me the office of a
mediator, or even an arbiter, in the quarrels of the greatest monarchs;
to interpose in all secular affairs; and lo obtrude his dictates as
sovereign laws on his obsequious disciples, It was a sufficient motive
to Alexander II., the reigning pope, for embracing William's quarrel,
that he alone had made an appeal to his tribunal, and rendered him
umpire of the dispute between him and Harold; but there were other
advantages which that pontiff foresaw must result from the conquest of
England by the Norman arms. That kingdom, though at first converted
by Romish missionaries, though it had afterwards advanced some farther
steps towards subjection to Rome, maintained still a considerable
independence in its ecclesiastical administration; and forming a world
within itself, entirely separated from the rest of Europe, it had
hitherto proved inaccessible to those exorbitant claims which supported
the grandeur of the papacy. Alexander therefore hoped, that the French
and Norman barons, if successful in their enterprise, might import into
that country a more devoted reverence to the holy see, and bring the
English churches to a nearer conformity with those of the continent. He
declared immediately in favor of William's claim; pronounced Harold
a perjured usurper; denounced excommunication against him and his
adherents; and the more to encourage the duke of Normandy in his
enterprise, he sent him a consecrated banner, and a ring with one of St.
Peter's hairs in it.[*] Thus were all the ambition and violence of that
invasion covered over safely with the broad mantle of religion.

The greatest difficulty which William had to encounter in his
preparations, arose from his own subjects in Normandy. The states of the
duchy were assembled at Lislebonne; and supplies being demanded for the
intended enterprise, which promised so much glory and advantage to their
country, there appeared a reluctance in many members both to grant sums
so much beyond the common measure of taxes in that age, and to set a
precedent of performing their military service at a distance from their
own country. The duke, finding it dangerous to solicit them in a body,
conferred separately with the richest individuals in the province; and
beginning with those on whose affections he most relied, he gradually
engaged all of them to advance the sums demanded. The count of
Longueville seconded him in this negotiation; as did the count of
Mortaigne, Odo, b