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Anselm of Havelberg^[1] (c. 1100 – 1158) was a German bishop, statesman, secular and religious ambassador to Constantinople. He was a Premonstratensian, a defender of his order,^[2]^[3] a critic of the monastic life of his time, and a theorist of Christian history. According to Friedrich Heer, "the peculiar course of Anselm's life made this much-travelled man the theologian of development, of progress, of the right of novelty in the Church".^[4]

Life

Anselm's birthplace is uncertain. He was a pupil of Norbert of Xanten at Laon, and then was appointed to the Bishopric of Havelberg in the Northern March. Because Havelberg was then controlled by the Polabian Slavs, Anselm's provisional seat was in Jerichow. He served as papal legate and overall commander of the 1147 Wendish Crusade. After Havelberg was recovered by the Saxons during the campaign, cathedral construction was begun.^[5]

Anselm was sent by Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor, to Constantinople in 1136.^[6] in the hope of a Byzantine alliance. He held theological discussions with Nicetas of Nicomedia,^[7] an account of which he wrote later at the request of Pope Eugenius III. His account tended to play down the theological differences, including the filioque clause,^[8] but was more stark on the political issues. A later encounter with Basil of Achrida in 1154 proved fruitless.^[9]

He lived in a time where there was a growth in the diversity of religious orders. In his Epistola apologetica (c. 1145/46), his first major work, Anselm defended the emerging movement of regular canons against the criticism of traditional monastic orders such as the Benedictines. While these valued a strong emphasis on the contemplative life along with a detachment from the (lay) world, the regular canons were, in Anselm's view, the perfect representation of a priestly balance between contemplation and action in constant contact with the laity through preaching, the sacraments and works of charity. These arguments were mostly devised to defend communities of regular canons in general (e.g. against the danger of losing members to monastic orders), but also helped to strengthen the religious identity of Anselm's own community of regular canons, i.e. the Norbertines.^[10]

In the first book of his second major work entitled Antikeimenon or Dialogues (c. 1149), unlike those who were scandalized by the novelty of these new orders, he saw these orders as part of God's plan for the renewal of the church. In his Dialogues, he mentions several new religious movements, who - according to critics - "devise for themselves a new [way] of psalmody; establish new ways of abstinence and measures of food; and follow neither the monks who fight under the rule of Benedict nor Augustine".^[11] Anselm's refutation of such critics consists in a detailed analysis of how the Triune God (particularly the third person, i.e. the Holy Spirit) reveals Himself through historical renewal and progress. Books II and III of the Dialogues present Anselm's (certainly more or less idealized and remodelled) account of his theological discussions with Nicetas of Nicomedia about the questions that had led to the Schism of 1054.

Anselm also served as Archbishop of Ravenna from 1155–58.^[12] He died in Milan.

Works

The Epistola apologetica is available both in the old (and faulty) edition of the Patrologia Latina^[13] and in a critical edition with German translation and commentary, including an analysis of all eight surviving manuscripts.^[10]

The three Dialogi (Greek title Antikeimenon^[14]) are currently only available in the edition of the Patrologia Latina.

Notes

^ Anselm von Havelberg, Anselmus Havelbergensis, Anselmus episcopus Havelbergensis.
^ "Chapter Six". Archived from the original on 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2007-03-12.: "Anselm of Havelberg (+ 1158), in his Apologetic Epistle, showed that the active life and the contemplative life - later referred to as the "mixed life" can be perfectly blended in the life of the canons".
^ [1]: :The first treatise on the mixed life was that of the regular canon Anselm of Havelberg, who argued that the supreme model of religious life, Christ, practiced contemplation and action equally".
^ The Intellectual Life of Europe (English translation, 1966), p.90.
^ TRANSROMANICA – The Romanesque Routes of European Heritage
^ [2]: "Again in 1135 Lothair III had sent as ambassador to John Comnenus a Premonstratensian Canon Anselm afterwards Bishop of Havelberg, who held a debate with Nicetas Archbishop of Nicomedia. According to the report which he subsequently drew up at the request of Eugenius III, the points discussed were the procession of the Holy Ghost, the use of unleavened bread and the claims of Rome".
^ I. S. Robinson, The Papacy 1073-1198 (1990), p.182.
^ The Filioque: a Church-Dividing Issue? An Agreed statement (...) Archived 2010-08-06 at the Wayback Machine www.scoba.us (Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas)
^ Walter Berschin - 5. The Metropolis Constantinople
^ ^a ^b Anselm von Havelberg ed. by Jonas Narchi (2024). Epistola apologetica. Edition, Übersetzung, Kommentar. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner.
^ Constable, Giles (1998). The Reformation of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-521-63871-5.
^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Ravenna
^ Anselmus Havelbergensis ed. by J. P. Migne. Epistola Apologetica pro Ordine Canonicorum Regularium, Patrologiae cursus completus. Series Latina, 188. Paris, 1855, col. 1117-1140.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ Online text [3].

References

Dialogues/Anselme de Havelberg (1966, Paris: Les editions du Cerf)
Carol Neel, Philip of Harvengt and Anselm of Havelberg: The Premonstratensian Vision of Time, Church History, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Dec., 1993), pp. 483–493
Jay T. Lees (1998) Anselm of Havelberg: deeds into words in the twelfth century
Sebastian Sigler (2005), Anselm von Havelberg: Beiträge zum Lebensbild eines Politikers, Theologen und königlichen Gesandten im 12. Jahrhundert