Tudor historian Raphael Holinshed believed that the death of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1089 triggered a sorry decline in the character of King William II Rufus. Yet something happened to remind us that even the wicked can do good sometimes. It all began when two ambitious monks vying for control of a prestigious abbey came to see him.

The two monks tried to outdo each other in flattery and bribes, but William’s attention was riveted on another monk standing by, silent and unassuming. When asked what bribes he offered, he replied that he was not interested in money or power. No man, cried William, could more safely be entrusted with both, and awarded him the coveted abbot’s chair.

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