WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.840 Welcome to the Deep Dive, the place where we 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:04.280 analyze complex source material, distill its 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:06.440 most essential knowledge, and provide you with 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:09.660 those profound aha moments you need to feel truly 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:12.140 well -informed. Today we are immersing ourselves 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:15.359 in the life of a, well, a towering figure from 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:18.440 the 11th century, Anselm of Canterbury. Right, 00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:21.359 and he's this incredible character. Imagine a 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:24.359 single individual who is hailed as the father 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:26.980 of scholasticism. You know, the movement that 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:29.140 tried to rationalize Christian theology. But 00:00:29.140 --> 00:00:31.480 at the same time, he was such an uncompromising, 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:34.280 fierce political figure that he brought the might 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:36.880 of the English crown to a standstill, not once, 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:39.420 but twice. And that tension, that's really what 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:41.280 we're digging into today. The profound philosophical 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:45.979 theorist versus the brutal, high stakes political 00:00:45.979 --> 00:00:48.200 operator. It's what makes his story so relevant. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:50.939 It is. We have some really dense source material 00:00:50.939 --> 00:00:53.320 covering his origins, his revolutionary theological 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:55.979 arguments, and just the sheer political drama 00:00:55.979 --> 00:00:58.960 of his life as archbishop. So our mission for 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.179 you, the learner, is to get a quick handle on 00:01:01.179 --> 00:01:03.439 the driving force behind all his actions. Yeah, 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:06.239 Anselm's unwavering belief in absolute truth, 00:01:06.459 --> 00:01:09.120 a truth he thought was derived from both absolute 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:12.760 faith and crucially rigorous reason that dictated 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.400 his every single move. We're going to extract 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:17.579 the knowledge nuggets that explain how this brilliant 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:21.299 theologian survived two separate exiles to, well, 00:01:21.379 --> 00:01:23.760 to fundamentally reshape both Western philosophy 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.260 and the political structure of the English church. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:29.140 We've structured this deep dive into three major 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:31.140 pillars. First, we're going to trace his origins. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:34.000 It's an unlikely trajectory from the political 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:37.760 turmoil of Aosta in Italy to becoming this intellectual 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:41.060 cornerstone of Beck Abbey in Normandy. Then second, 00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:43.439 we'll dissect his major theological innovations, 00:01:43.819 --> 00:01:46.420 the big ones. the groundbreaking ontological 00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:49.359 argument for god's existence and his really powerful 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:51.560 satisfaction theory of atonement and finally 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:54.159 we'll dive right into the decade -long bruising 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:56.519 political conflict that we know as the investiture 00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:58.760 controversy and see how he faced off against 00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:01.819 two very powerful english kings okay so let's 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:03.659 unpack this journey where do we start we have 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:05.579 to start right at the beginning the turbulence 00:02:05.579 --> 00:02:08.659 of his birth Anselm was born in Aosta around 00:02:08.659 --> 00:02:12.240 1033 or 1034. And when we think of these great 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.319 minds of the Middle Ages, we often picture them 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:17.439 emerging from, you know, centers of stability. 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:21.180 But Aosta. Aosta was anything but stable at the 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:24.240 time. No. And that political context is absolutely 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:27.280 vital to understanding him. The region, Upper 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:30.439 Burgundy, had only recently been annexed by the 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.020 formidable Emperor Conrad II. So this wasn't 00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:35.889 a settled kingdom. Not at all. It was a fragmented, 00:02:35.969 --> 00:02:38.729 politically charged environment. Our sources 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:41.250 highlight that this area was a crucial strategic 00:02:41.250 --> 00:02:44.330 choke point in the Alps. A crucible, really. 00:02:44.750 --> 00:02:47.789 For the rise of a major new European power structure. 00:02:48.069 --> 00:02:50.710 Yes. The sources point directly to the burgeoning 00:02:50.710 --> 00:02:53.050 power of Humbert the White -Handed. He was the 00:02:53.050 --> 00:02:54.789 Count of Morienne. And he was the one laying 00:02:54.789 --> 00:02:56.629 the groundwork for what would become the Savoy 00:02:56.629 --> 00:02:59.289 dynasty, right? Exactly. He made his name during 00:02:59.289 --> 00:03:02.030 the succession conflicts of the time. So Anselm 00:03:02.030 --> 00:03:04.250 grew up in a place where old political orders 00:03:04.250 --> 00:03:06.210 were just collapsing and new ones were being 00:03:06.210 --> 00:03:08.349 forged through, frankly, ruthless maneuvering. 00:03:08.349 --> 00:03:09.870 And his family seems to have been caught right 00:03:09.870 --> 00:03:11.689 in the middle of all that upheaval. They were. 00:03:11.889 --> 00:03:15.759 His father. Gundolf was a Lombard noble, and 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:19.060 his mother, Erminberge, came from a much wealthier 00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:21.599 local family. A family with connections to the 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:26.180 old guard, the bishops and heirs who were marginalized 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:29.280 by Conrad's annexation. Yes, and by the rise 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:31.659 of the House of Savoy, the marriage was likely 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:34.639 intended as some kind of political tool. you 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.759 know, to consolidate or maintain local influence. 00:03:37.939 --> 00:03:40.139 It failed. It seems to have failed completely. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:42.259 The sources suggest they were part of what's 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:44.620 called the dispossessed nobility. So people with 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:46.960 status, but they'd lost their actual political 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.849 leverage under the new regime. Precisely. This 00:03:49.849 --> 00:03:52.110 meant young Anselm was raised seeing the direct 00:03:52.110 --> 00:03:54.330 cost of instability and political failure, and 00:03:54.330 --> 00:03:56.550 that's a perspective he would never, ever shake. 00:03:56.770 --> 00:03:58.689 And his home life? Well, that just added a layer 00:03:58.689 --> 00:04:01.590 of personal instability to the regional chaos. 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:04.669 It really did. We're told his mother, Ermin Berge, 00:04:04.729 --> 00:04:07.050 was devout and the patient administrator of the 00:04:07.050 --> 00:04:10.009 family estates. But his father, Gundolf, was 00:04:10.009 --> 00:04:12.250 volatile. Described as having a harsh temper 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:14.810 or sometimes just being overgenerous or careless 00:04:14.810 --> 00:04:17.750 with his wealth. Which strained the family finances 00:04:17.750 --> 00:04:20.769 considerably. And that spiritual tension was 00:04:20.769 --> 00:04:24.329 there from the beginning. At just 15, Anselm 00:04:24.329 --> 00:04:27.829 felt a clear, strong call to the monastic life. 00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:31.209 But the local abbot refused him. Why? Because 00:04:31.209 --> 00:04:33.329 the abbot was reluctant to accept him without 00:04:33.329 --> 00:04:35.889 his father's consent, and Gundulf refused to 00:04:35.889 --> 00:04:38.790 give it. Anselm took this refusal badly. Very 00:04:38.790 --> 00:04:41.589 badly. Following that intense spiritual disappointment, 00:04:41.949 --> 00:04:44.949 he plunged into what the sources call a carefree 00:04:44.949 --> 00:04:47.930 life for a period, as if he was trying to suppress 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:50.069 the spiritual calling that had been denied to 00:04:50.069 --> 00:04:52.240 him. And that period ended pretty dramatically 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.620 with the death of his mother. Yes. Ermin Burge 00:04:54.620 --> 00:04:56.980 was the spiritual anchor of the family. Her death 00:04:56.980 --> 00:04:59.439 was followed by a change in his father. Gundulf 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.160 repented his earlier ways and embraced faith. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:05.480 But with such uncompromising severity that Anselm 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:08.579 found it utterly unbearable. So he endured his 00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:11.959 father's harsh piety for a time. But at 23, he 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:14.620 just reached his breaking point. He left. He 00:05:14.620 --> 00:05:17.120 departed Ayosta with a single attendant, crossed 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:19.399 the Alps, and essentially spent three years in 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:21.839 self -imposed exile just wandering through Burgundy 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:24.019 and France. This isn't just a young man seeking 00:05:24.019 --> 00:05:26.600 an education. No, this is a man trying to find 00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:29.480 a spiritual and intellectual home that his blood 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:32.339 family could no longer provide. He was searching 00:05:32.339 --> 00:05:34.519 for clarity. And the person who provided that 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:38.480 clarity was L 'Enfranc of Pavia. Precisely. Anselm 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:40.839 was drawn across the continent to Normandy by 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:43.579 the booming reputation of his countryman, L 'Enfranc, 00:05:43.579 --> 00:05:46.480 who was then the prior of the esteemed Benedictine 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:50.079 Abbey of Beck. So Anselm arrives in 1059 and 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:52.600 consults L 'Enfranc, still unsure of his path. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:56.240 He had three options in his mind. Should he become 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:58.660 a hermit? Should he return to Aosta to reclaim 00:05:58.660 --> 00:06:01.120 his estates? Or should he join the monks at Beck? 00:06:01.339 --> 00:06:03.420 L 'Enfant sent him to the local Archbishop of 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:06.120 Rouen, who ultimately told him to join the community 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:09.459 at Beck as a novice. So at the age of 27, in 00:06:09.459 --> 00:06:12.579 1060, the wandering stopped and the real foundation 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:15.240 of his thought began. The Rule of St. Benedict 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:17.560 was the tool that reshaped his entire intellectual 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:20.500 apparatus over the next decade. It really was. 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:23.720 He wrote his first philosophical work, De Grammatico, 00:06:23.779 --> 00:06:26.779 which tackles Latin paradoxes, likely within 00:06:26.779 --> 00:06:29.500 his first year there. He was clearly a mind that 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:32.240 just immediately absorbed and processed complex 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:34.540 systems. And he didn't stay a novice for very 00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:37.360 long. Not at all. Just three years after joining, 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:41.199 in 1063, L 'Enfranc was elevated and left Beck 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:44.339 for Post and Kane. And Anselm, despite his relative 00:06:44.339 --> 00:06:47.779 youth, was elected prior. It's an astonishingly 00:06:47.779 --> 00:06:50.740 quick elevation, and it really shows the immediate 00:06:50.740 --> 00:06:53.800 regard his intellect commanded. And it's during 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.579 his time as prior that we get that really illuminating 00:06:56.579 --> 00:06:59.060 anecdote about his methods of leadership, which 00:06:59.060 --> 00:07:01.639 directly informed his later philosophy. I'm talking 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:03.699 about the story of the young monk Osborne. Yes. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:06.259 Osborne was hostile towards Anselm, completely 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:08.319 resistant to discipline. And we know from the 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.579 sources that a neighboring abbot dealt with difficult 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:13.000 monks through, well, physical violence. He beat 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.160 them night and day. Anselm saw that as a total 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:17.759 failure of pedagogy. He believed that true obedience 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.399 and correction must proceed from affection and 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:22.779 understanding. So his strategy was... Well, it 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:25.040 was fascinatingly manipulative, but very effective. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.639 It was. He started by praising, indulging, and 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:31.540 privileging Osborne in all things until he gained 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:33.939 the young man's affection and trust. And only 00:07:33.939 --> 00:07:36.480 once that personal loyalty was secured did he 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:39.040 gradually begin to withdraw the privileges and 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:41.540 apply the standard strict discipline of the rule. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:44.740 And the method worked perfectly. Obedience was 00:07:44.740 --> 00:07:47.060 achieved without violence, but through a deeply 00:07:47.060 --> 00:07:49.420 psychological approach rooted in understanding 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:52.410 the nature of the will. This anecdote perfectly 00:07:52.410 --> 00:07:55.829 illustrates his later theological motto. Intellect 00:07:55.829 --> 00:07:58.569 as understanding precedes faith's faithful obedience. 00:07:59.149 --> 00:08:01.810 It was a pedagogical masterclass. Absolutely. 00:08:01.990 --> 00:08:04.910 The result was that by 1078, when Anselm was 00:08:04.910 --> 00:08:07.290 unanimously elected abbot of Beck, the abbey 00:08:07.290 --> 00:08:09.750 had become recognized as the foremost seat of 00:08:09.750 --> 00:08:11.850 learning in Europe. He was drawing students not 00:08:11.850 --> 00:08:13.910 only from France, but even from his native Italy. 00:08:14.129 --> 00:08:16.209 And he proved his leadership extended to worldly 00:08:16.209 --> 00:08:18.800 affairs as well. The sources note his spirited 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:20.860 defense of the Abbey's independence, battling 00:08:20.860 --> 00:08:23.120 lay figures and even the Archbishop of Rouen, 00:08:23.139 --> 00:08:25.480 who tried to impose control. This experience 00:08:25.480 --> 00:08:27.680 was foundational for him, wasn't it? It established 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:30.199 his principle that spiritual authority must be 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:33.730 independent of temporal control. A direct foreshadowing 00:08:33.730 --> 00:08:36.649 of what was to come. He learned to fight kings 00:08:36.649 --> 00:08:39.289 and barons over the control of church lands and 00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:42.049 prerogatives right there in Normandy. It set 00:08:42.049 --> 00:08:44.950 the stage for his epic battles in England. Definitely. 00:08:44.970 --> 00:08:47.809 And it was here, amidst the relative peace of 00:08:47.809 --> 00:08:50.409 the Abbey, that he truly began to wrestle with 00:08:50.409 --> 00:08:52.889 the nature of God, producing the monologian, 00:08:52.909 --> 00:08:55.889 and shortly after, the work that would make him 00:08:55.889 --> 00:08:59.059 immortal. the proslogian. So the move from monastic 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:02.340 leader to intellectual giant, it hinges entirely 00:09:02.340 --> 00:09:05.320 on one foundational principle. It does. When 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:07.440 we talk about Anselm, we are immediately talking 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:09.919 about the start of scholasticism, that major 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:12.259 movement in the medieval universities that sought 00:09:12.259 --> 00:09:14.580 to rationalize Christian faith using classical 00:09:14.580 --> 00:09:16.799 philosophy. And Anselm gives us the definitive 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.720 slogan for the entire movement. Fides querens 00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:22.399 intellectum, faith -seeking understanding. You 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.559 really cannot analyze Anselm without starting 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.740 right there. Okay, let's break that down because 00:09:26.740 --> 00:09:29.179 it sets the strict boundary for his entire life's 00:09:29.179 --> 00:09:32.639 work. He states it so clearly. He says, and I 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:34.820 do not seek to understand that I may believe, 00:09:35.019 --> 00:09:38.139 but believe that I might understand. And he continues, 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:41.220 for this too I believe, since unless I first 00:09:41.220 --> 00:09:43.480 believe, I shall not understand. This is such 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:46.220 a crucial distinction. Anselm is arguing the 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:48.970 divine truth. revealed through scripture and 00:09:48.970 --> 00:09:51.929 tradition, is the starting point. It's the absolute 00:09:51.929 --> 00:09:54.049 premise. You accept the truth of Christianity 00:09:54.049 --> 00:09:57.389 first through faith. That part is non -negotiable. 00:09:57.509 --> 00:09:59.669 It's not about rationalizing your way into faith. 00:09:59.789 --> 00:10:02.110 It's about applying reason after faith is firmly 00:10:02.110 --> 00:10:04.629 held. So once you have that absolute confirmation 00:10:04.629 --> 00:10:08.090 in faith, reason then becomes a kind of spiritual 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:11.950 obligation. It becomes a necessity, yes. To fail 00:10:11.950 --> 00:10:14.009 to apply the rigorous force of intellect is, 00:10:14.149 --> 00:10:17.919 in his own words, negligence. to render Christian 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.360 tenets, like the Trinity or the Incarnation or 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:23.120 the Atonement, not just as matters of blind belief, 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:26.600 but as internally coherent, necessary, and rational 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:28.419 systems. He wanted to show that the Christian 00:10:28.419 --> 00:10:31.100 worldview was, in fact, the only possible rational 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:34.019 worldview. And this principle leads us directly 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:36.899 into his most famous, and maybe his most perpetually 00:10:36.899 --> 00:10:40.240 debated, contribution to philosophy, the ontological 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:43.399 argument for the existence of God, which he detailed 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:46.039 in the Proselysian. The context for the proslogion 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:48.139 is important here. He had already written the 00:10:48.139 --> 00:10:50.720 monologion, which offered multiple arguments 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:53.840 based on a posteriori evidence. So reasoning 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:56.179 from the effects you see in the world back to 00:10:56.179 --> 00:10:59.879 a cause. Inductive reasoning. Exactly. And he 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:02.779 found this cumbersome and, frankly, unsatisfying. 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:05.759 He was hunting for a pure, singular, deductive 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:09.100 proof. He wanted, as he put it, A single argument 00:11:09.100 --> 00:11:11.480 that needed nothing but itself alone for proof. 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.440 Yes. No empirical input, no looking at the world, 00:11:14.500 --> 00:11:16.279 just pure logic. Okay, let's walk through the 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:17.980 logic of this argument. It's mainly in Chapter 00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:20.519 2 of the Proselytion, and it starts with a definition, 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:22.460 which is the cornerstone of the whole thing. 00:11:22.580 --> 00:11:26.279 The definition is, God is irko nihilamayes kajetare 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:29.379 poset. That which nothing greater could exist, 00:11:29.500 --> 00:11:32.379 or you could say, the greatest conceivable being. 00:11:32.750 --> 00:11:36.409 Right. Now, Anselm argues that even the skeptic, 00:11:36.450 --> 00:11:38.769 the atheist, whom he calls the fool from the 00:11:38.769 --> 00:11:41.509 Psalms, can understand this concept in their 00:11:41.509 --> 00:11:44.590 mind. They can form the idea of the greatest 00:11:44.590 --> 00:11:47.610 conceivable being. Okay, and here is the logical 00:11:47.610 --> 00:11:51.350 pivot. If this greatest conceivable being only 00:11:51.350 --> 00:11:54.009 exists in the mind, just in the understanding, 00:11:54.389 --> 00:11:56.950 then we can immediately imagine a greater being. 00:11:57.190 --> 00:11:59.470 And what is that greater being? It's one that 00:11:59.470 --> 00:12:02.240 exists both in the mind and in reality. Exactly. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.759 Therefore, if God is truly that than which nothing 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:09.320 greater could exist, God cannot only exist in 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:11.840 the understanding. The concept itself demands 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:14.539 existence in reality. Otherwise, the concept 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:16.659 would be contradictory. God must necessarily 00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:19.220 exist. It's clean, it's airtight, and it is a 00:12:19.220 --> 00:12:21.320 pure piece of deduction. But wait a minute, how 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:23.059 does he justify that leap? I mean, that's the 00:12:23.059 --> 00:12:25.460 part that always gets me. The logic is audacious, 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:28.120 for sure. But if the definition already assumes 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:30.580 existence, isn't that just begging the question? 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.399 Well, that is the exact question that Gognilo, 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:35.980 a monk of Marmottier, posed immediately after 00:12:35.980 --> 00:12:38.019 the Proselysian was published. Gognilo wrote 00:12:38.019 --> 00:12:40.799 a powerful rebuttal titled Liber Pro Incipiente. 00:12:41.059 --> 00:12:44.639 Which means, a book in behalf of the fool. And 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.100 Gognilo's objection is famous for its thought 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:50.240 experiment involving the perfect island. Right. 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:52.519 He argued that if Anselm's logic were sound, 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:54.860 he could simply conceive of an island greater 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:57.460 than which nothing can be conceived. An island 00:12:57.460 --> 00:13:00.659 with unparalleled treasure, beauty, and resources. 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:03.740 And following Anselm's logic, since we can conceive 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:06.779 of this ultimate island, it must exist in reality. 00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:09.960 Otherwise, we could conceive of a greater island, 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:12.639 one that actually exists. But we know that's 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.240 not true. Merely conceiving of a perfect island 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:17.899 doesn't make it real. Gonilla's point was that 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:20.269 you cannot just leap. from the realm of thought 00:13:20.269 --> 00:13:23.009 to the realm of physical reality based on an 00:13:23.009 --> 00:13:25.429 arbitrary definition. So how does Anselm counter 00:13:25.429 --> 00:13:27.870 this analogy in his response, the responsio? 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:30.669 Because this philosophical leap is what makes 00:13:30.669 --> 00:13:32.690 the argument so famous and so controversial. 00:13:33.029 --> 00:13:35.990 Anselm's counter is subtle. but for his purposes, 00:13:36.029 --> 00:13:39.090 devastating to Gagnolo's island. He argues that 00:13:39.090 --> 00:13:40.830 the definition applies only to a being whose 00:13:40.830 --> 00:13:43.210 non -existence is inconceivable. So a single, 00:13:43.250 --> 00:13:46.669 unique, necessarily existing entity. Exactly. 00:13:46.750 --> 00:13:49.649 We need to clarify this difference between contingent 00:13:49.649 --> 00:13:52.610 existence and necessary existence. The island 00:13:52.610 --> 00:13:55.769 is a contingent being. It is possible to think 00:13:55.769 --> 00:13:58.049 that the perfect island does not exist. You can 00:13:58.049 --> 00:14:00.129 imagine it sinking or never having been created. 00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:03.409 Its existence depends on other things. God, however, 00:14:03.590 --> 00:14:06.889 is a necessary being. By definition, that than 00:14:06.889 --> 00:14:09.590 which nothing greater can be conceived, God's 00:14:09.590 --> 00:14:12.269 existence cannot be separated from his essence. 00:14:12.590 --> 00:14:15.190 So if you could conceive of God not existing, 00:14:15.429 --> 00:14:18.899 then... He wouldn't be the greatest conceivable 00:14:18.899 --> 00:14:21.340 being, which is a contradiction within the initial 00:14:21.340 --> 00:14:23.899 definition itself. It's like saying, I can conceive 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:26.559 of a square circle. The very phrase is nonsense. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:29.379 The argument only applies to this one unique 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:32.519 category of being. Anselm argued Gunnyla's island 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:34.879 is inherently contingent, so the logic doesn't 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:36.879 apply to it. And this single argument wasn't 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.080 just to prove existence, was it? He extended 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:41.710 it. Oh, absolutely. Throughout the postlogian, 00:14:41.769 --> 00:14:44.009 he used it to argue that God must necessarily 00:14:44.009 --> 00:14:47.230 possess unity, wisdom, omnipotence, and mercy, 00:14:47.409 --> 00:14:50.429 because a being that lacked any of those things 00:14:50.429 --> 00:14:52.789 would be less great than one that possessed them 00:14:52.789 --> 00:14:55.570 perfectly. It's a comprehensive theological system 00:14:55.570 --> 00:14:58.950 built on one single phrase. Moving from God's 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:01.809 existence to Christ's role, we find Anselm's 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:05.169 second major theological pillar, the satisfaction 00:15:05.169 --> 00:15:08.070 theory of atonement, which he detailed in Cur 00:15:08.070 --> 00:15:12.070 Deus Homo. Why God was a man. Right. This work, 00:15:12.230 --> 00:15:14.950 written during his first exile, was his attempt 00:15:14.950 --> 00:15:17.289 to provide a purely rational explanation for 00:15:17.289 --> 00:15:19.610 why the incarnation was necessary. Why God had 00:15:19.610 --> 00:15:21.789 to become human and die. And it completely changed 00:15:21.789 --> 00:15:24.190 Christian doctrine for centuries to come. He 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:26.330 starts with the idea of sin offending divine 00:15:26.330 --> 00:15:29.230 justice. But it's not just breaking a rule, is 00:15:29.230 --> 00:15:31.929 it? It's impairing God's infinite dignity. And 00:15:31.929 --> 00:15:33.889 that's the critical piece of the puzzle. Sin 00:15:33.889 --> 00:15:35.909 is not infinite because of who commits it, a 00:15:35.909 --> 00:15:38.250 finite human, but because of whom it is committed 00:15:38.250 --> 00:15:41.570 against an infinite God. Therefore, divine justice 00:15:41.570 --> 00:15:44.529 demands infinite restitution or recompense for 00:15:44.529 --> 00:15:47.210 that offense against his honor. And if the debt 00:15:47.210 --> 00:15:50.049 is infinite, well, that poses a problem for humanity. 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:53.149 Right. Why can't humanity simply try harder to 00:15:53.149 --> 00:15:55.769 repay it, you know, through good works or sacrifice? 00:15:56.090 --> 00:15:59.429 Because Ansem argues that all human actions Our 00:15:59.429 --> 00:16:01.590 obedience, our good works, our very existence 00:16:01.590 --> 00:16:04.950 are already completely and permanently obligated 00:16:04.950 --> 00:16:07.629 to God's glory. So we can't perform any action 00:16:07.629 --> 00:16:10.250 that is extra. There's no action that goes above 00:16:10.250 --> 00:16:12.350 and beyond our moral duty that could be applied 00:16:12.350 --> 00:16:14.570 toward paying down the infinite debt of sin. 00:16:14.750 --> 00:16:17.269 If we perform good works, we are simply doing 00:16:17.269 --> 00:16:19.850 what we ought to have done anyway. So humanity 00:16:19.850 --> 00:16:22.690 is stuck. Justice demands infinite payment, but 00:16:22.690 --> 00:16:25.169 humanity is incapable of providing anything beyond 00:16:25.169 --> 00:16:27.929 zero because all our actions are already owed. 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:30.740 The only solution, therefore, had to be a being 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:33.039 who could provide the infinite worth required 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:35.740 for the recompense. That being had to be fully 00:16:35.740 --> 00:16:38.460 divine to provide the infinite worth. And fully 00:16:38.460 --> 00:16:41.159 human, so that the sacrifice could be made on 00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:43.620 humanity's behalf by one who shared their nature. 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:46.559 This being, of course, is Jesus. The sacrifice 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:48.980 of a sinless god -man possessed infinite worth, 00:16:49.139 --> 00:16:51.679 which perfectly matched the infinite dignity 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.649 that was offended. This was revolutionary. Earlier 00:16:54.649 --> 00:16:56.870 theories, like the ransom theory that was popular 00:16:56.870 --> 00:16:59.929 in the East, focused on Christ's death as a kind 00:16:59.929 --> 00:17:02.710 of contractual payment to Satan to free humanity 00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:05.970 from bondage. Anselm completely cut Satan out 00:17:05.970 --> 00:17:08.410 of the equation. He does. It shifted the theological 00:17:08.410 --> 00:17:11.849 focus inward, focusing purely on God's internal 00:17:11.849 --> 00:17:15.190 need to uphold his own infinite necessary justice, 00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:18.170 while at the same time displaying infinite mercy. 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:21.039 It's a stunning piece of intellectual rigor that 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:23.700 allowed justice and mercy to be completely compatible. 00:17:24.099 --> 00:17:26.740 And that framework remains foundational for much 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:29.500 of Western doctrine even today. It does. But 00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:31.480 now we have to transition from that rarefied 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:33.799 air of theological inquiry to the muddy fields 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:36.440 of high stakes political conflict. Because when 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:38.220 Anselm was dragged into the world of English 00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:41.220 politics, he applied that same absolute rigor 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:43.660 to the issue of authority. Which led to one of 00:17:43.660 --> 00:17:46.220 the greatest conflicts in medieval England. This 00:17:46.220 --> 00:17:49.339 all started in 1089 with the death of Anselm's 00:17:49.339 --> 00:17:52.279 mentor, Lanfranc, who was the archbishop of Canterbury. 00:17:52.460 --> 00:17:54.660 And the subsequent power move by King William 00:17:54.660 --> 00:17:57.700 II, who we know as William Rufus. Exactly. William 00:17:57.700 --> 00:18:00.200 Rufus kept the incredibly wealthy Canterbury 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:03.680 see vacant for four long years. Why? He was essentially 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.759 appropriating all its vast revenues, the income 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:09.259 from its estates, the feudal dues, the spiritual 00:18:09.259 --> 00:18:12.799 fees directly into the royal treasury. A common 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:15.640 practice, but one that was financially. ruinous 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:17.759 to the church and deeply offensive to reform 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:21.019 minded clergy. Anselm, for his part, deliberately 00:18:21.019 --> 00:18:23.940 avoided England, knowing the political quicksand 00:18:23.940 --> 00:18:26.019 that lay beneath the surface. He was lured over 00:18:26.019 --> 00:18:29.160 in 1092 by a plea from the gravely ill Hugh, 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:32.920 the Earl of Chester. And the irony is he recovered. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:36.599 But in March 1093, William II himself fell critically 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:39.279 ill and facing what he truly believed was his 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:42.150 deathbed. Terrified for his soul given as avarice 00:18:42.150 --> 00:18:44.250 toward the church, he made a public show of repentance. 00:18:44.630 --> 00:18:46.789 He issued a proclamation promising to govern 00:18:46.789 --> 00:18:49.150 justly, he confessed his sins, and critically, 00:18:49.349 --> 00:18:51.529 he nominated the most revered spiritual figure 00:18:51.529 --> 00:18:54.609 in Europe, Anselm, to fill the vacancy at Canterbury. 00:18:54.910 --> 00:18:57.250 Anselm, who had been avoiding this post for years, 00:18:57.569 --> 00:18:59.670 knew exactly what the price of this promotion 00:18:59.670 --> 00:19:02.230 would be. He fought the appointment for months. 00:19:02.650 --> 00:19:05.569 He famously compared the church under William 00:19:05.569 --> 00:19:10.019 Rufus to a plow pulled by two unequal oxen. The 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:13.160 spiritual, himself, and the temporal, the king, 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:15.799 where the two forces were just pulling in opposite 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:17.980 directions. He was eventually forced into the 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:20.039 role by public pressure, with clerics physically 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:22.059 carrying him to the church to accept the nomination. 00:19:22.460 --> 00:19:24.660 But he refused to accept it without conditions. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.640 And these conditions were the agenda of the most 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:30.420 radical religious movement of the day. The Gregorian 00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:33.440 Reform. Precisely. This was the pan -European 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.900 movement, championed by the papacy, that was 00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:37.940 seeking to centralize church authority under 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:41.180 Rome and free the church. from lay or royal control. 00:19:41.420 --> 00:19:44.319 So what were his demands? He demanded three things. 00:19:44.539 --> 00:19:46.900 First, the return of all seized church lands. 00:19:47.180 --> 00:19:49.619 Second, the king must accept Anselm's spiritual 00:19:49.619 --> 00:19:52.400 counsel in all matters. And third, the king must 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:55.220 recognize Pope Urban II, who was the Gregorian 00:19:55.220 --> 00:19:57.859 candidate over the anti -Pope Comet III. These 00:19:57.859 --> 00:20:00.299 were demands that aimed to fundamentally reorganize 00:20:00.299 --> 00:20:02.359 the balance of power in England. Absolutely. 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:05.440 Installing the papacy as the ultimate spiritual 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.460 authority. William Rufus consented only to the 00:20:08.460 --> 00:20:10.839 first point, and even that was immediately suspended. 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:13.779 So Anselm was enthroned without the pallium, 00:20:13.900 --> 00:20:16.759 the woolen strip signifying papal authority, 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:19.259 which just set the stage for battle. And the 00:20:19.259 --> 00:20:22.000 conflict began immediately. Initially, it centered 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:26.579 on money. William II demanded 1 ,000 pounds for 00:20:26.579 --> 00:20:29.940 the sea, a massive sum, basically a feudal payment 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:33.509 known as annates. Anselm offered 500 pounds, 00:20:33.750 --> 00:20:35.809 arguing that the rest of the money was needed 00:20:35.809 --> 00:20:38.809 to enforce new canon law and fill the other vacancies. 00:20:39.170 --> 00:20:41.430 Many of which William was still holding for revenue. 00:20:41.630 --> 00:20:43.789 Right. When courtiers suggested the king might 00:20:43.789 --> 00:20:46.269 settle for less, Anselm delivered one of the 00:20:46.269 --> 00:20:49.069 most memorable insults of the Middle Ages. He 00:20:49.069 --> 00:20:50.829 had already given the 500 pounds to the poor, 00:20:50.990 --> 00:20:53.569 and he announced he disdained to purchase his 00:20:53.569 --> 00:20:56.289 master's favor as he would a horse or ass. That 00:20:56.289 --> 00:20:58.990 phrase instantly crystallized the enmity between 00:20:58.990 --> 00:21:01.740 them. It placed the archbishop on a moral high 00:21:01.740 --> 00:21:04.000 ground, refusing to be treated like a mere temporal 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.599 servant. And William's reaction confirms the 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:09.940 deep offense. Oh, it was explosive. He said, 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.740 I hated him before, I hate him now, and shall 00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:15.299 hate him still more hereafter. That was their 00:21:15.299 --> 00:21:17.779 relationship, established within months. The 00:21:17.779 --> 00:21:19.799 actual crisis, though, the one that forced Anselm 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:23.049 into exile, was the pallium crisis. Yes. William 00:21:23.049 --> 00:21:26.089 refused to recognize Urban II, the legitimate 00:21:26.089 --> 00:21:29.450 pope. He insisted that the king, not the church, 00:21:29.730 --> 00:21:32.049 had the right to determine which pope would be 00:21:32.049 --> 00:21:35.049 acknowledged in England. This meant Anselm couldn't 00:21:35.049 --> 00:21:37.450 travel to Rome to receive the pallium. Which 00:21:37.450 --> 00:21:40.150 was necessary for him to properly exercise his 00:21:40.150 --> 00:21:43.109 authority as a metropolitan archbishop. The whole 00:21:43.109 --> 00:21:45.569 situation came to a head at the Council of Rockingham 00:21:45.569 --> 00:21:49.009 in 1095. The king ordered the English bishops 00:21:49.009 --> 00:21:51.730 to renounce Anselm as their primate because he 00:21:51.730 --> 00:21:54.829 dared to adhere to Urban. And the bishops, fearing 00:21:54.829 --> 00:21:57.650 the king, largely sided with Rufus, advising 00:21:57.650 --> 00:22:00.769 him to depose and exile Anselm. But the nobility 00:22:00.769 --> 00:22:03.349 hesitated. They did. This wasn't just a religious 00:22:03.349 --> 00:22:05.890 spat. It was a jurisdictional fight, and the 00:22:05.890 --> 00:22:08.470 nobles didn't want to grant the king such absolute 00:22:08.470 --> 00:22:11.269 authority over the church. This led to a critical 00:22:11.269 --> 00:22:13.730 deadlock. William, seeing he couldn't win outright, 00:22:14.009 --> 00:22:17.099 resorted to deep political intrigue. He secretly 00:22:17.099 --> 00:22:20.220 petitioned Pope Urban II to send a legate with 00:22:20.220 --> 00:22:23.079 the pallium, hoping the legate would depose Anselm 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:25.119 in exchange for the king's public acknowledgement 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:28.119 of Urban. A spectacular political miscalculation. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:31.759 A huge one. The legate, Bishop Walter, arrived, 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:34.160 secured William's public acknowledgement of Reuben, 00:22:34.299 --> 00:22:37.759 a massive papal victory, but flatly refused to 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:40.400 depose Anselm. William then tried desperately 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.740 to monetize his loss. He tried to sell the pallium, 00:22:43.859 --> 00:22:46.819 then demanded Anselm pay him for it. And finally, 00:22:46.859 --> 00:22:49.279 he attempted to personally bestow the pallium 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:52.740 on Anselm. Which Anselm absolutely refused. To 00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:54.420 receive it from the king would have symbolized 00:22:54.420 --> 00:22:56.380 that his spiritual authority flowed from the 00:22:56.380 --> 00:22:59.420 crown, not from the church. So a compromise was 00:22:59.420 --> 00:23:01.700 reached. The pallium was laid on the altar at 00:23:01.700 --> 00:23:03.980 Canterbury, and Anselm took it from there in 00:23:03.980 --> 00:23:07.420 June 1095, symbolizing he received his authority 00:23:07.420 --> 00:23:10.000 directly from God via the church. This was a 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.640 temporary truce. The core issue of who held ultimate 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:15.380 authority remained. And in 1097, William charged 00:23:15.380 --> 00:23:17.480 Anselm with providing insufficient knights for 00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:20.299 a Welsh campaign and tried to fine him. Anselm, 00:23:20.299 --> 00:23:22.539 realizing the king would never truly permit the 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:25.299 Gregorian reforms, resolved to appeal to Rome. 00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:29.319 William gave him the cold choice, exile or total 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:33.079 submission. Anselm chose exile. And William, 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:35.700 predictably, seized all of Canterbury's revenues 00:23:35.700 --> 00:23:39.880 and Anselm left England in October 1097. But 00:23:39.880 --> 00:23:42.809 his exile was far from wasted. Not at all. While 00:23:42.809 --> 00:23:45.450 in Rome, Pope Urban II commissioned Anselm to 00:23:45.450 --> 00:23:47.910 defend the Western doctrine of the Filioque before 00:23:47.910 --> 00:23:50.089 an assembly of bishops at the Council of Bari 00:23:50.089 --> 00:23:53.089 in 1098. The Filioque doctrine addresses the 00:23:53.089 --> 00:23:55.630 procession of the Holy Spirit. The Western Church 00:23:55.630 --> 00:23:57.809 asserted the Spirit proceeds from the Father 00:23:57.809 --> 00:24:00.079 and the Son. While the Eastern Church insisted 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:03.380 the spirit proceeds only from the father, Anselm's 00:24:03.380 --> 00:24:06.059 subsequent arguments, compiled in De Processione 00:24:06.059 --> 00:24:08.640 Spiritus Sanctae, became the definitive defense 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:10.880 of the Western position. Proving his intellectual 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:13.440 commitment was independent of his political circumstances. 00:24:13.799 --> 00:24:16.480 And critically, he completed Cur Deus Homo while 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:19.480 in exile. Even when banished, his mind was still 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:21.980 constructing these theological fortresses. Then 00:24:21.980 --> 00:24:23.779 the political landscape shifted dramatically 00:24:23.779 --> 00:24:27.259 in 1100. William II died unexpectedly in a hunting 00:24:27.259 --> 00:24:30.400 accident. His younger brother, Henry I, seized 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:32.980 the throne quickly, usurping the claims of his 00:24:32.980 --> 00:24:35.359 elder brother, Robert Curcos, who was away on 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.960 the First Crusade. Henry's position was weak 00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:41.799 and tenuous. He was a usurper. He needed clerical 00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:44.779 legitimacy to secure the throne. He desperately 00:24:44.779 --> 00:24:46.940 needed the moral and political weight of the 00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:48.940 church to stabilize his reign. So what does he 00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:51.740 do? He immediately invited Anselm back to England. 00:24:51.980 --> 00:24:54.839 But the peace only lasted until Henry felt secure. 00:24:55.259 --> 00:24:57.740 The moment the immediate threat subsided, Henry 00:24:57.740 --> 00:25:00.500 demanded that Anselm perform homage for his estates 00:25:00.500 --> 00:25:03.200 and receive symbolic investiture, the ring and 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:05.740 crozier anew from the king. This was a violation 00:25:05.740 --> 00:25:08.960 of the newly hardened canonical law of the investiture 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:11.319 controversy. Right. Though Anselm had performed 00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:14.259 homage to William years before, he now refused 00:25:14.259 --> 00:25:16.880 based on principle and the new Gregorian standards 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:20.490 set by the pope. Henry, however, refused to relinquish 00:25:20.490 --> 00:25:22.490 a traditional right held by his predecessors. 00:25:22.710 --> 00:25:25.130 So the investiture controversy in England began 00:25:25.130 --> 00:25:28.680 in earnest. It did. Yet, despite this massive 00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:31.539 jurisdictional dispute, Anselm publicly threw 00:25:31.539 --> 00:25:34.319 his weight behind Henry I against Robert Curtis's 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:37.559 invasion claims in 1101. He was a brilliant strategist. 00:25:37.700 --> 00:25:40.140 He really was. Anselm secured the throne for 00:25:40.140 --> 00:25:42.680 Henry by emphasizing religious oaths of loyalty 00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:45.059 and threatening Robert with excommunication, 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:48.099 a move that severely undermined Robert's support 00:25:48.099 --> 00:25:50.819 among the English barons and populace. It demonstrates 00:25:50.819 --> 00:25:54.059 that for Anselm, the immediate stability of England 00:25:54.440 --> 00:25:56.779 which allowed for the possibility of church reform, 00:25:57.019 --> 00:26:00.180 was strategically necessary, even if he opposed 00:26:00.180 --> 00:26:02.259 Henry's investiture claim. But the conflict over 00:26:02.259 --> 00:26:05.180 investiture couldn't be ignored. Henry sent envoys 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:08.559 to Rome in 1102, who returned and falsely claimed 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:11.220 that Pope Pascal II had approved of Anselm's 00:26:11.220 --> 00:26:13.839 submission. Anselm, suspicious of the deception, 00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:17.480 traveled to Rome himself in 1103. Pascal responded 00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:19.779 by excommunicating Henry's deceptive counselors, 00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:22.400 though he strategically held back from excommunicating 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:24.940 Henry himself. And Henry retaliated by forbidding 00:26:24.940 --> 00:26:27.180 Anselm's return, which led to the second exile. 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:30.779 This second exile was the turning point. Anselm, 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:33.880 now even more resolved, threatened to excommunicate 00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:36.240 Henry I himself. Which would have been politically 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:39.180 catastrophic for the king. Utterly. This threat 00:26:39.180 --> 00:26:42.319 forced Henry to meet Anselm at Lagal in 1105. 00:26:42.819 --> 00:26:45.460 And this meeting produced the foundational compromise 00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:47.819 that would define church -state relations in 00:26:47.819 --> 00:26:50.460 England for centuries. The Lagal Compromise. 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:53.440 It was a subtle... brilliant balancing act. It 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:56.039 was. It was a major papal victory because Henry 00:26:56.039 --> 00:26:58.640 agreed to formally forsake lay and vestiture, 00:26:58.859 --> 00:27:01.440 giving up the right to bestow the spiritual symbols, 00:27:01.619 --> 00:27:04.539 the ring and the crozier. But the king won a 00:27:04.539 --> 00:27:06.799 crucial concession. thanks to Anselm's negotiating 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:10.339 skills. He did. Anselm secured papal permission 00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:12.880 for newly invested clerics to do homage to the 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:15.380 king for their lands and estates. So the spiritual 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:17.619 power, the appointment and consecration belong 00:27:17.619 --> 00:27:20.559 solely to the church. But the temporal and feudal 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:22.980 obligation, the homage for the land that generated 00:27:22.980 --> 00:27:25.700 the revenue, remained with the king. Exactly. 00:27:25.819 --> 00:27:28.299 It resolved the conflict by clearly demarcating 00:27:28.299 --> 00:27:31.180 spheres of influence. It allowed Henry to retain 00:27:31.180 --> 00:27:33.500 feudal control over his most powerful landholders 00:27:33.500 --> 00:27:36.099 while granting the church the spiritual independence 00:27:36.099 --> 00:27:39.019 it demanded. And Henry also had to restore all 00:27:39.019 --> 00:27:42.240 seized church revenues. And exempt married clergy 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:45.390 from a deeply unpopular tax. The agreement was 00:27:45.390 --> 00:27:47.769 formally ratified in the Concordat of London 00:27:47.769 --> 00:27:51.089 in 1107. Henry formally renounced the right of 00:27:51.089 --> 00:27:53.750 English kings to invest bishops, definitively 00:27:53.750 --> 00:27:55.869 ending the investiture controversy in England. 00:27:56.029 --> 00:27:58.509 A huge triumph for Anselm in the Gregorian reform 00:27:58.509 --> 00:28:01.700 movement. A massive one. Anselm spent his final 00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:04.480 years defending Canterbury's primacy, asserting 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:06.720 its authority over the Archbishop of York and 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.519 the Welsh bishops. He achieved a brief, significant 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:11.720 victory there, though our sources are quick to 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:13.740 note that subsequent popes would later reverse 00:28:13.740 --> 00:28:17.000 that specific decision. He died in 1109, and 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:19.400 his final moments were overshadowed by one regret, 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:22.740 leaving unfinished a theological treatise on 00:28:22.740 --> 00:28:25.559 the origin of the soul. He spent his life dedicated 00:28:25.559 --> 00:28:28.180 to absolute truth. Navigating the political world 00:28:28.180 --> 00:28:30.700 only when necessary to secure that truth. So 00:28:30.700 --> 00:28:33.640 when we look at Anselm's full body of work, we 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:37.019 see a foundational figure. He didn't just contribute. 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:39.960 He set the intellectual framework for those who 00:28:39.960 --> 00:28:43.380 followed. His philosophical roots lie deep in 00:28:43.380 --> 00:28:46.500 Neoplatonism, primarily synthesized through the 00:28:46.500 --> 00:28:49.289 work of St. Augustine and Boethius. Yes, and 00:28:49.289 --> 00:28:52.049 this reconciliation of classical philosophy with 00:28:52.049 --> 00:28:54.990 Christian theology is precisely why he is credited 00:28:54.990 --> 00:28:58.369 with inaugurating one of the most brilliant periods 00:28:58.369 --> 00:29:01.289 of Western philosophy. He was laying the tracks 00:29:01.289 --> 00:29:03.589 that thinkers like Thomas Aquinas would later 00:29:03.589 --> 00:29:06.549 run on. And his pedagogical approach, which we 00:29:06.549 --> 00:29:08.930 saw earlier with the monk Osborne, is evident 00:29:08.930 --> 00:29:10.869 throughout his philosophical writings. They're 00:29:10.869 --> 00:29:13.150 often presented as dialogues between an inquisitive 00:29:13.150 --> 00:29:15.519 student and the teacher. Two of these lesser 00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:18.640 -known dialogues, in particular, showcases relentless 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:21.440 application of reason to universal concepts. 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:25.140 The first is to veritate on truth. And it provides 00:29:25.140 --> 00:29:27.380 a sweeping definition of what truth fundamentally 00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:30.660 is. He defines absolute truth not merely as logical 00:29:30.660 --> 00:29:32.559 correctness, but as correctness across three 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:35.339 domains. Correctness in will, correctness in 00:29:35.339 --> 00:29:37.980 action, and correctness in essence. And he identifies 00:29:37.980 --> 00:29:40.680 this absolute correctness with God. Exactly. 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:43.680 God is the fundamental source of all truth, because 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:46.140 God is the essential nature of correctness itself. 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:49.640 Therefore, all things that exist, exist according 00:29:49.640 --> 00:29:53.319 to a divine, correct plan. The concept that everything 00:29:53.319 --> 00:29:56.140 that is, is rightly, flows from this. It's a 00:29:56.140 --> 00:29:58.359 comprehensive statement on the necessity of divine 00:29:58.359 --> 00:30:01.259 order. It is. And the second dialogue, written 00:30:01.259 --> 00:30:03.779 late in his life, tackles one of philosophy's 00:30:03.779 --> 00:30:06.970 oldest and most persistent problems. the concordia, 00:30:06.970 --> 00:30:09.670 or on harmony. And this addresses the apparent 00:30:09.670 --> 00:30:13.369 incompatibility of divine foreknowledge, predestination, 00:30:13.509 --> 00:30:16.470 and human free choice. That is the ultimate tension, 00:30:16.589 --> 00:30:19.029 isn't it? How can we be held responsible for 00:30:19.029 --> 00:30:21.509 our choices if God already knows with absolute 00:30:21.509 --> 00:30:24.450 certainty what we are going to do? Doesn't God's 00:30:24.450 --> 00:30:26.950 absolute knowledge negate our freedom? Anselm's 00:30:26.950 --> 00:30:28.890 solution is brilliant, and it involves fundamentally 00:30:28.890 --> 00:30:30.990 changing how we understand God's relationship 00:30:30.990 --> 00:30:33.390 with time. He resolves the paradox by explaining 00:30:33.390 --> 00:30:35.849 that God views all time in an eternal... present. 00:30:35.970 --> 00:30:38.329 What does that mean exactly? He argues that time, 00:30:38.369 --> 00:30:40.950 as we experience it, past, present, and future, 00:30:41.009 --> 00:30:44.829 is a human contingent construct. God transcends 00:30:44.829 --> 00:30:47.309 that sequence. The source quotes him, explaining, 00:30:47.630 --> 00:30:49.549 although nothing is there except what is present, 00:30:49.750 --> 00:30:52.630 it is not the temporal present, like ours, but 00:30:52.630 --> 00:30:55.430 rather the eternal, within which all times altogether 00:30:55.430 --> 00:30:58.069 are contained. It's like imagining a film reel 00:30:58.069 --> 00:31:01.500 laid out flat. We, the viewer, can only experience 00:31:01.500 --> 00:31:04.380 the real one frame at a time, moving sequentially 00:31:04.380 --> 00:31:07.039 from beginning to end. But God is the one holding 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:10.099 the entire real, seeing all frames, past, present, 00:31:10.259 --> 00:31:13.099 and future simultaneously in one single eternal 00:31:13.099 --> 00:31:16.119 moment. So God doesn't foresee the future in 00:31:16.119 --> 00:31:19.579 a temporal sense. He beholds all time in one 00:31:19.579 --> 00:31:22.559 cohesive, eternal present. And our actions are 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:24.259 still freely chosen within the moment they occur, 00:31:24.460 --> 00:31:26.660 but they are also always present to God's eternal 00:31:26.660 --> 00:31:29.740 knowledge. This reconciliation preserves both 00:31:29.740 --> 00:31:32.460 God's omniscience and human responsibility. It's 00:31:32.460 --> 00:31:34.740 a high -level conceptual tool that profoundly 00:31:34.740 --> 00:31:37.279 influenced later medieval metaphysics. We should 00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:39.059 also touch upon his lesser -known contribution 00:31:39.059 --> 00:31:42.779 to Marian doctrine into Conceptu Virginale. While 00:31:42.779 --> 00:31:44.660 he actually denied the Immaculate Conception, 00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:46.940 his principles sort of paved the way for it. 00:31:46.980 --> 00:31:49.359 He did. He argued that it was fitting or proper 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:52.299 that Mary should be so pure that no pure being 00:31:52.299 --> 00:31:55.200 could be imagined apart from God. And crucial 00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:58.769 to later theology, He defined original sin not 00:31:58.769 --> 00:32:01.710 as being transmitted by the physical act of procreation. 00:32:01.930 --> 00:32:04.210 but as a change in human nature after the fall, 00:32:04.349 --> 00:32:07.509 a defect that parents were incapable of reversing 00:32:07.509 --> 00:32:09.289 in their children. By separating the mechanics 00:32:09.289 --> 00:32:11.509 of sin transmission from the mechanics of conception, 00:32:11.869 --> 00:32:14.470 he opened the door for later theologians to argue 00:32:14.470 --> 00:32:16.849 that divine grace could intervene to preserve 00:32:16.849 --> 00:32:19.470 Mary's nature at the very moment of her conception. 00:32:19.750 --> 00:32:22.009 And he is venerated for this. It earned him the 00:32:22.009 --> 00:32:25.609 title Dr. Magnificus and the Dr. Marianus. Now 00:32:25.609 --> 00:32:28.009 Anselm was eventually canonized and proclaimed 00:32:28.009 --> 00:32:30.569 a doctor of the church. So his official image 00:32:30.569 --> 00:32:33.529 is one of piety and profound scholarship. But 00:32:33.529 --> 00:32:35.650 we have to address the fascinating scholarly 00:32:35.650 --> 00:32:38.569 controversy that divides historians today regarding 00:32:38.569 --> 00:32:41.410 his political identity. Right. This scholarly 00:32:41.410 --> 00:32:44.490 divide centers on his sincerity. The traditional 00:32:44.490 --> 00:32:47.009 or southern view, often supported by his biographer 00:32:47.009 --> 00:32:50.069 Edmer, sees him as the genuinely pious, reluctant 00:32:50.069 --> 00:32:53.190 church leader, horrified by worldly advancement. 00:32:53.549 --> 00:32:56.670 In this view, he was the sheep forced to fight 00:32:56.670 --> 00:32:59.420 the wolves. Forced into political conflict only 00:32:59.420 --> 00:33:01.680 by the avarice of the kings. But the critical 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:04.599 view championed by modern scholars paints a very 00:33:04.599 --> 00:33:06.759 different picture. They see him as an incredibly 00:33:06.759 --> 00:33:10.619 shrewd, highly adept political operator. One 00:33:10.619 --> 00:33:13.099 who used that carefully nurtured image of simple 00:33:13.099 --> 00:33:15.900 holiness as a strategic tool to gain leverage. 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:19.240 I mean, if we look at the facts. Refusing to 00:33:19.240 --> 00:33:21.440 be treated like a horse or ass, systematically 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:24.740 dismantling royal control over investiture, securing 00:33:24.740 --> 00:33:28.140 the throne for Henry I, and threatening excommunication 00:33:28.140 --> 00:33:31.339 twice, you have to ask, was he truly reluctant? 00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:33.740 Or was he brilliant enough to feign reluctance 00:33:33.740 --> 00:33:35.880 while achieving immense political results for 00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:38.200 the church? He was either a genuine saint forced 00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:40.880 into politics or a master strategist who used 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:43.119 spiritual authority as a weapon. There's not 00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:45.920 much middle ground. And the final strange footnote. 00:33:46.299 --> 00:33:48.819 to the life of this man of absolute truth concerns 00:33:48.819 --> 00:33:52.299 his physical remains. It leads us to an astonishing 00:33:52.299 --> 00:33:55.740 anecdote of 18th century cynicism. This is a 00:33:55.740 --> 00:33:58.779 great story. In 1752, hundreds of years after 00:33:58.779 --> 00:34:01.160 his death, King Charles Emmanuel of Sardinia, 00:34:01.339 --> 00:34:04.440 who was also the Duke of Aosta, requested permission 00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:07.700 to translate Anselm's relics back to his birthplace 00:34:07.700 --> 00:34:10.320 in Italy. This prompted a highly amusing and 00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:12.860 highly cynical internal exchange among the English 00:34:12.860 --> 00:34:15.909 clergy. The Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, 00:34:15.969 --> 00:34:19.190 Thomas Herring, wrote a blunt, revealing letter 00:34:19.190 --> 00:34:21.909 to his dean. And Herring clearly had no spiritual 00:34:21.909 --> 00:34:24.510 reverence for Anselm's political identity. He 00:34:24.510 --> 00:34:26.449 wrote that parting with the rotten remains of 00:34:26.449 --> 00:34:28.969 a rebel to his king, a slave to the popedom, 00:34:29.030 --> 00:34:31.329 and an enemy to the married clergy would be no 00:34:31.329 --> 00:34:33.349 great loss to the Church of England. And here's 00:34:33.349 --> 00:34:35.610 the truly incredible part, showing the casual 00:34:35.610 --> 00:34:38.460 irreverence of the era. Herring was perfectly 00:34:38.460 --> 00:34:40.460 willing to deceive the Sardinian ambassador. 00:34:40.900 --> 00:34:43.360 He casually suggested he should make no conscience 00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:45.820 of palming on the simpletons any other old bishop 00:34:45.820 --> 00:34:48.699 with the name of Anselm. A completely fabricated 00:34:48.699 --> 00:34:51.820 body just to satisfy a royal whim and get rid 00:34:51.820 --> 00:34:54.139 of an inconvenient rebel saint. Fortunately, 00:34:54.420 --> 00:34:57.320 for historical accuracy, the plan stalled. The 00:34:57.320 --> 00:34:59.860 Sardinian ambassador insisted on witnessing the 00:34:59.860 --> 00:35:02.260 excavation, which never took place because there 00:35:02.260 --> 00:35:04.420 was massive resistance from the local clergy. 00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:06.980 And most importantly, the exact location. of 00:35:06.980 --> 00:35:09.099 Anselm's relics had been uncertain ever since 00:35:09.099 --> 00:35:11.539 a fire swept through Canterbury Cathedral back 00:35:11.539 --> 00:35:14.320 in the 1170s. The body of the great doctor remains 00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:17.940 lost to this day. What a strangely fitting, darkly 00:35:17.940 --> 00:35:20.820 humorous end to the story of a man who pursued 00:35:20.820 --> 00:35:23.940 truth so relentlessly, only for his own remains 00:35:23.940 --> 00:35:27.179 to become a subject of cynical 18th century fakery. 00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:29.860 Indeed. It brings us back to his most common 00:35:29.860 --> 00:35:33.500 attribute in religious imagery, a ship. It represents 00:35:33.500 --> 00:35:35.840 the spiritual independence of the church, a goal 00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:38.340 he literally sailed into exile twice to achieve. 00:35:38.599 --> 00:35:40.360 We've covered a tremendous amount of ground today. 00:35:40.440 --> 00:35:42.800 Our key takeaways from Anselm of Canterbury are 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:45.679 clear. The intellectual power of Fides Quirin's 00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:48.000 intellectum faith seeking understanding, which 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:50.579 made the rigorous application of reason a non 00:35:50.579 --> 00:35:52.980 -negotiable spiritual duty. We've understood 00:35:52.980 --> 00:35:55.159 the rigorous logic of the ontological argument, 00:35:55.400 --> 00:35:58.699 defining God as the necessarily existing greatest 00:35:58.699 --> 00:36:01.539 conceivable being, and how he defended that unique 00:36:01.539 --> 00:36:04.119 concept against the idea of contingent reality. 00:36:04.460 --> 00:36:07.079 And the moral necessity of Christ under the satisfaction 00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:10.139 theory, driven by the need for infinite recompense 00:36:10.139 --> 00:36:13.119 for infinite offense against God's dignity, which 00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:15.480 redefined the doctrine of the atonement. And 00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:17.900 finally, his immense political success in leveraging 00:36:17.900 --> 00:36:20.800 the Gregorian reform agenda to define the terms 00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:23.369 of church power. against the crown, forcing two 00:36:23.369 --> 00:36:27.489 English kings, William II and Henry I, to concede 00:36:27.489 --> 00:36:29.570 major ground through the critical investiture 00:36:29.570 --> 00:36:32.829 settlement of 1107. So here is our final provocative 00:36:32.829 --> 00:36:34.510 thought for you to carry away from this deep 00:36:34.510 --> 00:36:37.429 dive. Anselm's ultimate goal was to establish 00:36:37.429 --> 00:36:40.070 the pure, spiritual, autonomous independence 00:36:40.070 --> 00:36:43.030 of the church symbolized by that ship of faith. 00:36:43.530 --> 00:36:46.489 But, as his life proves through decades of brutal 00:36:46.489 --> 00:36:49.389 negotiation, the repeated threats of excommunication 00:36:49.389 --> 00:36:52.389 and the two exiles is true spiritual independence 00:36:52.389 --> 00:36:56.409 in the complex real world of high politics achievable 00:36:56.409 --> 00:36:59.289 only through decades of brutal worldly conflict. 00:36:59.630 --> 00:37:02.510 A question of means and ends that is truly timeless. 00:37:02.989 --> 00:37:05.510 Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into 00:37:05.510 --> 00:37:08.070 the philosopher -archbishop. We hope you feel 00:37:08.070 --> 00:37:09.090 thoroughly well informed.