In spite then of his unamiable character; of the difficulties which had beset him from his somewhat questionable title; of the natural impulse towards feudal isolation of his barons; of troublesome neighbours; and occasional want of success in his expeditions; Rufus had on the whole succeeded in his plans, as far as his external circumstances were concerned. It was in his domestic government, especially with regard to the Church, that his inferiority to his great father is most obvious. Unlike the Conqueror, he was unable to see, or if he saw, to care for the national advantages which sprung from a well-organized Church. With a similar determination to be a perfect king in his own dominions, he asserted that opinion by violent acts against the Church itself, by appointments of the worst description, and by a life from which all show of decency was banished. As long as Lanfranc lived, he kept some restraint upon himself, but upon his death he began to show his real temper. [Sidenote: Disputes with the Church.] [Sidenote: Bishoprics left vacant.] [Sidenote: Repenting after illness, he makes Anselm Archbishop.] [Sidenote: Anselm unwillingly accepts. 1093.] [Sidenote: Anselm’s reforms.] [Sidenote: William opposes him.] It was a critical time in the history of the Church. The quarrel about investitures was raging in Europe. The skill of Lanfranc and the power of the Conqueror had, as we have seen, prevented the quarrel from reaching England during that King’s reign; and to the end of Gregory’s life, 1085, he had kept up friendly, even flattering, relations with the English King. When Henry IV. had, in 1080, raised the Anti-Pope Guibert to the Papal throne under the name of Clement III., Lanfranc had contrived not to commit himself to either party, but, on the whole, it is probable, that during his life the regular Popes, Victor III. and Urban II., who succeeded him in 1088, were acknowledged in England. On his death advantage was taken of the Schism practically to acknowledge neither Pope, and to leave the abbeys and bishoprics vacant. Indeed, we are told that it was openly asserted that it was a privilege of the King of England to acknowledge the Pope or not as he pleased. Thus for four years the archbishopric was unfilled, along with several other important ecclesiastical preferments, and the want of discipline in the Church grew worse and worse. Ralph Flambard, as administrator of the diocese of Lincoln, was unlimited in his extortions. The Norman Church dignitaries marched between lines of armed men to church. The Bishop of Wells demolished the houses of the canons to build his own palace, and even the religious and moral scruples of the English monks were laughed at by their licentious superiors. In 1093 the King fell very ill, and for the time became repentant and religious; he proceeded to listen to the wishes of his people and fill up the vacant appointments. The most important of these was the archbishopric.