The following is an extract from the monk Eadmer’s: Life of Saint Anselm. 

This extraordinary piece of writing, translated from the Latin in which Eadmer wrote, is rich source material for the period covered in the books on this website, 1086 -1135, that is to say the first half century of Norman rule. Not only does it portray and comment on then current events involving relations between the church and the secular court, between churchmen and landlords as well as between the Pope and the king, but it also gives an insight into the writer’s mind. Although he might consider himself modest, even humble, a mere monk of no rank, someone lucky enough to be able to record close-up the doings of the great, in spite of genuinely modest, monkish feelings characteristic of the Benedictine order, Eadmer is undoubtedly proud of his work. As the assistant and secretary of the great Archbishop Anselm, in the privileged position of recording for posterity what he is seeing and hearing in the hallowed chambers close to power, Eadmer is hugely proud of his task of writing the life of a saint.

Just what that task cost him in terms of mental anguish and disappointment is dramatically evoked in Chapter Five of Deaths, Disasters and Destinies: Anglo-Norman History in Twelve Lives.

For this chapter I drew heavily on Eadmer’s own words in an attempt to recapture a tone, perhaps, or a characteristic way of expressing his ideas. It struck me that although Eadmer might be using the tropes and tale-types necessary for a hagiography of the time, the kind of rattling tale that had to be told about a Holy Man in order to illustrate his holiness, yet Eadmer’s work also bears the stamp of an individual, a writer of integrity who must answer for his work to posterity. It also reflects his complex personal feeling towards a master who both disappointed and inspired him. The spiritual relationship between the two men, who were monks and men of God in a religious age, is probably less recoverable than Eadmer’s sense of himself as a writer of integrity. 

Extract from the Vita Sancti Anselmi

Source : The Life of St Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury by Eadmer, edited and translated by RW Southern, Nelson’s Medieval Texts, Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd. Edinburgh, 1962  p. 170

Context

This is the final paragraph of the Eadmer’s collection of manuscripts and eye-witness notes that have come down to us in the form of a biography of Anselm. It was probably added at a late stage when Eadmer had put all his manuscripts in order. The final arrangement occurs towards the end of Eadmer’s life, after a long period of having abandoned the work. Eadmer refers to his ‘white hairs and trembling’ fingers.’ By now Anselm, will have been dead for perhaps 30 years. It is time to finish the work.

The Final Paragraph (commentary in italics)

“I have written these things as best I could, O reverend Father Anselm, to show the quality of your life, and I have purposely omitted many things (this can be read as Eadmer not including some of the miracle stories) which might well with loud acclaim be ascribed to the greatness of God’s working in you.

But I have had regard to the unbelief of certain men who to this day with jaundiced minds are your detractors and assert that I have written too much. (Eadmer, along with his master, is the object of criticism from some quarters.) Now my white hairs and trembling fingers constrain me to lay down my pen, both persuading and compelling me to turn myself wholly to prayer so that I may be found worthy to obtain some share in your merits in eternal life. May the mercy of God grant that I may effectually attain this. Amen.(These are standard sentiments in a work of this sort, that’s not to say they are not genuine, but they are not unique to Eadmer.)

Farewell therefore, my dearest father and advocate; assist me, your pupil, your assiduous and tireless servant while you held the Archbishopbric of Canterbury.  If anyone after my death shall add to what I have written anything which God may do through you (i.e. miracles), let it be ascribed to him who wrote it not to me. (Eadmer’s last appeal for the integrity of his work. Yes, you can add to it, but don’t pretend it’s my work, don’t put my name to miracles I did not see.)

I for my part have here made an end.” (Final stamp to the work by Eadmer, trying to ensure the integrity and truth of his work even beyond his lifetime.)

Further context for this extract can be found in Deaths, Disasters and Destinies: Anglo-Norman History in Twelve Lives, Chapter Five "Eadmer’s Dilemma" (p. 132) where the great disappointment that was caused to Eadmer by his beloved master and spiritual leader is shown in revelatory and dramatic detail. It was the greatest catastrophe in Eadmer’s life and gave him a sort of wound from which he did recover but which never really healed.

Further context

This sort of writing – a ‘Saint’s Life’ or hagiography – was popular at the time and would have certain characteristics of its own. It would be expected to continually stress the holiness of the person’s life and this would often been done by citing ‘miracles’. Miracles after death, especially around the tomb of the saint, were to be expected. The more the better, because then the individual churches or monasteries could raise more money from pilgrims.

But I would argue that the outstanding difference with Eadmer’s testimony is that he has an ambivalent attitude to miracles. Yes, he inscribes a number of them into the ‘Life’ but he also puts in caveats saying he hasn’t seen them with his own eyes and he often attributes the source of the story. When he comes to this last farewell paragraph he seems to hesitate as though in two minds because he has just spent the last few chapters of the ‘Life’ enumerating numerous ‘miracles’ performed by Anselm both in life and after death. In this doubt, or guilt-ridden uncertainty, about the verity of the miracles I believe we come nearest to Eadmer’s profound internal struggle between the man of God and the writer of integrity.