Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/88

68 and ignorant; the discipline of the monastic houses was lax; monks had cast aside their habit to enter into the sports and secular life of the people. Inasmuch as the Norman Conquest bore the character of a religious mission, and a banner blessed by the Pope had waved over the victorious Normans at Senlac, it is natural to find great changes taking place in the Church, An age of vigorous growth was now ushered in, an age of "great men, of grand ideals and noble ventures." The substitution of Norman ecclesiastics for Saxon was at once begun, and such names as those of Lanfranc, Anselm, and Becket speak to us of reform within and without. Scholars, statesmen, enthusiasts—each had his message to an age of violence and turbulence. Separate legislation for matters spiritual and temporal, the revival of learning among the clergy, together with a stricter celibacy and the closer connection of the Norman Church in England with the great centre of civilisation in Rome—these were among the important reforms of the thirteenth century.

The Norman prelates brought into England a passion for building. Abbey churches, minsters, and cathedrals began to arise in every diocese. The sees of bishops were transferred from villages