[1567] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 37. “Rogatus de subventione Christianitatis, nonnumquam solebat respondere se propter hostes quos infestos circumquaque habebat eo intendere non valere.”
[1568] Ib. “Jam tunc illum pace potitum cogitaverat super hac re convenire, et saltem ad consensum alicujus boni fructus exsequendi quibus modis posset attrahendo delinire.”
[1569] Ib. “Quod ille dinoscens, et insuper cuncta regalis curiæ judicia pendere ad nutum regis, nilque in ipsis nisi solum velle illius considerari certissime sciens, indecens æstimavit pro verbi calumnia placitantium more contendere, et veritatis suæ causam curiali judicio, quod nulla lex, nulla æquitas, nulla ratio, muniebat, examinandam introducere.” As I understand this, he does not decline the authority of the court; he simply determines to make no defence, and to leave things to take their course.
How far did the court deserve the character which Eadmer gives of it? At this stage of the constitution, we are met at every step by the difficulty of distinguishing between the greater curia regis, which was in truth the Witenagemót, and the smaller curia regis of the King’s immediate officials and counsellors, the successor of the Theningmannagemót (see N. C. vol. v. pp. 423, 878). Eadmer’s picture would, under Rufus, be true enough of the smaller body. The event at Rockingham had shown that it was not always true of the larger.
[1570] We read directly after (Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 37) what was expected to happen;—“ut culpæ addictus, aut ingentem regi pecuniam penderet, aut ad implorandam misericordiam ejus, caput amplius non levaturus, se totum impenderet.” Anselm was determined to avoid the latter alternative.
[1571] “Causa discidii utique, non ex rei veritate producta, sed ad omnem pro Deo loquendi aditum Anselmo intercludendum malitiose composita.”
[1572] Ib. “Tacuit ergo, nec quicquam nuntio respondit, reputans hoc genus mandati ad ea perturbationum genera pertinere quæ jam olim sæpe sibi recordabatur illata, et ideo hoc solum ut Deus talia sedaret supplici corde precabatur.”
[1573] Ib. “Verebatur ne hæc Dei judicio sibi damno fierent, si quibus modis posset eis obviare non intenderet.”
[1574] Ib. “Sed obviare sibi impossibile videbat, quod totius regni principem aut ea facere aut eis favere perspicuum erat. Visum itaque sibi est auctoritatem et sententiam apostolicæ sedis super his oportere inquiri.” Yet that he did design a last effort with the King, before he said anything about the Pope, is plain by his actually attempting it.
[1575] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 37. “Cum igitur in Pentecoste, festivitatis gratia, regiæ curiæ se præsentasset, et modo inter prandendum, modo alias quemadmodum opportunitas se offerebat, statum animi regalis quis erga colendam æquitatem esset studiose perquisisset, eumque qui olim fuerat omnimodo reperisset, nihil spei de futura ipsius emendatione in eo ultra remansit.”
[1576] Ib. “Peractis igitur festivioribus diebus, diversorum negotiorum causæ in medium duci ex more cœperunt.” This notice is important as showing us the order in which business was done in these assemblies.
[1577] Ib. “Ut culpæ addictus aut ingentem regi pecuniam penderet, aut ad implorandam misericordiam, ejus caput amplius non levaturus, se totum impenderet.”
[1578] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 37. “Accersitis ad se quos volebat de principibus regis, mandavit per eos regi se summa necessitate constrictum velle, per licentiam ipsius, Romam ire.”
[1579] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 38. “Potestas in manu sua est; dicit quod sibi placet. At si modo non vult concedere, concedet forsitan alia vice. Ego preces multiplicabo.”
[1580] Ib. “Insequenti mense Augusto cum de statu regni acturus rex episcopos, abbates, et quosque regni proceres, in unum præcepti sui sanctione egisset.”
[1581] Anselm made his petition, “dispositis his quæ adunationis illorum causæ fuerant, dum quisque in sua repedare sategisset.”
[1582] Ammianus, xxi. 18.
[1583] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 38. “Conturbat me, et intelligentem non concedendum fore quod postulat, sua graviter importunitate fatigat; quapropter jubeo ut amplius ab hujusmodi precibus cesset, et qui me jam sæpe vexavit, prout judicabitur mihi emendet.”
[1584] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 38. “Si iverit, pro certo noverit quod totum archiepiscopatum in dominium meum redigam, nec ilium pro archiepiscopo ultra recipiam.”
[1585] Ib. “Orta est ex his quædam magna tempestas diversis diversæ parti acclamantibus.”
[1586] Ib. “Quidam permoti suaserunt in crastinum rem differri, sperantes eam alio modo sedari.”
[1587] Ib. “Indubitanter sciens quod causa meæ salutis, causa sanctæ Christianitatis, et vere causa sui honoris ac profectus, si credere velit, ire dispono.”
[1588] Eadmer Hist. Nov. 38. “In hoc scilicet, ut, spreto tanti pontificatus honore simul et utilitate, Romam petas, non leve est credere quod stabilis maneas.”
[1589] Ib. “Si ita fideliter et districte vultis in mea parte considerare atque tueri rectitudinem et justitiam Dei, sicut in parte alterius perpenditis atque tuemini jura et usus mortalis hominis.”
[1590] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 38. “Audiam sequarque consilium quod mihi inde vestra fida Deo industria dabit.”
[1591] Ib. 39. “Domine pater, scimus te virum religiosum esse ac sanctum, et in cælis conversationem tuam. Nos autem, impediti consanguineis nostris quos sustentamus et multiplicibus sæculi rebus quas amamus, fatemur, ad sublimitatem vitæ tuæ surgere nequimus, nec huic mundo tecum illudere.”
[1592] Ib. “Si volueris ad nos usque descendere, et qua incedimus via nobiscum pergere.”
[1593] Ib. “Si te ad Deum solummodo quemadmodum cœpisti tenere delegeris solus.”
[1594] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 38. “Bene dixistis, Ite ergo ad dominum vestrum, ergo me tenebo ad Deum.”
[1595] Ib. “Unoquoque nostrum qui admodum pauci cum eo remansimus ad imperium illius singulatim sedente, et Deum pro digestione ipsius negotii interpellante.” There is something strange in this last word.
[1596] We here get a climax; “Sæpe diversis eum querelis exagitasti, exacerbasti, cruciasti.”
[1597] The wording is remarkable and subtle; “Cum tandem post placitum quod totius regni adunatione contra te apud Rockingeham habitum est, eum tibi sicut dominum tuum reconciliari sapienter peteres; et, adjutus meritis et precibus plurimorum pro te studiose intervenientium, petitioni tuæ effectum obtineres.”
[1599] Hist. Nov. 39. “Quibus opem credulus factus sperabat se de cætero quietum fore.”
[1600] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 39. “Hanc pollicitationem, hanc fidem, en tu patenter egrederis, dum Romam, non expectata licentia ejus, te iturum minaris.”
[1601] Ib. “Tunc te ad judicium curiæ suæ præcepit sibi emendare, quod de re in qua non eras certus te perseveraturum, ausus fuisti eum totiens inquietare.”
[1602] Ib. “Dextram illius ex more assedit.” Here is the distinct mention of a custom which we have come across before.
[1603] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 39. “Scio me spopondisse consuetudines tuas, ipsas videlicet quas per rectitudinem et secundum Deum in regno tuo possides, me secundum Deum servaturum.”
[1604] Ib. “Cum rex et principes sui cæca mente objicerent, ac jurisjurandi interjectione firmarent, nec Dei nec rectitudinis in ipsa sponsione ullam mentionem factam fuisse.”
[1605] Ib. 40. “Cum ad hæc illi summurmurantes contra virum capita moverent, nec tamen quid certi viva voce proferrent.”
[1606] Ib. “Cum fides quæ fit homini per fidem Dei roboretur, liquet quod eadem fides, si quando contraria fidei Dei admittit, enervatur.”
[1607] Hist. Nov. 40. “Tunc rex et comes de Mellento Robertus nomine, interrumpentes verba ejus, ‘O, O, dixerunt, prædicatio est quod dicit, prædicatio est: non rei de qua agitur ulla quæ recipienda sit a prudentibus ratio.’”
[1608] Ib. “Ipse inter ora perstrepentium, demisso vultu, mitis sedebat, et clamores eorum quasi surda aure despiciebat. Fatigatis autem eis a proprio strepitu, sedatoque tumultu, Anselmus ad verba sua remeat.”
[1609] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 40. “His verbis præfatus comes indignando suburgens, ait, Eia, eia, Petro et papæ te præsentabis, et nos equidem non transibit quod scimus.” I can only guess at the meaning of these last words.
[1610] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 40. “Ecce ibis. Veruntamen scias dominum nostrum pati nolle te exeuntem quicquam de suis tecum ferre.”
[1612] Hist. Nov. 40. “In istis princeps pudore suffusus, dictum suum non ita intellexisse se respondit.”
[1613] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 41. “Mox ille surgens, levata dextra signum sanctæ crucis super regem ad hoc caput humiliantem edidit, et abscessit, viri alacritatem rege cum suis admirante.”
[1614] “Ubi sedes pontificalis, ubi totius regni caput est atque primatus,” Eadmer takes care to add.
[1615] For the discourse we have to go to the Life, ii. 3. 30. It contains the remarkable passage which I referred to in N. C. vol. iv. p. 52.
[1616] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 41. “In qua mora idem Willielmus, cum patre intrans et exiens et in mensa illius quotidie comedens, nihil de causa pro qua missus fuerat agere volebat.”
[1617] Ib. “Patrem patriæ, primatem totius Britanniæ, Willielmus ille, quasi fugitivum vel alicujus immanis sceleris reum, in littore detinuit.”
[1618] Ib. “Ingenti plebis multitudine circumstante ac nefarium opus, pro sui novitate, admirando spectante et spectando exsecrante.”
[1619] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 41. “Irrita fieri omnia quæ per ipsum mutata vel statuta fuisse probari poterant, ex quo primo venerat in archiepiscopatum.”
[1620] See N. C. vol. v. p. 772.
[1621] Hist. Nov. 41. “Ut tribulationes quæ factæ sunt in illo post mortem venerandæ memoriæ Lanfranci ante introitum patris Anselmi parvipensæ sunt comparatione tribulationum quæ factæ sunt his diebus.”
[1622] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 359.
[1623] Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 35) describes the new building as “novum opus quod a majori turre in orientem tenditur, quodque ipse pater Anselmus inchoasse dinoscitur.” Its minute history must be studied in Gervase and Willis.
[1624] This was the time when Henry the First broke out into the fit of devout swearing of which I spoke in N. C. vol. v. p. 844; Ann. Osney, 1130; “Rex Henricus ecclesiam Christi Cantuariensis nobiliter dedicari fecit, adeo ut, coruscante luminaribus ecclesia, et singulis altaribus singulis episcopis deputatis, cum simul omnes inciperent canticum ‘Terribilis est locus iste,’ et classicum mirabiliter intonaret, rex illustris, præ lætitia se non capiens, juramento per mortem Domini regio affirmaret vere terribilem esse.”
[1626] “Salvo ordine meo.” See Herbert of Bosham, iii. 24, vol. iii. p. 273, Robertson.
[1627] The Archbishop enters the hall (“aula”), while the King is in “cœnaculo seorsum” (Herbert, iii. 37, vol. iii. p. 305). From pp. 307, 309 it appears that this cœnaculum was simply a solar or upper chamber; “Universis quotquot erant de cœnaculo ad domum inferiorem in qua nos eramus, descendentibus.” William Fitz-Stephen (vol. iii. p. 57) seems to speak of the hall as “camera;” cf. p. 50.
[1629] Will. Fitz-Steph. 58, vol. iii. p. 67. “A comitibus et baronibus suum exigit rex de archiepiscopo judicium. Evocantur quidam vicecomites et secundæ dignitatis barones, antiqui dierum, ut addantur eis et assint judicio.”
[1631] The distinction between the Court of our Lord the King in Parliament and the Court of the Lord High Steward is most clearly brought out in Jardine’s Criminal Trials, i. 229. Lord Macaulay (iv. 153) is less accurate. He speaks of the Court of our Lord the King in Parliament as one form of the Court of the Lord High Steward. But in truth, the Court of our Lord the King in Parliament is simply the Witan sitting for a judicial purpose. The Lords alone sit, because the Commons have never attained to a share in the judicial functions of the Witan. The right to be tried before the Witan thus sitting judicially is naturally confined to those classes of persons who have kept or acquired the right to the personal summons, that is, to the peers.
If it should be objected that this privilege does not now extend to the spiritual peers, the reason is most likely to be found in the fact that for some ages a bishop would not be tried before any temporal court at all. When such trials began again in the sixteenth century, the later notion of peerage had grown up, and those peers whose holding was still strictly official was looked on as in some measure less fully peers than those whose peerage was “hereditary” in the modern sense.
[1632] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 423, 878.
[1634] See N. C. vol. v. p. 145.
[1635] See the decree of the Council, Hist. Nov. 53.
[1636] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 42. We are told that the Duke, “succensus amore pecuniæ quam copiosam illum ferre rumor disperserat, proponit animo eam ipsi auferre.” But there is really nothing in what Odo is said to have done which implies any such bad purpose. Perhaps Eadmer judged him uncharitably.
[1637] See Historical Essays, Third Series, p. 20. On my last visit to Rome (1881) I found the apse of Saint John Lateran destroyed, not by Huns or Turks, but by its own chapter, with the approval, it is said, of its present and late bishops. I believe there is some pretence of enlarging the church, and of replacing the mosaics in a new apse.
[1638] Eadmer, Vit. Ans. ii. 5. 48. “Angli illis temporibus Romam venientes, pedes ejus ad instar pedum Romani pontificis sua oblatione honorare desiderabant. Quibus ille nequaquam acquiescens, in secretiorem domus partem fugiebat, et eos pro tali re nullo patiebatur ad se pacto accedere.”
[1639] Hist. Nov. 49. “Hinc etiam erat quod non facile a quoquam Romæ simpliciter homo vel archiepiscopus, sed quasi proprio nomine sanctus homo vocabatur.”
[1640] Eadmer brings this out with all vividness, Hist. Nov. 49; “Sedebat enim idem pater in ordine cæterorum inter primos concilii patres, et ego ad pedes ejus.” Then the Pope calls him, “Pater et magister Anselme, Anglorum archiepiscope, ubi es?”
[1641] The whole story is charmingly told by Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 50. His picture of himself and his curiosity in the new world which is opened to him is delightful. So is his joy when he sees the cope of which he has so often heard and shows it to Anselm; “Cum, ut dixi, concilio præsens antistitem Beneventanum, cappa reliquis præstante ornatum, viderem, et eam ex his quæ olim audieram optime nossem, non modice lætatus et cappam et verba mihi puero ex inde dicta patri Anselmo ostendi.”
[1642] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 51. Some one, seemingly the Lady herself, requires that he shall swear “super corpus Dominicum et super sanctorum reliquias quas ei proponam jurejurando reliquias de quibus agitur veraciter esse de corpore beati apostoli Bartholomæi, et id remota omni æquivocatione atque sophismate.” The Archbishop was quite ready to swear.
[1643] Ib. “Inter alia mutuæ dilectionis colloquia cœpi de eadem cappa loqui, et unde illam haberet quasi nescius interrogavi.”
[1644] The story is told in the Annales Capituli Cracoviensis (Pertz, xix. 588), 1079, and more briefly in other annals in the same volume.
[1645] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 43.
[1646] Ib. “Ipse rex faciebat quædam quæ facienda non videbantur de ecclesiis, quas post obitum prælatorum aliter quam oporteret tractabat.”
[1647] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 43. “Legem Dei et canonicas et apostolicas auctoritates voluntariis consuetudinibus obrui videbam. De his omnibus cum loquebar, nihil efficiebam, et non tam simplex rectitudo quam voluntariæ consuetudines obtendebantur.”
[1648] He gives among his reasons, “Nec de his placitare poteram; nullus enim aut consilium aut auxilium mihi ad hæc audebat dare.”
[1649] Ib. 45. “Scribit literas Willielmo regi Angliæ, in quibus ut res Anselmi liberas in regno suo faceret, et de suis omnibus illum revestiret, movet, hortatur, imperat.”
[1650] Ib. 51. “Susceptis quidem quoquo modo literis papæ, literas Anselmi nullo voluisse pacto suscipere, imo, cognito illum [nuntium] esse hominem ejus, jurasse per vultum Dei quia, si festine terram suam non exiret, sine retractatione oculos ei erui faceret.”
[1652] Chron. Petrib. 1097. We shall come to his crossing and returning in another chapter.
[1653] Ib. 1099.
[1656] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 45. “Ducit eum [abbas] in villam suam Sclaviam nomine, quæ in montis altitudine sita, sano jugiter aere conversantibus illic habilis exstat.”
[1657] See Historical Essays, Second Series, p. 357, ed. 2; Arnold, Hist. Rome, ii. 365.
[1658] Vita Anselmi, ii. 4. 43.
[1659] We shall come to this in another chapter.
[1660] The reception of Anselm by Duke Roger is described by Eadmer in both his works (Hist. Nov. 46, and in the Life, ii. 5. 45). The plots of William Rufus come from William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 98); “Adeo ut Rogerus dux Apuliæ, apud quem rex Angliæ illum litteris insimulandum curaverat, spretis neniis, longe aliter sententiam suam in viri honorem transferret.”
[1661] There is something rather singular in the picture of the Pope and Anselm dwelling in the camp of the besiegers (Hist. Nov. 46); “Plures exhinc dies in obsidione fecimus, remoti in tentoriis a frequentia et tumultu perstrepentis exercitus…. Sicque donec civitas in deditionem transiit, obsidio illius dominum papam et Anselmum vicinos habuit, ita ut familia illorum magis videretur una quam duæ.” This is one of several passages in which Anselm and others seem to take a state of war for granted. There is no protest, no pleading of any kind, on behalf of the besieged city. There are some remarks of M. de Rémusat (Saint Anselme, p. 362) on this subject, with regard to the correspondence between Henry and Anselm after the battle of Tinchebrai. But in this last case the victory of Henry was surely a gain to humanity. In the Life Eadmer gives some curious details of their life in the camp, and of a remarkable escape of Anselm.
[1662] Eadmer seems to take a certain pleasure in little hits against Urban, which his conduct presently made not wholly undeserved. Thus, in Hist. Nov. 46, he points out how the Pope came to the camp “ingenti sæcularis gloriæ pompa.” So now in the Life (ii. 5. 46) he contrasts the demeanour of Urban with that of Anselm at some length, and ends, “Multi ergo, quos timor prohibebat ad papam accedere, festinabant ad Anselmum venire, amore ducti qui nescit timere. Majestas etenim papæ solos admittebat divites, humanitas Anselmi sine personarum acceptione suscipiebat omnes.”
[1663] Vita, ii. 5. 46. “Et quos omnes? Paganos etiam, ut de Christianis taceam.” Eadmer then goes on to speak at some length of the Saracens brought over by Count Roger, whom he pointedly speaks of as the man of his nephew; “Homo ducis Rogerus, comes de Sicilia.” We read how Anselm received and entertained many of the Mussulmans, and how, when he passed through their camp, “ingens multitudo eorum elevatis ad cælum manibus ei prospera imprecarentur, et osculatis pro ritu suo manibus propriis necne coram eo genibus flexis, pro sua eum benigna largitate grates agendo venerarentur.”
[1664] Vita, ii. 5. 46. “Quorum etiam plurimi, velut comperimus, se libenter ejus doctrinæ instruendos submisissent, ac Christianæ fidei jugo sua per eum colla injecissent, si credulitatem [crudelitatem?] comitis sui per hoc in se sævituram non formidassent. Nam revera nullum eorum pati volebat Christianum impune fieri.” He adds the comment; “Quod qua industria, ut ita dicam, faciebat nihil mea interest; viderit Deus et ipse.”
[1665] Anselm’s motives are set forth at length in Hist. Nov. 46. One reason is that his teaching was so much more listened to on the continent than it was in England. The stories of William’s evil doings are brought in at this point.
[1666] A debate on this head, in rather long speeches between Urban and Anselm, is given in Hist. Nov. 48. The main doctrine stands thus; “Si propter tyrannidem principis, qui nunc ibi dominatur, in terram illam redire non permitteris, jure tamen Christianitatis semper illius archiepiscopus esto, potestatem ligandi atque solvendi super eam dum vixeris obtinens.”
[1667] Ib. “Et insignibus pontificalibus more summi pontificis utens ubicunque fueris.”
[1668] He again describes his whole struggle between the two duties, how he believed that he could reconcile both, how others told him that he could not, and he asks, “Et ego, pater, inter tales quid facerem?”
[1669] Ib. 49. “De ipso rege Anglico suisque et sui similibus qui contra libertatem ecclesiæ Dei se erexerunt.”
[1671] Hist. Nov. 51. “Si causam quæris, hæc est. Quando de terra sua discedere voluit, aperte minatus est se illo discedente totum archiepiscopatum in dominium suum accepturum. Quoniam igitur, nec his minis constrictus, quin exiret omittere noluit, juste se putat fecisse quod fecit et injuria reprehendi.”
[1672] Ib. 52. “Quis unquam audivit talia? pro hoc solo primatem regni suis omnibus spoliavit, quia ne sanctam matrem ecclesiam omnium Romanam visitaret omittere noluit?… Et pro tali responso mirabilis homo huc te fatigasti?”
[1673] Ib. “Certissime noverit se in eodem concilio damnationis sententia puniri quam promeruit.”
[1674] Chron. Petrib. 1123.
[1675] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 52. “Priusquam abeam, tecum secretius agam.”
[1676] Ib. “Prudenter operam dando hos et illos suæ causæ fautores efficere, ac, ut domini sui voluntati satisfaceret, munera quibus ea cordi esse animadvertebat dispertiendo et pollicendo parvi habere. Deductus ergo a sententia Romanus pontifex est.” William of Malmesbury (Gest. Pont. 101) is still more distinct on this head; “Arte qua peritus erat negotium conficiens, singulos ambiendo, muneribus et pollicitationibus, regi terminum ad festum sancti Michahelis obtinuit. Cunctatus est multum ad id concedendum Urbanus, quod luctarentur in ejus animo Anselmi religio et munerum oblatio; sed prævaluit tandem pecunia. Itaque omnia superat, omnia deprimit nummus. Indignum factum ut pectori tanti viri, Urbani dico, vilesceret famæ cura, Dei respectus cederet, et pecunia justitiam præverteret.”
[1677] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 52. “Quod videntes vane nos ibi consilium, nihil auxilium operiri intelleximus.”
[1678] Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 102. “Visum est ergo Anselmo circa tam venalem hominem expectationem non perdere, sed Lugdunum remeare. Sed enim licentiam impetrare non potuit, retinente papa, ut invidiam facti aliquo levaret solatio.”
[1679] Hist. Nov. 53. “His dictis, virgam pastoralem quam manu tenebat tertio pavimento illisit, indignationem spiritus sui, compressis exploso murmure labiis et dentibus, palam cunctis ostendens.”
[1680] Ib. “Oppido miratus est, sciens se nec homini de re locutum fuisse, nec a se vel ullo suorum, ut talia diceret, processisse.” A little characteristic touch follows; “Sedebat ergo uti solebat, silenter auscultans.”
[1682] Hist. Nov. 53. “Nil judicii vel subventionis, præterquam quod diximus, per Romanum præsulem nacti.”
[1683] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 54. “Dei odium habeat qui inde curat.”
[1684] Ib. “Ego interim libertate potitus agam quod libet.”
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.