Eadmer

Eadmer, or Edmer (c. 1060 - c. 1124), English historian, theologian, and ecclesiastic, was of English, and not of Norman parentage.

Related Topics:
1060 - 1124 - English historian - Norman

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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 Bec. The intimacy was renewed when Anselm became archbishop of Canterbury in 1093; thenceforward Eadmer was not only his disciple and follower, but his friend and director, being formally appointed to this position by Pope Urban II. In 1120 he was nominated to the archbishopric 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 archbishopric. His death is generally assigned to the year 1124. Eadmer must also be credited as one of the first serious proponents of the Catholic doctrince of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary when he defended popular traditions in his De Conceptione sanctae Mariae.

Related Topics:
Monk - Benedictine - Monastery - Canterbury - Anselm - Bec - Archbishop of Canterbury - 1093 - Pope Urban II - 1120 - Scots

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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.

Related Topics:
1066 - 1122 - John Selden - 1623 - Martin Rule

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The Vita Anseimi, first printed at Antwerp in 1551, is probably the best life of the saint. Less noteworthy are Eadmer's lives of St Dunstan, St Bregwin, 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.

Related Topics:
St Dunstan - St Bregwin - St Oswald, archbishop of York - Henry Wharton - Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

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