henry IV., 146; lays siege to Canterbury, 230-243 threatened ;
Capua, 1 60. with excommunication, and comes

Gundulf, father of St. Anselm, 31-33. to terms, 247-260.
Gundulf, monk of Le Bee, especial Herbert Losinga, Bishop of Thet-

friend of St.Anselm, afterwards ford, 128 ; envoy to Rome, 226.
Bishop of Rochester, 22, 43, 116, Herlwin, first Abbot of Le Bee, 19;
125. death of, 39.
288
INDEX
Herlwin, knight, takes charge of John, Abbot of S. Salvatore, St.
the body of William I., 107. Anselm's host, 158.
Hildebrand, of Sovana, monk of John the Baptist, martyr, 51.
Cluny, Pope Gregory VII., his John of Touraine, Bishop of Bath,
character, career, and death, 16- 128, 150.
17,43-46,104-105. John, Bishop of Tusculum, repre-
Hippocrates, aphorisms of, studied sents St. Anselm at the Curia, 247.
at Le Bee, 60. Jumieges, abbey of, 1 8.
Hirsau, William, abbot of, corre-
sponds with St. Anselm, 55 ;

Kant, his criticism of the ontological
St. Anselm's visit to, 201.
argument, 75; his theory of ethics,
Holy See, independence of, threat- 84.
ened by the emperors, 12.
Holy Spirit, Procession of, early
Laigle, meeting of St. Anselm and
history of the dogma, 180-186.
Homage, clerical, decree of the Henry I. at, 251.
Council of Clermont on, 147; Lambert, uncle of St. Anselm, 32.
concordat concerning, 262. Lanfranc, studies at Pavia, teaches
at Avranches and Le Bee, 18
Hoo, Sussex, cell of Le Bee at, 24. ;
Prior of Le Bee, 21 ; Abbot of

Hours, canonical, 28.
Caen, 37-39 Arch-
St. Stephen's,
Hugh, Archbishop of Lyon, legate ;
in Gaul in 1099, approves the bishop of Canterbury, 22 ; his

architectural labours, 44 fails to
Monologion and Proslogion^ 67 ;
;
St. Anselm's host in induce William the Conqueror to

exile, 155,
198, 200, 239. acknowledge the suzerainty of the
Hugh, the Wolf, Count of Avran- Pope, 46; consecrates William
Rufus, 107 dies, 108.
ches, afterwards Earl of Chester,
;
37, 53, "> 2l6 22 - Lanfranc, nephew of Archbishop

Lanfranc, Abbot of St. Wandrille,
Hugh, Lord of Gournay, 55.
22.
Humbert, the White-handed, 32.
Humbert II., Count of Maurienne, Lanzo, novice at Cluny, a correspon-
dent of St. Anselm, afterwards
32-
Prior of St. Pancras', Lewes, 54.
Latin Fathers and Canonists, works
Ida, Countess of Bouillon, 55.
Patriarch of Constanti- of, studied at Le Bee, 27, 30.
Ignatius,
Leibniz, his criticism of the ontolo-
nople, 184.
Investiture, dispute about, 10, 15, gical argument, 75, note.
Leo the Great, Pope, sanctions the
43-46; St. Anselm's attitude to-
wards, 113-115 ; see pallium. Filioque doctrine, 181.
Isidore of Seville, 12, 30. Leo III., Pope, appealed to on the
Filioque question, 183.
Jarenton, abbot of Dijon, legate in
Leo IX., see Bruno, St.
England, 144. Littleton, on Tenures, definition of
JohnVI 1 1 Pope, recognizes Photius,

.
, homage in, 262.
185. Losinga, see Herbert Losinga.

289
Lucca, Santo Volto di, 112, note. Monasteries, widely extended re-
Lyminge, Lanfranc's manor of, 47. lations of, inter se, 54.
Lympne, Anselm lands at, 46. Mont Cenis, first passage of, by St.
Lyon, councils at, 16, 94 ; cult of Anselm, 35.

the Blessed Virgin at, 207. Mont St. Michel, monastery of, 18.
Monte Casino, monastery of, 105.
Montigny-le-Gannelon, 69.
Magyars, irruptions of, 13. Mount Olivet, monks of, adopt the
Mainz, council at, 15. Filioque doctrine, 183.
Malcolm III., King of Scotland, Mowbray, Robert, rebel, 139.
father of Matilda, Queen of
Henry I., 218.
Mariale, The, probably written by Nestorianism, referred to, 170.

St. Anselm, 96. Nicolas, St., church of, at Bari,
Marmoutier, monastery at, 69. 177-

Nicolas Pope, decree
Mary, St., church of Le Bee dedi- II., of, 17.
cated to, 23 ; her Immaculate Con- Normandy, devoutness of, 18.

ception, doctrine of, probably held Normans, alliance of Pope Nicolas
St. II. with, 17.
by Anselm, 207.
Matilda, Queen of William the
Conqueror, 24, 37.

Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, 107.
Matilda (the Lady Edith), Queen of
Odo of Champagne, 31.
Henry I., 218; her devotion to
Okeburn, Wiltshire, cell of Le Bee
St. Anselm, 243, 245, 259, 260.
at, 24.
Matilda, Countess of Tuscany, 105;
Origen, his theory of the atonement,
her marriage, 146 ; letter from
169.
St. Anselm to, 235.
Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 138.
Maud, empress, buried at Le Bee,
Otto the Great, decisive victory of,
24.
IS-
Maurice, pupil of St. Anselm, after-
Otto of Chatillon-sur-Marne, see
wards secretary to Lanfranc, 43,
Urban II.
59,60.
Maurice, Bishop of London, crowns
Henry I., 213. Pallium, metropolitans to sue at
Maurice, Archbishop Rouen, of Rome for, 12 ; description of,
bids St. Anselm take the cowl at 123 ; assumption of by St.
Le Bee, 39 ; his death, 42. Anselm, 138.

Michael III., Byzantine Emperor, Paradisus Animae Christianae, re-
favours Photius, 184. ferred to, 96.

Michael Caerularius, schismatic, 185. Parione, one of the quarters of
Mincio, John, Cardinal-bishop of Rome, imprisonment of Gregory
Velletri, intrusive pope, 17. VII. there, 44.
Miracles, supposed to attend St. Paschal II., Pope, 203; pre-
Anselm in life and death, 40-42, occupied with the struggle with
277-284. the emperor, ib. ; appeal of St.
290
INDEX
Anselm to, 209 ; letter from Ravenna, exarchate of, 10 ; Gerbert
Henry I. to, 223 ; dismisses teaches at, 14.
Henry I.'s appeal, 241 ; excom- Reccared, Arian king converted to

municates the Count of Meulan, the Catholic faith, 181.
247 ; concedes homage, 216. Reims, Gerbert teaches at, 14 ;
Paul, monk at Le Bee, afterwards council at, 15.

Abbot of St. Albans, 22. Reinelm, Bishop of Hereford, 262.
Pavia, council at, 15. Reinger, Bishop of Lucca, pleads
Peckham, manor of, mortgaged by St. Anselm's cause at the Council
St. Anselm, 145. of Rome, 199.

Pepin, donation of, 10. Richard of Aversa, 160.
Peter, cousin of St. Anselm, 33. Richera, sister of St. Anselm, 33 ;
Photius, schismatic, 184. his letter to her, 201.

Pondel, Le, 87, note. Rille, river, the Bee tributary of, 20.
Pont Authou, near Le Bee, 20. Robert Courthose, Duke of Nor-
Porphyry, logical treatises of, studied mandy, takes the cross, 143 ; in-
at Le Bee, 30. vades England, 222 beaten ; at
Povington, Dorset, cell of Le Bee Tinchebrai, 260.

at, 24. Robert of Lorraine, Bishop of Here-
Preston Beckhelwyne, Sussex, cell ford, 138.
of Le Bee at, 24. Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, con-
Priscian, works of, studied at Le sulted by St. Anselm at Winchester,
Bee, 30. ISO.
Priscillian, Spanish gnostic, 184. Robert, monk of Mont St. Michel,
Prognostic, 138. corresponds with St. Anselm,

54-
Quinctilian, works of, studied at Le Roekingham, council of, 124-134.

Roger, monk of Le Bee, afterwards
Bee, 30.
Abbot of Lessay, 22.
Roger, clerk, nominated Bishop

Ragey, Pere, his edition of the of Salisbury, 226 ; consecrated,
Mariale^ 102. 262.
Rainald, kinsman of St. Anselm, 33. Rome, state of in the ninth and
Rainulf, Norman Count of Aversa, tenth centuries, 13 ; councils at,
22.
15, 17, 21, 43, 185, 198, 203;
Ralph, Bishop of Rochester, after- events at, see Anselm, St. ; Henry
wards Archbishop of Canterbury, IV., King of the Romans ; Henry
268. I. King of England ; Hildebrand;
,
Ranulf Flambard, minister of Paschal II. Urban II. ; Warel-

;
William Rufus, 109, 117, 118; wast, William of; William I., and
sees and abbeys leased to, 208 ; William Rufus.
imprisoned by Henry escapes
I., Roscellin, John, nominalist, 162.
and joins Duke Robert, 221 ; for- Ruislip, Middlesex, cell of Le Bee
given by Henry, and reinstated in at, 24.
the See of Durham, 266.
291
Salerno, Norman fortress of, death Sta. Maria Maggiore, Rome, wild
of Gregory VII. at, 105. scene in, 43.
Samson, Bishop of Worcester, 266, St. Neot's, Huntingdonshire, cell of

note. Le Bee at, 24.
Saracens in Southern Italy, 13 ; in St. Ouen, abbey of, near Rouen,

the Maurienne, 31. 18.
Scotus Erigena, 18. St. Paul's, Rome, looted by Sara-
Serlo, Bishop of Seez, cuts Henry cens, 13.

I.'s hair at Carentan, 249. St. Peter's, Rome, looted by Sara-
Sovana, in Tuscany, birthplace of cens, 13 ; surprised by Normans,
Hildebrand, 16. 105.
Spinoza, gives a pantheistic turn to St. Pierre de Cauchy, cell of Le
the ontological argument, 75 ; on Bee, 24.
moral evil, 83. St. Pierre sur Dives, abbey of, near
S. Agnese fuori le Mura, Rome, Troarn, 18.
lambs of, 123. St. Pierre de Pontoise, cell of Le
St. Albans, abbey of, rebuilt by Bee, 24.
Lanfranc, 44. St. Quentin, see Yves of Beauvais.
Amand, abbey at Rouen,
St. of, S. Saba, at Rome, St. Anselm's
18.
nephew abbot of, 201, note.
St. Angelo, castle of, at Rome, in S. Sal vat ore, near
monastery of,
the hands of the antipope, 124, Telese, 158.
note; recovered by Urban II., St. Wandrille, at Rouen, abbey of,
203. 18.
St. Bertin, near St.
Omer, visited St. Werburg's, Chester, cell of Le
by Anselm, 155.
St. Bee, 24.
St. Calais, William of, Bishop of Schiavi, now Liberi, in Formicola,
Durham, aspires to the See of visited by St. Anselm, 158 ; his
St.
Canterbury, 129; urges literary labours at, 162-176.
Anselm's banishment, 131 ; Stephen IX., Pope, death of, 16.
death, 142, note. Stephen of Aumale, 139.

Ste. Catherine, or La Trinite du
cell of Le
Steventon, Berkshire,
Mont, abbey of, near Rouen, 18. Bee at, 24.
St. Edmund's Abbey, dispute about
Stoke by Clare, Suffolk, cell of Le
collation to, 220; visited by St.
Bee at, 24.
Anselm, 261 abbot of, 201,
;
Streatham, Surrey, cell of Le Bee
note.
at, 24.
St. Evroult, abbey of, between
Suidger, Bishop of Bamberg, Pope
Laigle and Argentan, 18. Clement II., 14.
St. Germer, in the Beauvoisin,
abbey of, 59.
Ste. Honorine de Conflans, cell of
Le Bee, 24.
St. Leufroy, abbey of, between Taranto, menaced by Saracens,
Evreux and Gaillon, 18. 13-
292
INDEX
Tarasius, Patriarch of Constan- Vercelli, council at, 21.
tinople, profession of faith by, Victor II., Pope, see Gebhard of

182. Eichstadt.
Terracina, Pope Urban II. conse- Victor III., Pope, see Desiderius.
crated at, 108, note.
Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Waleran, Bishop of Naumburg,
Canterbury, approves the Filioque treatise on the mass compiled by
doctrine, 182. St. Anselm for his behoof, 220.
Thomas I., Archbishop of York, Warelwast, William of, envoy to

dies, 217. Rome, 135; acts as customs'
Thomas II., Archbishop of York, officer, 154 ;envoy to Rome, 196,
contumacy of, 266-268. 234 ; St. Anselm's companion
Tirrel, Walter, friend of St. Anselm, from Piacenza to Lyon, his adieu,
41 ; present at the death of 238 ; Bishop of Exeter, 262.
William Rufus, 213. Weedon-on-the-Street, Northamp-
Toledo, importance of councils of, tonshire, cell of Le Bee at,
181. 24.
Tooting Bee, Surrey, cell of Le Bee William I. , uncanonical marriage of,
at, 24. 37 ; his ecclesiastical policy, 45-

Tours, school of Berengar at, 18. 46 ; death of, 106.
Tritheim, John, of Spanheim, William Ruras, coronation of, 107 ;
editor of the Chronicle of Hirsau, his ecclesiastical policy, 109 ;
201. nominates St. Anselm to the See

Turibius, Bishop of Astorga, Spain, of Canterbury, 112; grants him the
adopts the Filioque doctrine, temporalities, 118; refuses his aid,

iSi. 1 20 ; fails to subjugate Normandy,
123 ; refuses to recognize Pope

Urban, or suffer St. Anselm to go
Udelrico II., Count of the Valais,
to Rome, 124; withdraws from
perhaps ancestor of St. Anselm,
St. Anselm the protection of the
32.
law, 136 ; allows him to assume
Urban, Bishop of Glamorgan, 262.
the pallium, 138; suppresses
Urban II., Pope, 108 ; his policy,
Mowbray's rebellion, 139; accom-
146 ; prohibits homage by men
modates Duke Robert by despoil-
of religion, 147 ; pays an eloquent
ing the religious houses, 143-145 ;

tribute to St. Anselm, 157 ; pre-
at length grants St. Anselm permis-
sides over the councils of Cler-
sion to go to Rome, 148-149 ;
mont, Bari, and Rome, 146, I77i
J
sequestrates the See of Canter-
195) 98 ; dies, 203.
bury,and intrigues against St.
Anselm in Italy, 161 ; saved from

Valgrisanche, visible from Val excommunication by St. Anselm,
d'Aosta, 34. 195 ; sends an envoy to Rome,
Vauquelin, Bishop of Winchester, 196 ; another to Lyon, 209 ; forms
consulted by St. Anselm, 150. vast schemes of conquest, and
Veraval, see Warelwast, William of. dies, 211-213.
293
Wimund, Abbot of Tavistock, de- Wivelsford, Lincolnshire, cell of Le
prived for simony, 228. Bee at, 24.
Winchcombe, Oxfordshire, cell of
Le Bee at, 24. Yves of Beauvais, monk of Le Bee,
Winchester, councils at, 117, 150. Abbot of St. Quentin and Bishop
Windsor, overtures made by Rufus of Chartres, 22, 233.
to St. Anselm at, 137. Yvetot, in Normandy, 135, note.
294
PLYMOUTH C
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ST.

A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION

METHUEN & CO.

clix.), the few extant letters of his suffragan, Herbert

Losinga and Osbert of Clare

Anglicanae, Oxford, 1845, the anonymous but contem-

Chronicle of Florence of Worcester (Eng. Hist. Soc.),

Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum (Rolls

Anglorum and De Gestis Regum Anglorum (Rolls

(Migne, Patrolog. cxlix.), the Chronique de Robert de

the Socie"te de 1'Histoire de Normandie, Rouen, 1872

of Salisbury, also edited by Giles, and the St. Albans

They are by no means in all cases of equal or

independent authority, but the order of enumeration

I could, supplementing them by Mansi's Concilia and

toricalbackground, so to speak, I have studied from

Christianity, Gregorovius's Geschichte der Stadt Rom

Kaiserzeit, Freeman's Norman Conquest and Reign

Gregoire VIL, and other historical works. I have also

CHURCH AND STATE

THE ABBEY OK STE. MARIE DU EEC . .

ST. ANSELM EARLY YEARS IN VAL D'AOSTA .

ANSELM AT LE BEC HIS RELATIONS WITH LANFRANC .

ANSELM'S MINOR WORKS DE VERITATE, DE CASU DIABOLI,

AND DE LIBERO ARBITRIO HIS MEDITATIONS,

ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY . .

CLOSE OF THE COUNCIL OF BARI THE COUNCIL OF ROME

AFFAIRS ONCE MORE ...

RETURN TO ENGLAND FIRST RELATIONS WITH HENRY I. 214

ANSELM HENRY'S GRATITUDE . ...

CHURCH AND STATE

epoch in the long and chequered history of

were, by instinct, maintained, consolidated, and, where

magne and his successors. These grants were com-

function, of legislating in her behalf, even in matters

limiting her freedom in a variety of ways. So Pepin's

regain it. The relations of Church and State remained,

joint vote ofthe clergy and laity, and once duly

many instances, to be little more than a form for

giving effect to the will of the emperor, king, or other

bishop should receive, not merely his temporalities,

metropolitans to sue at Rome for the pallium, or sacred

nominally in the suffrages of the clergy and people

eagerly at doubtful expedients for sustaining their

pretenders were parting, in arms, the heritage of

Garigliano, and harried the Campagna at his pleasure.

Meanwhile, under the nominal sway of a succession

pontiffs, foes hardly less formidable than the Saracen

Magyar occupied and desolated the Holy City.

military adventurer from the Marches, prototype of

spent itself. Even theology had hushed her strident

and a new era may well have seemed to be dawning

Ravenna, and to Rome. But Gerbert owed his tiara

alpine intervention kept Rome passive under their

sullenly acquiesced in the consecration of the imperial

saw the first step taken, though it was but a short

practice of simony. At the Council of Rome (1047)

from the exercise of his ministry. More was accom-

once that the clergy should retain un-