Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 32.djvu/92

 foreign superiors. In accomplishing this Langfranc was often unjust, and did not always even go through the form of consulting a synod (, p. 523). In ecclesiastical appointments it is evident that he was consulted by the king, for the new bishops were generally 'scholars and divines' (Contitutional History, i. 283). Some of the abbots were men of a lower stamp, and oppressed their monks. Almost without an exception foreigners alone were promoted to high office in the church, and brought with them ideas and fashions that tended to assimilate the English church to the churches of the continent. Lanfranc held the ignorance of the native clergy in scorn. While, however, he remained a foreigner to the English, to the world at large assumed the position of an Englishman, writing ‘we English' and ‘our island.’ One effect of the appointment of foreigner; prelates was the decree of the council of London in l075, which removed bishops' sees from villages to cities. The change had begun in the of the Confessor; but rt was largely developed under Lanfranc, in accordance with continental custom. In another synod which he held at Winchester in April 1076 a decree enjoined clerical celibacy. On this point, which was then one of the principal futures of the papal policy the English custom was lax. Lanfranc refrained from laying too heavy a burden on the married clergy. But no canons were allowed to have wives, and for the future no married man was to be ordained deacon or priest. The parish priests who already had wives were not, however, compelled to part with them. The laity were warn against giving their daughters in marriage without the rites of the church. A comparison between the writings of Abbot Ælfric (fl. 1006) [q. v.] and the frequent stories of miracles connected with the holy elements in books written in England utter the Norman conquest points to a change in the position of the national church wit reference to eucharistic doctrine, which, to a large extent, must no douby the attributed to the influenoe of Lanfranc.

Later in the year Lanfranc, accompanied by the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Dorchester went to Rome to obtain certain privileges for the ring from Greggry VII, and carried rich gifts from William to the pope. On their return in 1077 they stayed or some time in Normandy, and were present with the king and queen at the dedication of the cathedrals of Evreux and Bayeux, and of the church of Lanfranc's former house, St. Stephen's at Caen. He visited Bec and while there lived as one of the brethren of the house. In October he dedicated the church of Bec, which had been begun when, at his request, Herlwin moved the convent. His affection for monasticism was evident in his administration of the English church, and one English chronicler calls him ‘the father and lover of monks.’ An attempt, led by Walkelin, bishop of Winchester, to displace monks by canons in his and other cathedral chapters, and even in the church of Canterbury, though approved by the king, was defeated by Lanfranc, who obtain a bull condemning the scheme, and ordering that the metropolitan church should be by monks. At the same time it is doubtful whether he approved of the exemption of abbeys from episcopal jurisdiction, which was then becoming frequent, for Gregory VII blamed him for not checking the efforts of Bishop Herfast [q. v.] to bring St. Edmund’s Abbey under his control.

Owing to William’s determination to he supreme alike in church and state, Lanfranc's relations with the papacy were sometimes strained. When the king refused some demands made by a legate on behalf of the pope, Gregory laid the blame on Lanfranc. The archbishop answered that he had tried to persuade the king to act differently. About 1079 Gregory reproved him for keeping away from Rome; he was not to allow any fear of the king to hinder him from coming ; it was his duty to reprove William for his conduct towards the holy see. Lanfranc declined this and similar invitations until (in 1082) Gregory summoned him to appear at Rome on the ensuing l Nov. under pain of suspension from his office. There is nothing to prove that this threat drew Lanfranc to Rome. On the question of the schism in the papacy he wrote with caution; while rebuking a correspondent for abusing Gregory he informed him that England had not yet acknowledged either of the rivals (Ep. 65).

Lanfranc asserted his full rights within his diocese and brought a suit against Bishop Odo for the restoration of lands and rights belonging to his see. The cause was decided in his favour by the shire-moot of Kent on Ponnenden Heath under the presidency of Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances, and Lanfranc regained the lands unjustly taken from his church by other a besides Odo, and established his claim to certain rights and immunities, both in his own lands and in the lands of the king. The decision of the local court was approved by the king and his council. Lanfranc spent his revenues magnificently. His cathedral church had been burned in 1067. In the short space of seven years he rebuilt it in the Norman style. His new church was