longos carceris squalores redimit se librarum tribus
millibus.”
[727] See above, p. 243.
[728] Ib. 688 B. “Mense Novembri Guillelmus comes ingentem
exercitum aggregavit, et Conchas expugnare cœpit.” One would
like to know what number passed for “ingens exercitus” in
this kind of warfare.
[729] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 713.
[730] Ib. p. 713.
[731] Ord. Vit. 834 C. “Prædictus comes et Heluisa comitissa
dangionem regis apud Ebroas funditus dejecerunt.”
[732] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 204.
[733] On the foundation of the abbey of Conches or
Castellion, see Neustria Pia, 567, and the passages from
Orderic and William of Jumièges there cited. William (vii.
22) puts it among the monasteries founded in the reign of
William the Great, and calls its founder Ralph. But Orderic
(460 A) attributes the foundation to a Roger, seemingly the
old Roger who came back from Spain. I can hardly accept the
suggestion in Neustria Pia that the Roger spoken of is the
young Roger of whom we shall presently hear, the son of
Ralph and Isabel, and that he was joint-founder with his
father Ralph.
Orderic twice (493 B, 576 A) distinguishes Ralph of
_Conches_, the husband of Isabel, from his father Roger of
_Toesny_; “Rodulphus de Conchis, Rogerii Toenitis filius,”
“Radulfus de _Conchis_, filius Rogerii de Toënia.”
[734] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 534.
[735] Will. Gem. vii. 22.
[736] Ord. Vit. 688 B.
[737] Ord. Vit. 688 B. “Dum cœnobialem curiam beati Petri
Castellionis invaderet, nec pro reverentia monachorum, qui
cum fletibus vociferantes Dominum interpellabant, ab
incœptis desisteret, hostili telo repente percussus est,
ipsoque die cum maximo luctu utriusque partis mortuus est.”
He is described as “formidabilis marchisius.”
[738] Ib. C. “Radulfus pervalidum agmen de suis, et de
familia regis habuit.”
[739] Ib. “Cupidis tironibus foras erumpere dixit, Armamini
et estote parati, sed de munitione non exeatis donec ego
jubeam vobis. Sinite hostes præda onerari, et discedentes
mecum viriliter insectamini. Illi autem principi suo, qui
probissimus et militiæ gnarus erat, obsecundarunt, et
abeuntes cum præda pedetentim persecuti sunt.” Cf. the same
kind of policy on the part of the Conqueror, N. C. vol. iii.
p. 152.
[740] Ib. “Ebroicenses erubescentes quod guerram superbe
cœperant et inde maximi pondus detrimenti cum dedecore
pertulerant, conditioni pacis post triennalem guerram
adquieverunt.” The peace was clearly made about the end of
1090 or the very beginning of 1091. The three years of war
must therefore be reckoned from the death of the Conqueror,
or from some time not long after.
[741] Ord. Vit. 688 D. He had at least two natural children,
a daughter Isabel, of whom we have already heard (see above,
p. 243), and a son Eustace, who succeeded his father in the
teeth of all collateral claimants. Eustace is best known as
the husband of Henry the First’s natural daughter Juliana
(see N. C. vol. v. p. 157, _note_), in whose story we come
again to the ever-disputed tower of Ivry. See Will. Gem.
viii. 15; Ord. Vit. 577 B; 810 C; 848 B, C.
[742] Ib. “Ebroicensis quoque comes eundem Rogerium, utpote
nepotem suum, consulatus sui heredem constituit.” This was
to the prejudice of his nephew Amalric of Montfort, son of
his whole sister Agnes, and half-brother of Isabel. After
Count William’s death in 1108, the strivings after his
county were great and long, till Amalric recovered full
possession in 1119. Ord. Vit. 863 C.
[743] Ib. “Pretiosis vestibus quibus superbi nimis
insolescunt, uti dedignabatur, et in omni esse suo sese
modeste regere nitebatur.” This must be taken in connexion
with Orderic’s various protests against the vain fashions of
the day, especially the great one in p. 682.
[744] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 219; iv. p. 448.
[745] Ord. Vit. 688 D. “Quondam milites otiosi simul in Aula
Conchis ludebant et colloquebantur, et coram domina
Elisabeth de diversis thematibus, ut mos est hujusmodi,
confabulabantur.” Then follows this beautiful story of the
three dreams.
[746] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 130.
[747] Ord. Vit. 689 A. “Dextera sua me benedicentem,
signumque crucis super caput meum benigniter facientem.”
[748] He married their daughter Godehild, the former wife of
Robert, son of Henry Earl of Warwick. See Ord. Vit. 576 C;
Will. Gem. viii. 41. The strange story of his two later
marriages does not concern us, and the way in which he
became Count of Edessa was hardly becoming in a holy
warrior.
[749] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 94, 819, and Appendix HH.
[750] Ord. Vit. 689 C.
[751] Ib. 784 B.
[752] Ib. 834 C. There is a singular contrast in the words
with which Orderic disposes of the dead bodies of the Count
and the Countess; “_Comitissa_ nempe defuncta prius apud
Nogionem _quiescit_; comes vero, postmodum apoplexia
percussus, sine viatico decessit, et _cadaver ejus_ cum
patre suo Fontinellæ _computrescit_.”
[753] See above, p. 233.
[754] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 496.
[755] Ord. Vit. 691 A, B. “Ecce quibus ærumnis superba
profligatur Normannia, quæ nimis olim victa gloriabatur
Anglia, et naturalibus regni filiis trucidatis sive fugatis
usurpabat eorum possessiones et imperia. Ecce massam
divitiarum quas aliis rapuit eisque pollens ad suam
perniciem insolentur tumuit, nunc non ad delectamentum sui
sed potius ad tormentum miserabiliter distrahit.” He has an
earlier reflexion to the same effect (664 B); “Sic proceres
Neustriæ … patriam divitiis opulentam propriis viribus
vicissim exspoliaverunt, opesque quas Anglis aliisque
gentibus violenter rapuerunt merito latrociniis et rapinis
perdiderunt.”
[756] Ord. Vit. 691 A, B. “Soli gaudent, sed non diu nec
feliciter, qui furari seu prædari possunt pertinaciter.”
[757] Ib. “In diebus illis non erat rex neque dux
Hierusalem, aureisque vitulis Jeroboam rebellis plebs
immolabat in Dan et Bethel.” We are used to this kind of
analogy whenever any one goes after a wrong Pope; but
Normandy, with all its crimes, seems to have been perfectly
orthodox.
[758] Ib. C. “Multa intueor in divina pagina quæ subtiliter
coaptata nostri temporis eventui videntur similia. [Every
age, except perhaps the eighteenth, has made the same
remark.] Ceterum allegoricas allegationes et idoneas humanis
moribus interpretationes studiosis rimandas relinquam,
simplicemque Normannicarum historiam rerum adhuc
aliquantulum protelare satagam.” This praiseworthy resolve
reminds us of an earlier passage (683 B) where he laments
the failure of the princes and prelates of his day to work
miracles, and his own inability to force them to the needful
pitch of holiness; “Ast ego vim illis ut sanctificentur
inferre nequeo. Unde his omissis super rebus quæ fiunt
veracem _dictatum_ facio.”
It would seem from this that Orderic dictated his book. (See
also his complaint in 718 C, when at the age of sixty he
felt too old to write and had no one to write for him.) We
need not therefore infer in some other cases that, because
an author dictated, therefore he could not write.
[759] The Chronicle (1091) says expressly, “On þisum geare
se cyng Willelm heold his hired to X[~p]es messan on
Wæstmynstre, and þæræfter to Candelmæssan he ferde for his
broðer unþearfe ut of Englalande into Normandige.” So
Florence; “Mense Februario rex Willelmus junior Normanniam
petiit.” Orderic (696 D) seems to place his voyage a little
earlier; “Mense Januario Guillelmus Rufus rex Anglorum cum
magna classe in Normanniam transfretavit.” But he places it
late in the month; for in 693 B, having recorded the death
of Bishop Gerard on January 23, he adds that the King’s
voyage happened “eadem septimana.”
[760] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 234.
[761] Richard of Courcy’s son Robert married Rohesia, one of
the many daughters of Hugh of Grantmesnil. Ord. Vit. 692 A.
[762] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 197.
[763] Ord. Vit. 691 C.
[764] See Appendix L.
[765] Ord. Vit. 693 B. “Cujus [Guillelmi] adventu audito,
territus dux cum Roberto aliisque obsidentibus actutum
recessit, et unusquisque propria repetiit.” He is more
emphatic in 697 A; “Robertus de Belesmo cum suis complicibus
aufugit.”
[766] Ord. Vit. 693 B. “Mox omnes pene Normannorum optimates
certatim regem adierunt, eique munera, recepturi majora, cum
summo favore contulerunt. Galli quoque et Britones et
Flandritæ, ut regem apud Aucum in Neustria commorari
audierunt, aliique plures de collimitaneis provinciis, ad
eum convenerunt. Tunc magnificentiam ejus alacriter experti
sunt, domumque petentes cunctis cum principibus suis
divitiis et liberalitate præposuerunt.”
[767] On the Treaty of 1091, see Appendix M.
[768] See above, p. 221.
[769] Ord. Vit. 693 B. “Tunc ingentia Robertus dux a rege
dona recepit.”
[770] See Appendix M; and for the affairs of Maine, see
below, Chapter VI.
[771] William of Malmesbury (v. 392) is becomingly strong on
this head; “Parum hic labor apud Robertum valuit, virum
animi mobilis, qui statim ad ingratitudinem flexus, bene
meritum urbe cedere coegit.” This comes just after the death
of Conan. His whole account is very confused.
[772] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 87-90.
[773] Ib. vol. v. p. 328
[774] Ib. vol. v. p. 388.
[775] Ib. vol. v. p. 89.
[776] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 288, 796.
[777] Ib. vol. iii. p. 7; see vol. ii. p. 376.
[778] Ib. vol. iv. p. 694.
[779] We have seen him already as a counsellor; see above,
p. 220. Orderic, giving a picture of him some years later
(778 B), adds that “ducem sibi coævum et quasi collectaneum
fratrem diligebat.”
[780] See Appendix M.
[781] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 194, 508, 567.
[782] Chron. Petrib. 1091. “And ut of Normandig for to þam
cynge his aðume to Scotlande and to his swustor.”
[783] Chron. Petrib. 1091. “Ðas forewarde gesworan xii. þa
betste of þes cynges healfe, and xii. of þes eorles.” In
Florence the “betste” become “barones.”
[784] “Þeah hit syððan litle hwile stode.”
[785] Ord. Vit. 697 A. “Aggregatis Britonibus et Normannis,
Constantiam et Abrincas aliaque oppida munivit, et ad
resistendum totis nisibus insurrexit.”
[786] Ib. 697 B. “Britones, qui sibi solummodo adminiculum
contulerant.”
[787] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 209.
[788] Ord. Vit. 697 A. “Hugo Cestrensis comes aliique
fautores, ejus paupertatem perpendentes, et amplas opes
terribilemque potentiam Guillelmi regis metuentes, egregium
clitonem in bellico angore deseruerunt, et municipia sua
regi tradiderunt.” Wace tells quite another tale, more
favourable to Earl Hugh, but much less likely. See
Appendix N.
[789] Ann. S. Mich. 1023. “Hoc anno inchoatum est novum
monasterium a Richardo secundo comite et Hildeberto abbate,
qui abbas ipso anno obiit.” This is Hildebert the Second,
appointed in 1017.
[790] Ib. 1100. “Hoc anno pars non modica ecclesiæ montis
sancti Michaelis corruit … in cujus ruina portio quædam
dormitorii monachorum destructa atque eversa est.” Ib. 1112.
“Hoc anno combusta est hæc ecclesia sancti Michaelis igne
fulmineo, cum omnibus officinis monachorum.”
[791] Ann. S. Mich. 1085. “Huic [Rannulfo] successit
Rogerius Cadomensis, non electione monachorum, sed vi
terrenæ potestatis.”
[792] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 468.
[793] See Florence’s account in Appendix N.
[794] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 235.
[795] I take this from Wace, 14660;
“Li Munt asistrent environ,
De Genez de si à Coisnon
E la revière d’Ardenon;
N’issent del mont se par els non.
A Avrenches li reis séeit
Et a Genez li dus esteit.”
On the value of Wace’s general story, see Appendix N; but we
may trust the topography of the Jerseyman.
[796] See Florence’s account in Appendix N. So Will. Malms.
iv. 308; “Crebris excursibus obsidentem militiam germanorum
contristavit.” Wace (14652) says,
“Sovent coreit par Costentin,
E tensout tot Avrencin;
Li vilains prist, si fist raendre,
Ne leissout rien k’il péust prendra.”
[797] Wace, 14666;
“Mult véissiez joster sovent,
E tornéier espessement
Entre li Munt et Ardenon
E la rivière de Coisnon.
Chescun jor al flo retraiant
Vint chevaliers jostes menant.”
[798] On the two versions of this story, if they are meant
to be the same story, in William of Malmesbury and in Wace,
see Appendix N.
[799] Will. Malms. iv. 309. “Solus in multos irruit,
alacritate virtutis impatiens, simulque confidens nullum
sibi ausurum obsistere.”
[800] Ib. “Fides loricæ obstitit ne læderetur.”
[801] Ib. “Tolle, nebulo, Rex Angliæ sum.”
[802] 1 Kings xii. 31.
[803] Will. Malms. iv. 309. “Tremuit, nota voce jacentis,
vulgus militum, statimque reverenter de terra levato equum
alterum adducunt.”
[804] Ib. “Non expectato ascensorio, sonipedem insiliens,
omnesque circumstantes vivido perstringens oculo, Quis,
inquit, me dejecit?”
[805] See Appendix G. We have had this favourite oath
already.
[806] Will. Malms. u. s. “Meus amodo eris, et meo albo
insertus laudabilis militiæ præmia reportabis.” Of William’s
“album” or muster-roll we hear elsewhere. Wace, 14492;
“N’oïst de chevalier parler
Ke de proesce oïst loer,
Ki en son brief escrit ne fust,
E ki par an del suen n’éust.”
[807] See Roger of Howden, iv. 83. The King is wounded
before Chaluz; the castle is taken, “quo capto, præcepit rex
omnes suspendi, excepto illo solo qui eum vulneraverat,
quem, ut fas est credere, turpissima morte damnaret, si
convaluisset.”
[808] See N. C. vol. v. p. 73. Where did William of
Malmesbury find his story of Alexander, “qui Persam militem
se a tergo ferire conatum, sed pro perfidia ensis spe sua
frustratum, incolumem pro admiratione fortitudinis
conservavit”? The story in Arrian, i. 15, is quite
different.
[809] The stock of meat comes from Wace, 14700;
“De viande aveient plenté
Maiz de bevre aveient grant chierté;
Asez aveient a mengier,
Maiz molt trovoent li vin chier.”
The lack of water is secondary in his version. See
Appendix N.
[810] Will. Malms. iv. 310. “Impium esse ut eum aqua
arceant, quæ esset communis mortalibus; aliter, si velit,
virtutem experiatur; nec pugnet violentia elementorum sed
virtute militum.” If this represents a real message from
Henry, it must surely have been meant as an _argumentum ad
hominem_ for Robert.
[811] Ib. “Genuina mentis mollitie flexus, suos _qua
prætendebant_ laxius habere se jussit.” This must mean the
quarters of Robert at Genetz, as distinguished from those of
William.
[812] See Appendix N.
[813] Will. Malms. iv. 310. “Belle scis actitare guerram,
qui hostibus præbes aquæ copiam; et quomodo eos domabimus si
eis in pastu et in potu indulserimus?”
[814] Ib. “Ille renidens illud come et merito famosum verbum
emisit, Papæ, dimitterem fratrem nostrum mori siti? et quem
alium habebimus si eum amiserimus?” For the other version,
see Appendix N. M. le Hardy (80), who is a knight of the
order of Pius the Ninth, translates “Papæ,” “par le Pape.”
[815] See Appendix N.
[816] Ord. Vit. 697 A. “Fere xv. diebus cum suis aquæ
penuria maxime coarcuerunt. Porro callidus juvenis, dum sic
a fratribus suis coarctaretur, et a cognatis atque amicis et
confœderatis affinibus undique destitueretur, et multimoda
pene omnium quibus homines indigent inedia angeretur,” &c.
The siege began “in medio quadragesimæ,” and lasted fifteen
days. Florence is therefore wrong in saying “per totam
quadragesimam montem obsederunt.”
[817] Flor. Wig. 1091. “Frequenter cum eo prœlium
commiserunt, et homines et equos nonnullos perdiderunt. At
rex, cum obsidionis diutinæ pertæsus fuisset, impacatus
recessit.”
[818] Ord. Vit. 697 A. “Liberum sibi sociisque suis exitum
de monte ab obsidentibus poposcit. Illi admodum gavisi sunt,
ipsumque cum omni apparatu suo egredi _honorifice_
permiserunt.” On the honours of war, see above, p. 86. See
Appendix N.
[819] Ib. “Rex in Neustria usque ad Augustum permansit, et
dissidentes qui eidem adquiescere voluerunt regali
auctoritate pacavit.” So in 693 C he mentions the lands of
Eu, Gournay, and Conches, and adds, “ubi præfatus rex a
Januario usque ad kal. Augusti regali more cum suis
habitavit.” I assume Eu as his actual head-quarters, as it
was before and after.
[820] Ib. D. See the next chapter.
[821] Ord. Vit. 697 B. “Sic regia proles in exsilio didicit
pauperiem perpeti, ut futurus rex optime sciret miseris et
indigentibus compati, eorumque dejectioni vel indigentiæ
regali potentia seu dapsilitate suffragari, et ritus
infirmorum expertus eis pie misereri.”
[822] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 156, 843.
[823] See Appendix O.
[824] Will. Malms. iv. 310. “In regnum se cum ambobus
fratribus recepit.” I should hardly have accepted this
evidence, if it had not been confirmed by the signatures to
a charter of which I shall presently speak. See below,
p. 305.
[825] Immediately after the words quoted in p. 282, follows
the entry about Malcolm; “Onmang þam þe se cyng W. ut of
Englelande wæs ferde se cyng Melcolm of Scotlande hider into
Englum, and his mycelne dæl ofer hergode.”
[826] Ord. Vit. 701 A. “In illo tempore Melcoma rex Scotorum
contra regem Anglorum rebellavit, debitumque servitium ei
denegavit.” See Appendix P.
[827] Flor. Wig. 1091. “Mense Maio rex Scottorum Malcolmus
cum magno exercitu Northymbriam invasit; si proventus
successisset, ulterius processurus, et vim Angliæ incolis
illaturus. Noluit Deus: ideo ab incepto est impeditus:
attamen antequam rediisset, ejus exercitus de Northymbria
secum non modicam prædam abduxit.”
[828] Sim. Dun. 1093 (where he reckons up Malcolm’s
invasions); “Quarto, regnante Willelmo juniore, cum suis
copiis infinitis usque Ceastram, non longe a Dunelmo sitam,
pervenit, animo intendens ulterius progredi.”
[829] Chron. Petrib. 1091. “Oð þæt þa gode men þe þis land
bewiston, him fyrde ongean sændon and hine gecyrdon.” Did
they not go in their own persons?
[830] See above, p. 282. The words of Orderic (701 A) are
odd; “Guillelmus rex … cum Roberto fratre suo pacem fecerat,
ipsumque contra infidos proditores qui contra regem
conspiraverant secum duxerat.” This surely cannot mean the
Scots; it must mean the rebels of three years before. Robert
cannot have been brought to act in any way against them; yet
the words of Orderic must have a confused reference to some
real object of his coming.
[831] Will. Malms. iv. 311. “Satagente Roberto comite, qui
familiarem jamdudum apud Scottum locaverat gratiam, inter
Malcolmum et Willelmum concordia inita.” See Appendix P.
[832] See Appendix BB.
[833] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 513.
[834] Sim. Dun. Hist. Eccl. Dun. iv. 8. “Priori ad se
venienti humiliter assurgens, benigne illum suscepit, et ita
per omnia sub se, quemadmodum sub episcopo, curam ecclesiæ
cum omni libertate agere præcepit.”
[835] Ib. “Licet in alia monasteria et ecclesias ferocius
ageret, ipsis tamen non solum nihil auferebat, sed etiam de
suo dabat, et ab injuriis malignorum sicut pater
defendebat.”
[836] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 674.
[837] Sim. Dun. u. s. “Hoc tempore refectorium, quale hodie
cernitur, monachi ædificaverunt.”
[838] Ib. “Tertio anno expulsionis episcopi, cum homines
regis quoddam in Normannia castellum tenentes obsiderentur,
et jamjamque capiendi essent, eos episcopus a periculo
liberavit, et consilio suo ut obsidio solveretur effecit.”
[839] Sim. Dun. Hist. Eccl. Dun. iv. 8. “Unde rex placatus,
universa quæ in Anglia prius habuerat, ei restituit.” More
formally in the Gesta Regum, 1091; “Veniens Dunelmum,
episcopum Willelmum restituit in sedem suam, ipso post annos
tres die quo eam reliquit, scilicet tertio idus Septembris.”
The time of three years is not quite exact; see above,
p. 94.
[840] Hist. Eccl. Dun. u. s. “Ille nequaquam vacuus rediit,
sed non pauca ex auro et argento sacra altaris vasa et
diversa ornamenta, sed et libros plurimos ad ecclesiam
præmittere curavit.”
[841] See above, p. 295, and below, p. 305.
[842] Chron. Petrib. 1091. “Se cyng W…. sona fyrde hét ut
abeodan ægðer scipfyrde and landfyrde; and seo scipferde, ær
he to Scotlande cuman mihte, ælmæst earmlice forfór, feowan
dagon toforan S[~c]e Michæles mæssan.” Florence calls the
host “classis non modica et equestris exercitus,” and adds
that “multi de equestri exercitu ejus fame et frigore
perierunt.”
[843] Chron. Petrib. 1091. “Ac þa þa, se cyng Melcolm
gehyrde þæt hine man mid fyrde secean wolde, he for mid his
fyrde ut of Scotlande into Loðene on Englaland, and þær
abad.” Florence, followed by Simeon, oddly enough translates
this; “Rex Malcolmus cum exercitu in provincia Loidis
occurrit.” Hence some modern writers have carried Malcolm as
far south as _Leeds_, I presume only to Leeds in Yorkshire.
Orderic (701 A), though, as we shall see, he somewhat
misconceives the story, marks the geography very well;
“Exercitum totius Angliæ conglobavit, ut usque ad magnum
flumen, quod Scotte Watra dicitur, perduxit.” The “Scots’
Water” is of course the Firth of Forth. So Turgot in the
Life of Margaret (Surtees Simeon, p. 247) speaks of “utraque
litora maris quod Lodoneium dividit et Scotiam.” See
Appendix P.
[844] Chron. Petrib. ib. “Ða ða se cyng William mid his
fyrde genealehte þa ferdon betwux Rodbeard eorl and Eadgar
æþeling, and þæra cinga sehte swa gemacedon.” So Florence;
“Quod videns comes Rotbertus, clitonem Eadgarum, quem rex de
Normannia expulerat, et tunc cum rege Scottorum degebat, ad
se accersivit: cujus auxilio fretus, pacem inter reges
fecit.” On the details in Orderic, see Appendix P.
[845] “Ex consultu sapientum,” says Orderic. These ancient
formulæ cleave to us wherever we go, even in the camp. On
the action of the military Witan, see above, p. 216.
[846] See above, p. 25.
[847] See Appendix P.
[848] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 175.
[849] Ib. vol. ii. p. 272.
[850] It is specially marked that the homage now done was
the renewal of the old homage. So the Chronicle, 1091; “Se
cyng Melcolm to uran cynge com, and his man wearð to ealle
swilcre gehyrsumnisse swa he ǽr his fæder dyde, and þæt mid
aðe gefestnode.” So Florence; “Ea conditione, ut Willelmo,
sicut patri suo obedivit, Malcolmus obediret.”
[851] The Chronicle says only; “Se cyng William him behét on
lande and on ealle þinge þæs þe he under his fæder ǽr
hæfde.” Florence is fuller; “Et Malcolmo xii. villas, quas
in Anglia sub patre illius habuerat, Willelmus redderet, et
xii. marcas auri singulis annis daret.” See Appendix P.
[852] Chron. Petrib. u. s. “On þisum sehte wearð eac Eadgar
eþeling wið þone cyng gesæhtlad, and þa cyngas þa mid
mycclum sehte tohwurfon, ac þæt litle hwile stod.” Florence
is to the same effect. See Appendix P.
[853] Flor. Wig. 1091. “Post hæc rex de Northymbria per
Merciam in West-Saxoniam rediit.”
[854] See Appendix P.
[855] See N. C. vol. v. p. 121. The Chronicle in 1093 brings
him in as “Dunecan … se on þæs cynges hyrede W. wæs, swa swa
his fæder hine ures cynges fæder ær to gisle geseald hæfde.”
[856] See above, p. 14.
[857] Could there be any reference to the non-restoration of
Odo? See above, p. 283.
[858] See above, p. 143.
[859] Chron. Petrib. 1091. “And se eorl Rodbeard her oð
X[~p]es mæsse forneah mid þam cynge wunode, and litel soðes
þær onmang of heora forewarde onfand; and twam dagon ær þære
tide on Wiht scipode and into Normandig fór, and Eadgar
æþeling mid him.” So Florence; “Rex … secum fere usque ad
nativitatem Domini comitem retinuit, sed conventionem inter
eos factam persolvere noluit. Quod comes graviter ferens,
xᵒ. kal. Januarii die cum clitone Eadgaro Normanniam
repetiit.”
[860] Florence (1091) tells this tale; “Magnus fumus cum
nimio fœtore subsecutus, totam ecclesiam replevit, et tamdiu
duravit, quoad loci illius monachi cum aqua benedicta et
incensu et reliquiis sanctorum, officinas monasterii psalmos
decantando circumirent.” William of Malmesbury (iv. 323)
gives more details, and is better certified as to the cause;
“Secutus est odor teterrimus, hominum importabilis naribus.
Tandem monachi, felici ausu irrumpentes, benedictæ aquæ
aspergine _præstigias_ inimici effugarunt.” A modern
diplomatist might have said that the _prestige_ of the evil
one was lowered.
[861] Florence again tells the tale; but William of
Malmesbury (iv. 324) again is far more emphatic, and seems
to look on the winds as moral agents; “Quid illud omnibus
incognitum sæculis? Discordia ventorum inter se
dissidentium, ab Euro-austro veniens decimo sexto kal.
Novembris Londoniæ plusquam secentas domos effregit…. Majus
quoque scelus furor ventorum ausus, tectum ecclesiæ sanctæ
Mariæ quæ ‘ad Arcus’ dicitur pariter sublevavit.” But
Florence is simply setting down events under their years,
while William is making a collection of “casualties,” to
illustrate the position that “plura sub eo [Willelmo Rufo]
subita et tristia acciderunt,” and notes this year as
specially marked by “tumultus fulgurum, motus turbinum.”
[862] Flor. Wig. 1092. “Civitas Lundonia maxima ex parte
incendio conflagravit.”
[863] See N. C. vol. i. p. 321.
[864] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 691.
[865] Flor. Wig. 1092. “Osmundus Searesbyriensis episcopus,
ecclesiam quam Searesbyriæ in castello construxerat, cum
adjutorio episcoporum Walcelini Wintoniensis et Johannis
Bathoniensis, nonis Aprilis feria ii. dedicavit.” Cf. Will.
Malms. Gest. Pont. 183. The foundation charter (Mon. Ang.
vi. 1299) was signed in 1091, “Willelmo rege monarchiam
totius Angliæ strenue gubernante anno quarto regni ejus,
apud Hastinges”――most likely on his return from Normandy in
August. The signatures come in a strange order. Between the
earls and the Archbishop of York come “Signum Wlnoti. Signum
Croc venatoris.” Wulfnoth here turns up in the same strange
way in which he so often does. Croc the huntsman we have
heard of already. See above, p. 102. We get also the
signatures of Howel Bishop of Le Mans, and of Robert the
_dispenser_, who invented the surname Flambard (see below,
p. 331). On the signature of Herbert Losinga, see
Appendix X.
[866] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 606.
[867] Will. Malms. iv. 325. “Eadem violentia fulminis apud
Salesbiriam tectum turris ecclesiæ omnino disjecit,
multamque maceriam labefactavit, quinta sane die postquam
eam dedicaverat Osmundus, præclaræ memoriæ episcopus.”
[868] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 419, and Giraldus, Vita Rem. c.
3, 4, 5 (vol. vii. p. 17 et seqq. Dimock). Giraldus is, I
believe, the only writer who makes a saint of Remigius. He
enlarges on the effects of Remigius’ preaching, and
consequently on the wickedness of those to whom he had to
preach.
[869] Giraldus, Vit. Rem. ch. v. “Prolem propriam quam
genuerat, nepotes etiam et neptes, alienigenis in servitutem
detestanda avaritia venalem ex consuetudine prostituebant.”
Cf. N. C. vol. iv. p. 381, and the stories in Will. Malms.
ii. 200, about Godwine’s supposed first wife. See N. C. vol.
i. p. 737.
[870] I mentioned in N. C. vol. iv. p. 212, that Lincoln
minster grew out of an earlier church of Saint Mary. The
history of John of Schalby printed by Mr. Dimock shows that
this elder parish church went on within the minster. This is
a very important case of a double church. See Giraldus, vii.
xxx. 194, 209.
[871] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 369.
[872] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 355.
[873] Giraldus, Vit. Rem. ch. iv. “Operam erga regem et
archiepiscopum, excambium Eboracensi pro Lindeseia donantes,
prudenter effectui, Deo cooperante mancipavit. Et sic
Lindeseiam terramque totam inter Widhemam scilicet Lincolniæ
fluvium et Humbriam diocesi suæ provinciæque Cantuariensi
viriliter adjecit.” This is Giraldus’ improvement on the
local record copied by John of Schalby (Giraldus, vii. 194);
“Datis per regem prædictum Eboracensi archiepiscopo in
excambium possessionibus, totam Lyndesyam suæ diocesi et
provinciæ Cantuariensi conjunxit.” It must be remembered
that a bishopric of Lindesey had once been set up by the
Northumbrian Ecgfrith. See Bæda, iv. 12.
[874] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 90, 354. This seems to be
delicately referred to in the record copied by John of
Schalby (Giraldus, vii. 193); “Remigius natione Normannus ac
monachus Fiscanensis, qui _ob certam causam_ venerat cum
eodem [Willielmo rege] in episcopum Dorkecestrensem.”
[875] So says Florence. Remigius is eager to dedicate his
church, “quia sibi diem mortis imminere sentiebat.” Thomas
objects, “affirmans eam in sua parochia esse constructam.”
“At rex Willelmus junior, _pro pecunia quam ei Remigius
dederat_, totius fere Angliæ episcopis mandavit ut, in unum
convenientes, septennis idibus Maii ecclesiam dedicarent.”
Of course there is nothing about the bribe in Giraldus, nor
yet in William of Malmesbury, Gest. Pont. 313, where the
King’s order to the bishops is issued “magnanimi
viri”――Remigius has got the King’s own epithet――“hortatu.”
Matthew Paris, in the Historia Anglorum, i. 42, credits the
Red King with an unlooked-for degree of zeal; “Postea rex
Willelmus, cujus consilio et auxilio ecclesia illa fuit a
primo loco suo remota, et quam _pro anima patris sui_ [this
at least is characteristic] multis ditaverat possessionibus,
procuravit ut ea magnifice consummaretur.”
[876] Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 313. “Solus Rotbertus
Herefordensis venire abnuerat, et certa inspectione siderum
dedicationem tempore Remigii non processuram viderat, nec
tacuerat.”
[877] On the exact date, see Mr. Dimock’s note to Giraldus,
vii. 20. Ascension Day came on the feast of Saint John _ante
Portam Latinam_.
[878] “Ecclesiæ per hoc remansit dedicatio.” William of
Malmesbury (u. s.) says, “Rem dilatam successor ejus non
graviter explevit, utpote qui in labores alterius delicatus
intrasset.” There seems to be no mention of this in the
Lincoln writers.
[879] Giraldus (vii. 22-31) has fifteen chapters, very short
ones certainly, of the miracles of Remigius. One takes most
to the healings of the crippled women Leofgifu and Ælfgifu;
Remigius “huic præcipue languori se propitium dedit.” A
Norman, Richard by name, who tried to pull a hair from the
beard of the saint’s uncorrupted body (cf. N. C. vol. iii.
p. 32), became crippled himself. But a certain deaf and dumb
Jewess, who came to blaspheme――doubtless mentally――was
smitten to the earth and suddenly endowed with hearing and
speech, beginning by uttering the name of Remigius in
French. “Ex quo patet, quia non propter merita semper aut
devotionem, sed ut manifestetur gloria Dei, miracula fiunt.”
She was baptized by Bishop Alexander, and was carried about
by him hither and thither to declare the praises of his
predecessor.
[880] See Appendix R.
[881] See Bæda, Hist. Eccl. iv. 29. But we have a more
distinct notice in the Life of Saint Cuthberht, c. 27 (ii.
101 Stevenson), of “Lugubalia civitas, quæ a populis
Anglorum corrupte Luel vocatur.” In Ecgfrith’s day there
might be seen “mœnia civitatis, fonsque in ea miro quondam
Romanorum opere extractus.”
[882] See N. C. vol. i. pp. 58, 576.
[883] Ib. vol. i. pp. 63, 580.
[884] See N. C. vol. i. p. 647.
[885] Flor. Wig. 1092. “Hæc civitas, ut illis in partibus
aliæ nonnullæ, a Danis paganis ante cc. annos diruta, et
usque ad id tempus mansit deserta.”
[886] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 134.
[887] Chron. Petrib. 1092. “On þisum geare se cyng W. mid
mycelre fyrde ferde horð to Cardeol, and þa burh
geæðstaþelede, and þone castel arerde, and Dolfin út adraf,
þe æror þær þæs landes weold, and þone castel mid his mannum
gesette.” Florence seems to connect this with the unwrought
ceremony at Lincoln; “His actis, rex in Northymbriam
profectus, civitatem quæ Brytannice Cairleu, Latine
Lugubalia vocatur, restauravit et in ea castellum
ædificavit.” Orderic brings together the old and the new
when he speaks (917 B) in David’s time of “Carduilum
validissimum oppidum, quod Julius Cæsar, ut dicunt,
condidit.”
[888] The Chronicler goes on; “And syððan hider suð gewænde,
and mycele mænige cyrlisces folces mid wifan and mid orfe
þyder sænde þær to wunigenne þæt land to tilianne.” So Henry
of Huntingdon, vii. 2; “Rex reædificavit civitatem Carleol,
et ex australibus Angliæ partibus illuc habitatores
transmisit.” Florence leaves out both the colonization and
the driving out of Dolfin.
[889] See Appendix R.
[890] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 858.
[891] See Appendix R.
[892] On the bishopric, see N. C. vol. v. p. 230.
[893] On Henry’s election at Domfront, see Appendix P.
[894] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 287; vol. iii. p. 165.
[895] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 198.
[896] See Appendix P.
[897] See Appendix P.
[898] See Appendix P.
[899] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 253.
[900] See above, p. 213.
[901] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 228.
[902] Will. Gem. viii. 4. “Quia in hoc negotio et in
aliisque plerisque suis necessitatibus Hugo comes Cestrensis
ei fidelis exstiterat, concessit ei ex integro castellum
quod sancti Jacobi appellatum est, in quo idem comes tunc
temporis nihil aliud habebat, præter custodiam munitionis
istius oppidi.” He goes on to describe the building of the
castle, in words partly borrowed from William of Poitiers,
and the grant to Richard of Avranches. On Richard, see N. C.
vol. ii. pp. 209, 296.
[903] During this chapter, the authorities for the life of
Anselm become of primary importance. We have the invaluable
help of the two works of Anselm’s friend and faithful
companion, the English monk Eadmer, afterwards Bishop-elect
of Saint Andrews. Both Orderic and William of Malmesbury
speak of Eadmer with the deepest reverence, and cut short
their own accounts of Anselm, referring to his. He first
wrote the _Historia Novorum_, and then the _Vita Anselmi_ as
a kind of supplement, to bring in certain points more purely
personal to his hero. The subject of the _Historia Novorum_
we might call “Anselm and his Times.” The subject of the
_Vita_ is naturally Anselm himself. Eadmer’s history is of
course most minute and most trustworthy for all that
concerns Anselm; other matters he cuts short. In most cases
one can see his reasons; but it is not easy to see why he
should have left out the mission of Geronto recorded by Hugh
of Flavigny (see Appendix AA). Along with the works of
Eadmer, we have also a precious store in the Letters of
Anselm himself (see Appendix Y), which, besides the picture
which they give of the man, throw a flood of light on the
history. All these materials, with the other writings of
Anselm, will be found in two volumes of Migne’s Patrologia,
158 and 159. I have used this edition for the Letters and
for the Life; the _Historia Novorum_ I have gone on quoting
in the edition of Selden.
I need hardly say that Anselm’s English career, with which
alone I am concerned, is only one part of his many-sided
character. I have kept mainly to the history of Anselm in
England; I have cut short both his early life and even the
time of his first banishment. With his theology and
philosophy I have not ventured to meddle at all. Anselm has
had no lack of biographers from the more general point of
view; Hasse (Anselm von Canterbury, Leipzig, 1852), Charles
de Rémusat (Saint Anselme de Cantorbéry, Paris, 1853),
Charma (Saint-Anselme, Paris, 1853), Croset-Mouchet (S.
Anselme d’Aoste, Archevêque de Cantorbéry, Paris, 1859). I
have made some use of all these; but the value even of Hasse
and De Rémusat for my strictly English purpose is not great.
M. Croset-Mouchet writes with a pleasant breeze of local
feeling from the Prætorian Augusta, but he is utterly at sea
as to everything in our island.
In our own tongue the life of Anselm has been treated by a
living and a dead friend of my own, holding the same rank in
the English Church. Dean Hook, I must say with regret,
utterly failed to do justice to Anselm. This is the more
striking, as he did thorough justice to Thomas. From Dr.
Hook’s point of view it needed an effort to do justice to
either, a smaller effort in the case of Anselm, a greater in
the case of Thomas. As sometimes happens, he made the
greater effort, but not the smaller. I am however able to
say that he came to know Anselm better before he died. Dean
Church, on the other hand, has given us an almost perfect
example of a short sketch of such a subject. The accuracy of
the tale is as remarkable as the beauty of the telling. It
lacks only the light which is thrown on the story of Anselm
by the earlier story of William of Saint-Calais. It is most
important to remember that Anselm was not the first to
appeal to the Pope.
[904] See N. C. vol. v. p. 131.
[905] Ib. p. 135.
[906] Ib. vol. iv. p. 521, and see Appendix S.
[907] See the extract from Orderic (678 C) in Appendix S.
[908] See Appendix S.
[909] So Liebermann truly remarks (Einleitung in den
Dialogus de Scaccario, 40). He adds; “Diese pflegten die
Priesterweihe möglichst spät zu empfangen; desto eifriger
erjagten sie fette Pfründen.”
[910] Florence (1100) notices emphatically that the doings
of Flambard were done “contra jus ecclesiasticum, et sui
gradus ordinem, presbyter enim erat.” So he is marked by
Anselm (Epp. iv. 2) as “sacerdos.”
[911] See Appendix S. The story about Flambard’s mother,
which Sir Francis Palgrave suggests may have come from a
ballad, is told by Orderic in another place (787 A); “Mater,
quæ sortilega erat et cum dæmone crebro locuta, ex cujus
nefaria familiaritate unum oculum amiserat,” One thinks of a
later dabbler in mischief; “Our minnie’s sair mis-set, after
her ordinar, sir――she’ll hae had some quarrel wi’ her auld
gudeman――that’s Satan, ye ken, sirs.” William of Malmesbury
(Gesta Regum, iv. 314) calls him “fomes cupiditatum,
Ranulfus clericus, ex infimo genere hominum lingua et
calliditate provectus ad summum.” In the Gesta Pontificum,
274, he is more guarded, and says only “ex quo ambiguum
genere.”
[912] See Appendix S.
[913] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 522.
[914] See Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 348.
[915] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 687.
[916] Will. Malms. iv. 314. “Is, si quando edictum regium
processisset ut nominatum tributum Anglia penderet, duplum
adjiciebat.”
[917] Ib. “Subinde, cachinnantibus quibusdam ac dicentibus,
solum esse hominem qui sciret sic agitare ingenium nec
aliorum curaret odium dummodo complacaret dominum.” This is
one of the passages where William of Malmesbury thought it
wise to soften what he first wrote. For “cachinnantibus
quibusdam ac dicentibus” some manuscripts read “cachinnante
rege ac dicente.”
[918] See Appendix U.
[919] See N. C. vol. v. p. 430.
[920] Will. Malms. iv. 314. “Invictus causidicus, et tam
verbis tam rebus immodicus.” One thinks of Lanfranc’s
successes in the law-courts of Pavia (see N. C. vol. ii. p.
226); but knowledge of the Imperial law was a matter of
professional learning; with the simpler law of England age
and experience were enough.
[921] See Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 384, and Appendix T.
[922] Chron. Petrib. 1099. “Rannulfe his capellane … þe æror
ealle his gemot ofer eall Engleland draf and bewiste.”
[923] See N. C. vol. v. p. 445.
[924] Will. Malms. iv. 314. “Juxta in supplices ut in
rebelles furens.”
[925] See Appendix T.
[926] See the extract from Orderic, 786 C, in Appendix T.
[927] See above, p. 198.
[928] See N. C. vol. v. p. 398.
[929] As in the case of the general redemption of lands (see
N. C. vol. iv. p. 25) and the great confiscation and
distribution in the midwinter Gemót of 1067 (ib. p. 127).
[930] Chron. Petrib. 1100. “Forðan þe he ælces mannes
gehadodes and læwedes yrfenuma beon wolde.”
[931] William of Malmesbury (v. 393) seems to sum up the
reforms of Henry in the words “injustitias a fratre et
Rannulfo institutas prohibuit.” “Justitiæ” is a technical
phrase (see N. C. vol. iv. pp. 559, 560). “Injustitiæ,” as
here used, is something like our “unlaw” and “ungeld.”
[932] Revised Statutes, i. 725. By some chance this statute
is printed in this collection, which commonly leaves out the
statutes which are of most historical importance.
[933] I borrow this phrase from the story of Count William
of Evreux in Orderic, 814 C (see Appendix K), though he was
not to be given in quite the same sense.
[934] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 373-381.
[935] See the charter of Henry, Select Charters, 97; “Et
omnes malas consuetudines quibus regnum Angliae injuste
opprimebatur inde aufero, quas malas consuetudines ex parte
hic pono.” He then goes through the grievances in order,
relief, marriage, wardship, and the rest.
[936] I borrow our ancient word _lænland_, which survives in
the German _lehn_.
[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.
[945] See above, p. 81.
[946] See above, p. 133.
[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.”
[948] See above, p. 153.
[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.
[964] See above, p. 298.
[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.
[994] See above, p. 312.
[995] See N. C. vol. v. pp. 661, 662.
[996] In the poem on the captivity of Ælfheah in the
Chronicles, 1011, he is
“Se þe ær wæs heafod
Angelcynnes
And Cristendomes.”
[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.
[1000] See below, p. 418.
[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.
[1005] See above, p. 352.
[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;
“Imperialis ubi Burgundia surgit in Alpes,
Et condescendit Rhodano, convallia vernant,
Duplicibus vestitur humus; sunt gramina vestis
Publica, sunt flores vestis sollennis, et uno
Illa colore nitent, sed mille coloribus illi.”
[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.
[1094] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 16. “Hac tempestate Anselmus
inscius horum morabatur in quadam villa non longe a
Glocestria ubi rex infirmabatur.”
[1095] Ib. “Ingreditur ad regem, rogatur quid consilii
salubrius morientis animæ judicet. Exponi sibi primo
postulat, quid se absente ab assistentibus ægro consultum
sit. Audit, probat, et addit, scriptum est, Incipite Domino
in confessione.” He goes on at somewhat further length on
the duty of confession. There is something striking in the
kind of professional air with which the duty is undertaken.
The spiritual physician, called in from a distance, approves
the treatment of the local practitioners, just as a
physician of the body might do.
[1096] Ib. “Spondet in hoc fidem suam, et vades inter se et
Deum facit episcopos suos, mittens, qui hoc votum suum Deo
super altare sua vice promittant.”
[1097] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 16. “Scribitur edictum, regioque
sigillo firmatur, quatenus captivi quicunque sunt in omni
dominatione sua relaxentur, omnia debita irrevocabiliter
remittantur, omnes offensiones antehac perpetratæ, indulta
remissione, perpetuæ oblivioni tradantur.” More general
provisions followed; “Promittuntur insuper omni populo bonæ
et sanctæ leges, inviolabilis observatio juris, injuriarum
gravis, et quæ terreat cæteros, examinatio.” We may
specially regret that we have not the English text of this
momentary Great Charter. Its language seems to assume, like
the charter of Henry (see above, pp. 344, 392), that suits
brought in the King’s name would be unjust, and that his
claims for debts would be unjust also.
[1098] Ib. “Gaudetur a cunctis, benedicitur Deus in istis,
obnixe oratur pro salute talis ac tanti regis.” This is the
real language of the moment, which is weakened by William of
Malmesbury, Gest. Pont. 80; “Plausu exceptum est verbum,
ibatque clamor cælo bona et salutem regi optantium.”
[1099] So says the Chronicle; “to manegan mynstren land
geuðe.”
[1100] There is something odd in the way in which the
Chronicler and Florence couple the two prelates now
appointed; “And þæt arcebiscoprice on Cantwarbyrig, þe ær on
his agenre hand stód. Anselme betæhte, se wæs ær abbot on
Bæc, and Rodbeard his cancelere þæt biscoprice on Lincolne.”
That is to say, they cut the whole story short; or more
truly they tell it on the same scale on which they tell
other things, while we are used to Eadmer’s minute narrative
of all that concerns Anselm.
[1101] See above, p. 13.
[1102] See Appendix Z.
[1103] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 16. They exhort the King to
appoint. He consents willingly; “Sed cunctis ad nutum regis
pendentibus, prænunciavit ipse et concordi voce subsequitur
acclamatio omnium, abbatem Anselmum tali honore
dignissimum.”
[1104] I think we may for a moment turn from the _oratio
obliqua_ of Eadmer to the vivid little picture in William of
Malmesbury; “Ille cubito sese attollens, ‘Hunc,’ ait,
‘sanctum virum Anselmum eligo,’ ingenti subsecuto fragore
faventium.” One is reminded of the death-bed of Eadward, as
drawn in the Tapestry. See N. C. vol. iii. p. 13, note.
[1105] Eadmer, u. s. “Cum raperetur ad regem, ut per virgam
pastoralem investituram archiepiscopatus de manu ejus
susciperet, toto conamine restitit, idque multis
obsistentibus causis nullatenus fieri posse asseruit.”
[1106] “Accipiunt eum episcopi, et ducunt seorsum de
multitudine.”
[1107] “Per tyrannidem istius hominis.”
[1108] “In Deo pro nobis intende, et nos secularia tua
disponemus pro te.”
[1109] “Abbas sum monasterii regni alterius.” “Regnum” of
course means Normandy, an inaccurate phrase, but one that we
have had already (see above, p. 25).
[1110] “Nihil est omnino, non erit quod intenditis.”
[1111] “Rapiunt hominem ad regem ægrotum, et pervicaciam
ejus exponunt.”
[1112] “Contristatus est rex, pene ad suffusionem oculorum,
et dixit ad eum, ‘O Anselme quid agis? Cur me pœnis æternis
cruciandum tradis?’” He adds presently, “Certus sum enim
quod peribo, si archiepiscopatum in meo dominio tenens,
vitam finiero.”
[1113] “Regem turbas, turbatum penitus necas, quandoquidem
illum jam morientem obstinacia tua exacerbare non formidas.”
[1114] Of Baldwin we often hear again; he seems to have been
Anselm’s chief helper at Bec in temporal matters.
[1115] See above, p. 372.
[1116] “Virgam huc pastoralem, virgam, clamitant,
pastoralem. Et arrepto brachio ejus dextro, alii renitentem
trahere, alii impellere, lectoque jacentis cœperunt
applicare.”
[1117] I am but translating Eadmer; “Indice levato, sed
protinus ab eo reflexo, clausæ manui ejus baculus appositus
est, et episcoporum manibus cum eadem manu compressus atque
retentus.”
[1118] “Acclamante autem multitudine, ‘Vivat episcopus,
vivat;’ episcopi cum clero sublimi voce hymnum _Te Deum
laudamus_ decantare cœpere.”
[1119] “Electum portaverunt pontificem potius quam duxerunt
in vicinam ecclesiam.” On the works of Serlo, see N. C. vol.
iv. p. 384.
[1120] “Ipso modis, quibus poterat, resistente, atque
dicente, nihil est quod facitis, nihil est quod facitis.”
[1121] This is Anselm’s own comparison in his letter to the
monks of Bec, Ep. iii. 1; “Quando me episcopi et abbates
aliique primates ad ecclesiam trahentes reclamantem et
contradicentem rapuerunt, ita ut dubium videri posset utrum
sanum insani, an insanum traherent sani; nisi quia illi
canebant et ego magis mortuo quam viventi colore similis
stupore et dolore pallebam.” Presently he says; “Huic autem
de me electioni, imo violentiæ, hactenus quantum potui,
servata veritate, reluctatus sum.” The last word may be
taken in its original physical sense.
[1122] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 18. “Gestis vero quæ in tali causa
geri in ecclesia mos est, revertitur Anselmus ad regem.”
[1123] “Dico tibi, domine rex, quia ex hac tua infirmitate
non morieris, ac pro hoc volo noveris quam bene corrigere
poteris quod de me nunc actum est, quia nec concessi nec
concedo ut ratum sit.”
[1124] The change of place is clearly marked in Eadmer.
“Deducentibus eum episcopis, cum tota regni nobilitate,
cubiculo excessit, conversusque ad eos, in hæc verba
sciscitatus est.” The parable which follows is placed
earlier by William of Malmesbury; but this is surely the
right place.
[1125] 1 Cor. iii. 9.
[1126] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 18. “Hoc aratrum in Anglia duo
boves cæteris precellentes regendo trahunt et trahendo
regunt. Rex videlicet, et archiepiscopus Cantuariensis. Iste
seculari justitia et imperio, ille divina doctrina et
magisterio.” This must mean during the late reign.
[1127] “Horum boum unus, scilicet Lanfrancus archiepiscopus,
mortuus est; et alius ferocitatem indomabilis tauri obtinens
jam juvenis aratro prælatus, et vos loco mortui bovis, me
vetulam ac debilem ovem cum indomito tauro conjungere
vultis.”
[1128] “Indomabilis utique feritas tauri sic ovem lanæ et
lactis et agnorum fertilem per spinas et tribulos hac et
illac raptam, si jugo se non excusserit, dilacerabit.” So a
little after; “Me, de quo lanam et lac verbi Dei, et agnos
in servitium ejus, nonnulli possent habere.” The metaphor
becomes passing strange when it is thus worked out in
detail.
[1129] “Ad hospitium suum, dimissa curia, vadit.”
[1130] “Præcepit itaque rex, ut, sine dilatione ac
diminutione, investiretur de omnibus ad archiepiscopatum
pertinentibus intus et extra.” Eadmer goes on to speak about
the city of Canterbury, the abbey of Saint Alban’s, and
other things of which we shall have to speak again. But he
can only mean that orders were given which were not
immediately carried out; for the actual investiture was, as
we shall see, delayed for some months.
[1131] Ep. iii. 3. “Ipsius namque inenarrabili potentia
operante, dedit dominus noster rex Anglorum, consilio et
rogatu principum suorum, cleri quoque et populi petitione et
electione, domino abbati Anselmo Cantuariensis ecclesiæ
gubernationem.” So says Anselm himself in his letter to
Archbishop Hugh of Lyons, Ep. iii. 24; “Subdidi me dolens
præcepto archiepiscopi mei et electioni totius Angliæ.”
[1132] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 591, 593.
[1133] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 19.
[1134] See Appendix Y.
[1135] Ep. iii. 8. “Reverendo domino nostro principe
Northmannorum Roberto concedente; et archiepiscopo nostro
Guillelmo præcipiente, et vobis a Deo coactis, faventibus, a
vestra cura sum absolutus, et majori involutus.” Both Anselm
and the King wrote letters; Eadmer, 19, 20.
[1136] See the letter of the monks, Epp. iii. 6.
[1137] This seems implied in Anselm’s presence at Winchester
at Easter, which is recorded in the Life, ii. 1. 3. But his
presence there is mentioned only to bring in a kind of
miracle, in which Anselm, Gundulf, and the monk Baldwin all
figure.
[1138] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. i. 19. “Siquidem omne malum quod
rex fecerat, priusquam fuerat infirmatus, bonum visu est,
comparatione malorum quæ fecit ubi est sanitati redonatus,”
[1139] “Ipse prædicto Roffensi episcopo, cum illum,
recuperata sanitate, familiari affatu moneret ut se amplius
circumspecte secundum Deum in omnibus haberet respondit.”
(See above, p. 165.)
[1140] The Chronicler says generally; “Ac þæt he syððan
ætbræd, þa him gebotad wæs, and ealle þa gode laga forlǽt,
þe he us ær behét.” We get the details from Eadmer; “Mox
igitur cuncta quæ infirmus statuerat bona, dissolvit et
irrita esse præcepit. Captivi nempe, qui nondum fuerant
dimissi, jussit ut artius solito custodirentur, dimissi, si
capi possent, recluderentur; antiqua jamque donata debita in
integrum exigerentur; placita et offensiones in pristinum
statum revocarentur, illorumque judicio, qui justitiam
subvertere magis quam tueri defendereve curabant,
tractarentur et examinarentur.”
[1141] Florence notices the death of Rhys ap Twdwr in the
Easter week, of which I shall have much to say in the next
chapter.
[1142] See above, p. 370.
[1143] See above, p. 33.
[1144] See above, p. 276.
[1145] This action of William of Eu is marked by Florence at
the end of the year, but without saying at what time of the
year it happened; “Eodem anno Willelmus comes de Owe, auri
ingenti victus aviditate et promissi honoris captus
magnitudine, a naturali domino suo Rotberto Normannorum
comite, cui fidelitatem juraverat, defecit et in Angliam ad
regem Willelmum veniens, illius se dominio, ut seductor
maximus, subjugavit.”
[1146] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 538, 684.
[1147] Anna Comnena tells us this, vii. 6. Robert, on his
return from Jerusalem (ὁ Φλάνδρας κόμης ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων
ἐπανερχόμενος [ho Phlandras komês ex Hierosolymôn
epanerchomenos]), does homage to the Emperor (τὸν συνήθη
τοῖς Λατίνοις ἀποδίδωσιν ὅρκον [ton synêthê tois Latinois
apodidôsin horkon]) and promises five hundred knights
(ἱππεῖς [hippeis]). In viii. 7 we find that he had fulfilled
his promise, and that they are ἱππεῖς ἔκκριτοι [hippeis
ekkritoi]. In viii. 3 they figure as Κελτοί [Keltoi]. Cf.
Will. Malms. iii. 257.
[1148] We have heard of him in N. C. vol. v. pp. 181, 850,
and we shall come across him again.
[1149] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 20. “Jam cum virga pastorali curam
quam super Beccum abbas susceperat, pro descripta superius
absolutione, ipse Becco restituerat.”
[1150] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 327, 328.
[1151] This seems to be the distinction drawn by Anselm,
Hist. Nov. 19, 20; “Volo ut omnes terras quas ecclesia
Cantuariensis, ad quam regendam electus sum, tempore beatæ
memoriæ Lanfranci archiepiscopi tenebat, sine omni placito
et controversia ipsi ecclesiæ restituas, et de aliis terris
quas eadem ecclesia ante suum tempus habebat, sed perditas
nondum recuperavit, mihi rectitudinem judiciumque
consentias.” About anything which Lanfranc had actually held
there could, it is assumed, be no question, either of law or
of fact; about earlier claims there might easily be either.
[1152] Ib. 20. “Sicut ego te volo terrenum habere dominum et
defensorem, ita et tu me spiritualem habeas patrem et animæ
tuæ provisorem.” To this day it is held that, wherever the
King may be, the Archbishop of Canterbury is his parish
priest.
[1153] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 436.
[1154] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 435.
[1155] Ib. p. 436, note.
[1156] Ib. The language of Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 25, is nearly
to the same effect; “Erant quippe (illo tempore) duo, ut in
Anglia ferebatur, qui dicebantur Romani pontifices a se
invicem discordantes, et ecclesiam Dei inter se divisam post
se trahentes.”
[1157] There is a most important passage of William of
Malmesbury in his first draught of the Gesta Pontificum (p.
86, note) which he afterwards, as in so many other cases,
found it expedient to tone down. As he wrote it, it stood
thus;
“Erant his diebus duo competitores Romani præsulatus, summi
ambo et prestantes viri. Uterque causam verisimilibus
rationibus fulciebat, Urbanus electione cardinalium,
Guibertus electione imperatoris Theutonum, cujus esset Roma
et Italia. Neuter ergo pro persona sua cedebat. Guiberto
necessitatem subjectionis ministrabat terrarum tractus qui
sub imperio illius jacet; Urbano favebat omnis Gallia et
Normannia, et cetera usque ad oceanum Brittannicum. Incertum
cui faveret Divinitas, nisi quod Urbani fama prosperius
crementum sumebat. Consensu dubio fluctuabat Anglia, in
Guibertum tamen inclinatior propter metum regis.”
[1158] See above, p. 117.
[1159] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 25. “Urbano jamdudum pro vicario
beati Petri ab Italia Galliaque recepto; Anselmus etiam,
utpote abbas de Normannia, eum pro papa receperat, et, sicut
vir nominatissimus, necnon authoritate plenus ejus literas
susceperat, eique velut summo sanctæ ecclesiæ pastori suas
direxerat.”
[1160] Ib. 20. “De Romano quoque pontifice Urbano, quem pro
apostolico hucusque non recepisti, et ego jam recepi atque
recipio, eique debitam obedientiam et subjectionem exhibere
volo, cautum te facio ne quod scandalum inde oriatur in
futuro.”
[1161] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 25. “Terras de quibus ecclesia
saisita quidem fuerat sub Lanfranco omnes eo, quo tunc
erant, tibi modo restituam, sed de illis quas sub ipso non
habebat, in præsenti nullam tecum conventionem instituo.
Veruntamen de his et aliis credam tibi sicut debebo.”
[1162] Eadmer, Nov. Hist. 25. “Quatenus et secundum totius
regni de eo factam electionem pontifex fieri ultra non
negaret.” Here are the same kind of expressions with regard
to Anselm’s election of which we have already spoken in p.
405.
[1163] Ib. “Et terras ecclesiæ quas ipse rex, defuncto
Lanfranco, suis dederat pro statuto servitio, illis ipsis
hæreditario jure tenendas, causa sui amoris, condonaret.”
[1164] Ib. “Nolens ecclesiam, quam necdum re aliqua
investierat, exspoliare.”
[1165] This letter (Ep. iii. 24) is a most important
exposition of Anselm’s own views on the whole matter of the
election and what followed it.
[1166] Ep. iii. 24. “Sub occasione cujusdam _voluntariæ
justitiæ_, secundum quam de terris eisdem me vult
placitare.”
[1167] Ib. “Hæc autem est illa quam dixi voluntaria
justitia. Quoniam terras easdem, antequam Northmanni Angliam
invaderent, milites Angli ab archiepiscopo Cantuariæ
tenuisse dicuntur, et mortui sunt sine hæredibus, vult
asserere se posse juste quos vult eorum hæredes
constituere.”
[1168] See the instances collected in N. C. vol. v. Appendix
G. The lands moreover would be yet harder to get back when
they had been granted away on the new military tenures.
[1169] Ep. iii. 24. “Si quis enim alius, ad quem ecclesiæ
custodia non pertineret, hanc faceret ei violentiam, aut
factam patienter sustineret, palam esset quia in futuro
nihil dici posset cur res ecclesiæ ad eam redire non
deberent.”
[1170] Ib. “Nunc autem cum et ipse rex advocatus ejus sit,
et ego custos, quid dicetur in futuro nisi, quia rex fecit
et archiepiscopus sustinendo confirmavit, ratum esse debet?”
[1171] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 194; vol. v. p. 101.
[1172] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 20. “Unde Anselmus oppido lætatus
est, sperans se hac occasione, a prælationis onere, per Dei
gratiam, exonerandum.” And directly after; “Eo quod terras
ecclesiæ injuria dare nolebat, episcopalis officii onus sese
lætus evasisse videbat.”
[1173] Ib. “Cum decursu non exiguo tempore, clamorem omnium,
de ecclesiarum destructione conquerentium.”
[1174] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 20. “Multis bonis et ecclesiæ Dei
profuturis promissionibus illectus [Anselmus].”
[1175] Ib. “More et exemplo prædecessoris sui inductus, _pro
usu terræ_, homo regis factus est, et, sicut Lanfrancus suo
tempore fuerat, de toto archiepiscopatu saisiri jussus est.”
Does not Eadmer, writing by later lights from Rome, feel
scruples which Anselm did not feel at the time?
[1176] When one thinks of this, one is less surprised at the
astounding language of the Council in Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 53.
Yet, after all, Henry the Fourth was not Rufus.
[1177] We have the writ in the Fœdera, i. 5. It grants
“omnes libertates in terra et mari super suos homines, infra
burgos et extra, et super tot theines quot ecclesiæ Christi
concessit Edwardus rex, cognatus meus.” This mention of the
thegns, and the King’s request about the grants, and the
words of Anselm to the Archbishop of Lyons, all hang
together.
[1178] Ib. “Nolo pati ut aliquis hominum se intromittat de
omnibus rebus quæ ad eos pertinent, nisi ipsi et ministri
eorum quibus ipsi committere voluerint, nec Francus nec
Anglus.”
[1179] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 18 (see above, p. 403). “At
civitas Cantuaria quam Lanfrancus suo tempore in beneficio a
rege tenebat, et abbatia sancti Albani quam non solum
Lanfrancus sed et antecessores ejus habuisse noscuntur, in
alodium ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis, pro redemptione
animæ suæ, perpetuo jure, transirent.”
[1180] They were old friends. The Gesta Abbatum (i. 61) go
on to say; “Rex Willelmus secundus archiepiscopatum, quem
diu in manu sua tenuit, immisericors depauperavit. Abbas
autem Paulus Anselmum egentem juvit et consolabatur. Unde,
inthronizatus, in multis beneficia potiora gratus abbati
recompensavit, et quod imperfectum erat in ædificiis
ecclesiæ sancti Albani juvit postea consummare.”
[1181] Ib. i. 65. “Nemora complanando, hominibus beati
Albani pecuniam, causis cavillatoriis adinventis,
extorquendo.” Rufus is described as “nullius, præcipue
mortui, verus amicus.”
[1182] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 20. “Indignationi hoc quoque non
parum doloris adjiciebat, quod negotium unde agebatur ad
jura ecclesiæ pertinebat, nec in aliquo regalis judicii
definitionem respiciebat.”
[1183] Ib. “A rege missus quidam nomine Ranulphus, regiæ
voluntatis maximus executor, qui, spreta consideratione
pietatis ac modestiæ, placitum contra eum ipsa die
instituit, et ferus ac tumens, tantum ecclesiæ gaudium
conturbare non timuit.” Directly after; “ut nec primum
quidem suæ dignitatis diem permitteretur in pace
transigere.”
[1184] Ib. “Ex præsentibus futura conjecit, et quia multas
in pontificatu angustias foret passurus, intellexit atque
prædixit.”
[1185] The consecration of Anselm and the death of Malcolm
are oddly joined together in the new Canterbury Chronicle
published by Liebermann, (p. 4); “1094. On ðison geare me
bletsede Anselm to biscope ii. ñ. Decemb.; and on ðison
geare me scloch Malculm cing.”
[1186] T. Stubbs, X Scriptt. 1707. He adds emphatically,
“Hæc interim fecit Thomas archiepiscopus, nec quisquam
episcoporum erat qui hæc in sua ipsius diœcesi præsente
archiepiscopo præsumeret.”
[1187] Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 21) describes the consecrators as
“Thomas archiepiscopus Eboracensis et omnes episcopi
Angliæ,” except the two who sent excuses. But Dr. Stubbs
does not seem to reckon the Bishop of Durham among the
number.
[1188] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 417.
[1189] The foundations had just been laid, as we shall see
in the next chapter.
[1190] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 340.
[1191] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 21. “Cum ante ordinandi pontificis
examinationem Walchelinus Wentanus episcopus, rogatu
Mauricii episcopi Lundoniensis cujus hoc officium est,
ecclesiastico more electionem scriptam legeret.” This is, I
suppose, as Dean of the Province, an office still held by
the Bishops of London, and by virtue of which they do
several of the things which Thomas Stubbs claims for his own
metropolitan.
[1192] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 21. Walkelin reads the writing
till he comes to the words which set forth how “hæc
Dorobernensis ecclesia totius Britanniæ metropolitana suo
sit viduata pastore.” Then Thomas “subintulit, dicens totius
Britanniæ metropolitana? Si totius Britanniæ metropolitana,
ecclesia Eboracensis quæ metropolitana esse scitur,
metropolitana non est. Et quidem ecclesiam Cantuariensem
primatem totius Britanniæ esse scimus, non metropolitanam.”
[1193] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 21. “Quod auditum ratione submixum
esse, quod dicebat intellectum est.”
[1194] Ib. “Tunc statim scriptura ipsa mutata est, et pro
totius Britanniæ metropolitana, totius Britanniæ primas
scriptum est, et omnis controversia conquievit. Itaque
sacravit eum ut totius Britanniæ primatem.”
The Yorkist version, as given by T. Stubbs (X Scriptt.
1707), is of course quite different. Thomas is there
attended by several members of his church, Hugh the Dean and
others. This might almost imply the absence of his one
suffragan. The words objected to are in this version “Primas
totius Britanniæ.” As soon as they are heard, Thomas and his
companions go out and take off their robes. Anselm and
Walkelin follow them; they fall at the feet of Thomas, and
ask for his forgiveness (“pedibus archiepiscopi affusi
humiliter deprecati sunt, ne moleste acciperet”). Thomas
stands firm. “Cum duo tantum, inquit, sint metropolitæ in
Britannia, alter super alterum esse non potest.” He might
have erred in his youth by admitting the claims of
Canterbury; he would at least not err in the like sort
again. He would consecrate no man as primate. Anselm and
Walkelin submit; the word “primate” is struck out, and
Anselm is consecrated as “metropolitan.”
It will be seen that in this version the place of the two
titles, “primate” and “metropolitan,” is simply turned
round. We can have no doubt as to preferring the
contemporary account; but it is well to see how matters
looked at York several centuries later.
[1195] There is no mention of this in Eadmer’s account of
the consecration; but such seems to be the meaning of Anselm
himself in a letter to Walter, Bishop of Albano, which I
shall have to quote again (Epp. iii. 36). He there says,
“Sub professione obedientiæ Romani pontificis me
consecrarunt.” This is an answer to a charge of being
schismatically consecrated while the kingdom was not under
the obedience of Urban.
[1196] See above, p. 311.
[1197] See above, p. 312.
[1198] T. Stubbs, X Scriptt. 1707. “Non prohibebat quin eum
Dorkacestrensem ordinaret episcopum, sicut et antecessores
sui fuerant; verum Lyndecoldinum oppidum, et magnam partem
provinciæ Lyndisiæ dicebat fuisse, et jure esse debere,
parochiam Eboracensis ecclesiæ, et injuria illi ereptam
esse.”
[1199] Eadmer does not mention the place; but it appears
from the Chronicle that it was at the usual place, namely
Gloucester.
[1200] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 21. “Consummato ordinationis suæ
die octavo, Cantuariam egrediens, ad curiam regis pro
imminente nativitate Domini vadit. Quo perveniens, hilariter
a rege totaque regni nobilitate suscipitur.”
[1201] See N. C. vol. iii. pp. 69, 260.
[1202] Again it is from the Chronicler that we get the most
formal statement of the words of the challenge. They would
doubtless be uttered in French; but we may believe that we
have an authorized English version; “Him þider fram his
broðer Rodbearde of Normandig bodan coman, þa cyddon þæt his
broðer grið and forewarde eall æftercwæð, butan se cyng
gelæstan wolde eall þet hi on forewarde hæfdon ær gewroht,
and uppon þæt hine forsworenne, and trywleasne clypode,
buton he þa forewarda geheolde, oððe þider ferde, and hine
þær betealde þær seo forewarde ǽr wæs gewroht and eac
gesworen.”
[1203] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 21. “Adeo ut nonnullas etiam
difficultates pateretur, quas regiam pati excellentiam
indecens videbatur.”
[1204] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 300.
[1205] Eadmer, u. s. “Siquidem hunc ipse rex morem erga
cunctos quibus dominatur habebat, ut quum quis eorum aliquid
ei pecuniarum, etiam solius gratiæ obtentu, offerebat,
oblatum, nisi quantitas rei voto illius concurreret,
sperneret. Nec offerentem in suam ulterius amicitiam
admittebat, si ad determinationem suam oblatum munus non
augeret.”
[1206] He does it only “suasus ab amicis suis.”
[1207] Anselm himself gives this motive in his letter to
Archbishop Hugh (Ep. iii. 24); “Gratias Deo, quo miserante
simplicitatem cordis mei hoc factum est, ne, si nihil aut
parum promisissem, justam videretur habere causam irascendi;
aut si accepisset, verteretur mihi in gravamen, et in
suspicionem nefandæ emptionis.”
[1208] Eadmer (Hist. Nov. 21) gives these motives at length.
[1209] Ib. “Rex tali oblatione audita, bene rem quidem
laudando respondit.”
[1210] These are the arguments which Eadmer puts into the
mouths of the King’s advisers; “Quidam malignæ mentis
homines regem, ut fieri solet, ad hoc perduxerunt quatenus
oblatam pecuniam spernendo recipere non adquiesceret.”
[1211] Eadmer here quotes a psalm; “Mentita est iniquitas
sibi.” Ps. xxvii. 12.
[1212] Ib. “Mandatur illi regem oblatam pecuniam refutare,
et miratus est.”
[1213] Ib. 22. “Amica nempe libertate me et omnia mea ad
utilitatem tuam habere poteris, servili autem conditione nec
me nec mea habebis.”
[1214] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 441.
[1215] Eadmer, u. s. “Iratus rex, Sint, inquit, cum jurgio
tua tibi, sufficient mea mihi. Vade.”
[1216] The story is told by Eadmer, 22. The objection of
Maurice takes this shape; “Dicebat ipsam ecclesiam in sua
parochia esse, et ob hoc, licet in terra archiepiscopi
fuerit, dedicationem illius ad se pertinere.” The right of
the Archbishop seems to have rested on good ancient
precedent; but there is something odd in Eadmer’s way of
stating the controversy. The presumption was surely in
favour of the diocesan bishop.