ABSTRACT
The writings of Anselm of Canterbury have been celebrated as a primary stimulus to the emergence of scholastic theology in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. Anselm was born in Aosta, in the Piedmont region of Italy, around 1033.1 Being of noble birth, he enjoyed sufficient resources to study in France and eventually joined Lanfranc of Pavia’s monastery at Bec in Normandy, a center of learning that was already becoming renowned for its theological studies. While at Bec he became a popular teacher, an effective administrator, and a promising theological author. Typical of his generation of theologians, he did not develop any comprehensive system of theology nor did he produce the sort of summa that would become popular in the next century. Rather, during his time at Bec he composed a series of monographs on specific topics, including the Monologion, the Proslogion, On the Grammarian, and Epistle on the Incarnation of the Word. Having attracted the attention of both ecclesiastic and secular lords, Anselm was elected abbot of Bec in 1078 and, after serving ably in that role, was consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093. Anselm was a staunch supporter of the ecclesial reforms of Pope Gregory VII that sought to secure the independence of the church from the secular nobility and feudal monarchs. He quickly became embroiled in disputes with King William Rufus of England and later with William’s successor King Henry I over the issues of the exercise of lay authority in appointments to ecclesial positions and the extent of the Church’s obligation under the traditions of feudalism to provide funds and troops for the king’s wars. Beginning in 1097, his efforts to assert church control over ecclesial appointments and to resist royal demands for more funds precipitated a series of exiles and reconciliations with the successive kings. During this tumultuous period Anselm wrote his influential Why God Became Human, as well as On Virginal Conception and Original Sin, On the Procession of the Holy
1 See R.W. Southern, Saint Anselm: A Portrait in a Landscape, Cambridge: Cambridge by R.W. Southern, Oxford: Oxford University
Spirit, and On the Agreement of Foreknowledge, Predestination, Grace and Free Will. Anselm died in 1109, exhausted from his struggles against lay investiture.
