laymen, or to do them homage. A council held at Rome entirely condemned
this practice; and the condemnation was the less unpopular, because the
investiture gave rise to frequent and flagrant abuses, especially in
England, where the sees were on this pretence with much scandal long
held in the king's hands, and afterwards as scandalously and publicly
sold to the highest bidder. So it had been in the last reign, and so it
continued in this.

Henry, though vigorously attacked, with great resolution maintained the
rights of his crown with regard to investitures, whilst he saw the
Emperor, who claimed a right of investing the Pope himself, subdued by
the thunder of the Vatican. His chief opposition was within his own
kingdom. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, a man of unblamable life, and
of learning for his time, but blindly attached to the rights of the
Church, real or supposed, refused to consecrate those who received
investitures from the king. The parties appealed to Rome. Rome,
unwilling either to recede from her pretensions or to provoke a powerful
monarch, gives a dubious answer. Meanwhile the contest grows hotter.
Anselm is obliged to quit the kingdom, but is still inflexible. At last,
the king, who, from the delicate situation of his affairs in the
beginning of his reign, had been obliged to temporize for a long time,
by his usual prudent mixture of management with force obliged the Pope
to a temperament which seemed extremely judicious. The king received
homage and fealty from his vassal; the investiture, as it was generally
understood to relate to spiritual jurisdiction, was given up, and on
this equal bottom peace was established. The secret of the Pope's
moderation was this: he was at that juncture close pressed by the
Emperor, and it might be highly dangerous to contend with two such
enemies at once; and he was much more ready to yield to Henry, who had
no reciprocal demands on him, than to the Emperor, who had many and just