Whitsun Gemót. May 24, 1097.
Anselm favourably received; his last appeal.
Surmises as to the charge against Anselm.
He determines to ask leave
The Whitsun festival came, and Anselm went to the
Assembly. The place of meeting is not mentioned;
according to usage it would be Westminster. Though
the suit was hanging over Anselm, he went, not as a defendant
in a suit, but as a chief member of the Gemót.
He seems to have been graciously received by the King;
at least we hear of him at the royal table, and he had
opportunities of private access to the royal ear. Of these
chances he did not fail to take advantage for his purpose;
but all was in vain; nothing at all tending to reform was
to be got out of William Rufus.[1] In this way the earlier
days of meeting, the days of the actual festival, were
spent. Then, as usual, the various matters of business
which had to be dealt with by the King and his Witan
were brought forward.[2] Among other questions men
were eagerly asking what would become of the charge
against the Archbishop as to the bad equipment of his
knights in the late Welsh campaign. Would he have to
pay some huge sum of money, or would he have to pray
for mercy, and be thereby so humbled that he could
never lift up his head again?[3] Anselm's thoughts mean-*while
were set upon quite other matters. He had made
his last attempt on the King's conscience, and he had
failed. There was nothing more to be done by his own
unaided powers. He must seek for the counsel and help
of one greater than himself. He called together a body
- ↑ Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 37. "Cum igitur in Pentecoste, festivitatis gratia, regiæ curiæ se præsentasset, et modo inter prandendum, modo alias quemadmodum opportunitas se offerebat, statum animi regalis quis erga colendam æquitatem esset studiose perquisisset, eumque qui olim fuerat omnimodo reperisset, nihil spei de futura ipsius emendatione in eo ultra remansit."
- ↑ Ib. "Peractis igitur festivioribus diebus, diversorum negotiorum causæ in medium duci ex more cœperunt." This notice is important as showing us the order in which business was done in these assemblies.
- ↑ Ib. "Ut culpæ addictus aut ingentem regi pecuniam penderet, aut ad implorandam misericordiam, ejus caput amplius non levaturus, se totum impenderet."
