among the bishoprics and abbacies, and there kept in confinement. After the king's death, the same abbat repurchased the abbey from his son, king William, for a sum of five hundred pounds of silver, and wandering about for some years among the possessions of that church, at a distance from the monastery itself, just as was befitting a homicide, died in misery. The monks assembled at Durham, by command of king William the Younger, on the seventh day before the calends of June, being the sixth day of the week.

69

On the fourth day before the nones of November, being the fifth day of the week, queen Matilda departed this life in Normandy, and was buried at Caen.

66

Thomas,70 by the grace of God archbishop of York, to the bishops and abbats, both those who now hold the said offices in England also as those who shall succeed them hereafter, and to all the archbishops, his successors for ever in the see of York, greeting: Inasmuch as it is our office to perform the duties of religion to all, so in especial are we bound to pay pious respect to those Saints of God, from whose bounty it is manifest that we have received especial benefits. Therefore, we having been chastened with the scourge of God, and having been parched in an incredible manner during a period of two years with weakness from the attacks of fever; and whereas all the physicians declared that it was evident that death alone would be the termination of our sufferings, and that there were no means by which they might counteract the evil effects of this prolonged weakness. Wherefore, being warned in a vision, groaning and weeping I passed a night at the tomb of Saint Cuthbert, where, being wearied out with disease and fatigue, I was overcome with sleep; upon which Saint Cuthbert appeared to me in a vision, and touching each of my limbs with his hands, rendered me, when I awoke, whole from all infirmity; and whereas, at the same time, he commanded me to be duteous to him in all respects, and requested that all things whatsoever in my diocese he or his should possess, should be free and discharged from all burdens whatso

69 This seems to allude to the monks of Glastonbury, who had been driven from the abbey by William the First, and placed in confinement; otherwise, the event is not inserted in its proper place.

70 There is probably an omission here, nothing being stated by way of introduction to this letter.

ever; and inasmuch as, having been aided by the mercies of the blessed confessor, I have been the more duteous to him, as it was more especially my bounden duty to pay him the greatest homage.-And whereas William, bishop of Durham, has brought a letter of pope Gregory the Seventh, from the Apostolic See, to the council of king William sitting at Westminster, and, with the consent of all, has obtained leave to remove the secular clergy from his church and substitute monks therein. Wherefore, greatly rejoicing at all these things, according to the precept of the abovenamed pope, and according to the command of our lord king William, and out of the love I am bound to owe to Saint Cuthbert, with the consent and permission of the chapter of York, and with the confirmation of the whole synod, I have given and granted, and by this present deed confirmed, and have afterwards, with my own hand, presented at the altar unto Saint Cuthbert, the letter underwritten, which is addressed to Saint Cuthbert and his bishop, and all the monks his servants-Know then, all persons, both present and to come, that I, Thomas, archbishop of York, in obedience to the precept of pope Gregory the Seventh, and with the ratification of our lord king William, and with the attestation thereto of the whole council of England, and with the consent of the chapter of York, do give and do grant unto God and Saint Cuthbert, and to all his bishops in succession, and to all the monks who shall be there in time to come, that all churches whatsoever, which at the present time they may happen to possess in my diocese, or which hereafter they shall canonically obtain by royal grant or gift of the faithful, or which they shall build upon their own lands, they shall hold free and entirely acquitted for ever by me and all my successors, of all claims which belong to me or to my successors. Wherefore, I will and command that they shall hold all their churches in their own hands, and possess them without molestation, and freely place in them their own vicars, who shall only consult me and my successors as to the faithful cure of souls, but them as to all other alms-deeds and benefits;-and further, I do grant, confirm, and command, that they, as well as their vicars, shall be for ever free and acquitted from all synodals," and from all aids, imposi

71 Payments made to the bishop by his clergy at the time of his visitation.

tions, rents, exactions, or hospices,72 both as regards myself and my deans and archdeacons, as well as the vicars and servants of us all. I do also forbid, under penalty of excommunication, that any person shall annoy them or their clergy, upon any pretence whatever, or compel them to go to synods or chapters, unless they shall be willing so to do of their own accord. But if any one shall have any complaint against them or theirs, let him repair to the court of Saint Cuthbert at Durham, that he may there receive such redress as he is entitled to. For, all the liberties and dignities which I or my successors shall be entitled to in our own churches or in our lands, we do freely grant for ever unto them and Saint Cuthbert in all their churches and lands, and without any deceit or gainsaying, I do, on behalf of myself and my successors, confirm the free and quiet possession thereof."

In the year 1084, pope Hildebrand, who was also called Gregory, departed this life. William, king of the English, levied upon every hide of land throughout England the sum of six shillings.

In the year 1085, Edmund, abbat of Pershore, a man of remarkable virtue, departed this life on the seventeenth day before the calends of July, being the Lord's day. In the same year, Canute, son of Sweyn, king of the Danes, prepared, with a strong fleet and the aid of his father-in-law, Robert, earl of Flanders, whose daughter he had married, to invade England; whereupon, king William, having levied many thousand soldiers throughout the whole of Gaul, foot and archers, and taking some from Normandy, in the autumn returned to England, and dispersing them throughout the whole kingdom, commanded the bishops, abbats, earls, barons, sheriffs, and royal bailiffs to supply them with provisions. But when he learned that his enemies were checked,73 he sent back part of his army, and part he retained with himself throughout the whole of the winter, and held his court at Gloucester during the Nativity of our Lord; in which place he gave bishoprics to his three chaplains, namely, that of London to Maurice, that of Thetford to William, and that of Chester to Robert.

72 64 Hospitio." A right on the part of certain persons to demand entertainment in religious houses.

73 Because there was a mutiny in the Danish fleet, which ended in the king being slain by his soldiers.

In the year 1086, king William caused the whole of England to be described, of how much land each of his barons was possessed, how many knights' fees, how many carrucates, how many villains, how many animals, and even how much ready money, each person possessed, throughout the whole of his kingdom, beginning from the highest down to the lowest, and how much rent each property could return: 74 the whole of the country being in a state of disturbance in consequence of the numerous murders occasioned thereby. After this, in the week of Pentecost, at Westminster, where he was holding his court, he knighted his son Henry, and shortly after ordered the archbishops, bishops, abbats, earls, barons, and sheriffs, with their soldiers, to meet him at Salisbury, on the calends of August; and on their coming thither, he compelled their knights to swear fealty to him against all men.

At this period, the Clito Edgar, having obtained leave of the king, passed over the sea with two hundred soldiers, and went to Apulia. His sister, Christiana, entered a monastery which has the name of Romsey, and assumed the habit of a nun. In the same year there was a murrain among animals, and a great pestilence in the air.

In the year 1087, the relics of Saint Nicolas were transferred from Myra to the city of Bar. In this year, Aldwin, prior of Durham, departed this life. A raging fire consumed many cities, and the church of Saint Paul, together with the largest and best part of London.

On Saturday, the sixth day before the ides of July, the Danes, in a certain church, conferred the honor of martyrdom on their king, Canute. In this year, Stigand, bishop of Chichester, Scolland, abbat of Saint Augustine's, Alfy, abbat of Bath, and Turstine, abbat of Pershore, departed this life. In the same year, before the Assumption of Saint Mary, king William entered France with an army, and burned with fire a city which is called Mantes, and all the churches therein, and two recluses, and then returned into Normandy. But, upon his return, a dreadful pain in the intestines attacked him; and, becoming weaker and weaker every day, when, as his illness increased, he saw that the day of his death was approaching, he released from confinement his brother, Odo, the bishop of Bayeux, earls Morcar and Roger, Siward, surnamed

7 These returns were entered in what is called Doomsday-Book.

Barn, and Wulnoth, the brother of king Harold, whom he had kept in confinement from his childhood, and all besides whom he had imprisoned, either in Normandy or England. After this, he gave the kingdom of England to his son William, and, to his eldest son, Robert, who was then in exile in France, he left the dukedom of Normandy And then, being fortified with the heavenly viaticum," after having reigned over the English nation twenty years, ten months, and twentyeight days, he parted with his kingdom and his life, on the fifth day before the ides of September, and, having been there interred, rests at Caen, in the church of Saint Stephen the Proto-martyr, which he had built from the foundation, and amply endowed.

WILLIAM THE YOUNGER.

On this, his son, William, repaired to England with all haste, taking with him Morcar and Wulnoth, but, shortly after his arrival at Winchester, he consigned them to the same strict confinement as before; after which, on the sixth day before the calends of October, being the Lord's day, he was consecrated king at Westminster, by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury. Then, returning to Winchester, he distributed the treasures of his father, as he himself had commanded, throughout England; that is to say, to some of the principal churches ten golden marks, to some six, and to some less. To each of the churches situate in country places 76 he ordered five shillings to be given, and crosses, altars, shrines, text-books," candlesticks, chalices, pipes, and various ornaments, embellished with gold, silver, 75 The consecrated wafer, administered to the dying, "in articulo mortis."

76 The words are "in villis sitis." The allusion is to the parish churches throughout the country.

77 This seems the best translation for "textos," which means the book of the Gospels, which was generally adorned with gold and jewels, and kept in the treasury of the monastery, and laid on the altar on Saints'days and Sundays.

78 Fistulas." Allusion is made to the pipes which (in the early centuries of the church, when the Holy Eucharist was administered to the laity in both kinds,) were used by the communicants for the purpose of sucking the wine out of the cup. The object of this seems to have been that, by the use of several pipes, more than one might partake of it at the same time.