27. TO LANFRANC,: Archbishop Of Canterbury.
The Letters of St. Anselm
26. TO ABBOT O.
Anselm apologizes that he cannot send the requested book of the Moralia in Job because it is being copied at Caen.
TO HIS REVEREND LORD AND FATHER, THE VENERABLE ABBOT O.:
BROTHER ANSELM, TOTALLY HIS.
THE BOOK OF THE MORALIA IN JOB which your holi ness requested through your messenger we would indeed gladly send you according to your desire, if only we had it here. The lord Abbot of Caen has it, and another copy is being made there for him besides the copy being made for lord Archbishop Lanfranc. Wherefore, do not think that we do not want to lend it to you; and lest the kindness of your recently acquired love towards me be upset in any way,
I write our excuses to you to let you know our good inten tions, that as soon as we receive the book, we will gladly hand it to your paternity's messenger, according to your wish. For not only in this matter but in everything which I can, I wish to be prepared for your service. c. late 1072/early 1073.
27. TO LANFRANC,
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
On behalf of Abbot Vitalis ofBemay Anselm begs Archbishop Lanfranc to grant mercy to someone who has sinned against him.
TO HIS LORD AND VENERABLE FATHER, ARCHBISHOP LANFRANC:
HIS BROTHER ANSELM, WHAT IS HIS.
LORD ABBOT VITALIS1 asked our lord abbot very hum bly in his letter to intercede with your piety that you deign to have mercy on a certain man of the same lord abbot Vitalis who is being held captive in the king's prison and is to be
The Letters of St. Anselm dismembered by royal command. For the abbot of Bernay himself petitioned the king on behalf of the man to be executed, but the King totally refused to grant him mercy except at the intercession of your holiness, against whom he sinned. Our lord abbot, therefore, would gladly have done what was asked of him out of friendship for the peti tioner and out of compassion for the indigent man, but he did not dare begin; fearing not so much that his interces sion would be rejected by your benignity as that he would appear impudent interceding for somebody else over an offence committed against you.
I, therefore, your humble servant, wanting to make known to you the will and equanimity of the lord abbot, your beloved friend, in the matter in question, and at the same time pitying the man set in great peril, did not wish, by keeping silent, to withhold from your piety this oppor tunity of granting mercy, lest our fellow man be condemned through lack of assistance, and your holiness be deprived of the reward for a work of mercy, and my negligence be punished for the guilt of pitiless silence. c. 1070-1078.
NOTES 1. Abbot Vitalis of Bernay, originally a monk of Fecamp, became abbot of Westminster in 1076/7, where he was succeeded by Gilbert Crispin in 1085; see Heads, 76.