Page:Seventeen lectures on the study of medieval and modern history and kindred subjects.djvu/136

 pilgrims to the East, and the prominence given in the histories of the time to the adventures of the few that returned; the cosmopolitan character of the clergy, the frequent promotions of English and Normans in foreign churches, and their continued intercourse with their friends at home; the recourse to foreign Universities, and the honours won by English scholars at those Universities, were a constant inducement to others to follow them; the welcome given at the English Court to foreign scholars, and finally, the fact that the English Court was open to all exiles from East or West, North or South; all these served to arouse and keep awake that curiosity about foreign matters which will not be satisfied without the acquisition of learning: so that learning is not sought for itself only, but as a part of the equipment of a man of the world. A little may go a long way under such circumstances, but yet every little helps to make a mickle, and there were many men about, as I shall hope to show you, who were bent on picking up all they could, and to whom nothing came amiss.

To run rapidly over the more prominent examples under each of the heads I have enumerated: in 1155, the first year of Henry II, there was an embassy from the kings of Norway. Henry received the envoys, and sent them back with ambassadors of his own and large presents; and the next year there was a similar transaction with Sweden. Here at once opens up a field of interesting investigation. Norway and Sweden were about as far from England as they are now, but they seem to have been even more neighbourly. The Norse settlements in the islands had not forgotten their origin. The Bishop of Sodor and Man was expected to seek consecration at Drontheim. Just before Henry's accession, the Bishop of Bergen had visited Fountains Abbey and obtained a colony of Cistercians for a cell in Norway itself, called, after that beautiful custom of the order, the House of Light. Again, in 1164, another Norwegian prelate appears in the royal accounts as receiving a gift of £3 6s. 8d.; and again, in 1182, the Archbishop Eystein, of Nidros, was maintained for 17 weeks at the expense of the English Court. These