Chapter XVI

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[321] _Vita Anselmi_, 1247 (cited by Ronca, p. 227).

[322] Another great politico-ecclesiastical Italian was Lanfranc (cir. 1005-1089), whose life was almost exactly contemporaneous with that of Hildebrand. He was born in high station at Pavia, and educated in letters and the law. Seized with the desire to be a monk, he left his home and passed through France, sojourning on his way, until he came to the convent of Bec in Normandy, in the year 1042. A man of practical ability and a great teacher, it was he that made the monastery great. Men, lay and clerical, noble and base, came thronging to hear him: Anselm came and Ives of Chartres, both future saints, and one who afterwards as Pope Alexander II. rose before Lanfranc, then Archbishop of Canterbury, and said: “Thus I honour, not the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the master of the school of Bec, at whose feet I sat with other pupils.” William the Conqueror made Lanfranc Primate of England and prince-ruler of the land in the Conqueror’s absence.

[323] _Petri Damiani Ep._ i. xvi. (Migne 144, col. 236). Damiani’s works are contained in Migne 144 and 145. Alexander II. was pope from 1061 to 1073, when he was succeeded by Hildebrand.

[324] Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 961, 967.

[325] _Opusculum_, xxxvi. (Migne 145, col. 595). It is also bad to be an abbot, as Damiani shows in plaintive and almost humorous verses:

“Nullus pene abbas modo Valet esse monachus, Dum diversum et nocivum Sustinet negotium: Et, quod velit sustinere, Velut iniquus patitur

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“Spiritaliter abbatem Volunt fratres vivere, Et per causas saeculares Cogunt illum pergere; Per tam itaque diversa Quis valet incedere?” _De abbatum miseria rhythmus_ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 972).

[326] Lib. v. Ep. iv.; cf. Jer. xiii.

[327] Ep. iv. 11 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 313).

[328] He died in 1072, a year before Hildebrand was made pope.

[329] _Opusc._ xvii., _De coelibatu_; _Opusc._ xviii., _Contra intemperantes clericos_; _Opusc._ xxii., _Contra clericos aulicos_, etc.

[330] Lib. iv. Ep. 5 (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 144, col. 300).

[331] Lib. v. Ep. 3 (Migne 144, col. 343).

[332] Lib. v. Ep. 2 (Migne 144, col. 340). Damiani’s _Rhythmus poenitentis monachi_ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._ 145, col. 971) expresses the passionate remorse of a sinful monk.

[333] _Post_,