Mediaeval Studies 73 (2011): 217–60. © Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. ANSELM OF LAON UNVEILED: THE GLOSAE SVPER IOHANNEM AND THE ORIGINS OF THE GLOSSA ORDINARIA ON THE BIBLE ∗ Alexander Andrée N his Metalogicon, John of Salisbury praises the “brother theologians” Anselm and Ralph of Laon as “most shining lights of Gaul, who have lent lustre to Laon and whose memory is happy and blessed.” 1 Anselm of Laon (†1117) pursued an outstanding career at Laon: his cursus honorum took him from master of the cathedral school to chancellor (1095) and dean (1098) of the cathedral. 2 Finally, in 1114, three years before his death, he was appointed archdeacon. 3 In addition to this distinguished ecclesiastical career, Anselm has gone down in history as one of the foremost teachers of the sacra pagina of his day. This is attested by numerous contemporary witnesses and by the fact that some of the most brilliant minds of the time and famous scholars and churchmen-to-be flocked to Laon to hear Master Anselm lecture on the Bible. 4 ∗ I wish to thank Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Cédric Giraud, Joseph Goering, Édouard Jeauneau, Erika Kihlman, Andrew Kraebel, and John Wei, who have read earlier drafts of this essay and provided valuable comments and suggestions for its improvement; I am particularly grateful to Richard Shaw, whose critical acumen and refined judgement have been of invaluable assistance in honing its argument. An earlier form of this paper was presented to the 85th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Yale University, New Haven, Conn., 19 March 2010. Even Peter Abelard’s account of his sojourn at Laon (which took place in 1112 or 1113)—despite trying to belittle Anselm—is an eloquent testimony 1 “. . . splendidissima lumina Galliarum, Lauduni gloriam . . . quorum memoria in iucundi- tate et benedictione est” (John of Salisbury, Metalogicon 1.5, ed. J. B. Hall and K. S. B. Keats- Rohan, CCCM 98 [Turnhout, 1991], 21). The translations throughout this article are my own. 2 The available evidence for Anselm’s career is comprehensively presented by Cédric Giraud in his recent study, Per verba magistri. Anselme de Laon et son école au XII e siècle, Bibliothèque d’histoire culturelle du Moyen Âge 8 (Turnhout, 2010), 35–69. 3 On the respective roles of dean and archdeacon in Laon at this time, see Giraud, Per verba magistri, 52–54 and 68: “En effet, si le doyen semble avoir à Laon la prééminence au sein du chapitre cathédral, l’archidiacre joue le rôle de premier conseiller et vicaire de l’évêque dans le diocèse.” 4 We know the names of more than twenty notable scholars from France, Britain, Italy, and Germany who came to hear Anselm’s lectures; see Giraud, Per verba magistri, 103–49. I