ord of England. But this was not what William
understood, when he had allowed the papal banner to wave over the
fleet that brought him to England. It was not from the Pope's
authorisation that he derived his claim to the English crown, as if
this had been merely transferred to him by the Papal See, but from the
Anglo-Saxon kings, as whose heir and legal successor he wished to be
regarded. He answered the Pope that he could enter into no other
relation to him than that in which his predecessors in England had
stood to previous popes.

For the first time the popes had to give up altogether the attempt to
make kings their feudal dependents; they attempted, however, an
almost deeper encroachment into the very heart of the royal power,
when they then formed the plan of severing the spiritual body
corporate, which already possessed the most extensive temporal
privileges, from their feudal obligation to the sovereigns. The
English kings opposed them in this also with resolution and success.
Under the influence of the father of scholasticism, Anselm of
Canterbury, Primate of England, a satisfactory agreement was arranged
long before the Concordat was obtained in Germany. In general there
was little to fear, as long as the Archbishop of Canterbury had a good
understanding with the Crown; and this was the case in the first half
of the 12th century, if not on all points, yet, at least on all
leading questions. Far-reaching differences did not appear until the
higher ecclesiastics embraced the party of the Papacy, which happened
in England through Thomas Becket.

_Henry II and Becket._

It was precisely from him that this would have been least expected. He
had been the King's Chancellor, or if we may avail ourselves of a
somewhat remote equivalent expression, his most trusted cabinet
minister, and had as such, in both home and foreign affairs, rendered
the most valuable services. The introduction of scutage is attributed
to him, and he certainly had a large share in the acquisition of
Brittany. It was through the direct influence of the King that he was
elected archbishop.[22] But from that hour he seemed to have become
another man. As he had hitherto rivalled the courtiers in splendour,
pleasure, and pomp, so would he now by strictness of life equal the
sanctity of the saints; as hitherto to the King, so did he now attach
himself to the interests of the Church. It might, so we may suppose,
be some satisfaction to his self-es