but he could not obtain his
father's consent. Disappointment brought on an illness, on his recovery
from which he seems for a time to have given up his studies, and to have
plunged into the gay life of the world. During this time his mother
died, and his father's harshness became unbearable. He left home, and
with only one attendant crossed the Alps, and wandered through Burgundy
and France. Attracted by the fame of his countryman, Lanfranc, then
prior of Bec, he entered Normandy, and, after spending some time at
Avranches, settled at the monastery of Bec. There, at the age of
twenty-seven, he became a monk; three years later, when Lanfranc was
promoted to the abbacy of Caen, he was elected prior. This office he
held for fifteen years, and then, in 1078, on the death of Herlwin, the
warrior monk who had founded the monastery, he was made abbot. Under his
rule Bec became the first seat of learning in Europe, a result due not
more to his intellectual powers than to the great moral influence of his
noble character and kindly discipline. It was during these quiet years
at Bec that Anselm wrote his first philosophical and religious works,
the dialogues on Truth and Freewill, and the two celebrated treatises,
the _Monologion_ and _Proslogion_.

Meanwhile the convent had been growing in wealth, as well as in
reputation, and had acquired considerable property in England, which it
became the duty of Anselm occasionally to visit. By his mildness of
temper and unswerving rectitude, he so endeared himself to the English
that he was looked upon and desired as the natural successor to
Lanfranc, then archbishop of Canterbury. But on the death of that great
man, the ruling sovereign, William Rufus, seized the possessions and
revenues of the see, and made no new appointment. About four years
after, in 1092, on the invitation of Hugh, earl of Chester, Anselm with
some reluctance, for he feared to be made archbishop, crossed to
England. He was detained by business for nearly four months, and when
about to return, was refused permission by the king. In the following
year William fell ill, and thought his death was at hand. Eager to make
atonement for his sin with regard to the archbishopric, he nominated
Anselm to the vacant see, and after a great struggle compelled him to
accept the pastoral staff of office. After obtaining dispensation from
his duties in Normandy, Anselm was consecrated in 1093. He demanded of
the king, as the conditions