compelled to sell the treasures and privileges of the church of York (ib. c. 279), and this of course became a new source of complaint against him. Yet even now most of the cardinals were in his favour, and Eugenius was much distracted between the advice of his ‘senate’ and the commands of the abbot of Clairvaux. At last he found a pretext against William in the fact that William of Durham had not personally taken the pledges required by Pope Innocent. Until this was done he suspended William from his archiepiscopal functions.
Disgusted at his condemnation on a second trial for offences for which he had been already acquitted, William left Rome and found a refuge with his kinsman Roger the Norman, king of Sicily. He was entertained there by Robert of Salisbury (or Selby), the English chancellor of King Roger. Meanwhile his relatives and partisans in Yorkshire had revenged his wrongs by burning and plundering Fountains Abbey, the centre of the Cistercian opposition to him (Walbran, p. 101). This indiscreet violence added a new point to the passionate appeals of Bernard. In 1147 Murdac and the rest again appeared against William at a council held by Eugenius at Rheims. There, as the Bishop of Durham had omitted to purge the archbishop on his oath (Chron. de Mailros, s. a. Bannatyne Club), Eugenius finally deposed him from his see. The chapter were directed to proceed within forty days to a new election. As they could not agree on any one choice, Eugenius cut the matter short by consecrating at Trier Henry Murdac himself as archbishop of York (7 Dec. 1147). But such was William's popularity that Murdac obtained scanty recognition in Yorkshire, where king and people continued to maltreat his followers (Additions to Hugh the Chanter, p. 225).
William showed great resignation to his fate. His staunch friend Henry of Winchester gave him an asylum in his palace, and treated him with all the respect due to an archbishop. William made no complaints of his harsh treatment. He occupied himself in prayer and study. He renounced his former habits of luxury. As often as he could escape from the hospitable entertainment of Bishop Henry, he spent his days with the monks of Winchester, whose sanctity specially attracted him to eat and drink at their frugal table and sleep with them in their common dormitory (Ann. de Winton in Ann. Mon. ii.54). He remained at Winchester until the death of Bernard and Eugenius in 1153 again excited hopes in him of restitution. He again hurried to Rome, where, without reflecting on the judgment passed against him, he besought the new pope, Anastasius IV, to show him mercy. His friend, if not kinsman, Hugh of Puiset, who was also seeking at Rome his recognition as bishop of Durham, did his best to support William's requests. The famous Cardinal Gregory warmly espoused his cause. The death of Archbishop Murdac, on 14 Oct. 1153, made it easy for Anastasius to accede to William's prayers. Without questioning the legitimacy of Murdac's rule or reopening the suits decided against William, Anastasius was persuaded to pity his grey hairs and misfortunes. William was restored to the archbishopric, and for the first time received the pallium.
William now returned to England. Passing through Canterbury he is said to have designated the archdeacon Roger as his successor as archbishop. He next proceeded to Winchester, and celebrated the Easter feast of 1154 in the city where he had resided when young, and which had afforded him a refuge in his troubles. Thence he turned his course towards his diocese. As he approached York the new dean and his old enemy, Archdeacon Osbert, endeavoured to prevent his entrance into the city by declaring their intention of appealing against his appointment. But William proceeded on his way undismayed by their hostility. A great procession of clergy and laity welcomed him into the town. The wooden bridge over the Ouse gave way under the pressure of the crowd, and many were precipitated into the river; but the prayers of William saved, as men thought, the lives of every one of them. In after years a chapel dedicated to William was erected on the stone bridge now thrown over the river to commemorate so signal a miracle. He entered York on 9 May.
For the next month William ruled his church in peace, though the appeal of the chapter to Archbishop Theobald was fraught with fresh mischief. But William was no longer the worldling whose wealth and laxity had excited the suspicions of Cistercian zealots. With great humility he visited Fountains and promised full restitution for the injuries his partisans had inflicted upon the abbey. The official chroniclers of the abbey had in after times nothing to say against one who could make so complete a reparation (Walbran, i. 80). He also visited the new Cistercian foundation at Meaux, Yorkshire, and in its chapter-house solemnly confirmed the grants of Archbishop Murdac to the struggling community (Chron. de Melsa, i. 94, 108). On Trinity Sunday he was back at York, and when celebrating high mass in his cathedral
