Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/452

 *

draw up a prayer fitted for the purpose. Anselm, after much pressing, agreed; he drew up the prayer; it was laid before the Assembly, and his work was approved by all. The Gemót broke up, and prayers were offered throughout England, according to Anselm's model, for the appointment of an archbishop, a prayer which on most lips doubtless meant the appointment of Anselm himself.

Before the Assembly broke up, a memorable year had begun. It is a year crowded with events, with the deaths of memorable men, with one death above all which led to most important results on the relations between the two great parts of the isle of Britain. With these events I shall deal in another chapter; we have now mainly to trace the ecclesiastical character of the year as the greatest of all stages in the career of Anselm. The Assembly had doubtless been held at Gloucester, and, after the session was over, the King tarried in the neighbourhood, at the royal house of Alvestone, once a lordship of Earl Harold. There he was smitten with a heavy sickness. The tale has a legendary sound; yet there is nothing really incredible in the story that he fell sick directly after he had been guilty of a mocking speech about Anselm. Some nobles were with the King at Alvestone, and one of them spoke of the virtues of the Abbot of Bec. He was a man who loved God only, and sought for none of the things of this world. The King says in mockery, "Not for the archbishopric of Canterbury?" The remark at least shows that Anselm and the