3 66 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap. king, from whom all these projects had beeniv. carefully concealed, at 1 all got intelligence of1082. the design, and ordered Odo to be arrested.His officers, from respect to the immunities,which the ecclesiastics now assumed, scrupledto execute the command , till the king himselfwas obliged in person to seize him; and whenOdo insisted that he was a prelate, and exemptfrom all temporal jurisdiction , William replied,that he arrested him, not as bishop of Baieux,but as earl of Kent. He was sent prisoner toNormandy; and notwithstanding the remonstran-ces and menaces of Gregory, was detained in cus-tody during the remainder of this reign,tsei- Another domestic event gave the king muchmore concern: It was the death of Matilda, hisconsort, whom he tenderly loved, and for whomhe had ever preserved the most sincere friendship.Three years afterwards he pasted into Normandy,and carried with him Edgar Atheling, to whomhe willingly granted permission to make a pil-War°wu'h go mage to the Holy Land. He was detained

Prance. on the continent by a misunderstanding, whichbroke out between him and the king of hrance,and which was occasioned by inroads made intoNormandy bv some French barons on the frontiers.It was little in the power of princes at that timeto restrain their licentious nobility; but Williamsuspected, that these barons durst not have pro-voked his indignation, had they not been assuredof the countenance and protection of Philip. Hisdispleasure was increased by the account he