Note 632 — Chapter VIII · THE EARLY YEARS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.[497] A.D. 1028–1051.

Ord. Vit. 460 A. “Quisque potentum se derisione dignum judicabat, si clericos aut monachos in suâ possessione ad Dei militiam rebus necessariis non sustentabat.” So also Will. Gem. vii. 22. “Unusquisque optimatum certabat in prædio suo ecclesias fabricare, et monachos qui pro se Deum rogarent rebus suis locupletare.” Each adds a long list of the foundations of the time. The expressions “clerici” and “ecclesias fabricare” would seem to apply to parish churches also. But few parish churches of so early a date exist in Normandy. The great mass seem to have been built or rebuilt in the next century.