, abbot of Westminster in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, was born
, abbot of Westminster in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, was born in Normandy, of
a considerable family, and educated in the monastery of
Bee, under Lanfranc, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, who was then prior of that convent, and taught the
liberal arts with great reputation. In this seminary Crispin became a monk, under Anselm, who was at that time
abbot. He was much esteemed by both these eminent
men, the former of whom, after his advancement to the
see of Canterbury, sent for him to England, and made
him abbot of St. Peter’s, Westminster, and Lanfranc
parted with him reluctantly, and continued to correspond
with him as long as he lived. Crispin was abbot of Westminster thirty-two years, during which he was sent on different embassies by king Henry I. Leland says, that he
was some time at Rome, probably on some ecclesiastical
errand. He died in 1117, and was buried in the south
part of the great cloisters. Leland, Bale, and Pits, who
give him the character of a very learned and pious ecclesiastic, attribute a great many works in divinity to him, of
which we know of one only that was published, “De fide
ecclesise, contra Judasos,
” Cologne,