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WIL- king Henry, as appears by the charter, in which there are LIAM, Abp. Cant. a great many royal privileges and immunities mentioned.

From a clause in this charter, sir Edward Coke endeavours to prove the spiritual jurisdiction of the crown; but upon enquiry, the passage will be found to fall short of his design. The words he insists on are these: "Statuimus autem, tam ecclesiasticæ quam regiæ prospectu potestatis, ut decedente abbate Radingensi, omnis possessio monasterii ubicunque fuerit, remaneat integra et libera cum omni jure, et consuetudine sua, in manu et dispositione prioris, et moCoke's Re- nachorum capituli Radingensis, &c." Now which way these ports, part words, "tam ecclesiasticæ quam regiæ prospectu potestatis," can be serviceable to sir Edward, is hard to imagine: for in the first place, does not the mention of ecclesiastical and royal power suppose a distinction of jurisdiction, and that both these powers were not lodged in the crown? Besides, the intention of the charter, as appears clearly by the tenor of it, is only to secure the abbey in their property and civil privilege; neither is there the least mention of any spiritual jurisdiction conveyed to them.

5. fol. 10.

To this I may add, that this learned lawyer seems not to be aware that the sense he contends for does by no means suit with the proceedings of king Henry I. For this prince had solemnly foreclosed his pretensions this way, resigned the pastoral staff, and parted with the emblem of Church authority.

The king, being informed of the emperor's death, sent for the empress, his daughter, into Normandy, and soon after returned with her into England; and having no issue by his second marriage, he was willing to secure the crown to the empress. To this purpose, he convened the bishops and temporal barons, to London; and here, setting forth her pedigree, and putting them in mind that the kingdom belonged to her by hereditary right, he engaged them to receive her as their sovereign, in case he should decease without issue male. The lords spiritual and temporal seemed all satisfied with the motion, and swore allegiance to the empress, under The English the conditions above mentioned. The archbishop of Cannobility swear alle terbury swore first, and was followed by the rest of the giance to the prelates. David, king of Scots, the empress's uncle, was

empress.

A. D. 1126.

Malmsbur.
Hist. No-

the oath of

allegiance

the first of the laity that took the oath. Afterwards, Ste- HENRYI. phen, earl of Boulogne, her cousin-german, gave her the K. of Eng. same security; and, it was somewhat remarkable, Robert, earl of Glocester, the king's natural son, and Stephen, above mentioned, had a dispute who should swear first. And here we are to observe, that all the nobility of the velle, 1. 1. duchy of Normandy, as well as the English, swore to the fol. 99. Mat. Paris, empress's succession. Hist. Angl. If it be enquired why David, king of Scotland, took the ad An. 1126. oath, and gave the security of a subject, to this it may be Why David, king of answered, that probably he submitted to this homage upon Scots, took the score of his being earl of Huntington and Northumberland. For having married Judith, the Conqueror's niece, empress. and widow of Waltheof, earl of Northumberland, king Henry created him earl of those two counties, while king Alexander, his brother, was living. Some of the English Buchanan historians make king David swear by reason of the de- tic. 1.7. pendency of the kingdom of Scotland upon that of England. And therefore, when this question was afterwards debated before the pope, in the reign of king Edward I., that prince urged, amongst other arguments, that William Rufus set up Edgar, king of Scotland, and gave him that crown; that Alexander, Edgar's brother, mounted the throne, with the consent or permission of Henry I., and that David, above mentioned, swore allegiance to Maud, the empress.

Rerum sco

Walsingham. in Ed

At this convention of the nobility, the king made a grant ward I. p. of the custody of the castle of Rochester to the archbishop 82. of Canterbury, and his successors, with the liberty of adding what they pleased to the fortifications.

Continuat. ad Florent.

West

In the year 1127, William, archbishop of Canterbury, convened a national council at Westminster, where himself A. d. 1127. presided as archbishop of Canterbury and pope's legate. The 4 council at synod consisted of fifteen suffragans. It was held but three minster. days; that is, from the 13th to the 16th of May. There was a great attendance both of the clergy and laity at this synod; and several causes relating to property and civil matters were tried here, as the continuator of Florence of Worcester remarks. There were likewise ten canons passed, of which several were a confirmation of what was decreed in the late synod. I shall only mention those that were new.

The third forbids the taking money for the receiving any LIAM, monks, canons, or nuns, into religious houses. Abp. Cant.

WIL

321.

The sixth forbids a plurality of archdeaconries, under the penalty of excommunication.

The seventh makes it unlawful for bishops, abbots, priests, priors, and monks, to turn farmers.

The eighth enjoins the full payment of tithes, and calls

Continuat. them the demesnes of the most high God.

ad Florent.

ad An.

1127.

Ibid.

Ibid.

ders, and

And here we may observe, that notwithstanding there was a great appearance of abbots, inferior clergy, and laity of all conditions at this synod; notwithstanding there were several causes tried, and some business of this nature refused a hearing by the judges of the court: yet when the historian comes to mention the canons, he distinguishes the authority, and assigns them to the bishops; from whence we may conclude, that none but that order were reputed the legislative body for this purpose.

The king, at the breaking up of the synod, confirmed the canons, which we need not wonder at, since several of them related to property and civil matters.

About this time the king received news of the death of Charles, earl of Flanders, and that the French king had William,the given that earldom to William, his brother Robert's son; king's nephew, made who being a young prince of great courage and activity, and earl of Flan- one who thought himself very much injured by his uncle, the king was uneasy to hear he was preferred to such a post of interest; for his nephew, it seems, who had hitherto been silent, began now to set up his claim to all king Henry's Mat. Paris. dominions, and to threaten his uncle with a war. Hist. Angl. ad An. 1127.

grows for

midable.

Upon this occasion the king summoned a convention to London, where, to strengthen his alliances, the match between the empress and Geoffery Plantagenet, heir apparent to the earldom of Anjou was concluded. Neither was it long before this nobleman was put in possession: for this very year, as Matthew Paris reports, his father Fulco Paris. p. 71. undertook the crusade, and resigned the earldom to him. The death of This year Richard, bishop of London, Richard, bishop of Hereford, and Robert Peccam, bishop of Coventry, departed this life. The bishop of London was consecrated by Anselm, at the instance of William Rufus, in the year

William, bishop of London.

K. of Eng.

Hist. Nov.

chester.

1108, and constituted lord president of the marches of HENRY I. Wales. This prelate spent all the revenues of his bishoprick in rebuilding St. Paul's. He purchased several lanes His benefactions. adjoining to the cathedral, and pulling down the houses, enlarged the churchyard, which he surrounded with a high wall. He had a project it seems, of making his see an archbishoprick, as appears by Anselm's letter to pope Paschal II. where he puts in a caveat against him. In the Eadmer. latter end of his time, he founded the monastery of the 1. 4. fol. 99. canons regular of St. Osyth's de Chiche, and settled a large Near Colrevenue upon it. To conclude with him, he was a person nobly extracted, of a very regular life, and well qualified for government and business. Thurstan, archbishop of York, who had contested so Episc. Lon warmly with the see of Canterbury, was not so active in dinens. maintaining his jurisdiction over the church of Scotland; for at the instance of David, king of Scotland, he consecrated Robert, bishop of St. Andrew's, without insisting upon the oath of canonical obedience. But the archbishop Continuat. of Canterbury was more careful of the privileges of his see, ad An. 1128. and obliged Gislebert, elect of London, to the usual acknowledgment at his consecration.

Godwin et

Wharton in

A. D. 1128.

ad Florent.

Ibid.

King Henry being apprehensive of some trouble from his nephew, provides him a rival, and persuades one Theodorick, a nobleman of Germany, to lay claim to the earldom of Flanders. This Theodorick being supported by several Flemish noblemen, took the field against earl William. The fight was maintained with great resolution, and the enemy being superior in number, William had undoubtedly lost the battle, had it not been for his own personal bravery, which turned the scale, and gained the victory: but he survived his success but a very short time; for sitting down before the castle of Alost, and supporting a party of his men with too much eagerness, he received a wound in the The death of hand, which by the ignorance of the surgeons, proved the king's William, mortal. He was a prince of extraordinary courage, and nephew. had it not been for this accident, might have given king Henry a considerable diversion.

This year Ralph Flambart, bishop of Durham, departed this life. The character of this prelate has been partly touched already, in the life of Anselm; and as for the

Orderic. Vital. Eccles. Histor. 1. 12. p. 886. Huntingt.

Histor. 1. 7. fol. 219.

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WILLIAM,

Abp. Cant.

remainder, it will be more for the advantage of his memory. He was a great benefactor to his church: he likewise fortified the town, and surrounded it with a wall. He purchased a great many houses adjoining to the cathedral, and pulled Durham and them down, both for the benefit of the prospect, and for Winchester. security against fire. He built Norham castle upon the

The death of the bishops of

river Tweed, to check the incursions of the Scots. He founded an hospital at Kepar, and a priory at Motsford near Winchester,-not to mention other benefactions; and Angl. Sacr. at his death, ordered his estate to be distributed among the de Episc. Dunel- poor. mens. pars 1. p. 709.

cles. Win

p.

The death of William Giffard, bishop of Winchester, may Godwin in be reckoned to this year. The annals of Winchester give Episc. Dunelm. him a great character for his piety and compassionate disAnnal. Ec- position. This prelate founded the monastery of Waverley ton. 229. for Cistercian monks, and another for nuns at Taunton: the In Angl. Sac. pars 1. first of which was valued at four hundred and thirty-eight, and the other at a hundred and seventy-four pounds of yearly revenue at the dissolution. He likewise built a noble palace for his see in Southwark, near London bridge; Godwin. in to which we may add, that he contributed very largely Episc. Win- towards the monastery of St. Mary Overy.

322.

toniens.

A synod at
London.

The king

makes the clergy fine for their marriage.

Huntingt.

Historiar.

Next year there was a council held at London, where both the archbishops and ten suffragans were present; and here, as our historians report, the synod, by the archbishop's incautiousness, was surprised by the crown. For being desirous to suppress the marriage of the clergy, they resigned the discipline upon this article into the king's hands. But they were disappointed in this expedient; for the king taking a fine of the priests, permitted them to keep their wives; and by this dispensation raised a vast sum of money; which is an argument that a great many priests were then married. Matthew Paris calls these women focariæ, which Alford is willing to translate strumpets. This, it seems, is his way of consulting the honour of the clergy. But that the body of the clergy were not so scandalously immoral as this annalist would represent them, appears by the concurrent testimony of Huntington, Hoveden, the annals of Margan and Waverley, and the chronicon of Hemingford. By all which historians they are expressly called uxores, or wives.

1. 7. fol. 220. Hoveden. Annal. fol. 274. Historiæ Anglic. Scriptores quinque edit. Gale.

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