A great scholar of the Ilth century whose works are still republished in many languages and whose influence continues to be felt is Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury. His little book, 'Cur Deus Homo,' is still frequently read by those who are deeply interested in the philosophic side of Christianity and his 'Mono logium' and 'Proslogin& are well known by philosophic students. He was one of the most important links in the chain of philosophic thinking known as scholasticism, which has had a very interesting and significant revival mainly through Cardinal Mercier in our own genera tion. Though Anselm was the archbishop of Canterbury and had been the abbot of Bec in Normandy, he was neither Norman nor Saxon, but Italian, born in 1033 near Aosta. His father was a simple citizen of the little town and Anselm owed his rise entirely to his own abilities. He entered the abbey of Bec as a young man just when it had been made famous by the learning of Lanfranc and three years later became pr.or and filled that office and that of abbot for some 30 years when he was made archbishop. He succeeded Lanfranc as arch bishop of Canterbury under most difficult cir cumstances, refusing the archbishopric at first as he had refused the election of abbot and consenting to be honored only when it was made clear to him that he could probably do great good in the new office. Lanfranc had had serious difficulties with the king over the matter of investiture and Church revenues and Anselm inherited these. He succeeded in find ing a mode of compromise and laying down the principles on which the relations between the Church and State could be safeguarded without violation of the rights of either. His torians have recognized the genius and char acter of the man, and Freeman did not hesitate to say "stranger as he was he has won his place among the noblest worthies of our Island.' Curiously enough Anselm's contribu tion to the borderland between philosophy and theology, the ontological argument for the existence of God put forth in his was revived in modern times by Descartes, be came the cardinal point of difference between Kant and Hegel at the end of the 18th cen tury, to be revived by Rosmini in Italy and adopted by Brownson in America in the 19th century. An argument that sways such minds all down the centuries must surely have in it something that has a deep appeal to some es sential quality of the human intellect apart from training and environment.
The rise of the Seljukian Turks gave a period of peace in Persia under the viziers of Toghrul Beg and his son and grandson, Alp Arslin and Malik Shah, during which a series of contributions of enduring interest to the in tellectual life of humanity were made. At the beginning of the 11th century Abul Kasim Man stir of Tus in Persia (d. 1020), known as Firdusi or Firdausi "the Paradisiac,' finished the Shahnahmeh, the great Persian epic of about 60,000 distichs, which sings the deeds of Persian heroes and rulers for 500 years. A little later Avicenna, "the prince of physicians' (d. at Hamaden, Persia, 1037), "at once the Hippoc rates and the Aristotle of the Arabians' (Whe well) wrote the books that for five centuries influenced medicine in Asia and Europe more than any others. They are only compilations of Hippocrates and Galen, but when Greek was no longer known they served as sources of ancient knowledge for a great many writers. Avicenna's work is typical of much of what the Arabs did. There is little of originality, he was merely a channel for the older medical writers and for Aristotle. The second half of the century Al Gazali (b. at Tus 1058) was for a time professor of Mohammedan theology in the school at Bagdad. In his
earlier years some of his writings were sceptical and these have a special appeal to the moderns, but later he became the greatest of Moham medan apologists and continued to be studied for long afterward. Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet-astronomer, whose at tracted so much attention at the end of the 19th century was the fourth of these Mohamme dan writers destined to an enduring influence. He corrected the calendar successfully and wrote books on algebra and astronomy, but these have had no influence beyond a generation or two in its own time, while his quatrains on life and death and love and God and the prob lems men face forever, struck off at idle mo ments, caught the vein of thought of the dis tant Western peoples eight centuries later. He had been the schoolmate of the vizier of Alp Arslan, and the third of a little trio who at school swore eternal friendship and to share whatever fate might bring them was the notori ous Hasan, "the Old Man of the Mountains,' from whose name because of his infamous deeds very probably the word "assassin* in our modern languages is derived. Manifestly Omar's experience of life and its vicissitudes in person and through his friends was ample to enable him, if he had the mind to, to write of humanity's problems with fullness of knowl edge.
There are two great women of the century whose names are still well known and lives of whom have been written in our generation. One of these was Matilda of Canossa, Countess of Tuscany and heiress of the Marquess Boni face of Tuscany. She knew Latin well, was fond of serious books, took a deep interest in the philosophical and religious discussions so common at the time and came to exert an im mense influence, not only in Italy but through out Europe. She was a great personal friend of Hildebrand before his election to the Papacy as Gregory VII, and constantly supported him in the conflicts which his reforms involved. It was in letters to the Countess and her mother that Pope Gregory discussed the question so dear to his heart of the organization of the Crusade for the winning back of the Holy Land. It was at her castle of Canossa that Pope Gregory received the repentant Emperor Henry. At her death Matilda bequeathed her estate in central Italy to the Church, feeling the necessity of strengthening the Pope's po litical situation and this bequest was confirmed by the Emperor Frederick II.
The other great woman of the century was Margaret of Scotland, whose life runs almost parallel with the second half of it. She was in •mately related to many of the well-known characters of the time. She was the grand daughter of Edmund Ironside, and when exiled under Canute spent some years with King (Saint) Stephen of Hungary. She returned to be close to Edward the Confessor for a time, but, with her mother, set out for France when the Normans won the battle of Hastings. Their ship was driven by storm to Scotland where Malcom III, having defeated Macbeth, was king. Margaret became his wife and did so much to soften the barbarous manners of the Scotch that ever since she has been in bene diction. A favorite occupation was the securing of justice for the poor and a stone is still pointed out near Edinburgh, called Saint Mar garet's stone, on which she sat to hear their causes. Her favorite son David is the Saint David of Scottish history,.and the building of great churches and monasteries was initiated by Margaret. She was untiring in zeal for education and for the encouragement of book making and is looked upon by the Scotch as one of the great founders of their civilization.