Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/391

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whole ecclesiastical and civil institutions of the realm. And that policy, there can be little doubt, was the device of a single subtle and malignant genius by whom the whole internal administration of the Red King's reign was guided.
 * sellor. It was part of a deliberate policy affecting the

§ 1. The Administration of Randolf Flambard.

1089-1099.

.]

The chief minister, if we may so call him, of William Rufus, during these years, and indeed to the end of his reign, was that Randolf Flambard or Passeflambard of whom we have already heard. His early history is not easy to trace, beyond the general fact that he rose to power by the same path by which so many others rose in his day, by service in the King's chapel and chancery. It has been generally thought that he was settled in England as early as the days of Eadward; but it may be doubted whether the evidence bears out this belief. And the course of his life is certainly easier to understand, if we do not bring him into England so soon, or attribute to him so great a length of life, as we must do if we look on him as having been already a land-*owner in England before the Conquest. On the other hand, if we accept the story which makes him pass to the King's service from the service of Maurice Bishop of London, he must have been the King's clerk for so short a time before the death of the Conqueror as hardly to give room for the usual stages of official promotion. Another version places him in the King's service from his earliest years. Perhaps we may guess that the name of