claims of earthly rulers) was forced to withdraw himself from England.

Not satisfied with his English dominions, William endeavoured to wrest even Normandy from his elder brother. He succeeded in gaining possession of it as a security for & sum of money advanced to that prince, who shared the zeal which was then kindled from one end of Europe to the other, for the recovery of Jerusalem from the Turks, who had succeeded the Saracens in the possession of Judea. The former people had no objection to pilgrims visiting the Holy Sepulchre, provided they paid a moderate tribute; but the Turks conquered Jerusalem in A.D. 1065, and after that time the pilgrims were treated with the greatest cruelty. From this circumstance the most intense desire was felt throughout Christendom, for a period of about one hundred and fifty years, to expel the infidels from that sacred land. Vast armies were led to Palestine by the greatest kings, and no act of devotion was thought so meritorious as to enlist in these expeditions, which were called Crusades, from the cross adopted as a badge by all the soldier-pilgrims. It was the first and most successful of these expeditions, which commenced in A.D. 1096, at the instigation of Peter the Hermit, that Robert was now desirous of joining; nor did any prince make such sacrifices for the sake of what was thought due to the memory of our blessed Saviour. Not only did he mortgage his dukedom for the sum that was wanted to enable him to set forth, but being absent in Italy at the time of William's death, he lost the season (which was seized by his brother Henry) for asserting his claims to the English crown.

William was shot unintentionally by Sir Walter Tyrrel (A.D. 1100), while hunting in the New Forest; and when men recollected the means by which that district became a royal chase, they were not backward to ascribe this event -to the righteous judgment of God.

It may be remarked that Westminster Hall was built by William Rufus, though very few portions of his original work are now remaining. Many parish churches, and parts of some of our cathedrals, were constructed during his reign; as, for instance, of Worcester, Durham, and Norwich. But we cannot think that the Church was much indebted in this respect, or in any other, to King William. His sacrilegious

appropriation of the revenues of the see of Canterbury, and ill-treatment of Anselm, have been already noticed. Generally speaking, the state of the Church in his reign was very low. Bishoprics and livings were to be bought for money'. The bishops were frequently men of scanty education and warlike habits. The feudal system had made their bishoprics baronies, and liable to furnish soldiers for the king's service; and they not unfrequently themselves forgot their calling, and fell in with the spirit of the times.

Born at Selby in Yorkshire. Buried in the Abbey at Reading.
Reigned 35 years.
From A.D. 1100 to A.D. 1135.

Archbishops of Canterbury.

Anselm, A.D. 1093-1107. (Vacancy five years.)

Ralph, A.D. 1112–1122.

William of Corboil, A.D. 1122-1136

WHEN William was thus slain, his brother Henry (surnamed Beau-clerc, on account of his scholarship) was hunting with him, and rode at once to Winchester, where he seized the royal treasure. He then hastened to London, and was, indeed, crowned at Westminster within sixty-six hours of William's death. Feeling himself in need of every support to the throne which he had usurped, he began by reforming abuses; and gave charters to his people, by which he engaged to abstain from the oppressive acts of power, from which they had suffered in the times of his brother and father. He also married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm, king of Scotland, by Margaret, sister to Edgar prepared himself Atheling; and by these popular measures session of Normandy, and soon landed at Portsmouth to to meet his brother Robert, who, on his return, took posmake good his claims on England. Through the mediation, however, of St. Anselm, (who had now returned from Rome,) he was induced to give up his claims to Henry, that the gift of God might be purchased for money." Acts viii. 20. 1 This is called Simony, from the sin of Simon Magus, "who thought

retaining his Norman dukedom, and on condition that if either prince should die without issue, the survivor should succeed to his dominions.

The fate of Robert is the greatest stain on Henry's memory. Easily finding a pretext for invading Normandy, Henry gained (after sundry transactions) a great battle at Tenchebrai, in which Robert was taken prisoner, with many other nobles, A.D. 1117. Being brought to England, he was confined for the remainder of his life, which lasted twenty-eight years, in Cardiff castle; a warning that many noble qualities will not make up for that indolence which was his ruin, and which he carried to such excess, that he lay in bed whole days for want of clothes, of which he suffered his servants to plunder him.

Henry thus became master of Normandy; but the revolts in favour of William, the son of Robert, (a gallant prince, who at length was slain before Alost, in the Netherlands,) gave him unceasing trouble; and in crossing on one occasion from Normandy, he was overtaken by a storm, in which William, his only legitimate son, was lost. The crew of the ship in which Prince William had embarked were drunken and riotous, and steered the vessel on a rock. The prince and some others got into a little boat; but, hearing the cries of his sister, who was left in the wreck, he gave orders to return, that he might take her in. So many got into the boat with her, that it sunk under the weight, and all on board perished. One man, who clung to the mast of the ship, was saved by some fishermen the next day. The captain had clung to the mast in the same way; but when he found that the prince was drowned, he let go his hold, and so shared the fate of his young master. This affliction must have made Henry feel some of that anguish which he had caused to his brother, but we do not hear that the severity with which that prince was treated was at all mitigated. The king now took every means to secure the succession for his daughter Matilda, generally termed the Empress Maud, who had been married to the Emperor Henry V., and after his death to Geoffrey, count of Anjou, called Plantagenet from the sprig of broom (genista) which he wore. As this princess was descended by her mother from the Saxon kings, the prospect of her succession was welcome to the English.

At this time, a contest was going on between the popes and the kings of Europe, involving the right to appoint bishops to their sacred offices. The mode of appointing a prelate was this. After being elected by the canons of his cathedral, he was invested, though this ceremony is by no means an essential to his appointment, with a ring and crosier, and did homage to the king, who thus had virtually the power of appointment, since he could refuse the investiture as well as the homage. The power of appointing to a spiritual office was declared by the Pope to be such as no layman ought to possess. The spiritual part of the episcopal character, i. e. the power to ordain priests and deacons, to consecrate Bishops, to confirm, and perform other functions connected with the souls of men (it was truly said), could be derived only by succession from the Apostles themselves. It was also held in that day, that, besides "the laying on of hands," the investiture was an essential to such an appointment, and as such could not be received from a layman. This great question was settled more happily in England than elsewhere, though not without the exercise of great firmness on the part of St. Anselm. It was agreed that the bishop should do homage for his temporal possessions, as for a barony; but the king resigned his claim to invest him with the ring and crosier; to "laying on of hands" he had never pretended.

Henry passed the latter part of his life much in Normandy, especially after the birth of his daughter's children. He died in that country of an illness occasioned by eating lampreys, A.D. 1135.

Under Henry's government the state of England was unusually tranquil, and great exertions were made by Anselm and his friend Eadmer, abbot of Glastonbury, an annalist of the period, for the revival of learning. William of Malmesbury also, and the authors of a work called "The Saxon Chronicle," are specimens of the literature of this and the succeeding reign. Church building continued to make progress, as is attested by the fact that a great part of Peterborough Cathedral, then only an abbey church, and part of Norwich Cathedral, are attributable to this date ;stained glass for the decoration of windows is said to have been now introduced.

CHAPTER IX.

STEPHEN.

Born at Blois. Buried at Feversham, in Kent. Reigned 19 years. From A.D. 1135 to A.d. 1154.

Archbishops of Canterbury.

William of Corboil, A.D. 1122—1136. | Theobald, A.D. 1138—1161. (Vacancy two years.)

THE sceptre which Henry had gained with so much crime, was wrested from his daughter by Stephen, a grandson of the Conqueror by Adela, who married Stephen, count of Blois. Having prevailed on William of Corboil, archbishop of Canterbury, to crown him, (contrary to the allegiance which they had both sworn to Maud,) he tried to strengthen his usurped authority by various concessions, of which none took real effect but the dangerous permission to his nobles to build castles at their will. Twelve hundred are said to have been built during this reign. His reign was little but a continued war with the empress, whose cause was most ably maintained by her natural brother Robert, earl of Gloucester, and also by David I., her uncle, the king of Scots. The invasion of that prince, however, roused the spirit of the northern nobles, especially of Thurstan, archbishop of York, a prelate of great courage, as well as piety and munificence; and it was greatly through his influence that an army was raised, which defeated the Scottish king in a battle at Northallerton, in Yorkshire, called the battle of the Standard, A.D. 1138.

Maud soon landed in Sussex, and was received in Arundel Castle by Adelais, the second wife of Henry I., now married to William de Albeney, earl of Sussex. In the various chances of this war, which desolated the kingdom from one end to the other, Stephen was at one time taken prisoner in a battle at Lincoln, and treated with great. indignity by Maud, who caused herself to be crowned, and prevailed even on Stephen's brother, the bishop of Winchester, to abandon him. Her haughtiness soon disgusted that prelate, and she was herself compelled to flee before