118.  The Pope and the Conqueror, 1076.

Pope Gregory looked to William for help in this matter.  The Conqueror, who was a zealous Catholic, was ready to give that help, but with limitations.  He pledged himself to aid in reforming the English Church, which had enjoyed “an insular and barbaric independence.”  He undertook to remove inefficient men from its high places.  The King also agreed to do something that had never been done before in England, namely, to establish separate courts (S151) for the trial of Church cases (SS164, 165).  Finally, he agreed to pay the customary yearly tax to Rome, called “Peter’s pence.”

But Pope Gregory was not satisfied.  He demanded that the Conqueror should do him homage for his crown, and should swear “to become his man” (S86).  This William respectfully, but decidedly, refused to do, saying that as no “King of the English before him had ever become the Pope’s man, so neither would he.”  In taking this action the King declared himself to be an obedient and affectionate son of the “Holy Catholic Church.”  But at the same time he laid down these three rules to show that he would not tolerate any interference with his power as an independent English sovereign: 

1.  That no Pope should be acknowledged in England, or letters from the Pope received there, without his sanction. 2.  That no national synod or meeting of churchmen (S48) should enact any decrees binding the English Church, without his confirmation. 3.  That no baron or officer of his should be expelled from the Church without his permission.[1]

[1] Taswell-Langmead’s “English Constitutional History,” p. 59; Professor W. Stubb’s “Constitutional History of England,” I, 286.

It is noticeable that Pope Gregory never seems to have censured William for the position he took,—­perhaps because one brave man always understands and respects another.

Yet a little later than this (1077), when Henry IV, Emperor of Germany, refused to comply with certain demand made by Gregory VII, the German monarch had to submit.  More than this, he was compelled to stand barefooted in the snow before the Pope’s palace, waiting three days for permission to enter and beg forgiveness.

119.  William a Stern but Just Ruler; the Jews; the New Forest.

Considering his love of power and strength of will, the reign of William was conspicuous for its justice.  He was harsh, but generally fair.  He protected the Jewish traders who came over to England in his reign, for he saw that their commercial enterprise and their financial skill would be of immense value in developing the country.  Then too, if the royal treasury should happen to run dry, he thought it might be convenient to coax or compel the Jews to lend him a round sum.