Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/66

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divine service was not forgotten. And, above all, the special foundation of his father, the Abbey of the Battle, received choicer gifts than any, the royal mantle of the departed King among them. Every upland church, every one at all events on the royal lordships, received sixty pennies. Moreover a hundred pounds in money was sent into each shire to be given away in alms to the poor for William's soul. Such a gift might be bountiful in a small shire like Bedford, where many Englishmen still kept their own; but it would go but a little way, even after eighteen years, to undo the work of the great harrying of Yorkshire. Meanwhile Robert, already received as Duke of the Normans, was doing the same pious work among the poor and the churches of his duchy. The dutiful son and the rebel were both doing their best for the welfare of their father in the other world.

From Winchester the new King went back to Westminster, and there he held the Christmas feast and assembly. It was attended by the two archbishops and by several other bishops, among whom the saint