A..D. 1095.] DEATH OF ST. WULSTAN. 373 pray thee now to give thy decision. Thou hast preserved thy dignity and established my innocence ; if then thou still hast the same opinion of me, confirm thy former sentence, give me back my staff, or if thy opinion is altered, show to whom it shall be given." With these words the saint tried to take the staff, but it anticipated his wishes, and yielded to his hand, as if it had been stuck in clay. The king and archbishop ran up to him, and on their knees begged his forgiveness, commending themselves to the prayers of the saint : but he, who had learned from the Lord to be mild and humble in heart, threw himself in his turn upon his knees before them, and prayed to receive a blessing from so great an archbishop. Then king William, kindling with devotion towards his saintly relative king Edward, with wonderful zeal adorned his holy tomb, covering it with workmanship of gold and silver. Of the death of St. Wuhtan. On another occasion, the man of God, Wulstan, was at a council held in Winchester, where, by command of king William, and with the consent of pope Alexander, he perseveringly reclaimed certain lands belonging to his see, which had been violently withheld by archbishop Aldred, when he was translated from the see of Worcester to this metropolitan see of York. He now demanded that justice should be done him, and at length it was determined that the dispute should remain in labeyance until some one should be appointed in the province of York to speak in its behalf. Not long after, Thomas, the king's chaplain, was consecrated to the see of York, and the complaint of Wulstan, bishop of Worcester, was again brought forward and settled in a council held at Pedred, before the king, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the nobles of the whole kingdom. All the arguments, however, were based on falsehood, for it was the object of Thomas and his party to humble the church of Worcester, and to reduce it in subjection to that of York ; but, by the just judgment of God, they were all brought to nothing and quashed by written evidence of the most conclusive nature, and the man of God Wulstan recovered not only all the possessions which he claimed, but succeeded in re-establishing, with the king's consent, the perfect freedom