clergy.] It was plain that, apart from all moral considerations, the
supremacy of Rome in such a system altogether turned on the celibacy of
the clergy. If marriage was permitted to the ecclesiastic, what was to
prevent him from handing down, as an hereditary possession, the wealth
and dignities he had obtained. In such a state of things, the central
government at Rome necessarily stood at every disadvantage against the
local interests of an individual, and still more so if many individuals
should combine together to promote, in common, similar interests. But
very different would it be if promotion must be looked for from
Rome--very different as regards the hold upon public sentiment, if such
a descent from father to son was absolutely prevented, and a career
fairly opened to all, irrespective of their station in life. To the
Church it was to the last degree important that a man should derive his
advancement from her, not from his ancestor. In the trials to which she
was perpetually exposed, there could be no doubt that by such persons
her interests would be best served.

[Sidenote: It is enforced.] In these circumstances Gregory VII. took his
course. The synod held at Rome in the first year of his pontificate
denounced the marriage of the clergy, enforcing its decree by the
doctrine that the efficacy of the sacraments altogether depended on
their being administered by hands sinless in that respect, and made all
communicants partners in the pastoral crime. [Sidenote: The pope seeks
the friendship of the Normans.] With a provident foresight of the coming
opposition, he carried out the policy he had taught his predecessors of
conciliating the Normans in the south of Italy, though he did not
hesitate to resist them, by the aid of the Countess Matilda, when they
dared to touch the possessions of the Church. It was for the sake of
this that the Norman invasion of England under William the Conqueror had
already been approved of, a consecrated standard and a ring containing a
hair from the head of St. Peter sent him, and permission given for the
replacement of Saxon bishops and other dignitaries by Normans. It was
not forgotten how great had been the gains to the papacy, three
centuries before, by changing the dynasty of the Franks; and thus the
policy of an Italian town gave a permanent impress to the history of
England. Hildebrand foresaw that the sword of the Italian-Norman would
be wanted to carry out his projected ends. H