This famous convent, which deserves on more than one occasion credit for having set a courageous example of opposition to tyranny, was a very ambitious and disorderly body; and just at this moment, having compelled Archbishop Hubert to pull down his grand new church at Lambeth, they, or a part of them, were quite intoxicated with conceit. It was always a great object with them to have a monk for archbishop; such a leader would extend their privileges and foster their ideas of independence. So now, during the night following Hubert’s death, the younger monks--no doubt a majority of the body--elected the sub-prior, Reginald, as archbishop, and, without asking the royal consent, sent him off at once to Rome to ask for the archiepiscopal pall and consecration. No sooner had Reginald crossed the Channel than, forgetting the promise of secrecy with which his electors had bound him, he gave out that he was the new archbishop, and the news came back to England. [Sidenote: Nomination of John de Gray. ] John was very angry; he had intended his minister John de Gray, Bishop of Norwich, to be Hubert’s successor; the bishops were angry because their prescriptive and equitable right was disregarded; the senior monks were angry because they had been betrayed by the juniors, and the juniors because Reginald by his imprudent vanity had caused the premature discovery of their schemes. So all parties appealed to the Pope; and John, without waiting to hear what became of the appeal, had his nominee elected and put in possession of the estates of the see. [Sidenote: Conduct of Innocent III. ] [Sidenote: Consecration of Stephen Langton, 1207. ]