Anselm of Canterbury

Anselmus Cantuariensis

Biography

Born in Aosta in 1033 or 1034, Anselm left his homeland to go to France. He moved to Normandy and entered the Abbey of Bec at the age of twenty-seven, where he studied under the direction of Lanfranc, the future archbishop of Canterbury. Having become Abbot of Bec in 1079, despite his disinclination to exercise authority, he was soon called by Lanfranc to England, where he stayed several times, to settle temporal affairs and to carry out religious tasks. He was called upon to succeed Lanfranc in the see of Canterbury on the latter’s death in 1089, in a politically troubled period. At that time, William Rufus of England, successor to William the Conqueror, was prolonging and intensifying his predecessors’ policy of abasing and plundering the Church. Yet it was the sick king who begged Anselm to leave his abbey of Bec and take possession of the see of Canterbury. Anselm accepted, only on certain conditions, in 1093. He intended to go to Rome to discuss with the legitimate Pope Urban II the reform of the Church in England. The king let him go, but prevented his return. This exile would continue in Lyon until the death of William Rufus. Anselm then returned to England in October 1100 at the call of King Henry Beauclerc. The latter wanted to keep the royal investiture of prelates and soon opposed Anselm. The king managed to convince him to go to Rome to obtain from the Pope what he could not obtain through other diplomatic missions. It was a ruse to drive Anselm away, who thus found himself in a second "exile". The kingdom's difficulties once again provoked his recall to Canterbury in September 1106. Anselm died in April 1109.