Anselm of Canterbury
Monk, prior and abbot of Bec in Normandy and from 1093 archbishop of Canterbury. His Proslogion and Cur Deus Homo set out to understand by reasoning what faith believes about God and about the incarnation.
Eadmer, who knew him, says that Anselm became a monk at Bec in his twenty-seventh year, was made prior three years later when Lanfranc left for Caen, and was elected abbot by the whole community when the founder, Herluin, died (Eadmer, Life of Anselm 1.6–7 (Rule, p. 320)) (Eadmer, Life of Anselm 1.26 (Rule, pp. 344–345)). At Bec he wrote the Monologion and the Proslogion (Anselm, Proslogion preface) (Eadmer, Life of Anselm 1.19 (Rule, pp. 333–334)).
In 1093 King William II, lying gravely ill, gave him the archbishopric of Canterbury (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1093). He went abroad in 1097 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1097), finished Cur Deus Homo in exile (Anselm, Cur Deus Homo preface), returned in 1100 at the invitation of Henry I (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1100), left again for Rome in 1103 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1103), and died in 1109 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1109).
In the timeline
- about 1078 to 1098, estimated dateAnselm: Faith Seeking Understanding
Anselm, monk of Bec and later archbishop of Canterbury, sets out to understand by reason what he already believes. The Proslogion argues that God cannot be thought not to exist; Cur Deus Homo argues that only a God-man could make satisfaction for sin.
Primary sources
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1093avalon.law.yale.edu
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1097avalon.law.yale.edu
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1100avalon.law.yale.edu
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1103avalon.law.yale.edu
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1109avalon.law.yale.edu