of their errand by any man beyond the innermost cabal of the King's special counsellors.[1]
Urban at Cremona. April 10, 1095.
Dealings of Gerard and William with Urban.
The Sicilian "Monarchy."
Their mission is said to have been to Rome; but the
name Rome must be taken in a conventional sense for
any place where the Pope might be. It is not likely that
they really reached the Eternal City. In the former
part of April Urban was at Cremona, and was received
there with great state by the rebel King Conrad.[2] The
momentary effort of Henry which followed, his vain
attempt on Nogara, only raised the position of Urban
and the Great Countess yet higher.[3] It was most likely
at Cremona that the ministers from England met
Urban. They were to try, if possible, to win over the
Pontiff, by gifts, by promises, by any means, to send a
pallium to England for the King to bestow on the Archbishop
of Canterbury, without mentioning the name of
Anselm. They were, it seems, to try to obtain for the
King a legatine authority like that which, then or later,
had been granted to the Norman princes of Sicily.[4]Romam miserat, Romanæ
statum ecclesiæ per eos volens certo dinoscere."]ecclesiæ, et statutis apostolicis, maxime de investituris
in spiritalibus officiis a laico non usurpandis."]
- ↑ Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 32. "Siquidem ipse rex, ubi sensit Anselmum suæ voluntatis in præscripto negotio nolle obtemperare, clam et Anselmo ignorante, eosdem clericos [Girardum et Willielmum
- ↑ Bernold (Pertz, v. 461) gives the details. The part which most concerns us is that the King and future Emperor is received only "salva justitia illius [Romanæ
- ↑ Bernold merely glances at this matter. It will be found described more at length in the hexameters of Donizo, ii. 9, Muratori, v. 374; and in the prose life of Matilda, 13, Muratori, v. 395.
- ↑ Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 32. "Scire veritatem hujus rei Romam missi sunt hii duo clerici, eaque cognita, jussi sunt sacris promissionibus illectum ad hoc si possent papam perducere, ut ipsi regi ad opus archiepiscopi Cantuariensis pallium, tacita persona Anselmi, destinaret, quod ipse rex, Anselmo a pontificatu simul et regno dejecto, cui vellet cum pontificatu vice apostolici postmodum daret." The formal grant of the hereditary legation to Count Roger comes somewhat later, being given by Urban himself in 1099. (See William of Malaterra, iv. 29, Muratori, v. 602.) But the language used seems to imply that some such power practically existed already.
