Ge sai contes, ge sai fableax,
Ge sai conter beax diz noveax, &c.

"Des deux bordeors ribauz," in Montaiglon and Raynaud, "Recueil
general," vol. i. p. 11.

CHAPTER III.

_LATIN._

I.

The ties with France were close ones; those with Rome were no less so.
William had come to England, politically as the heir of the Anglo-Saxon
kings, and with regard to ecclesiastical affairs as the Pope's chosen,
blessed by the head of Christianity. In both respects, notwithstanding
storms and struggles, the tradition thus started was continued under his
successors.

At no period of the history of England was the union with Rome closer,
and at no time, not even in the Augustan Age of English literature was
there a larger infusion of Latin ideas. The final consequence of Henry
II.'s quarrel with Thomas Becket was a still more complete submission of
this prince to the Roman See. John Lackland's fruitless attempts to
reach absolute power resulted in the gift of his domains to St. Peter
and the oath of fealty sworn by him as vassal of the Pope: "We, John, by
the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy,
earl of Anjou, ... Wishing to humiliate ourselves for Him who humiliated
Himself for us even unto death ... freely offer and concede to God and
to our lord Pope Innocent and his Catholic successors, all the kingdom
of England and all the kingdom of Ireland for the remission of our
sins,"[220] May 15, 1213.

From the day after Hastings the Church is seen establishing herself on
firm basis in the country; she receives as many, and even more domains
than the companions of the Conqueror. In the county of Dorset, for
instance, it appears from Domesday that "the Church with her vassals and
dependents enjoyed more than a third of the whole county, and that her
patrimony was greater than that of all the Barons and greater feudalists
combined."[221]

The religious foundations are innumerable, especially at the beginning;
they decrease as the time of the Renaissance draws nearer. Four hundred
and eighteen are counted from William Rufus to John, a period of one
hundred years; one hundred and thirty-nine during the three following
reigns: a hundred and eight years; twenty-three in the fourteenth
century, and only three in the fifteenth.[222]

This number of monasteries necessitated considerable intercourse with
Rome; many of the monks, often the abbots, were Italian or French; they
had suits in the cour