example to the laity. As might have been expected, though the internal
condition of the Church was greatly improved, yet when Gregory
attempted entirely to free ecclesiastics from the influence and
authority of the State, he found himself involved in endless quarrels.
Clergy and laity alike resisted him, and they were supported by the
Emperor Henry IV., whose rule extended over Germany and the greater
part of Italy. Gregory next claimed the right of excommunicating kings
and emperors, and of deposing them if they did not repent after
excommunication. The State, he declared, was as the moon, receiving
light from the Church, which shone like the sun in heaven. The whole
of the remainder of Gregory's life was spent in a struggle with the
Emperor, and the struggle was carried on by the successors of both.

[Illustration: Part of the nave of St. Alban's Abbey Church. Built by
Abbot Paul between 1077 and 1093.]

9. =William and Gregory VII.=--It is remarkable that such a Pope as
Gregory never came into conflict with William. William appointed
bishops and abbots by giving them investiture, as the presenting of
the ring and staff was called. He declared that no Pope should be
obeyed in England who was not acknowledged by himself, that no papal
bulls or letters should have any force till he had allowed them, and
that the decrees of an ecclesiastical synod should bind no one till he
had confirmed them. When, at a later time, Gregory required William to
do homage to the see of Rome, William refused, on the ground that
homage had never been rendered by his predecessors. To all this
Gregory submitted. No doubt Gregory was prudent in not provoking
William's anger; but that he should have refrained from even finding
fault with William may perhaps be set down to the credit of his
honesty. He claimed to make himself the master of kings because as a
rule they did not care to advance the purity of the Church. William
did care to advance it. He chose virtuous and learned bishops, and
defended the clergy against aggression from without and corruption
within. Gregory may well have been content to leave power over the
Church in the hands of a king who ruled it in such a fashion.

10. =The Rising of the Earls. 1075.=--Of the three classes of men over
which William ruled, the great Norman barons imagined themselves to be
the strongest, and were most inclined to throw off his yoke. The chief
feature of the reigns of William and of his success