Eadmer, or
Edmer (c. 1060–c.
1124), was an
English historian,
theologian, and
ecclesiastic. He is known for being a
contemporary biographer of
Saint
Anselm.
Life
Eadmer was born of
Anglo-Saxon
parentage, shortly before the
Norman conquest of England in
1066.
He
became a monk in the Benedictine monastery of Christ Church, Canterbury
, where he made the acquaintance of Anselm, at that
time visiting England as abbot of the Abbey of Bec. The intimacy was renewed when
Anselm became
archbishop of
Canterbury in 1093; afterward Eadmer was not only Anselm's
disciple, but also his friend and director, being formally
appointed to this position by
Pope Urban
II. In 1120 he was nominated to the
bishopric of St. Andrews , but as the
Scots would not recognize the
authority of the see of Canterbury he was never consecrated, and
soon afterwards he resigned his claim to the bishopric. His death
is generally assigned to the year 1124. Eadmer must also be
credited with being one of the first serious proponents of the
Catholic doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception of the
Blessed Virgin Mary when he defended
popular traditions in his
De Conceptione sanctae
Mariae.
Works
Eadmer
left a large number of writings, the most important of which is his
Historia novorum, a work which deals mainly with the
history of England
between 1066
and 1122. Although concerned principally with ecclesiastical
affairs, scholars agree in regarding the
Historiae as one
of the ablest and most valuable writings of its kind. It was first
edited by
John Selden in 1623 and, with
Eadmer's
Vita Anselmi, has been edited by
Martin Rule for the
Rolls Series (London, 1884).
R. W.
Southern re-edited
Vita
Anselmi in 1963 with a facing page translation, and
Geoffrey Bosanquet translated the Rolls
text of
Historia Novorum in 1964. The standard work on
Eadmer is Southern's
Saint Anselm and His
Biographer.
The
Vita Anselmi, written circa 1124, and first printed at
Antwerp
in 1551, is probably the best life of the
saint. Less noteworthy are Eadmer's lives of
St Dunstan,
St
Bregwine, archbishop of Canterbury, and
St
Oswald, archbishop of York; these are all printed in
Henry Wharton's
Anglia Sacra, part ii
(1691), where a list of Eadmer's writings will be found.
The
manuscripts of most of Eadmer's works are preserved in the library
of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge
.
- Historia novorum, ed. M. Rule, Eadmeri Historia
novorum in Anglia. Rolls Series 81. 1884.
- Vita S. Anselmi "Life of St Anselm" (c. 1124), ed. and tr. R.W. Southern,
Eadmer, The life of St Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury.
2nd edn. OMT. Oxford, 1972.
- Vita S. Oswaldi "Life of St Oswald" and Miracula S.
Oswaldi, ed. and tr. Bernard J. Muir and Andrew J. Turner,
Eadmer of Canterbury. Lives and Miracles of Saints
Oda, Dunstan, and Oswald. OMT. Oxford, 2006. 213-98 and
290-324; ed. J. Raine, Historians of the Church of York and its
Archbishops. Rolls Series 71. 3 vols: vol 2. London, 1879.
1-40 and 41-59.
- Vita Wilfridi Episcopi "Life of Bishop Wilfrid", ed. J. Raine, Historians of the
Church of York and its Archbishops. Rolls Series 71. 3 vols:
vol 1. London, 1879. 161-226.
- Breviloquium Vitae Wilfridi, ed. J. Raine,
Historians of the Church of York and its Archbishops.
Rolls Series 71. 3 vols: vol 1. London, 1879. 227-37.
- Vita S. Odonis "Life of St Oda", Archbishop of Canterbury, ed. and tr.
Bernard J. Muir and Andrew J. Turner, Eadmer of
Canterbury. Lives and Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan, and
Oswald. OMT. Oxford, 2006. 1-40.
- Vita S. Dunstani "Life of St Dunstan", Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Miracula S. Dunstani, ed. and tr. Bernard J. Muir
and Andrew J. Turner, Eadmer of Canterbury. Lives and
Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan, and Oswald. OMT. Oxford,
2006. 41-159 and 160-212; ed. W. Stubbs, Memorials of St
Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury. Rolls Series 63. London,
1874. 162–249, 412–25.
- "Life of St Bregowine", Archbishop of
Canterbury, ed. Henry Wharton,
Anglia Sacra. London, 1691. 75-87 (where the Life
is wrongly attributed to Osbern).
References
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