A letter from Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury (1102-03)

Translated letter:

To Matilda, glorious queen of the English, reverend lady, dearest daughter: archbishop Anselm, sending due honor, his service, his prayers and the blessing of God and his own, as far as he is able. I give great thanks for your generosity, but even greater thanks for the holy love from which your gifts proceed. Your love urges me with pious solicitude to be kind to my body by taking a greater quantity of food lest my voice and my strength fail me for the duty laid upon me. Since you hear that I feel no hunger after a whole day's fast, even if it happens daily, you fear that hoarseness of my voice or bodily weakness may befall me. If only enough wisdom and vigor as I need would come to me — as much voice and strength as I have — sufficient for the work laid upon mel Even though I may be able to fast without pangs of hunger, I nevertheless can and intend, when I ought, to give my body as much nourishment as is expedient. Your kind dignity recalled in your letter that through me your Highness was espoused in legitimate marriage, crowned and raised to the eminence of royalty with my blessing.(1) Indeed, since you call this to mind so kindly and with such gratitude to me, who acted in this matter as a minister as faithfully as I could, one can fully appreciate what immeasurable thanks you must be rendering in your heart to Christ, who is the author and dispenser of this gift. If you wish to render these thanks in a proper, good and efficacious manner by your deeds, consider that queen whom it pleased the Lord to choose for himself as his bride from this world. She is the one whom he calls "beautiful," and his "love"(2) and his "dove"(3) in the Scriptures, and of whom it is said to him: "The queen is standing at your right hand."(4) She is the one to whom it is said about her bridegroom, Christ: "Listen, my daughter, and see; incline your ear, forget your people and your father's house and the King will desire your beauty."(5) Indeed, the more she forgets, despising the secular way of life and her father's dwelling place — that is to say, this world — the more beautiful and lovable she will be seen in the eyes of her spouse. He proved how much he loved her when he did not hesitate to surrender himself freely to death for love of her.(6) Now consider, I say, how this woman an exile, a pilgrim, groans and sighs like a widow with her true children, waiting for her husband until he returns from the distant region to which he went "to receive for himself a kingdom," (7) and, taking her to his kingdom, repays everyone according to what they did to his beloved, whether good or evil.(8) Those who honor her will be honored in her and with her; those who maltreat her will be maltreated away from her. Those who exalt her will be exalted with the angels; those who degrade her will be degraded with the demons. Therefore, exalt, honor and defend this spouse so that with her and in her you may be pleasing to her spouse, God, and live, reigning with her, in eternal beatitude. Amen. May it be so.(9)

Original letter:

MATHILDAE, gloriosae reginae Anglorum, reverendae dominae, filiae carissimae: ANSELMUS archiepiscopus, debitum honorem, servitium, orationes et benedictionem dei et suam, quantum potest. Gratias magnas ago vestrae largitioni, sed multo maiores, de qua munera procedunt, sanctae dilectioni. Quae etiam mihi pia sollicitudine instat, ut in alimentis sumendis corpori largius indulgeam, ne vox et vires ad curam iniunctam mihi deficiant. Nam quoniam auditis me pro ieiunio totius diei, etiam si cotidie fieret, famem non sentire, timetis raucitatem et imbecillitatem mihi corporis evenire. Sed utinam tantum mihi sapientia et potestas quae competit suppeterent, quantum vox et vires quas habeo, ad opus mihi iniunctum sufficerent! Licet enim sic possim sine famis molestia ieiunare, satis tamen possum et volo, cum debeo, quantum expedit corpus alimentis recreare. Memor est benigna vestra dignatio in epistola sua quod per me sit vestra celsitudo in coniugium legitimum desponsata et ad regni sublimitatem me sacrante coronata. Verum cum de me, qui huius rei minister tantum fidelis, quantum in me fuit, exstiti, hoc tam benigne, tanta gratia recolitis: satis aestimari potest quantas Christo, qui huius doni auctor et largitor est, grates in mente persolvitis. Quas si recte, si bene, si efficaciter ipso actu vultis reddere : considerate reginam illam, quam de hoc mundo sponsam sibi illi placuit eligere. Haec est quam "pulchram" et "amicam" et "columbam" suam vocat in scripturis, et de qua illi dicitur: "astitit regina a dextris tuis." Haec est, cui de eodem sponso suo Christo dicitur: "Audi, filia, et vide et inclina aurem tuam, et obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui, et concupiscet rex decorem tuum." Quanto enim saecularium conversationem et patris sui, huius scilicet mundi, habitationem contemnendo obliviscitur, tanto pulchrior conspectui sponsi sui et amabilior cognoscitur. Hanc quantum dilexerit ipse probavit, cum se ipsum morti sponte tradere pro eius amore non dubitavit. Hanc, inquam, considerate quomodo exsul et peregrina et quasi vidua ad virum suum cum veris filiis suis gemit et suspirat, exspectans, donec ille de regione longinqua, ad quam abit "accipere sibi regnum," veniat, et eam ad regnum suum transferendo omnibus qui eidem amicae bona vel mala fecerint, prout quisque gessit, retribuat. Qui hanc honorant, cum illa et in illa honorabuntur; qui hanc conculcant, extra illam conculcabuntur. Qui hanc exaltant, cum angelis exaltabuntur; qui hanc deprimunt, cum daemonibus deprimentur. Hanc exaltate, honorate, defendite, ut cum illa et in illa sponso deo placeatis et in aeterna beatitudine cum illa regnando vivatis. Amen. Fiat.

Historical context:

Anselm responds to Matilda’s letter, ep.242 (392.html). Grateful for her gifts and her love, he tells her to worry about the church rather than him, to please the church's spouse, Christ, perhaps more than her own?.

Scholarly notes:

(1) See Ep 242. (2) Sg 1:14. (3) Sg 2:10. (4) Ps 44:10. (5) Ps 44:11. (6) See Eph 5:25. (7) See Lk 19:12. (8) See 2 Co 5:10. (9) 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.243, 4.153-54; translation and annotation from The Letters of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, trans. Walter Fröhlich, Cistercian Studies 97, 3v (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1990-94), 2.225-27.

Date:

1102-03