o erect. He pronounced
the sentence of excommunication against Nicephorus, emperor of the east;
Robert Guiscard, the adventurous Norman who had acquired the dominion of
Naples, was attacked by the same dangerous weapon: he degraded Boleslas,
king of Poland from the rank of king; and even deprived Poland of the
title of a kingdom: he attempted to treat Philip, king of France,
with the same rigor which he had employed against the emperor;[*] he
pretended to the entire property and dominion of Spain; and he parcelled
it out amongst adventurers, who undertook to conquer it from the
Saracens, and to hold it in vassalage under the see of Rome:[**] even
the Christian bishops, on whose aid he relied for subduing the temporal
princes, saw that he was determined to reduce them to servitude, and,
by assuming the whole legislative and judicial power of the church to
centre all authority in the sovereign pontiff.[***]

William the Conqueror, the most potent, the most haughty, and the most
vigorous prince in Europe, was not, amidst all his splendid successes,
secure from the attacks of this enterprising pontiff. Gregory wrote him
a letter, requiring him to fulfil his promise in doing homage for the
kingdom of England to the see of Rome, and to sent him over that tribute
which all his predecessors had been accustomed to pay to the vicar of
Christ. By the tribute, he meant Peter's pence; which, though at first a
charitable donation of the Saxon princes, was interpreted, according
to the usual practice of the Romish court, to be a badge of subjection
acknowledged by the kingdom. William replied, that the money should
be remitted as usual; but that neither had he promised to do homage to
Rome, nor was it in the least his purpose to impose that servitude on
his state.[****] And the better to show Gregory his independence, he
ventured, notwithstanding the frequent complaints of the pope, to refuse
to the English bishops the liberty of attending a general council, which
that pontiff had summoned against his enemies.

[* Epist. Greg. VII. epist. 32, 35; lib. ii.
epist. 5]

[** Epist. Greg. VII. lib. i. epist. 7.]

[*** Epist. Greg. VII. lib. ii. epist. 55.]

[**** Seldini Spicileg. ad Eadm. p. 4.]

But though the king displayed this vigor in supporting the royal
dignity, he was infected with the general superstition of the age; and
he did not perceive the ambitious scope of those institutions, which
under colo