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LIBRARY ST. MARY S COLLEG
ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. 131
and they have given rise to the general belief that
the conquest renovated the spiritual face of the
land. Building a monastery is assuredly a work of
great piety, yet, when a sovereign has ulterior views
about spiritual government and material revenues,
the lustre of his act is considerably dimmed. Avarice
is laid specially to the charge of the Conqueror by
contemporaries, but power and domination were far
dearer to him than gold, and he was determined to
have them at any cost, many as wTere his devices for
obtaining money. He could, therefore, afford to en-
courage the Church outwardly, as long as he considered
himself its guiding hand and leading spirit.
He nominated Normans to the vacant sees, so that,
in 1070, only two sees were governed by Saxons,
those of Worcester and Rochester. Wulstan, ishop
of Worcester, was the last Saxon saint. It is said
that William wished him to be deprived of his see,
and that Wulstan, accusing himself of airworthiness,
said he would willingly resign his crosier, but only
into St. Edward's hands. He fixed it in the stone
of the Confessor's tomb, and then it was found impossible
to withdraw it. The crosier yielded to
Wulstan alone. After this William looked upon
him with favour. St. Wulstan died in 1095.1
The most important measure with regard to t
Ch t by Wil w th foundat f
ecclesiastical courts, in which bishops and archdeacons
were to hear causes and to judge them by
1 Alban Butler, 19th Jan., vol. i.