nd to this William answered that
he wanted neither the Archbishop's money nor his preaching or company.

Thereupon Anselm retired and gave the money to the poor, determined that
he, for his part, would make no attempt to purchase William's goodwill.
Henceforth William was equally determined that Anselm should have no peace
in England. It was hateful to the King that there should be anyone in the
realm who acknowledged a higher authority than the Crown, and Anselm made
it too plain that the Archbishop rested his authority not on the favour of
the Crown, but on the discipline of the Christian religion. William was
King of England indisputably, but there was a higher power than the King,
and that was the Pope. William himself never dreamed of denying the divine
authority of the Pope in spiritual matters; no one in all Christendom in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries questioned that at Rome was a court of
appeal higher than the courts of kings. Strong rulers like William the
Conqueror might decline to submit to Rome on a personal question of
marriage, but Rome was the recognised centre of religion, the headquarters
of the Christian Church, and the supreme court of appeal. Apart from Rome
there was no power that could curb the fierce unbridled tyranny of the
kings of the earth, and the power of Rome was a spiritual weapon, for the
Pope had no army to enforce his decisions. So Anselm, conscious of this
spiritual authority, refused to bow to the lawless rule of the Red King;
and his very attitude, while it encouraged men to lift up their hearts who
erstwhile had felt that it was hopeless and useless to strive against
William,[4] enraged the Red King to fury.

The things he wanted to forget were that the chief representative of the
Christian religion was a greater person than the King of England, and that
the Archbishop of Canterbury could be a Christian minister rather than a
King's man.[5] And Anselm was the constant witness to the Christian
religion, and, by his very presence, a rebuke to the crimes and cruelties
of the Court of the Red King. William actually wrote to the Pope, naturally
without any success, praying him to depose Anselm, and promising a large
annual tribute to Rome if the request was granted.

For years the uneven contest was waged. The bishops generally avoided
Anselm, and were only anxious to be accepted by the King as good servants
of the Crown, with the result that William despised them for their
servi