SOURCE: Fröhlich, Walter. “The Letters Omitted from Anselm's Collection of Letters.” Anglo-Norman Studies 6 (1984): 58-71.

In the following essay, Fröhlich surveys Anselm's collected correspondence, highlighting the monk's efforts to suppress letters that could potentially damage his reputation.

The writing of letters and the gathering of such letters in large letter-collections is one of the striking features which distinguish intellectual life of the eleventh and twelfth centuries from those immediately preceding and following. This activity blossomed forth from the numerous schools which were attached to the monasteries and cathedrals of western Europe.

In the Middle Ages the writing of letters was closely linked to the writing of verses for teaching purposes. Both exercises were conscientiously practised; they were expressed by the same verb ‘dictare’ which can be rendered as either ‘to write according to dictation’ or ‘to write poetry’. Thus, as C. Erdmann conclusively demonstrates, the writing of...