Anselm of Ribemont


Anselm of Ribemont was a Frankish noblemen from Flanders and a participant in the First Crusade. His letters to archbishop Manasses II of Reims are key pieces of eyewitness accounts to the First Crusade.

Biography

Origin

Anselm of Ribemont was the castellain of Bouchain, Ostrevant and Valenciennes in the late eleventh century. His father died fighting in the battle of Cassel in 1071 fighting in company of count Eustace II of Boulogne for the losing side of Arnulf III, Count of Flanders. After the battle, Anselm continued to support Arnulf's mother Richilde and his brother Baldwin II, Count of Hainaut.
Anselm was known for his piety and devotion, especially to St. Quentin, the patron of the region he lived in. Anselm was also friend of archbishop Manasses II of Reims, benefactor of the religious communities of St. Amand and Anchin and founder of the monastery of Ribemont.

First Crusade

Anselm joined the First Crusade in the company of Eustace III of Boulogne who was part of the army of Robert II of Flanders. In order to finance the pilgrimage, he took up a mortgage which could be redeemed by his wife, son or any heir. He also settled a dispute with the monks of the Saint-Amand Abbey over rights over mills.
Anselm was accompanied by a certain abbot Roger who served as his chaplain and whose death Anselm reported in his first letter. He is likely to have been one of the lower important nobles who participated in the council of princes that governed the army of the First Crusade.
Anselm's death during the Siege of Arqa, dated to 25 February 1099, is related in most sources. According to the chroniclers of the crusade, he experienced a vision before his death in the night or siesta before in which he met the recently deceased Enguerrand of St Pol who informed him that he would soon join him in Heaven.

Family

Anselm had one son, Godfrey II, who married in 1120 Yolanda of Hainaut, widow of Baldwin III, Count of Hainaut. Anselm's sister Agnes married Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham.

Letters

Anselm wrote two letters to bishop Manasses II of Reims while on the First Crusade, one dated to November 1097 and the other to July 1098. Both are considered genuine, though as many other documents from the First Crusade, they have been subject to rewriting in transmission. According to Hagenmeyer, the letters were also known to the chroniclers Peter Tudebode, Robert the Monk, Raymond of Aguilers, Guibert of Nogent and the author of the Gesta Francorum Ierusalem expugnantium who used them to compose their own narratives.