how he purposed to act concerning the English king and men like-minded who lifted themselves up against the liberty of God's Church. Pending the meeting of the council Anselm withdrew with great contentment to his quiet retreat at Schiavi.

Council of

1098.

pope

At the Council of Bari the doctrinal question of the "procession of the Holy Ghost was discussed with the delegates of the Eastern Church. A hot debate arose. Anselm at The referred to Anselm's work on the IncarnaBari, Oct. 1, tion, and presently called upon him to step forward and vindicate the true doctrine of the Holy Ghost before the assembly. At the same time he expatiated on the wrongs which had driven him from England. Anselm's speech on the doctrinal question was delivered the next day, and is described as a masterpiece of learning and eloquence, for which he was publicly thanked by the pope; but we have no detailed report of it. The assembly then discussed the conduct of the King of England. The pope stated that he had frequently addressed rebukes and warnings to him, but with what result was proved by his persecution and expulsion of the holy man who was now before them. "What think ye, brethren," he said, "of these things, and how do ye determine ? " There was a unanimous judgment in favour of excommunication. "Be it so," said the pope. At this point Anselm, who had been sitting in silence with downcast eyes, got up, and kneeling down before the pope persuaded him, but with difficulty, to postpone passing sentence, on the king. Urban, however, was a wary man, and subsequent events suggest a doubt whether he had intended to do more than make a demonstration.

to Rome.

Anselm and his followers accompanied the pope to Rome after the Council of Bari. Soon after their arrival, shortly before Christmas 1098, a messenger who had been He returns sent to England with letters to the king from the pope and Anselm returned, with the tidings that Rufus had accepted in some sort the letters of the pope but had flatly refused to receive the letters of Anselm, and when he heard that the bearer of them was Anselm's man he had sworn by God's face that if he did not promptly quit the country he would have his eyes plucked out.

ANSELM IN ROME

arrives.

III

In the course of a few days another visitor from England appeared in the person of William of Warelwast, who came as the emissary and advocate of his master the Red William of King. In a public audience Urban adopted a Warelwast severe and threatening tone, bidding him inform the king that if he did not reinstate Anselm before the council to be held at the following Easter, he must expect the sentence of excommunication. William's agent, however, knew how to deal with the papal court. He tarried several days in Rome and made good use of his time by a judicious distribution of gifts amongst the pope's counsellors, with the result that the pope was persuaded to grant William a respite to the following Michaelmas. According to William of Malmesbury, Urban, after a long struggle between his respect for Anselm and his inclination, accepted the king's gifts. Eadmer, however, does not accuse the pope himself of yielding to bribes. Nevertheless Anselm perceived that he had been leaning on a broken reed, and resolved not to waste any more time in dangling attendance on the pope. He had sought protection of his rights and redress of his wrongs from the apostolic see, which should have been the chief source of righteousness and justice in the world, and he had found the fountain poisoned by his persecutor and oppressor. It was an experience destined to be frequently repeated in the history of English appeals to Rome. The integrity of the papal court was rarely proof against the argument of gold and silver.

So Anselm asked leave to return to Lyons: but the pope insisted on his remaining for the great council to be held at Easter, and meanwhile paid him all possible honour; he and his friends were comfortably lodged in the Lateran; the pope frequently visited him and placed him next himself in all public assemblies and processions.

Council at Rome, 1099.

When the council assembled in St. Peter's in April 1099, there was some curiosity to see where Anselm would be seated, as no one present had ever seen an Archbishop of Canterbury at a general council in Rome. The pope ordered him to be placed in the seat of honour opposite himself in the centre of the half circle of prelates who sat facing the papal chair on either side. Decrees were passed or renewed against simony and clerical marriages,

and anathema was pronounced on any layman who should bestow investiture of an ecclesiastical benefice, or the clerk who should receive it at his hands and become his man. This decree was flatly opposed to the custom of England and Normandy, and became, as we shall see, the main subject of dispute between Anselm and Henry I.

scene.

When the time came for reading out the decrees of the council a strange scene occurred. As the assembly was very large, and there was a considerable noise A strange owing to the crowds passing to and from the shrine of St. Peter, the pope ordered Reineger, the Bishop of Lucca, a man of great stature and powerful voice, to read so that all might hear. Reineger read a little way, then suddenly stopped, and burst forth into an indignant declamation upon the uselessness of passing new laws when they did nothing to right a man who was the meek victim of tyrannical oppression. "If you do not all perceive of whom I am speaking, it is Anselm, Archbishop of England." So saying, he smote on the floor thrice with his pastoral staff, and uttered a groan, with lips and teeth tightly closed. "Enough, enough, brother Reineger," said the pope, "good counsel shall be taken touching this matter." "Truly," replied Reineger, "it had better be; otherwise the matter will not escape Him who judges righteously." The whole scene reads like a piece of acting, and Anselm clearly suspected it to be so. Eadmer says that he was astonished when he heard the speech of the bishop, since neither he himself nor any of his friends had spoken to him on the subject. He sat, therefore, listening in silent amazement to this unexpected outburst. At any rate, nothing came of it, and the next day Anselm left Rome, "having obtained," as his biographer remarks with subdued irony, "nought of counsel or aid save such as I have related." Travelling by circuitous routes to avoid the agent of the anti-pope, who had sent an artist to sketch his face when he was at Rome, they reached Lyons in safety, and were heartily welcomed by their old friend, Archbishop Hugh. Anselm resided with him, and assisted him in his episcopal duties.

What attitude Pope Urban would have assumed towards the Red King after Michaelmas can only be conjectured, for

DEATH OF WILLIAM RUFUS

113

before that date he was no more. His death occurred on July 29. When it was announced to Rufus, "May God's hate," he exclaimed, "rest on him who cares for Death of that." On hearing of the election of Paschal Pope Urban, II. he inquired what manner of man he was, and July 28, 1099, being informed that in some respects he was like Anselm, he burst forth, "Then by God's face he is no good; but let him be what he will, his popedom shall not get over me this time. I have gained my liberty, and shall do what I please."

and of

2, 1100.

He did not long enjoy his boasted liberty. On August 2 of the following year, 1100, he fell dead when hunting in the New Forest, pierced by an arrow from an unknown hand. The body, dripping with blood, was con- William veyed in a cart to Winchester. There, in the Rufus, Aug. middle of the choir, beneath the central tower of Bishop Walkelin's minster, just seven years after its completion, the remains of the wicked king were buried, without full funeral rites, "in the presence," says William of Malmesbury, "of many, but the mourning of few." The fall of the tower seven years afterwards was, in popular belief, a token of Divine displeasure at the burial of so impious a person within the hallowed walls of the cathedral.

AUTHORITIES.—The primary authorities for all that relates to Anselm are Eadmer, Hist. Nov. and his Vita Anselmi (both in the Rolls series). Eadmer, being Anselm's chaplain and intimate friend, was an eye-witness of most of the events which he relates. Anselm's letters, numbering more than 400, are printed in Migne's Patrolog. Lat. clix. Among modern biographies the most noteworthy are by Charles de Rémusat, Paris, 1868; Charma, Paris, 1853; R. W. Church, late Dean of St. Paul's; J. M. Rigg, (Methuen) 1899. Mr. Rigg deals more especially with Anselm's writings. Copious references occur in Freeman's Norm. Conq. vols. iii. iv. and v., and his Reign of William Rufus, I. iv. and II. vii. A long list of literature in connection with Anselm will be found at the end of the article on him by the present writer in the Dict. of National Biography, and a fuller account of some parts of his history.

CHAPTER VI

Anselm hears

ANSELM AND HENRY I

ANSELM was sojourning at the monastery of La ChaiseDieu (Casa Dei), in Auvergne, when the tidings of William's death were brought to him by two of the king's monks - one from Canterbury, the other from death. Bec. At first he was stupefied by the shock; presently he burst into a flood of tears. His friends were astonished at this exhibition of grief over such a man, but Anselm, in a voice broken by sobs, declared that he would rather have died himself than that the king should have perished, being what he was. He returned to Lyons, where another monk from Canterbury met him, bearing a letter from the mother Church, entreating him to return to his sorrowing children, now that the tyrant was no more. Archbishop Hugh was most unwilling to part with him, but owned that it was his duty to go. So he started, accompanied by a multitude of people who mourned his departure. Before he reached Cluny another messenger came, bringing a letter from the new King Henry, and a message from the lay lords begging him to return with all speed, and even upbraiding him for not coming sooner.

Henry in his letter states that he has been elected by the clergy and people of England, and entreats Anselm to come with all speed. To his counsel he entrusts himself Henry I. begs him to and the people of England; he would rather have return. been crowned and blessed by Anselm than by any other, but he dared not delay the ceremony owing to the activity of his enemies. He would have sent him money by