INTRODUCTORY NOTE

THOUGH Anselm had a great reputation in his time as a spiritual guide, his correspondence does not afford many examples of spiritual advice which can be well selected for the purpose of the present volume; although not a few letters of warm affection to those who as young men had attached themselves to him as their master in religion witness abundantly to the depth and strength of the friendships thus begun. I have translated here five letters: two to brother monks, one to his only sister, one to a king, and one to a company of devout women who seem to have formed themselves into a little community under the guidance of a certain Robert, perhaps their parish priest, for pursuing a life of regulated piety, though, as it would seem, not under a monastic rule; and who may perhaps remind us of the household of Nicholas Ferrar at Little Gidding in the seventeenth century.

LETTERS OF SPIRITUAL COUNSEL