Word: williame
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...eleventh century is famous as having been the time of two men, of whom the one was conqueror of England, and the other was savior of the Church. Duke William is popularly believed to have had the qualities of a strategist and of a statesman, in addition to rare ability in conducting a pitched fight. Hildebrand is universally admitted to have been the ideal of an ecclesiastical hero: he had one purpose directing all the actions of his life, which was to make the Papal Church the supreme principality; he laid his plots deep, and was quick to seize every...
...thus see that the conquest of England was but one of a series of great preparations then being made throughout Europe for the accomplishment of a single purpose. William is reduced to the stature of ordinary men. He now appears to have been little more than a greedy dare-devil, who was capable of performing his master's bidding with alacrity and thoroughness. But Hildebrand becomes incomparably great. The conception of his character startles us by its novelty. Napoleon believed himself to be the creature of destiny, and claimed only the merit of struggling heroically to take each step...
...regard to the correctness of this view, that Hildebrand was the true conqueror of England, several doubts arise spontaneously in the mind of one who has heard merely a general statement of the case. First, is it not better, in the nature of things, to suppose that William and Hildebrand had independent plans, which happened to coincide in some particulars, than to suppose that William was a mere tool of the Roman...
...William's aspiration to succeed Ed ward the Confessor known publicly before Hilde brand acquired his paramount influence at Rome
...Hildebrand refused the aid asked by William, was there not danger that the Emperor would gain the powerful support of the Normans...