Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/587

 of their errand by any man beyond the innermost cabal of the King's special counsellors.

Their mission is said to have been to Rome; but the name Rome must be taken in a conventional sense for any place where the Pope might be. It is not likely that they really reached the Eternal City. In the former part of April Urban was at Cremona, and was received there with great state by the rebel King Conrad. The momentary effort of Henry which followed, his vain attempt on Nogara, only raised the position of Urban and the Great Countess yet higher. It was most likely at Cremona that the ministers from England met Urban. They were to try, if possible, to win over the Pontiff, by gifts, by promises, by any means, to send a pallium to England for the King to bestow on the Archbishop of Canterbury, without mentioning the name of Anselm. They were, it seems, to try to obtain for the King a legatine authority like that which, then or later, had been granted to the Norman princes of Sicily. Romam miserat, Romanæ statum ecclesiæ per eos volens certo dinoscere."]ecclesiæ, et statutis apostolicis, maxime de investituris in spiritalibus officiis a laico non usurpandis."]