William the Conqueror, says a modern writer, "patronised and loved letters. He filled the bishoprics and abbacies of England with the most learned of his countrymen, who had been educated at the University of Paris, at that time the most flourishing school in Europe. Many of the Norman prelates preferred in England by the Conqueror were polite scholars. Godfrey, Prior of St. Swithin's, at Winchester, a native of Cambray, was an elegant Latin epigrammatist, and wrote with the smartness and ease of Martial; a circumstance which, by the way, shows that the literature of the monks at this period was of a more liberal cast than that which we commonly annex to their character and profession." [Illustration: CHAIRS. (_Cotton MS. Tib. C._ 6.)] William founded the abbeys of Battle and Selby, with other religious houses, and endowed them with ample revenues. Many of his nobles were incited by his example to the erection of monasteries upon their estates. These institutions, which afforded leisure and protection to men of letters, acted as powerful incentives to the pursuit of learning, and promoted in no small degree the interest of literature. [Illustration: SAXON IVORY COMB AND CASE, FOUND AT YORK. LENGTH 5½ INCHES. (_British Museum._)] The art of the sculptor had made little progress in Europe previous to the tenth century. Two centuries later, the Burgundian school was in its zenith, and enriched the churches and monasteries of France with many admirable specimens of sculpture. Bernard II., Abbé of Montier-Saint-Jean, in rebuilding the door of his church, caused it to be adorned with representations of the Saviour and the twelve apostles; and in other instances the arts were applied to decorate the religious houses, or the graves of the illustrious dead. In Normandy we find at this period the names of several sculptors celebrated for their works. Among these was Otho, the sculptor of the tomb of William the Conqueror, in 1087, and other monuments of a similar kind; Azo, builder of the cathedral of Sens, and of several others. The masons and sculptors of Normandy formed at this epoch an important corporation. [Illustration: NORMAN VESSEL. (_From Strutt._)] At the beginning of the twelfth century, when the Normans became securely established in their conquests, they displayed the utmost activity in the erection of magnificent buildings both in England and Normandy. According to William of Malmesbury,[3] churches rose up in every village, and monasteries in the towns and cities, built in a style unknown before. "You might behold ancient buildings restored upon their sites throughout the country, so that each wealthy man considered that day as lost to him, on which he neglected to perform some magnificent action."