this manner the pope acted like the archbishop--_siluit_: he was silent. It is for feeble governments that Rome reserves her energies. [125] Sacerdotes vero in castellis vel in vicis habitantes habentes uxores, non cogantur ut dimittant. Wilkins, Concilia, i. p. 367. [126] Nemo enim omnium regum, etiam paganorum.... Greg. lib vii. Ep. i. ad Hubert. [127] Pecunias sine honore tributas, quanti pretii habeam. Ibid. [128] Gemma principum esse meruisti. Greg. lib. vii. Epp. xxiii. ad Gulielm. [129] Facilius lenitatis dulcedine ac rationis ostensione, quam austeritate vel rigore justitiæ. Ibid. Ep. v. ad Hugonem. [Sidenote: CÆSAROPAPIA.] The Norman kings, desirous of strengthening their work, constructed Gothic cathedrals in the room of wooden churches, in which they installed their soldier-bishops, as if they were strong fortresses. Instead of the moral power and the humble crook of the shepherd, they gave them secular power and a staff. The religious episcopate was succeeded by a political one. William Rufus went even to greater lengths than his father. Taking advantage of the schism which divided the papacy, he did without a pope for ten years, leaving abbeys, bishoprics, and even Canterbury vacant, and scandalously squandering their revenues. Cæsaropapia (which transforms a king into a pope) having thus attained its greatest excess, a sacerdotal reaction could not fail to take place. The papacy is about to rise up again in England, and royalty to decline--two movements which are always found combined in Great Britain. CHAPTER V. Anselm's Firmness--Becket's Austerity--The King scourged--John becomes the Pope's Vassal--Collision between Popery and Liberty--The Vassal King ravages his Kingdom--Religion of the Senses and Superstition. We are now entering upon a new phase of history. Romanism is on the point of triumphing by the exertions of learned men, energetic prelates, and princes in whom extreme imprudence was joined with extreme servility. This is the era of the dominion of popery, and we shall see it unscrupulously employing the despotism by which it is characterized. [Sidenote: ANSELM.]