rch of England. The pope, in the
year 1101, had sent Guy, Archbishop of Vienne, as legate into Britain;
and though he was the first that for many years had appeared there in
that character, and his commission gave general surprise [o], the
king, who was then in the commencement of his reign, and was involved
in many difficulties, was obliged to submit to this encroachment on
his authority. But in the year 1116, Anselm, Abbot of St. Sabas, who
was coming over with a like legatine commission, was prohibited from
entering the kingdom [p]; and Pope Calixtus who, in his turn, was then
labouring under many difficulties, by reason of the pretensions of
Gregory, an anti-pope, was obliged to promise that he never would for
the future, except when solicited by the king himself, send any legate
into England [q]. Notwithstanding this engagement, the pope, as soon
as he had suppressed his antagonist, granted the Cardinal de Crema a
legatine commission over that kingdom; and the king, who, by reason of
his nephew's intrigues and invasions, found himself at that time in a
dangerous situation, was obliged to submit to the exercise of this
commission [r]. A synod was called by the legate at London; where,
among other canons, a vote passed, enacting severe penalties on the
marriages of the clergy [s]. The cardinal, in a public harangue,
declared it to be an unpardonable enormity, that a priest should dare
to consecrate and touch the body of Christ immediately after he had
risen from the side of a strumpet; for that was the decent appellation
which he gave to the wives of the clergy. But it happened that, the
very next night, the officers of justice, breaking into a disorderly
house, found the cardinal in bed with a courtezan [t]; an incident
which threw such ridicule upon him, that he immediately stole out of
the kingdom: the synod broke up; and the canons against the marriage
of clergymen were worse executed than ever [u].
[FN [o] Ibid. p. 58. [p] Hoveden, p. 474. [q] Eadmer, p. 125, 137,
138. [r] Chron. Sax. p. 229. [s] Spellm. Conc. vol. ii. p. 34. [t]
Hoveden, p. 478. M. Paris, p. 48. Matth. West. ad. ann. 1125. H.
Huntingdon, p. 382. It is remarkable that this last writer, who was a
clergyman as well as the others, makes an apology for using such
freedom with the fathers of the church; but says, that the fact was
notorious, and ought not to be concealed. [u] Chron. Sax. p. 234.]

Henry, in order to prevent this alte