Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/416

 *









year was one of the usual kind, as far as the motive of the appointment went, though the person to whom the bishopric was given or sold was not one of the class who in this reign commonly profited by such transactions. Bishop William of Thetford, the successor of the unlearned Herfast, died in the year of negotiations, the year of the peace with Robert and the peace with Malcolm. His bishopric was not long kept vacant; before the end of the year the church of Thetford had a new pastor, and one who plays no small part in local history. This was the famous Herbert Losinga, who, if we may trust such accounts of him as we have, made so bad a beginning and so good an ending. Norman by birth, an immediate countryman of the Conqueror, as sprung from the land of Hiesmes, a man of learning and evident energy, he became a monk of Fécamp and prior of that great house. Early in the reign of Rufus or in the last days of the Conqueror, he was raised to the abbey of Ramsey, when the long and varied life of Æthelsige came to an end. He now, on Bishop William's death, at once bought for himself the see of Thetford for one thousand pounds. Before the end of the year he was consecrated by Archbishop Thomas of York, making his profession to a future Archbishop of Canterbury. At the same