Sick monks in the infirmary could relish no drink save the juice which his hand squeezed for them from the grape-bunch.

In the later days of his archbishoprick a hare chased by the hounds took refuge under his horse, and his gentle voice grew loud as he forbade a huntsman to stir in the chase while the creature darted off again to the woods.

Even the greed of lands for the Church to which so many religious men yielded found its characteristic rebuke as the battling lawyers in such a suit saw Anselm quietly close his eyes in court and go peacefully to sleep.
[Sidenote: William and Anselm] A sudden impulse of the Red King drew the abbot from these quiet studies into the storms of the world.

The see of Canterbury had long been left without a Primate when a dangerous illness frightened the king into the promotion of Anselm.

The Abbot, who happened at the time to be in England on the business of his house, was dragged to the royal couch and the cross forced into his hands.