Now, Henry of Blois was a great man. As papal legate, as Bishop of Winchester, and as brother to the captive king, he possessed an influence, in his triple capacity, which, at this eventful crisis, was probably unrivalled in the land. But there was one thing that he could not do—he could not presume, of his own authority, to depose or to nominate an English sovereign. Indeed the very fact of the subsequent election (April 8) and of his claim, audacious as it was, that that election should be the work of the clergy, proves that he had no thought of the even more audacious presumption to nominate the sovereign himself. This, then, is fatal to Mr. Birch's contention that the Empress was, on this occasion (March 3), elected "domina Angliæ." Indeed, as I have said, it is based on a confusion of the two episodes. The legate, as Mr. Birch truly says, "consented to recognize (_sic_) the Empress as _Domina Angliæ_, or Lady, that is, Supreme Governor of England," but, obviously, he could only do so on behalf of himself and of his followers. We ought, therefore, to compare his action with that of Miles of Gloucester in 1139, when, as we have seen, in the words of the Empress— "_Recepit_ me ut dominam et sicut illam quam justum hæredem regni Angliæ _recognovit_ ... et ibi homagium suum mihi fecit ligie contra omnes homines."[190] Notice here the identity of expression—the "reception" of the Empress and the "recognition" of her claims. I have termed the earlier episode the "reception," and the later the "election" of the Empress. In these terms is precisely expressed the distinction between the two events. Take for instances the very passages appealed to by Mr. Birch himself:— "The exact words employed by William of Malmesbury are 'Nec dubitavit Episcopus Imperatricem in Dominam Angliæ recipere' (_sic_). In another place the same Henry de Blois declares of her, 'In Angliæ Normanniæque Dominam eligimus' (_sic_). This regular election of Mathildis to the dignity and office of _Domina Angliæ_ took place on Sunday, March 2, A.D. 1141" (p. 378). Now we know, from William of Malmesbury himself, that "the regular election in question" took place on the 8th of April, and that the second of the passages quoted above refers to this later episode,[191] while the other refers to the earlier.[192] I have drawn attention to the two words (_recipere_ and _eligimus_) which he respectively applies to the "reception" and the "election." The description of this "reception" by William of Malmesbury[193] completely tallies with that which is given by the Empress herself in a charter.[194] It should further be compared with the account by the author of the _Gesta Stephani_, of the similar reception accorded to Stephen in 1135.[195]