y
employing the Archbishop of York to officiate at his consecration, he
was careful on other occasions to load hint with honours and caresses,
and to avoid giving him farther offence till the opportunity should
offer of effecting his final destruction [f]. The suppression of the
late rebellions, and the total subjection of the English, made him
hope that an attempt against Stigand, however violent, would be
covered by his great successes, and be overlooked amidst the other
important revolutions which affected so deeply the property and
liberty of the kingdom. Yet, notwithstanding these great advantages,
he did not think it safe to violate the reverence usually paid to the
primate; but under cover of a new superstition, which he was the great
instrument of introducing into England.
[FN [e] Parker, p. 161. [f] Ibid. p. 164.]

[MN Innovation in ecclesiastical government.]
The doctrine which exalted the papacy above all human power had
gradually diffused itself from the city and court of Rome; and was,
during that age, much more prevalent in the southern than in the
northern kingdoms of Europe. Pope Alexander, who had assisted William
in his conquests, naturally expected that the French and Normans would
import into England the same reverence for his sacred character with
which they were impressed in their own country; and would break the
spiritual as well as civil independency of the Saxons, who had
hitherto conducted their ecclesiastical government, with an
acknowledgment indeed of primacy in the see of Rome, but without much
idea of its title to dominion or authority. As soon, therefore, as
the Norman prince seemed fully established on the throne, the pope
despatched Ermenfroy, Bishop of Sion, as his legate into England; and
this prelate was the first that had ever appeared with that character
in any part of the British islands. The king, though he was probably
led by principle to pay this submission to Rome, determined, as is
usual, to employ the incident as a means of serving his political
purposes, and of degrading those English prelates who were become
obnoxious to him. The legate submitted to become the instrument of
his tyranny; and thought, that the more violent the exertion of power,
the more certainly did it confirm the authority of that court from
which he derived his commission. He summoned, therefore, a council of
the prelates and abbots at Winchester; and being assisted by two
cardinals, Peter and