Anselm (died 805) was the Lombard

duke of Friuli The dukes and margraves of Friuli were the rulers of the Duchy of Friuli, Duchy and March of Friuli in the Middle Ages. The dates given below, when contentious, are discussed in the articles of the respective dukes. Lombard dukes * 568–c.5 ...

(749–751) and the founding abbot of the monastery of Nonantula.

Life

He left the world at the height of his secular career, and in 750 built a monastery at

Fanano Fanano ( Frignanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Modena The province of Modena () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Modena. It has an area of and a total ...

, a place given to him by

Aistulf Aistulf (also Ahistulf, Haistulfus, Astolf etc.; , ; died December 756) was the Duke of Friuli from 744, King of the Lombards from 749, and Duke of Spoleto from 751. His reign was characterized by ruthless and ambitious efforts to conquer Roman ...

King of the Lombards The kings of the Lombards or ''reges Langobardorum'' (singular ''rex Langobardorum'') were the monarchs of the Lombard people from the early 6th century until the Lombardic identity became lost in the 9th and 10th centuries. After 774, the kings ...

, who had married Anselm's sister Gisaltruda. Two years later he built the monastery of Nonantula, a short distance northeast of

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, which Aistulf endowed. Anselm went to Rome, where

Pope Stephen III Pope Stephen III (; 720 – 24 January 772) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 7 August 768 to his death on 24 January 772. Stephen was a Benedictine monk who worked in the Lateran Palace during the reign of Pope Zachary. ...

invested him with the habit of Saint Benedict, gave him some relics of Saint Sylvester and appointed him Abbot of Nonantula. Anselm founded many hospices where the poor and the sick were sheltered and cared for by monks.Ott, Michael. "St. Anselm." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907 According to the twelfth-century ''Catalogus abbatum nonantulorum'', a list of abbots of Nonantola with their histories,

Desiderius Desiderius, also known as Daufer or Dauferius (born – died ), was king of the Lombards in northern Italy, ruling from 756 to 774. The Frankish king of renown, Charlemagne, married Desiderius's daughter and subsequently conquered his realm. De ...

, who succeeded Aistulf as King of the Lombards in 756, banished Anselm from Nonantula in favor of his own protégé. Anselm spent the seven years of his exile at the Benedictine monastery of

Monte Cassino The Abbey of Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a Catholic Church, Catholic, Benedictines, Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. Located on the site of the ancient ...

, but returned to Nonantula after Desiderius was taken prisoner by

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

in the war of 774. This exile is not mentioned the earlier ''Vita Anselmi'', a biography of Anselm written one or two hundred years after his death.Nicholas Everett, ''Literacy and Lombard Italy, c. 568–774'' (Cambridge: 2003), 294 n. 70. Having been abbot for fifty years, Anselm died at Nonantula in 805, where the commune still honors him as

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

. His

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

is 3 March.

References

Sources

Paul the Deacon Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, sc ...

''Historia Langobardorum''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anselm, Duke Of Friuli Dukes of Friuli Italian abbots 8th-century Christian saints Burials at Nonantola Abbey 8th-century births 805 deaths Medieval Italian saints Italian Benedictines Benedictine abbots Benedictine saints 8th-century Lombard people 8th-century Italian nobility Italian Christian monks 8th-century Christian abbots