Anselm and the Articella

ANSELM AND THE ARTICELLA By GILES E. M. GASPER and FAITH WALLIS Anselm, Maurice, and Medicine Sometime between 1070 and 1077, Anselm, then prior of the monastery of Bee in Normandy, wrote to his friend Maurice, a former Bee monk residing at Christ Church, Canterbury, and asked him to seek out copies of various texts, including Bede's De temporibus and the Regula of St. Dunstan — presumably the Regularis concordia, the platform-document of the English Benedictine reform of the tenth century.1 Shortly thereafter, Anselm wrote again to Maurice, indicating that another text had been added to his desiderata : Should it come to pass that, with [Archbishop Lanfranc's] favor always embracing us, you return to us (as is expedient for you, and as you and I desire), bring with you what you will have copied of the Aphorisms. In the meantime, however, do as much of the text as you can without inconvenience to yourself, and then, if you are free, of the commentary, giving heed above all that whatever you will have brought with you has been corrected with the utmost diligence. If after your return any of it still remains to be done, and if Dom Gundulf is able to finish it through someone else, leave it to the person whom he designates. But it would be much better if Dom Gundulf were able to obtain by request the exemplar itself, so that it could be lent to me.2 That the Aphorismi in question was the book by Hippocrates is confirmed by a later letter from Anselm inquiring into the progress of Maurice's work. This letter reveals that the Aphorismi was a text translated from Greek, and that it was accompanied by another medical work. 1 Anselm, Letter 42, ed. F. S. Schmitt in S. Anselmi Cantuariensis archiepiscopi opera omnia, 6 vols. (Edinburgh, 1946), 3:154. All subsequent citations of Anselm's letters and works will cite Schmitt's volume and page numbers in parentheses. 2 "Si igitur cum eius semper nobis amplectenda gratia te ad nos, secundum quod tibi expedit et ego et tu desideramus, redire contigerit, quod scriptum erit de Aphorisme tecum affer. Interim tarnen, quantum sine tuo incommodo potes, de textu primum effice, deinde, si tibi licuerit, de glosis; hoc ante omnia servans, ut quidquid ex eo detuleris, diligentissime si correctum. Si quid vero te redeunte residuum inde fuerit: si opportune domnus GONDULFUS per aliquem hoc perficere poterit, eius curae designatum dimitte. Multo tarnen melius erit, si exemplum ipsum, ut mihi aecommodetur, idem domnus GONDULFUS poterit impetrare" (Anselm, Letter 43 [3:155-56]). Translations, unless otherwise indicated, are our own. 130traditio I am pleased if you are able to copy the whole commentary on the Aphorisms , but if not, I admonish you not to leave out those terms which are in Greek, or which are unfamiliar. You are pondering how much time you should spend on the little book De pulsibus, but I would prefer that you spend what time you have on finishing the Aphorisms. Knowledge of that little book is of no use except to those who delve into it very frequently, and with great diligence. If, however, you can [copy De pulsibus] after finishing the Aphorisms, and following directly upon it, I accept with pleasure. Concerning both [works], I advise you particularly that whatever you do should be worthy to be called perfect, because corrected with painstaking care. For in the case of an obscure and unfamiliar text [or script], I would rather have a part faithfully copied, than the whole [text], but corrupted by mistakes.3 Maurice had been a monk at Bee since the late 1050s or early 1060s; his is the seventy-third name on the profession list, and the fourth after Anselm's.4 That he and Anselm were close friends emerges after Maurice's transfer to Christ Church, Canterbury in the 1070s. Anselm took considerable pains to ensure that Maurice's reception at Christ Church would be warm, writing to other friends, including former monks of Bee, asking that they take care of Maurice.5 Nearly all were told that Maurice suffered from headaches and were besought to get the lay doctor Albert...