, the reigning pope, for embracing William's quarrel,
that he alone had made an appeal to his tribunal, and rendered him
umpire of the dispute between him and Harold; but there were other
advantages which that pontiff foresaw must result from the conquest of
England by the Norman arms. That kingdom, though at first converted
by Romish missionaries, though it had afterwards advanced some farther
steps towards subjection to Rome, maintained still a considerable
independence in its ecclesiastical administration; and forming a world
within itself, entirely separated from the rest of Europe, it had
hitherto proved inaccessible to those exorbitant claims which supported
the grandeur of the papacy. Alexander therefore hoped, that the French
and Norman barons, if successful in their enterprise, might import into
that country a more devoted reverence to the holy see, and bring the
English churches to a nearer conformity with those of the continent. He
declared immediately in favor of William's claim; pronounced Harold
a perjured usurper; denounced excommunication against him and his
adherents; and the more to encourage the duke of Normandy in his
enterprise, he sent him a consecrated banner, and a ring with one of St.
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