ANSELM of LAON (Anselmus Laudunensis). - Theologian, b. at Laon (?) c. 1100, d. there on 15 July 1117.
A. was probably a pupil of ANSELM of Aosta (or of Canterbury) when the latter directed the school at Bec (Normandy); he may have taught for a time in Paris, and then, together with his brother Ralph, he directed for several decades the cathedral school at Laon, to which, as contemporary sources report, students flocked from all parts of Europe, among them William of Champeaux and Gilbert of Poitiers. Towards the end of his life he was offered various bishoprics, including that of Laon, which he consistently refused, remaining at his cathedral until his death. The school of A. together with the cathedral school of Paris, directed by his pupil William of Champeaux, represents the beginning of true scholasticism. A large number of writings have been preserved from these two schools, though it is not always possible to distinguish which belong to which. To date, about 600 pieces (complete works and fragments) are known and largely published. Of particular importance among them are two types of “sentences”: the so-called non-systematic ones, which in the form of questions without systematic connection treat the most varied topics and anticipate the literary genre of the “questions” of scholasticism; and the systematic sentences, in which certain theological themes are treated in a systematic synthesis: in these we must see the first beginnings of the scholastic “summae.” For the non-systematic sentences, the principal sources are two manuscripts: the Liber Pancris (id est totus aureus), now Troyes ms. 425, and ms. Avranches 19, which probably served as a model and source for the Liber Pancris. Both present a collection of sentences, partly drawn from patristic literature and partly from “modern” authors, among whom A. and his brother Ralph, William of Champeaux, and Ivo of Chartres are especially to be mentioned. About 85 pieces are expressly attributed to A. (ed. Lefèvre, V. BIBLICA.). It is more difficult to establish the authorship of the systematic sentence collections, the principal ones being: Principium et causa omnium (also called Sententiae Anselmi, ed. Bliemetzrieder, V. BIBLICA.); Prima rerum origo; Sententiae divinae paginae (ed. Bliemetzrieder). It is almost certain that these were not composed by A. himself, nor is it likely that they are so-called reportationes, i.e., notes taken from his lectures; they are rather treatises compiled in A.’s school on the basis of particular writings and oral teachings of the master and perhaps also of students. The Sententiae Anselmi (Principium et causa omnium) were certainly composed after A.’s death, perhaps by his brother Ralph, who died only in 1134 or 1136 (Lottin, V. BIBLICA.).
The systematic position taken in these summae is based entirely on the authority of the Church and the Fathers, and is devoid of any rationalism. It is understandable that Peter Abelard abandoned A.’s school after only a few days, declaring that he was wasting his time. The range of theological topics treated is still relatively limited: creation, the fall of the angels and of man, original sin, the necessity of the Incarnation; from sacramental doctrine: Baptism, the Eucharist, Matrimony, and the special problems of excommunication and simony. The more difficult topics of the Trinity, the hypostatic union, and transubstantiation are still absent. The school of A. provides the first outlines of a theology that the following centuries were to develop and complete. The beginnings of scholastic theology are not, as was long believed, to be found in Hugh of Saint-Victor and Abelard, but in the schools of A. of Laon and William of Champeaux. Of great importance also were A.’s works of biblical exegesis. An ancient tradition designated A. as the author of the Glossa interlinearis, while the corresponding marginal glosses, known as the Glossa ordinaria, were attributed to Walahfrid Strabo. In reality, the Glossa interlinearis and the Glossa ordinaria should not be separated; in the Middle Ages they form together “the Glossa,” and part of this overall gloss, namely the commentary on St. Paul, the Psalms, and perhaps also on the Gospel of St. John, is the work of A. Moreover, there are attributed to him an (unpublished) commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Enarrationes in Canticum canticorum and in Apocalypsim (PL 162), while the Enarrationes in Matthaeum (PL 162) do not belong to him. A list of the writings of A.’s school known to date, with indications of editions, is found in Lottin (v. BIBLICA).