Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/157

 *



are his judges, and therefore cannot be his counsel. The King now steps in; the Bishop may take counsel with his own men, but he shall have no counsel from any man of his. The Bishop answers that, in the seven men whom he has with him—clearly the same seven of whom we have twice heard already—he will find but little help against the power and learning of the whole realm which he sees arrayed against him. But he gets no further help; he withdraws the second time for consultation, but it is only with the seven men of his own following.

The result of their secret debate suggests that Bishop William in truth took counsel with no one but himself. Surely no seven men of English or Norman birth could have been found to suggest the course which William of Saint-Calais now took. For he came back to utter words which must have sounded strange indeed either in English or in Norman ears. "The judgement which has here been given I reject, because it is made against the canons and against our law; nor was I canonically summoned; but I stand here compelled by the force of the King's army, and despoiled of my bishopric, beyond the bounds of my province, in the absence of all my comprovincial bishops. I am compelled to plead my cause in a lay assembly; and my enemies, who refuse me their counsel and speech and the kiss of peace, laying aside the things which I have said, judge me of things which I have not said; and they are at once accusers and judges; and I find it forbidden in our law to admit such a judgement as I in my folly was