Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033–1109) was hailed as an outstanding thinker and was one of the most fascinating luminaries of his age in western Europe. This volume publishes his correspondence as prior and then abbot of Bec in Normandy. The collection also includes a handful of letters addressed to Anselm. One of them includes Archbishop Lanfranc's description of conditions in post-Conquest England, which was daily shaken by ‘such great evils and defiled by such adultery and other filth’. An extensive introduction traces Anselm's early life in Aosta and its environs, his decision to enter the Benedictine monastery of Bec in 1042, his ministry as prior from 1068 and then abbot from 1078, his visits to England on monastic business, the circulation of his prayers and meditations and an analysis of the correspondence. Recent years have seen the publication of some key studies on Anselm. The rich manuscript tradition is described in some detail, from the earliest copy of the collection of letters to the edition published by F. S. Schmitt osb, between 1938 and 1961. The brief introduction identifies the best manuscript tradition of each letter. The correspondence reveals a zealous and conscientious monk attuned to the programme of ecclesiastical renewal stemming from the reforming circles of Gregory vii. He was familiar with the episcopal steps taken to impose celibacy upon the clergy and to eradicate the practice of hereditary churches. The reforming efforts of the bishop of Beauvais were, however, actively resisted by some of his clergy. A monk who visited taverns and used bad language was called to account by Anselm, as were indisciplined monks who had left the cloister for one reason or another. Anselm encouraged numerous men to enter the cloister and to live in an environment which he deemed to be more conducive to salvation. These letters display the depth of friendship which characterised his dealings with his fellow-monks and his grief at the premature death of his protégé, Osbern, a young monk of Bec, for whose eternal repose he solicits prayers. Anselm emerges as a spiritual guide to members of the nobility in northern France, such as Lady Adeliza, Lady Ermengarda, Lady Frodelina, Adela, countess of Flanders, and Ida, countess of Boulogne.

The letters identify members of Anselm's family, including Gundulf, his father, and Richeza, his sister. Lambert and Folcerald were maternal uncles to whom Anselm expressed his gratitude; the monk also mentioned an unnamed male cousin. The two uncles may have played some part in the early education of the future archbishop of Canterbury. They, too, were exhorted to embrace the monastic life. Folcerald, a monk of an unnamed monastery in France and a consanguineus, expressed interest in obtaining a copy of the prayers of Anselm, who explained that the perils of the roads in France frustrated his attempts to find a courier. Peter was another kinsman (consobrinus) whose parents and grandfather Anselm remembered with warmth. Haimo and Rainald, also kinsmen (consanguinei), arrived at Bec when Anselm was in England on the business of the abbey. They, too, were bidden to become monks. Anselm's address book was dominated by monks of Bec who were subsequently assigned to monasteries in Normandy. The tentacles of Bec also reached across the Channel to Christ Church cathedral priory in Canterbury, Westminster Abbey, Rochester cathedral priory, St Albans Abbey, Chester Abbey and the priory of St Neots. Among the recipients were Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, the prior of Christ Church, Gundulf, bishop of Rochester, and Gilbert Crispin, abbot of Westminster. In 1092/93 Anselm attended the court of William ii to secure a royal charter for his monastery's estates in England.

The links between Bec and Canterbury aided the movement of manuscripts. Lanfranc requested Anselm to obtain copies of Gregory the Great's Moralia and the writings of Ambrose and Jerome. Maurice, a monk of Bec, was urged to copy all the glosses of the De aphorismis and, time permitting, the booklet entitled De pulsibus: Anselm advised the scribe that ‘whatever you complete should, after it has been most meticulously corrected, deserve to be regarded as perfect. For, in the case of an obscure and rare text, I prefer an intact fraction to a corrupt whole’. The context of Anselm's sympathy and support for the cult of St Elphege, the archbishop of Canterbury slain by the Danes, comes in a letter to Lanfranc assigned to late 1073 or 1074. He expressed a strong interest in the Vita Dunstani and the Regularis concordia. Shortly afterwards he wrote to Maurice, and urged that Henry and Gundulf should seek out the best copies of the Regula sancti Dunstani (Regularis concordia) and Bede's De temporibus, and send them to Bec for transcription. Anselm explained that the Bec copy of the De temporibus contained errors. Once the copies had been made, the manuscripts would be restored to Canterbury. The letters illuminate the early dissemination of Anselm's writings; several refer to the composition and revision of his prayers and meditations. The letter to Adeliza singles out the prayers to SS Stephen and Mary Magdalene. The Monologion, initially called the Monoloquium, was written at the instigation of Maurice. Anselm commissioned Robert, a monk of Bec, to deliver it to Canterbury, where Lanfranc's advice was sought between late 1075 and early 1078. About 1083 Hugh, archbishop of Lyon and papal legate in France, asked for a copy of the Monologion and Proslogion, which was initially called the Alloquium. Anselm was anxious to demonstrate that neither he nor Lanfranc supported the errors of Roscelin of Compiègne. He explained his views on the matter to Fulk, bishop of Beauvais, and asked him to present a letter in a council at Soissons, if necessary.

This volume is a worthy addition to a prestigious series. Perhaps the highest compliment to the editor is a wish to see the second book of letters in print. This monograph will be of immense interest to the numerous students of monasticism and ecclesiastical history in general and St Anselm in particular. One typographical error caught my eye: ‘to defend you[r] sister whom’ (p. 49). There are two references to the consecration of Anselm as abbot of Bec (pp. 230–1, 388–9, cf. p. 413 n. 4). The correct form – ‘the blessing of an abbot’ – is supplied by Anselm's admonitory letter to Lanfranc, a monk of Bec, who was made abbot of Saint-Wandrille against the wishes of the community. Lanfranc was left in no doubt that he would not receive benediction from the archbishop of Rouen (pp. 354–5 n. 5). Unlike abbots, bishops were consecrated. Thus, Eadmer, for instance, confirms that Anselm ‘Cantuariae consecratus est’ (Vita Anselmi 2. iv).