[937] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 379, 867.
[938] Select Charters, 97. “Si quis baronum, comitum meorum sive aliorum qui de me tenent, mortuus fuerit, hæres suus non redimet terram suam sicut faciebat tempore fratris mei, sed justa et legitima relevatione relevabit eam.”
[939] Ib. “Et si quis baronum vel hominum meorum infirmabitur, sicut ipse dabit vel dare disponet pecuniam suam, ita datam esse concedo. Quod si ipse præventus armis vel infirmitate, pecuniam suam non dederit vel dare disposuerit, uxor sua sive liberi aut parentes, et legitimi homines ejus, eam pro anima ejus dividant, sicut eis melius visum fuerit.”
[940] Select Charters, 97. “Et terræ et liberorum custos erit sive uxor sive alius propinquorum qui justius esse debeat.”
[941] See Tractatus de Legibus, vii. 9. 10; and Phillips, Englische Reichs- und Rechtsgeschichte, ii. 204.
[942] See N. C. vol. v. p. 374.
[943] This was pointed out by Hallam, Middle Ages, i. 128, ed. 1846.
[944] See N. C. vol. v. p. 381.
[947] Select Charters, 97. “Similiter et homines baronum meorum justa et legitima relevatione relevabunt terras suas de dominis suis…. Et præcipio quod barones mei similiter se contineant erga filios et filias vel uxores hominum suorum.”
[949] Select Charters, 97. “Omnia placita et omnia debita quæ fratri meo debebantur condono, exceptis rectis firmis meis et exceptis illis quæ pacta erant pro aliorum hæreditatibus vel pro eis rebus quæ justius aliis contingebant.”
[950] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 429, 821. Eadmer says emphatically in the Preface to the Historia Novorum; “Ex eo quippe quo Willelmus Normanniæ comes terram illam [Angliam] debellando sibi subegit, nemo in ea episcopus vel abbas ante Anselmum factus est qui non primo fuerit homo regis, ac de manu illius episcopatus vel abbatiæ investituram per dationem virgæ pastoralis suscepit.” He excepts the bishops of Rochester, who received investiture from the Archbishop of Canterbury, their lord as well as their metropolitan.
A distinct witness to the antiquity of the royal rights in England is borne by William of Malmesbury (v. 417), where he is speaking of the controversy in Henry the First’s time. The King refused to yield to the new claims of the Pope, “non elationis ambitu, sed procerum et maxime comitis de Mellento instinctu, qui, in hoc negotio magis antiqua consuetudine quam recti tenore rationem reverberans allegabat multum regiæ majestati diminui, si omittens morem antecessorum, non investiret electum per baculum et annulum.”
Another remarkable witness is given by one of the continuators of Sigebert (Sigeberti Auctarium Ursicampinum, Pertz, vi. 471). He records the death of Lanfranc under a wrong year, 1097, and adds; “Anselmus abbas Beccensis, pro sua sanctitate et doctrina non solum in Normannia, sed etiam in Anglia jam celeberrimus, successit in præsulatu. Qui licet a rege Willelmo et principibus terre totiusque ecclesiæ conventu susceptus honorifice fuisset, multas tamen molestias et tribulationes postmodum sub ipso rege passus est pro statu ecclesiæ corrigendo. Nam reges Angliæ hanc injustam legem jam diu tenuerant, ut electos ecclesiæ præsules ipsi per virgam pastoralem ecclesiis investirent.”
This is of course written by the lights of Henry the First’s reign, as Anselm never objected to the royal investiture in the time of Rufus.
[951] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 588.
[952] Ib. p. 590.
[953] See N. C. vol. i. pp. 93, 601.
[954] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 372.
[955] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 37.
[956] See Appendix W.
[957] This comes in the great passage under 1100; “Godes cyrcean he nyðerade, and þa bisceoprices and abbotrices þe þa ealdras on his dagan feollan, ealle he hi oððe wið feo gesealde, oððe on his agenre hand heold and to gafle gesette.”
[958] See the passage quoted from Eadmer in Appendix W.
[959] See Appendix W.
[960] See N. C. vol. i. pp. 505, 527; vol. ii. p. 69.
[961] See Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 299. We have come across a good many cases which illustrate the difficulty of getting back church lands, even when they had been granted away only for a season. See N. C. vol. ii. p. 565; vol. iv. p. 803.
[962] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 617.
[963] See Appendix W.
[965] Ann. Wint. 1097. “Radulfus xvi. ecclesias carentes pastoribus sub tutela sua habebat, episcopatus, et abbatias, quas ad extremam paupertatem perduxit. Ecclesiæ quibus pastores præerant, dabant singulis annis regi ccc. vel cccc. marcas, aliæ plus, aliæ vero minus. In tanta erant tam ordinati miseria quam laici, quod tædebat eos vitæ eorum.” The annalist had said a little earlier (1092), in nearly the same words, “Prædictus Radulphus, vir quo in malo nemo subtilior, ecclesias sibi commissas exspoliavit bonis omnibus, et divites simul et pauperes [see p. 341] ad tantam deduxit inopiam, ut mallent mori quam sub ejus vivere dominatu.”
[966] See Appendix W.
[967] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 383, 385, 481.
[968] Ann. Wint. 1092. “Odo abbas abbatiam dimisit, nolens eam de rege more sæcularium tenere.” Here is a distinct protest against the new tenure.
[969] Ib. 1100. “Odoni reddidit [Henricus] abbatiam Certesiæ.”
[970] Chron. Petrib. 1100.
[971] Take two cases at random with a great interval between them, the vacancy of the see of Lincoln under Henry the Second, and that of Oxford, which one might have thought hardly worth keeping vacant, under Elizabeth. Hugh Curwin (see Godwin, 405) died in 1568, and his successor John Underhill was not appointed till 1589.
[972] Orderic (764 A) gives a picture of the kind of men who became bishops under this system; “Sic utique capellani regis et amici præsulatus Angliæ adepti sunt, et nonnulli ex ipsis præposituras ad opprimendos inopes, sibique augendas opes nihilominus tenuerunt…. Plerumque leves et indocti eliguntur ad regimen ecclesiæ tenendum, non pro sanctitate vitæ vel ecclesiasticorum eruditione dogmatum liberaliumve peritia litterarum, sed nobilium pro gratia parentum et potentum favore amicorum.”
[973] See N. C. vol. v. p. 224.
[974] Ib.
[975] See Stubbs, Const. Hist. vol. iii. pp. 318, 319. He gives amongst the reasons for the difference; “The abbots were not so influential as the bishops in public affairs, nor was the post equally desirable as the reward for public service; with a very few exceptions the abbacies were much poorer than the bishoprics, and involved a much more steady attention to local duties, which would prevent attendance at court.”
[976] This story has no better authority than that of the Hyde writer (299); still it is, to say the least, remarkable that it should be told of William Rufus. But there is an element of fun in the tale, and the Red King may for once have preferred a joke to a bribe. The description of the three monks at all events is good; “Cum coram rege astarent pariter, et uno plura promittente, alius pluriora promitteret, rex sagaciter cuncta perscrutans, tacentem monachum tertium quid quæsivit, ille se nil omnino promittere aut dare respondit, sed ad hoc tantum venisse ut abbatem suum cum honore suscipiendo domum deduceret.”
[977] See Stephens, Memorials of Chichester, p. 47.
[978] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 666.
[979] On the chronology, see Appendix X.
[980] I have already sketched his career, N. C. vol. iv. p. 420.
[981] So says Bartholomew Cotton, in his History of the Norwich Bishops; Hist. Angl., ed. Luard, p. 389; “Hic prius fuit prior Fiscanni, postea abbas Ramesseye, et pater suus Robertus abbas Wintoniæ. Hic Herbertus in pago Oxymensi natus, Fiscanni monachus, post ejusdem loci prioratum strenue administratum, translatus in Angliam a rege Willelmo, qui secundus ex Normannis obtinuit imperium, Ramesseye abbatis jure prælatus est.”
[982] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 36, 747.
[983] See Appendix X.
[984] See Appendix X.
[985] Ann. Wint. 1088. “Radulfo abbate Wintoniæ defuncto, commisit rex abbatiam Radulfo Passeflabere capellano suo.”
[986] See Appendix X.
[987] See Appendix X.
[988] Mon. Angl. ii. 431.
[989] See Appendix X.
[990] “Latenter,” says the extract from Florence quoted in Appendix X.
[991] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 437. So in Eadmer, Vit. Ans. ii. 3. 23. William Rufus says, “Se illum [Urbanum] pro papa non tenere, nec suæ consuetudinis esse, ut absque sua electione alicui liceret in regno suo papam nominare.”
[992] See N. C. vol. ii. pp. 118, 464; vol. iv. p. 354.
[993] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 376, 820.
[995] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 661, 662.
[996] In the poem on the captivity of Ælfheah in the Chronicles, 1011, he is
[997] Cf. Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 211 et seqq. with 245.
[998] So we read of Henry the First in Florence, 1102; “Duos de clericis duobus episcopatibus investivit, Rogerium videlicet cancellarium episcopatu Saresbyriensi, et Rogerium larderarium suum pontificatu Herefordensi.”
[999] See N. C. vol. v. p. 662, and Contemporary Review, 1878, pp. 493, 496.
[1001] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 372.
[1002] We shall come to this again. This state of feeling is implied in Eadmer’s whole description of the time immediately before Anselm’s appointment.
[1003] We have seen even under the reign of the Confessor (see N. C. vol. ii. p. 69, and above, p. 348) a notion afloat that the archbishopric of Canterbury was to be had by bribery; but it was to be bribery carried on in some very underhand way, not in the form of open gifts either to King Eadward or to Earl Godwine. The appointment of Stigand (see N. C. vol. ii. p. 347) might be said to be the reward of temporal services; but they were services done to the whole nation, and the reward was bestowed by the nation itself.
[1004] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 69. Cf. Appendix I.
[1006] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 436.
[1007] Eadmer, Vit. Ans. ii. 3. 23. The King and his courtiers, “quid dicerent non habentes, eum in regem blasphemare uno strepitu conclamavere, quandoquidem ausus erat in regno ejus, nisi eo concedente, quidquam vel Deo ascribere.”
[1008] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 16. “Et adjecit, Sed per sanctum vultum de Luca (sic enim jurare consueverat) [see Appendix G] nec ipse hoc tempore nec alius quis archiepiscopus erit, me excepto.”
[1009] The action of Flambard in the matter comes out most strongly in the Winchester Annals, 1089, where a motive is assigned for Flambard’s zeal; “Hoc anno commisit rex Radulfo Passefiabere archiepiscopatum Cantuariæ, defuncto Lanfranco. Ipse autem regi quicquid inde aliquo modo lucrari poterat, ut de ejus cogitaret promotione, donavit.” But he had to wait eight years for his reward.
[1010] I refer to the well-known outburst of William of Malmesbury, iv. 314, some passages of which I have quoted in Appendix G.
[1011] Will. Malms. iv. 314. “Nullus dives nisi nummularius, nullus clericus nisi causidicus, nullus presbyter nisi (ut verbo parum Latino utar) firmarius.”
[1012] Of the birthplace of Anselm and its buildings, some of which must have been fresh in his childhood, I attempted a little picture in my Historical and Architectural Sketches. The nature of the country is brought out with all clearness by Dean Church, Anselm, p. 8. Before him it had stirred up the local patriotism of M. Croset-Mouchet to the best things in his book.
[1013] I must venture to admire, though the poet has forsaken the natural Saturnian of Nævius and Walter Map for the foreign metre of Homer, the lines in which one of the biographers of Saint Hugh (Metrical Life, Dimock, p. 2) describes the country of his hero;
[1014] Eadmer (Vit. Ans. i. 1. 1.) carefully marks the geography of Aosta. It is “Augusta civitas, confinis Burgundiæ et Langobardiæ.” I have collected some passages on this head in Historical Geography, p. 278. The French writers De Rémusat (Saint Anselme, 21), Charma (4), and specially M. Croset-Mouchet (55), as a neighbour, seem to have caught the Burgundian birth of Anselm better than the English. Yet Charma, who knows that Aosta was Burgundian, calls Anselm an Italian, perhaps on account of the Lombard birth of his father.
[1015] M. Croset-Mouchet (57) is very anxious to connect Anselm’s mother with the house of the Counts of Savoy. He gives a genealogical table at the end of his book, where the pedigree of Ermenberga is traced up to Ardoin the Third, Count of Turin and Marquess in Italy. He seems however to be not very certain about the matter, and it does not greatly affect Anselm’s career either at Bec or at Canterbury.
[1016] Pope Urban (Hist. Nov. 45) counsels Anselm to avoid the unhealthy season at Rome, “quia urbis istius aër multis et maxime peregrinæ regionis hominibus nimis est insalubris.” Later in the story (Hist. Nov. 72), Ivo of Chartres gives him a like piece of advice about Italy generally; “Accepit ab Ivone et a multis non spernendi consilii viris, satius fore cœptum iter in aliud tempus differendum, quam Italicis ardoribus ea se tempestate cum suis tradere cruciandum. Nimis etenim fervor æstatis ita ubique, sed maxime, ut ferebatur, in Italia, tunc temporis quæque torrebat, ut incolis vix tolerabilis, peregrinis vero gravis et importabilis.” The difference of air between Aosta and Rome or Italy generally does not depend upon the boundaries of kingdoms; but here Anselm is distinctly reckoned as a “peregrinus homo” in Italy no less than Eadmer or Ivo or Pope Urban himself.
[1017] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 441.
[1018] See above, p. 49, and N. C. vol. iv. p. 579.
[1019] Will. Malms. iv. 315. “Simul et supersedendum est in historia, quam reverendissimi Edmeri præoccupavit facundia.”
[1020] I feel towards Dean Church almost as William of Malmesbury felt towards Eadmer. But he of course looks at Anselm from a point of view somewhat different from mine. And he had not been led to notice that earlier action of William of Saint-Calais which from my point of view is all-important for the story of Anselm.
[1021] This beautiful story is told by Eadmer at the very beginning of the Life, i. 1. 2.
[1022] Eadmer, Vit. Ans. i. 1. 3. “Ille in suo proposito perstans oravit Deum, quatenus infirmari mereretur, ut vel sic ad monachicum quem desiderabat ordinem susciperetur.”
[1023] Will. Malms. Vita Wlst. 245. See N. C. vol. ii. p. 470. The confession of Anselm in this matter comes out in his sixteenth Meditation, p. 793 of Migne’s edition. The passage seems to imply more serious offences than would have been guessed from the more general words of Eadmer, i. 1. 4. The meditation is addressed to a sister. If this means his own sister Richeza or Richera, it must have been before her marriage with Burgundius. See his Epistles, iii. 43.
[1024] See William Fitz-Stephen, iii. 21, Robertson, and the remarkable story in William of Canterbury, i. 5, Robertson.
[1025] Vit. Ans. i. 1. 45. See N. C. vol. ii. p. 228.
[1026] Vit. Ans. i. 1. 6. He is made to say; “Ecce, inquit, monachus fiam. Sed ubi? Si Cluniaci vel Becci, totum tempus quod in discendis litteris posui, perdidi. Nam et Cluniaci districtio ordinis, et Becci supereminens prudentia Lanfranci, qui illic monachus est, me [al. mihi] aut nulli prodesse, aut nihil valere comprobabit. Itaque in tali loco perficiam quod dispono, in quo et scire meum possim ostendere, et multis prodesse.”
[1027] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 110. His election to the priorship is recorded in the Life, i. 2. 9. There is no mention of any such dislike to the promotion on Anselm’s part as is recorded at his later election as abbot. The whole account of Anselm’s monastic life, as given by Eadmer and followed by his modern biographers, is of the deepest interest. I have noticed only a few special points here and there.
[1028] See the story in the Life, i. 4. 30.
[1029] Ib. i. 4. 35. His name is given as Cadulus.
[1030] Eadmer, Vit. Ans. i. 36. The scene between the monks and the abbot-elect, the mutual prayers and prostrations, are very like to the later scene when he is named archbishop at Gloucester. The command of the Archbishop of Rouen comes out emphatically; “Vicit quoque et multo maxime vicit præceptum, quod, ut supra retulimus, ei fuerat ab archiepiscopo Maurilio per obedientiam injunctum, videlicet, ut, si major prælatio quam illius prioratus exstiterat ipsi aliquando injungeretur, nullatenus eam suscipere recusaret.”
[1031] Ord. Vit. 530 B. “De hospitalitate Beccensium sufficienter eloqui nequeo. Interrogati Burgundiones et Hispani, aliique de longe seu de prope adventantes respondeant: et quanta benignitate ab eis suscepti fuerint, sine fraude proferant, eosque in similibus imitari sine fictione satagant. Janua Beccensium patet omni viatori, eorumque panis nulli denegatur charitative petenti.”
[1032] Ib. A. “Fama sapientiæ hujus didascoli per totam Latinitatem divulgata est, et nectare bonæ opinionis ejus occidentalis Ecclesia nobiliter debriata est.”
[1033] See Appendix Y.
[1034] See Appendix Y.
[1035] See Appendix Y.
[1036] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 366.
[1037] There is something amusing in the picture of the two in the Life of Gundulf, Anglia Sacra, ii. 275. “Anselmus, quia in scripturis eruditior erat, frequentior loquebatur. Gundulfus vero, quia in lacrimis profusior erat, magis fletibus rigabatur. Loquebatur ille; plorabat iste. Ille plantabat; iste rigabat. Divina ille proferebat eloquia; profunda iste trahebat suspiria. Christi vices ille, iste gerebat Mariæ.” There are not a few letters of Anselm addressed to Gundulf. See Appendix Y.
[1038] Among these was one of the men named Osbern—there would seem to be more than one—who play a part in the life of Anselm. There is the Osbern mentioned in the Life, i. 2. 13, 14, as first the bitter enemy and then the chosen friend of Anselm. He seems to live and die at Bec, and after his death he appears to Anselm and tells him how the old serpent thrice rose up against him, but the Lord’s bearward, “ursarius Domini Dei” (comp. N. C. vol. ii. p. 26), saves him. Then there is the Osbern mentioned in the Letters, i. 57, 58. This last Osbern is demanded by Lanfranc for his monastery at Canterbury (“domnus Osbernus quem ad se reduci auctoritas vestra jubet”), and he is sent to Prior Henry at Christ Church with a letter of recommendation from Anselm. In this are the words, “domnus Osbernus vester, qui ad vos redit, pristinæ vitæ perversitatam sponte accusat et execratur.” This and a good deal more would exactly suit the Osbern of the Life, yet it is hardly possible that they can be the same. But this second Osbern may be the same as the one who writes the most remarkable letter to Anselm (iii. 2), on which see Appendix Y. Osbern, Osbiorn, is one of those names which are both English—or at least Danish—and Norman. That the second Osbern at least was English seems clear from Epp. i. 60, 65, where we hear of “domnus Hulwardus [Wulfward] Anglus, consobrinus domni Osberni.” Did Lanfranc claim all English monks anywhere?
[1039] Domesday, 69 b. “Totum manerium valet xii. libras; valebat xv. libras vivente Mathilde regina, quæ dedit eidem ecclesiæ.” There were six hides and a half in demesne, and one hide held by the church of the place.
[1040] Domesday, 159 b. “Valuit xl. solidos; modo lx. solidos. Hæc terra nunquam geldum reddidit.” This exceptional privilege, designed or casual, might become a ground of disputes.
[1041] Domesday, 34 b. “Sancta Maria de Bech tenet de dono Ricardi Totinges…. T. R. E. et modo val. c. solidos; cum recepit xx. solidos.” On these possessions of Bec in England during the reign of the Conqueror, see N. C. vol. iv. p. 440.
[1042] See Mon. Angl. vii. 1052. An earlier church of secular canons was changed by Gilbert of Clare into a cell of Bec. It was removed to Stoke in 1124, made denizen in 1395, and restored to seculars in 1415. See Mon. Angl. vi. 1415. Weedon Beck in Northamptonshire is also said to have had a cell of Bec, founded shortly after the Conquest. Weedon appears three times in Domesday, 223, 224 b, 227; but there is no mention of Bec. Ernulf of Hesdin is also said to have founded a cell to Bec at Ruislip in Middlesex, Mon. Angl. vii. 1050. Ruislip appears in Domesday, 129 b, as a possession of Ernulf, but there is no mention of Bec. The chief dependency of Bec in England, Oakburn in Wiltshire, does not claim an earlier date or founder than Matilda of Wallingford, daughter of Robert of Oily, in 1149.
[1043] Eadmer, Vit. Ans. i. 5. 37. “Abominabile quippe judicabat, si quidvis lucri assequeretur ex eo quod alius contra moderamina juris quavis astutia perdere posset. Unde neminem in placitis patiebatur a suis aliqua fraude circumveniri, observans ne cui faceret quod sibi fieri nollet.” Compare the cunning lawyers whom Abbot Adelelm found among the monks of Abingdon, N. C. vol. iv. p. 476.
[1044] Ib. “Delegatis monasterii causis curæ ac sollicitudini fratrum, de quorum vita et strenuitate certus erat.”
[1045] Ib. 41. “Cum igitur Anselmus, transito mari, Cantuariam veniret, pro sua reverentia et omnibus nota sanctitate, honorifice a conventu ecclesiæ Christi in ipsa civitate sitæ susceptus est.” His discourse to the monks is given at great length.
[1046] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 441.
[1047] Vit. Ans. i. 5. 41. “Accepta fraternitate monachorum, factus est inter eos unus ex eis. Degens per dies aliquot inter eos et quotidie, aut in capitulo, aut in claustro, mira quædam et illis adhuc temporibus insolita de vita et moribus monachorum coram eis rationabili facundia disserens.”
[1048] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 361.
[1049] Vit. Ans. u. s. “Privatim quoque aliis horis agebat, cum his qui profundioris ingenii erant, profundas eis de divinis nec non sæcularibus libris quæstiones proponens, propositasque exponens.”
[1050] Ib. “Quo tempore et ego ad sanctitatis ejus notitiam pervenire merui, ac, pro modulo parvitatis meæ, beata illius familiaritate utpote adolescens, qui tunc eram, non parum potiri.”
[1051] Ib. 6. 45. “Vadens et ad diversa monasteria monachorum, canonicorum, sanctimonialium, nec non ad curias quorumque nobilium, prout eum ratio ducebat, perveniens, lætissime suscipiebatur, et suscepto quæque charitatis obsequia gratissime ministrabantur.”
[1052] Ib. “Solito more cunctis se jucundum et affabilem exhibebat, moresque singulorum in quantum sine peccato poterat, in se suscipiebat.” Eadmer draws out the apostolic rule at some length, and gives specimens of Anselm’s discourses to these different classes.
[1053] Vit. Ans. i. 6. 47. “Non eo, ut aliis mos est, docendi modo exercebat, sed longe aliter singula quæque sub vulgaribus et notis exemplis proponens, solidæque rationis testimonio fulciens, ac remota omni ambiguitate, in mentibus auditorum deponens.”
[1054] Ib. “Lætabatur ergo quisquis illius colloquio uti poterat, quoniam in eo quodcumque petebatur divinum consilium in promptu erat.” He had said yet more strongly, “Corda omnium miro modo in amorem ejus vertebantur, et ad eum audiendum famelica aviditate replebantur.”
[1055] Ib. 48. He became “pro sua excellenti fama totius Angliæ partibus notus, ac pro reverenda sanctitate charus cunctis effectus.” And directly after, “Familiaris ergo ei dehinc Anglia facta est, et prout diversitas causarum ferebat, ab eo frequentata.”
[1056] No strictly physical miracle is alleged to have been wrought by Anselm’s own hands; but several stories are told by Eadmer in the sixth chapter of the first book of the Life, in which cures were believed to be done by water in which he had washed, and the like. In another class of stories in the third chapter, the bodily wants of Anselm or his friends are supplied in an unexpected way, but without any physical miracle. Thus the well-known Walter Tirel, entertaining Anselm, makes excuses for the lack of fish. The saint announces that a fine sturgeon is on the road, and it presently comes.
Eadmer’s book of the Miracles of Anselm, which forms No. xvi. in Dr. Liebermann’s collection, consists of wonders of the usual kind at or after Anselm’s death.
[1057] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 704, 713.
[1058] Eadmer, Vit. Ans. i. 6. 47. “Non fuit comes in Anglia seu comitissa, vel ulla persona potens, quæ non judicaret se sua coram Deo merita perdidisse, si contingeret se Anselmo abbati Beccensi gratiam cujusvis officii tunc temporis non exhibuisse.”
[1059] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 491. So Hist. Nov. 15, “Certe amicus meus familiaris ab antiquo comes Cestrensis Hugo fuit.”
[1060] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 14. “Jam enim, quodam quasi præsagio mentes quorundam tangebantur, et licet clanculo, nonnulli adinvicem loquebantur, eum, si Angliam iret, archiepiscopum Cantuariensem fore.” William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 78), “Erat tamen spes nonnulla his malis posse imponi finem, si quando Cantuariensem archiepiscopum viderent, qui esset os omnium, vexillifer prævius, umbo publicus. Spargebaturque in vulgus rumor, haud equidem sine mente et numine Dei, ut arbitror, Anselmum fore archiepiscopum, virum penitus sanctum, anxie doctum, felicem futuram hujus hominis benedictionibus Angliam.”
[1061] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 312, 491. We might have guessed from Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 14) that it is Saint Werburh’s of which he is speaking, when he says, “Hugo comes Cestrensis volens in sua quadam ecclesia monachorum abbatiam instituere, missis Beccum nuntiis, rogavit abbatem Anselmum Angliam venire, locum inspicere, eumque per monachos suos regulari conversatione informare.” But it is William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 78) who distinctly mentions Chester. Anselm comes to England, “ut abbatiam apud Cestrum firmaret, quam ejusdem civitatis comes Hugo monachis potissimum Beccensibus implere volebat.”
[1062] He had to dwell among “belluini cœtus.” See N. C. vol. iv. p. 491, and above, p. 127.
[1063] Vit. Ans. ii. 1. 1. “Invitatus, imo districta interpellatione adjuratus, ab Hugone Cestrensi comite, multisque aliis Anglorum regni principibus, qui eum animarum suarum medicum et advocatum elegerant.”
[1064] Ib. “Insuper ecclesiæ suæ prece atque præcepto pro communi utilitate coactus.”
[1065] Hist. Nov. 14. “Quia hoc [his purpose not to accept the archbishopric] non omnes intelligebant (providendo bona, non tantum coram Deo, sed etiam coram omnibus hominibus), Angliam intrare noluit, ne se hujus rei gratia intrasse quisquam suspicaretur.”
[1066] Ib. 15. “Si timor suscipiendi archiepiscopatus ne veniat eum detinet, fateor, inquit, in fide mea, quoniam id, quod rumor inde jactet, nihil est.”
[1067] Hist. Nov. 15. “Tertio mandat illi hæc, si non veneris, revera noveris, quia nunquam in vita æterna in tanta requie eris quin perpetuo doleas te ad me non venisse.” There is something very striking in the frequent mixture of strong faith with evil practice in men of Earl Hugh’s stamp. But his cleaving to such a man as Anselm is at least more enlightened than the fetish-worship of Lewis the Eleventh. Cf. Church, Anselm, 173.
[1068] Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 15) gives his reflexions at some length. They are summed up in the words of William of Malmesbury, Gest. Pont. 78; “Cæterum quid homines loquerentur ipsi viderent, cum quantum sua interesset, eorum obloquia, honesta diu conversatione vitasset.” He adds, “Simul et jam rumor de ejus archiepiscopatu, minas olim intentans, longinquitate temporis detepuerat.”
[1069] Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 79. “Ut prædiorum suorum vectigalia lenito intercessionibus suis rege levigaret.”
[1070] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 15. Several letters of Anselm are addressed to her. See Appendix Y.
[1071] Hist. Nov. 15. “Mandatum est illi a Beccensibus ne, si peccato inobedientiæ notari nollet, ultra monasterium repeteret, donec transito mari, suis in Anglia rebus subveniret.”
[1072] “Citato gressu, ad comitem venit,” says Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 15), where he leaves out the interview with the King which he describes in the Life.
[1073] Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 79. “Hugo … quanquam in supremis positus, omnium in confessione supercilium recusans, Anselmum expetebat; veteris amicitiæ pignus apud eum depositurus si moreretur.”
[1074] Vit. Ans. ii. 1. 1. “Cum quasi ex præsagio futurorum multi et monachi et laici conclamarent illum archiepiscopum fore, summo mane a loco decessit, nec ullo pacto acquiescere petentibus, ut ibi festum celebraret, voluit.”
[1075] Vit. Ans. ii. 1. 1. “Rex ipse solio exsilit, et ad ostium domus viro gaudens occurrit, ac in oscula ruens per dexteram eum ad sedem suam perducit.”
[1076] Ib. “Regem de his quæ fama de eo ferebat Anselmus arguere cœpit, nec quidquam eorum quæ illi dicenda esse sciebat, silentio pressit. Pene etenim totius regni homines omnes talia quotidie nunc clam nunc palam de eo dicebant, qualia regiam dignitatem nequaquam decebant.”
[1077] The language of Eadmer quoted in the last note is quite vague. In William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 79) we get one of those remarkable cases in which he first wrote something strong, and then altered it. He seems (see his editor’s note) to have first written, “Data secreti copia, flagitiorum obscœnitatem quibus regem accusabat fama incunctanter aperuit.” He then struck out the strong words in Italics and changed them to the vague “cuncta.”
[1078] Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 79. “Famæ licentiæ non se posse obviare dictitans; ceterum sanctum virum non debere illa credere. Neque enim procaciore responso exsufflare hominem tunc volebat, sciens quanti eum pater et mater pendere soliti essent dum adviverent.”
[1079] Eadmer, in the passage quoted above, distinctly implies that nothing was said about the affairs of Bec, and adds, “Finito colloquio divisi ab invicem sunt, et de ecclesiæ suæ negotiis ea vice ab Anselmo nihil actum est.” William of Malmesbury, on the other hand, describes Anselm as speaking of them at this interview (“necessitates quoque suas modeste allegans”), and William as settling them as Anselm wished (“ille omnia negotia Beccensis ecclesiæ ad arbitrium rectoris componens”). I should infer from this, and from the words “ea vice” in Eadmer, that things were settled in the end as the monks of Bec wished, but not at this interview. William of Malmesbury is never very strict as to chronological order.
[1080] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 15. “Post hæc in Normanniam regredi volens, negata a rege licentia, copiam id agendi habere non potuit.” It is not easy, as Dean Church remarks (Anselm, 175), to see why the King’s leave was needed for the subject of another prince to go back to his own country.
[1081] Ib. “Sic hujus temporis spatium transiit, ut de pontificatu Cantuariensi nihil ad eum vel de eo dictum actumve sit; ipseque sui periculi et antiqui timoris securus effectus fuerit.”
[1082] Eadmer tells the story, with the comment, “quod posteris mirum dictu fortasse videbitur.”
[1083] See N. C. vol. i. p. 435.
[1084] Eadmer, u. s. “Ipse, licet nonnihil exinde indignatus, tamen fieri quod petebatur permisit, dicens quod quidquid ecclesia peteret, ipse sine dubio pro nullo dimitteret quin faceret omne quod vellet.” Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 79. “Respondit ludibundus, risu iram dissimulans; ‘Orate quod vultis; ego faciam quod placebit, quia nullius unquam oratio voluntatem meam labefactabit.’” The oratio directa of William sounds as if it came nearer to the King’s actual words than the oratio obliqua of Eadmer. But we lose much in many of these stories from not having the Red King’s own vigorous French.
[1085] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 13. Anselm’s chief objection was that the making of prayers was a specially episcopal business; “Episcopi, ad quos ista maxime pertinebant, Anselmum super reipsa consuluerunt. Et quod ipse orationis agendæ modum et summam ordinaret, vix optinere suis precibus ab eo potuerant. Episcopis enim præferri in tali statuto ipse abbas fugiebat.”
[1086] Ib. “Institutæ igitur preces sunt per Anglorum ecclesias omnes.”
[1087] See Domesday, 163. The entry of Alvestone comes immediately before the entry of Berkeley.
[1088] This story is told by Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 15, 16) and William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 80). One would like to know the name of this “unus de principibus terræ, cum rege familiariter agens,” who held Anselm in such high esteem. If it had been Earl Hugh, one might expect that Eadmer would have said so.
[1089] Ib. “Nec illum quidem maxime, sicut mea multorumque fert opinio.”
[1090] Ib. “Obtestatus est rex quod manibus ac pedibus plaudens, in amplexum ejus accurreret, si ullam fiduciam haberet se ad illum posse ullatenus aspirare, et adjecit, Sed per sanctum vultum de Luca (sic enim jurare consueverat), nec ipse hoc tempore nec alius quis archiepiscopus erit, me excepto.”
[1091] Ib. “Hæc illum dicentem e vestigio valida infirmitas corripuit, et lecto deposuit, atque indies crescendo ferme usque ad exhalationem spiritus egit.” He mentions Gloucester directly after, but the minute geography comes from Florence (1093); “Rex Willelmus junior, in regia villa quæ vocatur Alwestan vehementi percussus infirmitate, civitatem Glawornam festinanter adiit, ibique per totam quadragesimam languosus jacuit.”
[1092] Here we have the pithy words of the Chronicle; “On þisum geare to þam længtene warð se cyng W. on Gleaweceastre to þam swiðe geseclod, þæt he wæs ofer eall dead gekyd.” So says Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 16); “Omnes totius regni principes coeunt; episcopi, abbates, et quique nobiles, nihil præter mortem ejus præstolantes.”
[1093] The good resolutions of the King come out with all force in the Chronicle; “And on his broke he Gode fela behæsa behét, his agen lif on riht to lædene, and Godes cyrcean griðian and friðian, and næfre má eft wið feo gesyllan, and ealle rihte lage on his þeode to habbene.” The exhortations come out most clearly in Eadmer; Florence seems to attribute them to the King’s lay counsellors; “Cum se putaret cito moriturum, ut ei sui barones suggesserint,” &c.