Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/572

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one acknowledged them; William of Saint-Calais had appealed to them when it suited his purpose to do so. But the bishop who had once laid the lands of northern England waste could recommend force when reason failed. He whose dealings towards the King in whose cause he was now working had been likened to the deed of Judas was now ready to play Judas over again towards the Patriarch of all the nations beyond the sea. "My counsel," he said in plain words, "is that he be put down by force; if he will not consent to the King's will, let the ring and staff be taken from him, and let him be driven from the kingdom." This short way of dealing with the Archbishop, proposed by the man who had once argued that none but the Pope could judge any bishop, suited the temper of the King; it did not suit the temper of the lay nobles. Many of them had great crimes of their own to repent of; but they could see what was right when others were to practise it. Besides Anselm was in one way their own chief; if they were great feudatories of the kingdom, so was he, the highest in rank among them. The doctrine that the first vassal of the kingdom was to be stripped of his fief at the King's pleasure might be dangerous to earls as well as to bishops. The lay nobles refused their consent to the violent scheme of the Bishop of Durham. The King turned fiercely on them. "If this does not please you, what does please you? While I live, I will not put up with an equal in my kingdom." Speaking confusedly, it would seem, to bishops and barons alike, he asked, "If you knew that he had such strong grounds for his cause, why did you let me begin the suit against him? Go, consult, for, by God's face, if you do not con-*