Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/413

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bishoprics. At the time of William's death he had in his hands, besides the archbishopric of the absent Anselm, the two bishoprics of Winchester and Salisbury and eleven abbeys. Of these Winchester had been vacant rather more than two years and a half, Salisbury had been vacant only eight months. And the bishoprics which were filled in his reign had mostly been vacant one, two, or at most three years, shorter times than bishoprics were often kept vacant in much later times. The reason for the difference seems clear. The bishoprics, when they were filled, commonly went to the king's clerks, to Flambard himself and his fellows. The great temporal position of a bishopric was acceptable to men of this class, and they found in the king's service the means of making up a purse such as would tempt the king to end the vacancy in their favour. A bishopric was therefore likely to be filled, unworthily filled doubtless, but still filled, before any very long time had passed. The abbeys, on the other hand, would have small attractions for the king's servants, who in fact, as secular clerks, could not hold them. And the men for whom such a post would have attractions, the monks of the vacant abbey or the abbots or priors of lesser houses, would not have the same means as the king's servants of making up a purse.