lS53.] 



Oppressions following the Conquest. 



*99 



the great Saxon camp, but well suifed, 

 said William, to an abbot who was so 

 ^ood a soldier.* The Saxon monks, 

 though delivered out of the hands of 

 this redoubtable chief, suffered no less 

 from his successor, one Gucrin de 

 Lire,t who, according to the ancient 

 account, took the last crown from their 

 purses that he might get himself a 

 name amongstthose who had lately seen 

 him poor.t This Guerin ordered the 

 bodies of his predecessors of the Eng- 

 lish race of abbots to be disinterred, 

 and, gathering their bones together, 

 iiad Ihem buried in one heap \\ithout 

 the gates. § 



VVIiile things such as tiicse were 

 doing in England, rumour was pub- 

 lishing abroad, by the pens of clerks, 

 hired, or wishing to be so, that William 

 the mighty, the victorious, the pious, 

 was civilisitig that hiih<'rto barbarous 

 counlry, and reviving Christianity, 

 which had until then been much neg- 

 lected. || The voice of truth, however, 

 was not entirely stifled : the cries of 

 the oppressed were heard even at 

 Rome; and in that Konian court, 

 which the historians of those times 

 charge with being so venal, there were 

 still to be found a few conscientious 

 men who denounced the revolution 

 effected in England as odious, infa- 

 mous, and contrary to the laws of the 

 church.^F 



Tlic degradation of the Saxon, and 

 (he intrusion of the Norman, bishops 

 were strongly blamed; but the death 

 of Alexander, and the accession (un- 

 der the name of Gregory VII.) of that 

 Hildebrand who, according to his own 

 words, had oncedeser\ed lobe brand- 

 ed with infamy,** for advocating the 

 cause of the English against the in- 

 vader, reduced the accusers of the new 

 church of England almost to silence. 

 Its canonical legitimacy was no longer 

 called in question ; and two individuals 

 only, Thomas archbishop of York, and 

 Henry bishop of Ijincoln, were cited 

 before the court of Home ; the former 



• Ibi virtiitem et inililioneni main ex- 

 periatur. (Will. I\I alms. 372.) 



t Warinns de Lyra. 



X Apiid cos qui euni olim paiipcicm vi- 

 disspnt. (Anglia .Sacra, ii. 41.) 



§ Coni;lobata nt acerviini nidennn. (lb.) 



II Barbaras niiti(;avit mures, rultiimque 

 CliristiaiiiT rcliKJonis, qui modiriis irat, 

 ampliavit. {Scri|)t<ires I'VanciaE, xi. 162.) 



t Wilkins' Coiirilia, :>'.;(). 



*• I'rne infamiam perpe«ii». (Epist. 

 Hilflrbranili.) 



because he was the «on of a priest, the 

 latter because he had paid a sum of 

 money for his episcojial dignity.* 

 Lanfranc set out with them; all three 

 being provided, say the chronicles, 

 with presents for the Pope and the 

 greedy Koraans.f Their first care was 

 to make a liberal distribution of the 

 riches of England, and gain themselves 

 a great reputation for muniticence and 

 talent among the good people of La- 

 tium.t When they came to business, 

 every thing having been settled before- 

 hand, all that remained was a vain 

 pompous scene, in which the ^jormans 

 returned to the Pope the ring and pas- 

 toral crosier; and Lanfranc pleaded 

 for them, and proved that they were 

 very useful to the new king in the new 

 arrangement of his kingdom. § "'Well, 

 (said the Pope to Lanfranc) decide as 

 thou shalt think best, for thou art the 

 father of that country :|| I place both 

 the crosiers at thy disposal." Lanfranc 

 took them, and gave them back to 

 Henry and Thomas ; then, having re- 

 ceived Gregory's confirmation of his 

 own title as sovereign pontiff of Eng- 

 land, he and, bis companions took their 

 departure. 



Thus the churches of England conti- 

 nued, without any obstacle, and with 

 the sanction of the Roman church, to 

 be recruited from all nations. The 

 priest of foreign birth recited French 

 homilies in (he Saxon temples ; and, 

 when, either through surprise or 

 through terror, (hey were listened to 

 with patience, grew proud of the effi- 

 cacy of his words, which, he would 

 say, insinuated themselves as by mira- 

 cle into the ears of the barbarians.^ 

 A sort of shame at having nothing but 

 these ridiculous farces to offer to the 

 view of the Christian world, impelled 

 William to seek out some one of those 

 men whom the austerity of their lives 

 had elevated in (he opinion of the age. 

 Stich was Gnimand,** a monk of the 

 convent 

 * Priiiuispicsbyieii filiiis rrat.secandus 

 episcopatum pactns est. ^H. Knighton, 

 ■iJlii.) 



t Ciipidis Komnnis. (Ord. Vit. 548.) 

 + Mnahiles Latiis visi sunt. (lb.) 

 ^ Novo rtf>i in novis rcf^ni dispositioni- 

 bus perneccs.sarios. (Eadmer, 7.) 

 II "Til cs pater islius patriae." (lb.) 

 II Licet ilium latine vel );;allice loqucn- 

 tcni, niinime intelli^'crent, tamcn, virtutu^ 

 Vcrbi Dei, et gratia vultAs siii, ad laery- 

 mas sacpd eonipimrti junt. (Ingnlfi Conti- 

 niiatio, 115.) 



•* Onitrmanrliii. 



