Excerpt from Dante, and St. Anselm

Anselm is one of the most attractive figures of mediaeval history, and in English history he has special significance as beginning that strife of the Church with the State which lasted up to the Reformation and the days of Wolsey. Anselm triumphed in the con¿ict as signally as Wolsey was worsted, and it was well that it was so, as Anselm represented the power of the Church, which in those times stood up valiantly for right and justice against the brute force Of the King. In these essays are laid bare before us with a masterly hand the causes, the course, and the issue of this con¿ict. Saint Anselm wielded the power Of the moral law against the absolutism of the Red King and his brother Henry with irresistible authority. We are made to see clearly why the two English Kings were so jealous of the encroachments of the Papal power, as represented by Anselm, on their irresponsible authority. The Dean treats the subject with more than his usual grasp. He has evident sympathy for his hero, whom he may be said to resemble in some respects. Born in Italy, educated by Lan franc, Anselm succeeded him as Archbishop in Eng land. Church was educated abroad, in Italy, in his early years, and might have become, like Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury had he liked. He too may be said to have his Lanfranc in Newman, whose disciple he was in early life.

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