333 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap. who had set the crown on William’s head, hadrv- died a little before of grief and vexation , and107 °- had left his malediction to that prince , on accountof the breach of his coronation-oath, and of theextreme tyranny with which , he saw , he wasdetermined to treat his English subjects ,7 .

It was a fixed maxim in this reign , as wellas in some of the subsequent, that no native ofthe island should ever be advanced to any dignity,ecclesiastical, civil, or military The kingtherefore , upon Stigand’s deposition, promotedL an franc , a Milanese monk, celebrated for hislearning and piety, to the vacant fee. Thisprelate was rigid in defending the prerogativesof his station ; and after a long process beforethe pope, he obliged Thomas, a Norman monk,who had been appointed to the fee of York,to acknowledge the primacy of the archbishop ofCanterbury. Where ambition can be so happyas to cover its enterprises , even to the personhimself, under the appearance of principle , it isthe most incurable and inflexible of all humanpassions. Hence Lanfranc’s zeal in promotingthe interests of the papacy , by which he himselfaugmented his own authority , was indefatigable;and met with proportionable success. The devotedattachment to Rome continually increased inEngland ; and being favoured by the sentimentsof the conquerors, as well as by the monastic

17 Malnies.de geft. Pont. p. 154.

58 Ingulf, p. gc, rx.