Death of Abbot Paul. 1093.
Vacancy of the abbey. to its abbot Paul. This friendship could hardly have been shown in the character of archbishop, as Paul died during the year of Anselm's appointment.[1] And it is not wonderful that Anselm's friendship for the abbey did not avail to save it from the usual fate. For four years after the death of Paul, the church of Saint Alban remained without an abbot, while the King held the lands of the abbey, cut down its woods, and found many ingenious excuses, such as Flambard knew how to devise, for wringing money out of its tenants.[2]
The question as to the Pope left unsettled. It would seem that, of the three points which had been insisted on by Anselm at Rochester, two were left out of sight in the public assembly at Winchester no less than in the private conference at Windsor. The question about the grants of the archiepiscopal lands was settled, at least in name and for the time, in favour of Anselm; but nothing was said either about William's obligation to take Anselm as his spiritual guide or about the acknowledgement of Urban as Pope. The former of these two was in truth a matter for the King's private conscience; it was hardly a matter to be discussed and legislated about in an assembly of the kingdom. And even the matter of the Pope did not touch Anselm's conscience in exactly the same way as the question of the grants. If Anselm had allowed the grants, it would have been, in his view, an alienation of the rights of his see, and therefore a personal crime. But he might, without in any way giving up his position, receive the investiture
- ↑ They were old friends. The Gesta Abbatum (i. 61) go on to say; "Rex Willelmus secundus archiepiscopatum, quem diu in manu sua tenuit, immisericors depauperavit. Abbas autem Paulus Anselmum egentem juvit et consolabatur. Unde, inthronizatus, in multis beneficia potiora gratus abbati recompensavit, et quod imperfectum erat in ædificiis ecclesiæ sancti Albani juvit postea consummare."
- ↑ Ib. i. 65. "Nemora complanando, hominibus beati Albani pecuniam, causis cavillatoriis adinventis, extorquendo." Rufus is described as "nullius, præcipue mortui, verus amicus."
