Note 786 — Chapter XIII · THE NEGOTIATIONS OF DUKE WILLIAM.[752] January–August, 1066.

Ib. “Accipere solitus est avido auditu suavique gustu sacræ paginæ sermones, iis, ut animæ epulum sumeret, delectari desiderans, castigari, atque edoceri. Sumebat et honorabat condecenti reverentiâ hostiam salutarem, Dominicum sanguinem.” I do not know that the word “auditu” absolutely proves that William could not read, but it looks like it. He was however fully aware of the advantages of learning, even in laymen. See vol. ii. p. 274. This passage is also to be noticed as one among several which show that communion in both kinds was still allowed. The Archdeacon goes on to extol his sovereign’s orthodoxy in the matter of Transubstantiation, and to tell how he drove from his dominions the heresy which thought otherwise—“aliter sentientem pravitatem”—that is doubtless the teaching of Berengar. See vol. ii. pp. 116, 227.