Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/502

 the King. Yet he tried once more through messengers to persuade the King to take his gift, but, as he steadily refused to double it, it was still thrust aside with scorn. The assembly broke up; the Archbishop, still in the King's disfavour, went away, and the money which the King had despised was given to the poor.

This business over, Anselm had now a few weeks, but a few weeks only, to give to his immediate pastoral work. Even those weeks were disturbed by a dispute with one of his suffragans. The point at issue was the right of the Archbishop to consecrate churches and do other episcopal acts in such of his manors as were locally in other dioceses. This right was denied by Bishop Maurice of London, who sent two of his canons to forbid the Archbishop to consecrate the newly built church of Harrow. The matter was settled by an appeal to one who knew the ancient laws of England better than either Maurice or Anselm. Wulfstan of Worcester, now "one and alone of the ancient fathers of the English," wrote back his judgement in favour of the Primate's right. The question was thus*