d mother had
struggled into calm. He did not share her Norman proclivities, but
looked back--as the mass of his people did with him--to the old Saxon
laws of Alfred and of Athelstan, which he called the customs of his
grandfather. In a matter of trial for heresy, or a question of
doctrine, he was the obedient servant of Rome; but when the Pope laid
officious hands on the venerable customs of England, and strove to
dictate in points of state law, he found no obedient servant in Henry of
Anjou.

This morning, being a ceremonial occasion, His Majesty's attire had
risen to it. He wore a white silken tunic, the border richly
embroidered in gold; a crimson dalmatic covered with golden stars; a
mantle of blue samite, fastened on the right shoulder with a golden
fermail set with a large ruby; and red hose, crossed by golden bands all
up the leg. The mantle was lined with grey fur; golden lioncels
decorated the fronts of the black boots; and a white samite cap, adorned
with ostrich feathers, and rising out of a golden fillet, reposed on the
King's head.

When the members of the Council had taken their seats, and the Bishop of
Lichfield had offered up sundry Latin prayers which about one in ten of
the assembled company understood, the King rose to open the Council.

"It is not unknown to you, venerable Fathers," he said, "for what
purpose I have convened this Council. There have come into my kingdom
certain persons, foreigners, from the dominions of the Emperor, who have
gone about the country preaching strange doctrines, and who appear to
belong to some new foreign sect. I am unwilling to do injustice, either
by punishing them without investigation, or by dismissing them as
harmless if they are contaminating the faith and morals of the people.
But inasmuch as it appertains to holy Church to judge questions of that
nature, I have here summoned you, my Fathers in God, and your clergy,
that you may examine these persons, and report to me how far they are
innocent or guilty of the false doctrines whereof they are suspected. I
pray you therefore so to do: and as you shall report, so shall I know
how to deal with them."

His Majesty reseated himself, and the Bishop of the diocese rose, to
deliver a long diatribe upon the wickedness of heresy, the infallibility
of the Church, and the necessity for the amputation of diseased limbs of
the body politic. As nobody disagreed with any of his sentiments, the
harangue was scarcely