Saint Anselm and His Biographer: A Study of Monastic Life & Thought 1059-1130

by Richard William Southern

This is a study of Anglo-Norman monastic life and thought between about 1060 and 1130 as seen through the lives and writings of two Anslem, Archbishop of Canterbury, the most penetrating intellect between Augustine and Aquinas and the more commonplace observant Eadmer, his biographer. Taken together, the writings of the two men embrace almost every side of contemporary monastic experience. Professor Southern surveys all these aspects as they affect the writings of Anselm and Eadmer. In the first part of this book, he studies Anselm's development as a writer and statesman. In the second part, attention is directed to the community at Canterbury, which provided the background for Anselm's life as archbishop and gave him, in Eadmer, his closest disciple and biographer. The work concludes with a study of Eadmer's writings, especially of his Life of Anselm and with an assessment of the importance of the two men as complementary examples of the Benedictine life of the period.

406 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1963

About the author

Sir Richard William Southern was a noted English medieval historian, based at the University of Oxford. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in history. At Oxford, Southern's mentors were Sir Maurice Powicke and Vivian Hunter Galbraith. He was a fellow of Balliol from 1937 to 1961 (where he lectured alongside Christopher Hill), Chichele Professor of Modern History at Oxford from 1961 to 1969, and president of St John's College, Oxford, from 1969 to 1981. He was president of the Royal Historical Society from 1969 to 1973, and was knighted in 1974.

Reviews

[Aaron Cliff]

Excellent

[Miles Trujillo]

This book was my first encounter with R.W. Southern, and, considering his mastery of both prose and historical comprehensiveness, it will not be my last.