A HISTORY OF LONDON caused him to put up in St. Paul's a new tablet to the memory of Bishop WilHam/^ Since the end of the 9th century the importance of the Bishop of London had been steadily growing with that of the City, and in 1075 it was decided that in Church councils the Bishop of London should sit on the left of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York being on his right," while in the absence of the Archbishop of York the Bishop of London was to sit on the right and the Bishop of Winchester on the left. Bishop William died in the same year, and was succeeded by Hugh D'Orivalle, whose episcopate was followed by that of Maurice the king's chancellor. Maurice's chief work was to begin the rebuilding of St, Paul's on a scale of great magnificence.^' During his episcopate the contest concerning the marriage of the clergy was at its height. Anselm, who succeeded to Canterbury in 1093, was even stricter on the question than his predecessor, and a council held at London in 1 102 absolutely prohibited marriage, and further decreed that sons of rectors were not to inherit their fathers' churches,^' a practice which seems to have been common in London. In the 12th century certain churches were given to St. Paul's, Westminster, and Christchurch Canterbury, by priests and deacons as of their patrimony, sons in some cases confirming their fathers' gifts ; *" for example, between 1 1 15 and i 141 Aelmund priest gave to the canons of St. Paul's hereditarie ( ? as a heritage) the small church of St. Giles without the walls" after his own death and that of his only son Hugh, promis- ing to pay them i 2.d. a year, and that his son after his death should pay is. Clerical marriage was so common that Pope Paschal in 1107 dispensed for England the rule prohibiting the admission of sons of priests to ecclesiastical offices because ' the greater and better part of the clergy in England were the sons of priests.'^' The king took the matter in hand in 1105, in Anselm's absence abroad, and allowed the clergy to compound for their wives with money; his ministers, however, not obtaining as much from this source as they had expected, imposed a general tax on all churches with parishes, but this was found such a burden that when the king himself came to London ' nearly two hundred priests, vested with albs and sacerdotal stoles, went to the palace of the king with bare feet, imploring him with one voice to have mercy on them.' When the king refused to hear them they went to the queen and begged her intercession, but though she was moved to tears she dared not intervene.^' The canons against clerical marriage and the practice of heredi- tary benefices were reiterated in every council to the end of the i 3th century,** and though neither practice appears to have been general in London after the 1 2th century, the Bishop of London in 1223 received a papal mandate to '" Mun. Gildhallae (Rolls Sen), i, 26 ( ii (i), 246, 247, 504 ; Stotd's Survey (ed. 1633), 359. " Wilkins, Concilia, , 363. The work was not completed till late in the 13th century. See under St. Paul's in 'Religious Houses.' " Wilkins, Concilia, i, 382.
- • Hisl. MSB. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, zoa, 61a, 62b, b'ia, 64 ; Lit. Cant. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 357 ; Dej>.
Keeper's Rep. xxix, App. 34 ; D. and C. St. Paul's A. Box 70, no. 1762 ; A. Box 8, no. 970 ; D. and C. Westm. Bk. II, fol. 501 ; Guildhall MS. 122, fol. 556. "' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 62. " Eadmer, Hist. Nov. (Rolls Ser.), 185. ^' Ibid. 172. " Wilkins, Concilia, passim. 176
