Gundulf's letter to the monks of Bec.
Sole action of the King. course, something which his later lights would have led him to condemn. But it certainly does seem strange when Bishop Gundulf of Rochester, in a letter to his old companions the monks of Bec, tells them that the King had given the government of the church of Canterbury to their abbot Anselm, by the advice and request of his great men and by the petition and election of the clergy and people.[1] We have often come across such phrases;[2] and this case, where we know every detail, may help us to estimate their meaning in some other cases. That Anselm's appointment had been the general wish of all classes before it was made, that it received the general approval of all classes after it was made, there is no manner of doubt. But there is no sign of any formal advice, petition, or election, by any class of men at any stage. It may be that the ceremony in the church at Gloucester was held to pass for an election by the clergy and people. But that was after the King had, by the delivery of the staff, given to Anselm the government of the church of Canterbury. Even in Gundulf's formula, the advice, petition, and election are mere helps to guide the King's choice; it is the King who actually bestows the see. And here again, of the rights of the monks of the metropolitan church there is not a word.
Several months passed after this amazing scene at Gloucester before Anselm was fully admitted to the full possession of the archbishopric. He had not yet given any consent himself, and the consents of the Norman
- ↑ Ep. iii. 3. "Ipsius namque inenarrabili potentia operante, dedit dominus noster rex Anglorum, consilio et rogatu principum suorum, cleri quoque et populi petitione et electione, domino abbati Anselmo Cantuariensis ecclesiæ gubernationem." So says Anselm himself in his letter to Archbishop Hugh of Lyons, Ep. iii. 24; "Subdidi me dolens præcepto archiepiscopi mei et electioni totius Angliæ."
- ↑ See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 591, 593.
