xi., in Wharton’s _Anglia Sacra_, tom. ii. p. 169), it would seem that Anselm thought that he was the direct cause, through God, of his death. Wace, quoted by Sharon Turner (vol. iv. p. 169), says that a woman prophesied to Henry his speedy accession to the throne; but I am not inclined to put any faith in this story, especially as Wace’s account is in poetry, where a prophetical speech might after the event be given dramatically true, without being so historically. The same criticism must be applied to the still more detailed account of Gaimar, who vaguely accuses Tiril of conspiracy. No one, however, was likely to declare, for so many reasons, that the King was murdered. We must not expect such a statement, or even look for it in the Chroniclers; we must seek for it in the contradictions, and absurdities, and prophecies which have gathered round the event. [132]Let no one be startled at the fact of ecclesiastics being assassins. We have on record during this very reign the deliberate confessions by monks of plots to murder their abbots, deeming they were doing God a service. We must further keep steadily in mind that prelates then united in their own persons both sacred and military offices. How much Henry was under the influence of the monasteries his marriage and his various appointments show. Their power was enormous. In fact, I believe that the Conqueror owed his success as much to them as Rufus his death, and Henry his crown. [133]At the time of his death he held in his hand the archbishopric of Canterbury, the bishoprics of Winchester and Salisbury, besides eleven abbacies, all let out to rent. _The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 364. [134]_The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 356. [135]William of Malmesbury, Ed. Hardy, tom. ii., lib. iv., sect. 306, p. 488. [136]The same, tom. ii., lib. iv., sect. 319, p. 502. [137]_The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 362. [138]Suger: _Vita Lud. Grossi Regis_, cap. i. (to be found, as before, in Bouquet, tom. xii. p. 12 E.) See, also, John of Salisbury: _Vita Anselmi_; Migne: _Patrologiæ Cursus Completus_, tom. cxcix., cap. xii., p. 1031 B.; or, as before, in Wharton’s _Anglia Sacra_, tom. ii. p. 170. [139]Quoted by Sharon Turner: _History of England_, vol. iv. p. 167. See, as before, Migne: tom. cxcix., cap. xii., p. 1031 B. [140]The word, however, is going out of use, and is more generally now softened into hill. We meet with it in the perambulation of the Forest made in the twenty-second year of Charles II.—“The same hedge reaches Barnfarn from the right hand, right by Helclose, as far as to a certain corner called Hell Corner.” [141]For the geology of this part of the Forest see chapter xx.