talents, more necessary perhaps than eloquence or learning.  At last, however, on the pressing solicitation of the Pope, the King, and the clergy, he consented to mount the throne of Lanfranc, on condition that the temporalities, privileges, and powers of the See of Canterbury should not be attacked.  The crafty and rapacious, but now penitent monarch, thinking he was about to die, and wishing to make his peace with Heaven, made all the concessions required; and the quiet monk and doctor, whom everybody loved and revered, was enthroned and consecrated as the spiritual monarch of England.

Anselm’s memorable career as bishop began in peace, but was soon clouded by a desperate quarrel with his sovereign, as he had anticipated.  This learned and peace-loving theologian was forced into a contest which stands out in history like the warfare between Hildebrand and Henry IV.  It was the beginning of that fierce contest in England which was made memorable by the martyrdom of Becket.  Anselm, when consecrated, was sixty years of age,—­a period of life when men are naturally timid, cautious, and averse to innovations, quarrels, and physical discomforts.

The friendly relations between William Rufus and Anselm were disturbed when the former sought to exact large sums of money from his subjects to carry on war against his brother Robert.  Among those who were expected to make heavy contributions, in the shape of presents, was the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose revenues were enormous,—­perhaps the largest in the realm next to those of the King.  Anselm offered as his contribution five hundred marks, what would now be equal to l0,000 pounds,—­a large sum in those days, but not as much as the Norman sovereign expected.  In indignation he refused the present, which seemed to him meagre, especially since it was accompanied with words of seeming reproof; for Anselm had said that “a free gift, which he meant this to be, was better than a forced and servile contribution.”  The King then angrily bade him begone; “that he wanted neither his money nor his scolding.”  The courtiers tried to prevail on the prelate to double the amount of his present, and thus regain the royal favor; but he firmly refused to do this, since it looked to him like a corrupt bargain.  Anselm, having distributed among the poor the money which the King had refused, left the court as soon as the Christmas festival was over and retired to his diocese, preserving his independence and dignity.

A breach had not been made, but the irritation was followed by coolness; and this was increased when Anselm desired to have the religious posts filled the revenues of which the King had too long enjoyed, and when, in addition, he demanded a council of bishops to remedy the disorders and growing evils of the kingdom.  This council the angry King refused with a sneer, saying, “he would call the council when he himself pleased, not when Anselm pleased.”  As to the filling the vacancies of the abbeys, he further