A letter from Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury (1104)

Translated letter:

To his reverend lady, his dearest daughter Matilda, by the grace of God queen of the English: Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, sending his faithful service, his prayers and the blessing of God and his own, if it is worth anything. I give boundless thanks to your Highness by loving and praying for you for the magnitude of your holy love towards my humble self which I perceived in your letter.(1) In it you clearly displayed with what affection you love me when you received and treated my parchment in the way you describe. Your dignity raised my spirits so much by declaring that what nature denies me your grace bestows, that those who are mine by kinship are yours by adoption and love.(2) By trying to soften the heart of my lord the King towards me because of your desire for my return I perceive that you are doing what is fitting for you and advantageous for him. For if he has any bitterness of heart towards me I am not aware of ever having deserved it in any way at all, as far as I can see. If at any time I served him he knows it, and I think he will not consign it to oblivion. If in some respects he dislikes me without cause it would be advantageous for him to drive this rancor away from him lest he sin before God. You promise me that the King will in future grant me better and more abundant access to our revenues, of which at present he allows me a small amount.(3) I should not be ungrateful to your benevolence because you are doing this, as far as you are able through your goodwill. But it should not be necessary to make me such a promise because no confiscation or decrease of them should take place against my will. Whoever advised him to appropriate any of these revenues advised him to commit a sin which is no slight one, nor one that should ever be tolerated. For whoever despoils a bishop of his goods can in no way be reconciled to God unless he restores to him all his goods intact. You should know that however small a part of these goods I am deprived of, it is as if I were deprived of everything. I do not say this for love of money but for the love of God's justice. Your kindness prays me not to take my love away from my lord the King but to intercede for him, for yourself, for your offspring and for your realm. I have always done this up to now. But as to the future I commit myself to the providence of God, with whom "the son does not bear the iniquity of the father"(4) nor the wife that of her husband. I hope in God that I may not harbor any rancor against anybody in my heart which could separate me from God. May almighty God guard you and your offspring(5) forever in his grace.(6)

Original letter:

Dominae reverendae, filiae carissimae MATHILDI, gratia dei reginae Anglorum: ANSELMUS, archiepiscopus Cantuariensis, fidele servitium et orationes et benedictionem dei et suam, si quid valet. Gratias ago immensas celsitudini vestrae, amando eam et orando pro ea, pro immensitate sanctae dilectionis vestrae erga parvitatem meam, quam intellexi in litteris vestris. In quibus satis ostenditis quanto me afectu diligatis, cum cartulam meam taliter, sicut scripsistis, suscipitis et tractatis. Ubi etiam adeo me dignatio vestra sublimat, ut quod natura mihi negat, gratia vestra tribuat, cum eos qui mei sunt genere, vestros esse adoptione et dilectione pronuntiat. Quod desiderio reditus mei nitimini cor domini mei regis erga me mitigare, facitis quod vos decet et quod illi expedire intelligo. Si enim erga me aliquam cordis habet amaritudinem, nescio me umquam hoc aliquo modo, quantum in me est, meruisse. Et si aliquando illi servivi, ipse scit, et puto quia non tradet oblivioni. Si ergo me aliquatenus odit sine causa, expedit illi, ut hunc a se rancorem expellat, ne peccet coram deo. Promittitis mihi quod de redditibus nostris, de quibus aliquantum mihi permittit habere, melius et amplius in futurum permittet; unde benevolentiae vestrae non debeo esse ingratus, quia, quantum in vobis est, bona voluntate hoc facitis. Sed non deheret esse opus ut haec mihi fieret promissio, quia contra voluntatem meam nulla deberet mihi de illis fieri prohibitio aut diminutio. Et qui illi consulit ut aliquid inde sibi assumat, non leve peccatum neque tale quod umquam tolerari debeat, illi consulit. Qui enim episcopum suis rebus ita spoliat, nullo modo reconciliari deo potent, nisi illi integre omnia sua restituat. Et scitote quia tantumdem est mihi de qualibet parva parte, quantum si de toto spoliatus fuero. Non enim hoc dico amore pecuniae, sed amore dei iustitiae. Orat vestra benignitas ut dilectionem meam a domino rege non avertam, sed pro illo et pro vobis et prole vestra et regni vestri statu intercedam. Quod utique hactenus feci; de futuro autem dei me committo dispositioni, apud quem nec "filius portat iniquitatem patris," nec uxor viri. Et spero in deo quia nullum cordis rancorem habebo adversus aliquem, unde mecum non habeam deum. Omnipotens deus vos et prolem vestram semper in sua gratia custodiat.

Historical context:

Though Anselm is touched by the immensity of the queen's love, he refuses to compromise in the name of God’s justice. By assuring her that the son does not carry the iniquity of the father, nor the wife of the husband, he implicitly leaves the king out of his and God's good will.

Scholarly notes:

(1) See Ep 320. (2) Anselm repeats Matilda's words, see Ep 320. (3) See Epp 319, 320, also HN 159 and VA 132. (4) EA 18:20. (5) See Epp 305, 319, 320, 424. (6) The translation is reprinted 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.321, 5.250-51; translation and annotation from The Letters of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, trans. Walter Fröhlich, Cistercian Studies 142, 3v (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1990-94), 3.30-31.

Date:

1104