18. To Abbot William
The Letters of St. Anselm
18. TO ABBOT WILLIAM
Anselm intercedes with Abbot William of Caen for Brother Odo's son.
TO THE LORD AND FATHER, THE REVEREND ABBOT WILLIAM1:
BROTHER ANSELM.
ODO,2 THE BEARER OF THIS LETTER, has persistently asked me by many supplications that our fidelity entreat your holiness on behalf of his son, whom you have excluded from your service. Since I should not scorn him nor do I want to offend you, I beg at his behest what I would ad vise on your behalf. Wherefore, if you found the service of the young man acceptable in the past we advise you not to reject the good servant, whom you could well make use of, because of the lost money which you cannot get back.
Therefore, besought by our prayers, I pray you may receive him if you know him not to be useless to you in your affairs. c. 1070-1077.
NOTES 1. William Bona Anima, son of Radbod, bishop of Seez, canon and arch deacon of Rouen, succeeded Lanfranc as second abbot of Saint
Stephen's, Caen, in 1070. He was archbishop of Rouen from 1079-1110; see OVII: 68, 254, 279; OVV: 262, 263; and G.H. Williams,
The Norman Anonymous of 1100 AD (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard, 1951) 102-127. D. S. Spear, 'William Bona Anima, Abbot of St. Stephen's of Caen, 1070-1079', Haskins Society Journal 1 (1989) 51-60.
2. Odo, a monk of Bee, ninety-second or one hundred tenth in the Bee profession-roll.
The Letters of St. Anselm
19. FROM THE MONK
AVESGOTUS.
Avesgot asks Anselm to teach his nephew grammar.
AVESGOTUS'; MONK OF THE MONASTERY OF SAINT PETER CULTURA
TO ANSELM2: GREETINGS.
TILL NOW WE HAVE BEEN FRIENDS and familiar ac quaintances merely by speech but we have tested each other, if this was necessary, very little by action. Now for some time I have been longing to have you request some thing of me; then you would see how much you can rely on me. Believe me, I would gladly obey your command either myself or through my relatives. But since you neglect to do this I demand this gift of you first.
I have a certain nephew, already a young man, for whom I care above all else; and if you can bear it I would like him to stay with you to be trained in grammar by you. I can send him to other scholars but I have more faith in you than in any other living person. I would feel much safer about him if he stayed in the place you are.
Why does the fame of Lanfranc and Wimund3 fly through the world more than yours? Why do you hide your light under a bushel4 for so long? Do you not recall that the poet said, 'All you know is nothing unless someone else knows you know it?'51 have no doubt at all that you will grant my wish.
Indeed I heartily entreat you to tell me what service I may offer your abbot and the community subject to him, so that they may permit what I request to take place for at least three or four months, if more would not please them. There fore, if my words have been accepted by you, as I desire, give me a time when I can meet you; and if I am well, I shall go there. Farewell, most beloved. c. 1073.