THE SPELL OF GRAND MONARCHY 351

on his statue at Wantage beautifully sums up his great quali-
ties and services thus :

' Alfred found learning dead, and restored it. Education neglect-
ed, and he revived it. The laws powerless, and he gave them
force. The Church debased, and he raised it. The land ravaged
by a fearful enemy, from which he delivered it. Alfred's name
v;ill live as long as mankind shall repeat the past.'

Next after Alfred the most memorable monarch of England
was William the Conqueror (1066-87). Though a Norman,
and ruler as much of Normandy as of England (after his
victory over Harold at Senlac or Hastings, 1066), he left a
permanent mark over English history and institutions. He
gave England a strong government, curbed the evils cf feudal-
ism by the Salisbury Oath, effected the valuable and interest-
ing Domesday Survey, and, despite the Pope's support to his
English invasion, emphatically refused to do homage for his
kingdom. Pope Hildebrand (Gregory VII) accepted the
refusal without much protest as he could not afford to quarrel
with all princes at once. His hands were already full with
the dispute with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, as we
have already seen (pp. 266-68).

Further consolidation of the English monarchy took place
under William's great-grandson Henry II (1154-89). Being
the son of Count Geoffrey of Anjou,1 and having married
Eleanor of Aquitaine, he became ruler of vast dominions in
France as well. His chief achievements were the repression
•of feudal anarchy and the organisation of order and justice.
It was unfortunate that his attempts at centralisation of royal
authority should have resulted in the murder of Thomas
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury ; for it postponed the sub-
ordination of the Church to secular control which was finally

1. Son-in-law of Henry I (son of William the Conqueror).