Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/578

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bidden to sit down as his friends in seats of honour. Those who said that they had abjured only such obedience as was claimed by the Pope's authority, were sent, like naughty children, into a corner of the room, to wait, as traitors and enemies, for their sentence of condemnation. But they debated among themselves in their corner, and soon found the means of winning back the royal favour. A heavy bribe, paid at once or soon after, wiped out even the crime of drawing distinctions while withdrawing their obedience from a metropolitan whom the King hated.

While his suffragans were undergoing this singular experience of the strength of the secular arm, Anselm sent a message to the King. He now asked that, as all protection within the kingdom was withdrawn from him, the King would give him and his companions a safe-conduct to one of his havens, that he might go out of the realm till