Death of Anselm of Canterbury

April 21, 1109

The Italian-born archbishop who had argued God's existence from pure reason and refused to bend to two English kings died in his monastery bed. His ontological proof would provoke theologians for the next nine centuries. The see of Canterbury was left pointedly empty. Henry I kept it vacant for five years, pocketing its revenues and proving that even a dead saint's legacy could not prevent a king from plundering his church.