Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/519

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He called on the King, before he exposed himself to the dangers of a campaign beyond the sea, to do something to win God's favour by correcting the two grossest of the evils which were rife in his kingdom. The Assembly was clearly not dissolved when Anselm spoke; William could at once have filled the abbeys, he could at once have put forth a law against the other class of offenders, in the most regular form, by the advice of his Wise Men. Anselm might even have held his synod while the wind was waiting. The synod in Lanfranc's day followed on the Gemót, and it took up only three days. Most of the bishops were present at Hastings; those who were absent had doubtless been summoned and, by the rule of the Great Charter and of common sense, they would be bound by the acts of those who obeyed the summons. Moreover, according to the precedents of the late reign, Anselm would be the sole or chief representative of the King during his absence. He might fairly ask to be clothed with every power, temporal and spiritual, which was needed for the fit discharge of kingly as well as pastoral duties.

Anselm was deeply grieved at the ill success of his personal appeal to the King. He was now wholly out of the King's favour, and he felt that, without some measure of support from the King, he could not carry out the reforms, ecclesiastical and moral, for which he longed. He was ready to do anything that could be done with a good conscience in order to win back the King's good will. He sent the bishops to William, to crave that he might, of the King's free grace, be again admitted to his friendship. If the King would not grant him his favour, let him at least say why he would not grant it; if Anselm had wronged him in any way, he was