Curialia Miscellanea, or Anecdotes of Old Times / Regal, Noble, Gentilitial, and Miscellaneous: Including Authentic Anecdotes of the Royal Household, and the Manners and Customs of the Court, at an Early Period of the English History

by Samuel Pegge

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

Had business enough upon his hands to employ his time, without thinking of such a matter as this; but however, that he might, in quieter times, enjoy this Kingly attribute (though only a Bastard Son of a Territorial Duke), Voltaire tells us, that some dependants endeavoured to persuade the world, that this Gift was bestowed upon him from Heaven[194]. Whether he ever exercised it does not appear. Nothing but a special bounty of Heaven could convey to him this privilege; and such interference was necessary; for it was anciently held not to be inherent in any but lawful Kings, and not to extend to Usurpers; so that it must have slept during all the wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster, till resumed by Henry VII. as will be mentioned in its place.