Thus it was that the misgovernment of our Angevin Kings called forth among all the natives of the land an universal spirit of revolt against the domination of strangers within the realm. And they called forth the spirit of revolt in another way, a way hardly less important, by their base subserviency to a foreign power in ecclesiastical matters. I have here nothing to do with theological dogmas, with their truth or their falsehood, but the ecclesiastical position of the nation forms a most important aspect of its history throughout these times. In Old-English times there can be no doubt as to the existence of an effective supremacy in ecclesiastical matters on the part of the Crown. The King was the Supreme Governor of the Church, because he was the Supreme Governor of the Nation. The Church and the Nation were absolutely the same; the King and his Witan dealt with ecclesiastical questions and disposed of ecclesiastical offices by the same right by which they dealt with temporal questions and disposed of temporal offices(24). The Bishop and the Ealdorman, each appointed by the same authority, presided jointly in the assembly of the shire, and the assembly over which they presided dealt freely both with ecclesiastical and with temporal causes. One of the few formal changes in our Law which took place in the days of the Conqueror was the separation of the two jurisdictions of the Bishop and the Ealdorman. One of William’s extant laws ordained the establishment, according to continental models, of distinct ecclesiastical courts for the trial of ecclesiastical causes (25). But more important than this formal change was the practical result of the Conquest in bringing England into closer connexion than before with the See of Rome. The enterprise of the Conqueror was approved by Hildebrand, and it was blessed by the Pope in whose name Hildebrand already ruled(26). While William lived, the royal supremacy remained untouched, and, allowing for his position in a conquered land, we may fairly say that it was not abused. But in meaner hands the ancient power of the Crown as the representative of the nation was often abused and often disputed. Quarrels arose as to the limits of the ecclesiastical and the civil power such as had never been heard of in the old times. And we must remember that claims which seem utterly monstrous now were far from seeming monstrous in a state of things so wholly unlike our times. Even the claim of the clergy to an exemption from temporal jurisdiction in criminal cases had a very different look then from what it has now. The privilege thus claimed was by no means confined to the priesthood; it took in a large part of those among the people who were least able to defend themselves(27). And when we think of the horrible punishments, death, and mutilations worse than death, which the courts of our Angevin Kings freely inflicted for very slight offences, we can understand that men looked favourably on the