of Delphi which was seized by the
Phocians, 356 B.C. The word is found in Mark vii. 11, the usual
interpretation of which is that Jesus refers to an abuse--a man might
declare that any part of his property which came into his parents' hands
was _corban_, consecrated, i.e. that a curse rested on any benefit they
might get from it. The Jewish scribes thus fenced the law of vows with a
traditional interpretation which made men break the most binding
injunctions of the Mosaic Law, in this case the fifth commandment. A
totally different explanation of the passage is put forward by J. H. A.
Hart in _The Jewish Quarterly Review_ for July 1907, the gist of which
is that Jesus commends the Pharisees for insisting that when a man has
vowed a vow to God he should pay it even though his parents should
suffer.

CORBEIL, WILLIAM OF (d. 1136), archbishop of Canterbury, was born
probably at Corbeil on the Seine, and was educated at Laon. He was soon
in the service of Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham; then, having
entered the order of St Augustine, he became prior of the Augustinian
foundation at St Osyth in Essex. At the beginning of 1123 he was chosen
from among several candidates to be archbishop of Canterbury, and as he
refused to admit that Thurstan, archbishop of York, was independent of
the see of Canterbury, this prelate refused to consecrate him, and the
ceremony was performed by his own suffragan bishops. Proceeding to Rome
the new archbishop found that Thurstan had anticipated his arrival in
that city and had made out a strong case against him to Pope Calixtus
II.; however, the exertions of the English king Henry I. and of the
emperor Henry V. prevailed, and the pope gave William the pallium. The
archbishop's next dispute was with the papal legate. Cardinal John of
Crema, who had arrived in England and was acting in an autocratic
manner. Again travelling to Rome, William gained another victory, and
was himself appointed papal legate (_legatus natus_) in England and
Scotland, a precedent of considerable importance in the history of the
English Church. The archbishop had sworn to Henry I. that he would
support the claim of his daughter Matilda to the English crown, but
nevertheless he crowned Stephen in December 1135. He died at Canterbury
on the 21st of November 1136. William built the keep of Rochester
Castle, and finished the building of the cathedral at Canterbury, which
was dedicated with great pomp in May 1130.