	Copyright

Home
Monarchy and Church
Monarchy and Church; Part 3

Monarchy and Church; Part 3

In 1093 Rufus fell sick, and, believing himself to be dying, he wished to make his peace with Heaven. Accordingly he appointed Anselm, Abbot of Bee, to the Archbishopric. However unworthy the motive, the choice was excellent. Anselm won the respect of all by his learning, righteousness, and tenderness. As it happened, however, William did not die, and as his health grew better, his conduct grew worse; penitence soon vanished; blasphemous and brutal habits returned. From the first Anselm had foreseen that there was trouble in store for him. "Will you yoke me, a weak old sheep, with that fierce young bull, the King of England," said he, when he was first offered the primacy. But, though so modest, Anselm would never yield to threats. He refused to make Rufus any payment for his appointment, but gave the money in charity instead. When Pope Urban sent over the "pall", or scarf of office, Anselm would not receive it at the king's hands, but took it himself from the high altar at Canterbury. He rebuked the misdoings of the king and the Court, and so angered William that his life was scarcely safe. He had at length to leave the kingdom.

One of Henry I's earliest and most popular acts was to recall Anselm from his exile. But though Henry was reasonable and just, yet even he could not agree with Anselm. Their dispute never ripened into a quarrel, none the less it was a hot dispute. Indeed agreement was scarce possible, for Anselm had been at Rome and had returned more than ever strong against lay investiture. When first appointed by Rufus he had paid homage, but he now refused this homage to Henry; and when Henry invested bishops he would not consecrate them. Yet Henry could not allow his archbishops and bishops to be altogether independent of him, for churchmen in those days were among the greatest landowners; if they claimed to be invested by the Pope they would soon claim to hold not only their spiritual powers, but also their lands, from the Pope. If they did so, England would be split up between laymen owning, as Englishmen, allegiance to an English king, and churchmen, of no nationality, only owning a foreigner, the Pope, as their master. No king could suffer this.

Here we come, not to a quarrel between two men, but a divergence between two great institutions. The Church was advancing claims which the Crown could not grant. It was only the first of a long series; we shall see the difference at times widen, at times almost close up, but it was never quite healed, and it eventually led to the great breach which we call the Reformation.

In this matter of investitures there was a good deal to be said on both sides. Henry and Anselm settled it in a reasonable way by a compromise. Bishops and abbots were to be chosen by their cathedral chapter and by their monks respectively, but the election was to be held in the king's court. They were to receive the ring which stood for their union with their flock, and the pastoral staff which represented the shepherd's care over his sheep, from the Church, because these things were symbols of their spiritual power; but they were to pay homage for their worldly possessions to the king, who was their master in respect of the world. This compromise worked well, and was afterwards adopted by the Pope and emperor as the right settlement of their dispute also.

Monarchy and Church; Part 3

Chronology