Anselm of Canterbury
1033 – 1109 · 76 years · Canterbury · Europe
Philosophy: Scholasticism (founder)
Called the father of scholasticism, with the motto "faith seeking understanding". He devised the ontological argument for God from the very idea of a being than which nothing greater can be conceived.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 11th century
Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Henry IV — emperor humbled at Canossa in his struggle with the pope, 17 years younger
- William the Conqueror — Duke of Normandy, King of England, 5 years older
- Edward the Confessor — pious king who built Westminster Abbey, 30 years older
- Hildegard of Bingen — abbess, mystic and composer, 65 years younger
- Philip I — son of Anne of Kiev, excommunicated for bigamy, 19 years younger
- William II Rufus — the Conqueror's son, killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest, 23 years younger
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Vladimir II Monomakh — Grand Prince of Kiev, 20 years younger
- Yaroslav the Wise — Grand Prince of Kiev, 55 years older
- Yuri Dolgoruky — prince of Rostov-Suzdal, founder of Moscow, 66 years younger
- Vsevolod I — prince of Kiev, father of Vladimir Monomakh, 3 years older
- Sviatopolk II — prince of Kiev, participant in the Congress of Liubech, 17 years younger
- Nestor the Chronicler — monk and chronicler, 23 years younger
Middle East
- Omar Khayyam — poet, mathematician, astronomer, 15 years younger
- Al-Ghazali — Islamic theologian and philosopher, 25 years younger
- Baldwin I of Jerusalem — Count of Edessa, first King of Jerusalem, 27 years younger
- Anna Komnene — Byzantine princess and historian, 50 years younger
Asia
- Shen Kuo — polymath, 2 years older
- Li Qingzhao — Song dynasty poet, 51 years younger
- Al-Biruni — polymath, 60 years older
The world in their lifetime
- c. 1037 Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev — aged 4, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1044 First gunpowder formulas in the Wujing Zongyao — aged 11, Asia
- 1054 East–West Schism — aged 21, Middle East
- 1054 Supernova SN 1054 — aged 21, Asia
- 1066 Battle of Hastings — aged 33, Europe
- 1066 Halley's Comet over England — aged 33, Europe
- c. 1070 The Almoravids found Marrakesh — aged 37, Africa
- 1071 Battle of Manzikert — aged 38, Middle East
- 1077 Walk to Canossa — aged 44, Europe
- c. 1088 University of Bologna — aged 55, Europe
- 1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem — aged 66, Middle East