archbishop of Canterbury, in the reigns of William Rufus and Henry I. He was born in the year 1033; at Aost, a town in Savoy, at the foot of the Alps. He became a monk in the abbey of Bec in Normandy, of which he was afterwards chosen prior, and then abbot. In the year 1092 he was invited over to England by Hugh earl of Chester; and in the year following was prevailed on, as we are told, with great difficulty, to accept the archbishopric of Canterbury. He enjoined celibacy on the clergy, for which he was banished by King Rufus; but he was recalled by Henry on his coming to the crown. In conformity to Pope Urban's decree, he refused to consecrate such bishops as were invested by the king, deeming it to be the royal prerogative: for this he was banished again, till, the pope and king agreeing, he was recalled in 1107. In short, from the day of his consecration to that of his death, he was continually employed in defending the prerogative of the church against the encroachments of the crown; and for that purpose spent much of his time in travelling backwards and forwards between England and Rome, for the advice and direction of his holiness. At the council of Bari, in the kingdom of Naples, the pope being puzzled by the arguments of the Greeks against the Holy Ghost's proceeding from the Father, called upon Anselm, who was present, and discussed their objections with great applause. Priests call him a resolute saint; to other people he appears to have been an obstinate and insolent priest. He wrought many miracles, if we may believe the author of his life, both before and after his death, which happened at Canterbury in the 76th year of his age, anno 1109. He was canonized in the reign of Henry VII.

Anselm, though we may disregard him as a saint, deserves to be remembered as one of the principal revivers of literature, after three centuries of profound ignorance. His works have been often reprinted. The best edition is that of Father Gerberon, printed at Paris in 1675, in 2 vols. folio.