A letter from Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury (1103)

Translated letter:

Anselm, servant of the church of Canterbury: to his lady and mother, Matilda, the reverend abbess of Caen,(1) wishing her to be ruled always by the counsel of divine grace. Through Dom Robert, the brother of Eustace,(2) your Holiness asked our advice concerning your abbey which you wish to give up to be entrusted to someone else, if you are allowed to do so, since due to illness and the weakness of old age you are not able to rule it as is proper. Since this cannot be done except with the consent of the Duke,(3) the Archbishop of Rouen,(4) your bishop(5) and the nuns entrusted to you, I can give you no help; but since you ask for it I give you what advice I can. See whether you can achieve your wish, as seems expedient for you, through those whom it concerns. If you cannot, lay the charge for those matters in which your strength is failing upon sisters who are members(6) of your community, that is those in whom you perceive greater prudence and religious fervor,(7) directing, requesting and encouraging them. If, however, it should come about that you do not have such persons in whom you can have confidence according to your wish — which I trust is not the case in your church — then I feel sure that your reverence is to be excused before God if you choose those whom you know to be better and more qualified for this task, since you cannot do any better.*

Original letter:

Anselmus, servus ecclesiae Cantuariensis: dominae et matri, reverendae abbatissae Cadomensi Mathildi, semper divinae gratiae regi consilio. Petit sanctitas vestra per domnum Robertum, fratrem Eustachii, nostrum consilium de abbatia vestra, quam idcirco, deserere, si vobis liceret, ut alli commendaretur, velletis, quoniam eam propter infirmitatem et aetatis imbecillitatem sicut oportet regere non valetis. Quod quia fieri non potest nisi per comitem et archiepiscopum Rotomagensem et episcopum vestrum et consensum sanctimonialium vobis commissarum, inde vobis nullum impendere possum auxilium; sed quoniam hoc petitis, quale possum mando consilium. Tentate si per eos ad quos pertinet, desiderium vestrum, sicut vobis expedire videtur, potestis efficere; et si nequitis, sororibus quae membra vestra sunt, illis scilicet in quibus malorem prudentiam et religionis fervorem cognoscitis, earum rerum in quibus vires vestrae deficiunt, praecipiendo, rogando, exhortando curam iniungite. Nam si etiarn contingeret, ut tales personas in quibus secundum desiderium vestrum possitis confidere, non haberetis — quod in ecclesia vestra esse non spero --: vestra tamen reverentia, si illas eligeret quas ad hoc meliores et aptiores cognosceret, excusabilis apud deum, quoniam melius non posset, sicut credo, existeret.

Historical context:

Archbishop Anselm answers the abbess's request for advice about giving up her position, though it is not in his jurisdiction, with suggestions about alternate plans if she fails to get permission.

Scholarly notes:

(1) Matilda was abbess of Holy Trinity, Caen, one of the two monasteries built by Duke William and his wife Matilda in return for the removal of the ban laid upon their marriage by Pope Nicholas II; see D.C. Douglas, William the Conqueror (London, 1964) 79-80. Matilda was the first abbess; she ruled from 1059 — the time of the promise of foundation — until her death on 6 July 1113, OV I: 30, 86; II: 130; III: 10. (2) Possibly the father of Gosfrid, monk of Bec, see Ep 297. (3) Duke Robert of Normandy. (4) Archbisbop William of Rouen. (5) Bishop Turold of Bayeux, 1096-1107; King William II gave the bishopric of Bayeux to Turold when he heard of Odo's death in Palermo in February 1099, see Ep 87; some seven years later he resigned the bishopric and became a monk at Bec under Abbot William. Pope Paschal had charged Turold with having received his appointment from a layman and having been ordained deacon without having passed through the minor orders. He was deposed probably in 1106, but the see became effectively vacant only on his more or less voluntary retirement to Bec in 1107, see Ep 418; OV, V: 210. (6) See Rm 12:5. (7) During Matilda's incapacitation due to old age, Cecilia, King Henry's sister, took charge of the administration of Holy Trinity. When Matilda died in 1113 Cecilia succeeded her and governed the nuns in exemplary fashion for fourteen years; OV III: 10. (8) The translation is reproduced with the permission of the translator and the publisher, Cistercian Publications Inc. Editorial Offices, Institute of Cistercian Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008. All rights are reserved; downloading and copying for any purpose other than private research is prohibited.

Printed source:

Sancti Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi, Opera Omnia, ed. F.S. Schmitt (Edinburgh: T. Nelson, 1946-63), ep.298, 4.218-19; translation and annotation from The Letters of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, trans. Walter Frohlich, Cistercian Studies 97, 3v (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1990-94), 2.316-17.

Date:

1103