tion; and even the court of France,
though it might justly fear the aggrandizement of so dangerous a
vassal, pursued not its interests on this occasion with sufficient
vigour and resolution. Philip I., the reigning monarch, was a minor;
and William, having communicated his project to the council, having
desired assistance, and offered to do homage, in case of his success,
for the crown of England, was indeed openly ordered to lay aside all
thoughts of the enterprise; but the Earl of Flanders, his father-in-
law, being at the head of the regency, favoured underhand his levies,
and secretly encouraged the adventurous nobility to enlist under the
standard of the Duke of Normandy.
[FN [k] Gul Gemet. lib. 7. cap. 33.]

The Emperor, Henry IV., besides openly giving all his vassals
permission to embark in this expedition, which so much engaged the
attention of Europe, promised his protection to the duchy of Normandy
during the absence of the prince, and thereby enabled him to employ
his whole force in the invasion of England [l]. But the most
important ally whom William gained by his negotiations was the pope,
who had a mighty influence over the ancient barons, no less devout in
their religious principles, than valorous in their military
enterprises. The Roman pontiff, after an insensible progress, during
several ages of darkness and ignorance, began now to lift his head
openly above all the princes of Europe; to assume the office of a
mediator, or even an arbiter, in the quarrels of the greatest
monarchs; to interpose in all secular affairs; and to 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