bert and the daughter of a tanner of Falaise. Robert was
a son of Richard II., and William was thus the grandson of the brother
of Eadward's mother, Emma. Such a relationship gave him no title
whatever to the English throne, as Emma was not descended from the
English kings, and as, even if she had been, no one could be lawfully
king in England who was not chosen by the Witenagemot. Eadward,
however, had no children or brothers, and though he had no right to
give away the crown, he now promised William that he should succeed
him. William, indeed, was just the man to attract one whose character
was as weak as Eadward's. Since he received the dukedom he had beaten
down the opposition of a fierce and discontented nobility at
Val-es-dunes (=1047=). From that day peace and order prevailed in
Normandy. Law in Normandy did not come as in England from the
traditions of the shire-moot or the Witenagemot, where men met to
consult together. It was the Duke's law, and if the Duke was a strong
man he kept peace in the land. If he was a weak man, the lords fought
against one another and plundered and oppressed the poor. William was
strong and wily, and it was this combination of strength and wiliness
which enabled him to bear down all opposition.

16. =William and the Norman Church.=--An Englishman, who saw much of
William in after-life, declared that, severe as he was, he was mild to
good men who loved God. The Church was in his days assuming a new
place in Europe. The monastic revival which had originated at Cluny
(see p. 67) had led to a revival of the Papacy. In =1049=, for the
first time, a Pope, Leo IX., travelled through Western Europe, holding
councils and inflicting punishments upon the married clergy and upon
priests who took arms and shed blood. With this improvement in
discipline came a voluntary turning of the better clergy to an ascetic
life, and increased devotion was accompanied, as it always was in the
middle ages, with an increase of learning. William, who by the
strength of his will brought peace into the state, also brought men of
devotion and learning into the high places of the Church. His chief
confidant was Lanfranc, an Italian who had taken refuge in the abbey
of Bec, and, having become its prior, had made it the central school
of Normandy and the parts around. With the improvement of learning
came the improvement of art, and churches arose in Normandy, as in
other parts of Western Europe, which still preserve