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the castle of Briges, and the castle of Ludlow, having expelled therefrom the keepers, who had long held charge of them, and gave them into the care of other keepers on behalf of the king.

After this, the said archbishop came to Coventry, and by the mandate of Celestinus, the Supreme Pontiff, reinstated the monks in the cathedral church of that city, whom Hugh de Nunant, the bishop of that place, had expelled from the said church by violence and an armed hand, and had instituted in their places canons secular, and endowed them with the property of the church, which had been bestowed for the sustenance of the monks there serving God; but the canons being now expelled, the property of the church was restored for the use of the monks.

The Letters Apostolic for the reinstatement of the monks in the church of Coventry.

"Celestinus, the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his dearly beloved sons the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of Lincoln, and the abbat of Saint Edmund's, health and the Apostolic benediction. Whereas it is our wish that such provisions as have been made by enactment by our predecessors with prudent deliberation, should in nowise be invalidated or infringed, so also it is our desire that such things as have been surreptitiously obtained from them to the detriment of ecclesiastical propriety should be corrected, and brought into a better state. Wherefore, inasmuch as, according as we have heard, or rather indeed, as we well know, the monastic order has been established in the church of Coventry, almost from the time of the first introduction of the Christian faith into England, and has performed therein with such well-regulated observance all duties, that it has been deemed deserving to receive privileges from the Apostolic See, and to be endowed and enriched by kings of England of famous memory, we are greatly afflicted that our venerable brother, the bishop of Chester (on the pretext of certain letters, which, as it is said, but we can hardly believe, he obtained by means of a false suggestion from our predecessor pope Clement, of blessed memory, without our concurrence, and that of our brethren), has with violence expelled our dearly beloved sons, the prior and community of monks, from the said monastery, and established canons secular therein. Now, inasmuch as the same 67 Bridgnorth. 68 See p. 257.

may redound to the disgrace of the monastic order and the discipline of the whole Church, and it is our belief that our said predecessor would not have granted his authority or favour to so great an irregularity, unless he had been imposed upon, we do by these Apostolic writings command your brotherhood, and do, in virtue of your obedience, strictly enjoin you, the letters aforesaid or other privileges of confirmation or indulgence in any way notwithstanding, to remove the secular clergy from the said monastery who have been instituted therein by the above-named bishop, and, without being impeded by any question or doubt whatsoever, to reinstate therein the monastic order, installing therein the monks who have been expelled, and who shall return thereto, as also such persons as are bound and desire to observe the rules of the order of Saint Benedict. You are also, by means of ecclesiastical censure, all power of appeal removed, to compel the aforesaid bishop, and all withholders of the property of the said church, to make restitution of the same. We do further will and command, that, relying on our authority, you will render null and void the presentations of the said bishop, as also the enfeoffments, leases, alienations, and purchases made by the said church since the time aforesaid, smiting those with canonical censure who shall presume to contravene the same, all obstacle of appeal removed; and that those who have laid violent hands upon the said monks you will denounce as excommunicated; and they must come for absolution to the Apostolic See, furnished with the testimony of your letters. Given, &c."

At the Nativity of our Lord, there came to Rouen, envoys from the archbishop of Cologne, envoys from the archbishop of Mentz, and envoys from the other nobles of Germany, to wait upon king Richard, and to inform him, on behalf of the persons aforesaid, that all the nobles of Germany would meet at Cologne on the eighth day before the calends of March, for the purpose of electing an emperor; and they enjoined him, in virtue of the oath and fealty by which he was bound to the emperor and to the Roman empire, all denial and pretext whatsoever laid aside, to come to Cologne at the time aforesaid, in order that he, as an especial member of the empire, might be with them on the occasion of their electing, by the help of God, a fit and proper emperor for the empire.

After hearing them, Richard, king of England, having fisrt conferred with his people, sent, with the aforesaid envoys of the Germans, Philip, bishop of Durham, Eustace, the bishop elect of Ely, William de Chimeli, the bishop elect of

Anjou, the bishop elect of Evreux, as also Baldwin de Bethune, the earl of Aumarle, William de Pratelles, William de L'Estang, and Brice, his chamberlain, that they might be present at the election of emperor in his stead. For he greatly feared to go thither, and once more to fall into their hands, unless security should be given him for a safe conduct going and returning. And no wonder, for he had not yet paid what he had promised to give to the nobles of the land for his liberation, and for his sake it was that the body of the emperor was lying unburied.

The king of England, however, used every possible endeavour that Henry, duke of Saxony, his nephew, might be made emperor. But as he had not yet returned from his pilgrimage, and delay brought danger with it, the said king of England wrought so effectually with the archbishops of Cologne and Mentz, and some of the other principal men of Germany, that they elected his nephew Otho, brother of the before-named duke of Saxony, emperor. It deserves to be known, that in the election of the emperor of the Romans, the mode of procedure is as follows:

The manner of electing the Emperor of the Romans.

On the death of the emperor, the archbishops, bishops, abbats, dukes, counts, and all the other nobles of Germany, meeting together, elect twelve persons in common, and present them to the archbishop of Cologne, the archbishop of Mentz, the duke of Saxony, and the Count Palatine of the Rhine; and whosoever these four elect from the twelve so selected as aforesaid, is to be the king of the Germans, and to be crowned as such at the Chapel of Hays, where Charles the Great lies buried.

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Accordingly, the before-named Otho, being one of the twelve persons so selected in common, as aforesaid, on the urgent prayers and intercession made by Richard, king of England, [on his election,] was received by the archbishops of Cologne and Mentz, and was crowned by them king of the Germans, at Aix-la-Chapelle, in presence of the dukes of Lemburg, Louvaine, and many other dukes and many bishops, Baldwin, earl of Flanders, being also present, and Henry, count of Namur, his brother, and many other counts. On this, the said Otho took to wife the daughter of the duke of Louvaine, and on the day of the coronation of the said Otho, she sat together with him on the royal throne, but was not crowned at that time.

68 Aix-la-Chapelle.

Henry, duke of Saxony, also Count Palatine of the Rhine, the brother of the before-named Otho, after his return from the land of Sulia, sanctioning what had been done with reference to his brother, and expressing his gratification thereat, confirmed his election. But, as Philip, duke of Suabia, son of Frederic, the former emperor of the Romans, and brother of Henry, emperor of the Romans, lately deceased, was one of the twelve selected, he would not agree to his election, but attacked Otho in every way he possibly could; and although Otho defeated him in a pitched battle, he still refused to desist from his attempts.

In the same year, Aimerie, archdeacon of Durham, disseised the monks of the church of Durham of the vill which is called Hersewell, which Henry Pudsey had given them as a free and perpetual alms-gift, for the maintenance of monks at Finchale, for the service of God. His servants, who had been sent for the purpose of making the said disseisin, broke open the doors of the monks' dwellings, and, with violence, ejected the monks they found there. When, however, the said Aimeric was asked if this violence had been committed by his orders, he answered, "No:" on which, the monks of Durham, having convened the clergy and people of the city in the church of Saint Cuthbert, excommunicated the perpetrators of this violence, as also their advisers and abettors, with candles lighted and the great bells of the church ringing.

In the same year, Richard, king of England, through Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, required that the people of the kingdom of England should find for him three hundred knights to remain in his service one year, or else give him so much money as to enable him therewith to retain in his service three hundred knights for one year, namely, three shillings per day, English money, as the livery of each knight. While all the rest were ready to comply with this, not daring to oppose the king's wishes, Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, a true worshipper of God, who withheld himself from every evil work, made answer, that, for his part, he would never in this one matter acquiesce in the king's desires, both because, in process of time, it would redound to the detriment of his church, as also, because his successors would say: "Our fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." " And, turning to Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, he urgently recommended him to 69 Jer. xxxi. 29; Ezek. xviii. 2.

do nothing of which he would be ashamed, "By reason whereof shame might place a mark on his forehead, and selfaccusation torture his mind, or disgrace blemish the glories of his fair name.'

In the same year, queen Eleanor, the mother of Richard, king of England, came to Rouen, and sent for Hugh FitzErnest de Neville and the other keepers who had charge of Philip, bishop of Beauvais, in the fortress of Rouen, and begged them, for the love they bore her, to allow the said bishop to come to her lodging to speak to her: and, although it was a perilous matter for them, still, being unable to resist the queen's entreaty, they allowed the said bishop, in fetters, to go beyond the gates of the fortress, while they accompanied him. Now, it so happened that they had to pass by the porch of a certain church; to the door of which, although it was closed, the said bishop ran as fast as he could, and, seizing the knocker of the said church, cried with a loud voice, saying, "I seek the protection of God and of the Church." At these words, his guards, being greatly alarmed, laid hands on him, and, dragging him away from the door of the church, led him to the fortress whence he had come, and kept him in still stricter custody, imputing it to the queen that this had been done by her advice. On hearing of this, the king of England sent the said bishop to Chinon, to be kept in closer confinement.

In the same year, Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated Eustace, bishop of Ely, at London, on the Lord's Day on which is sung "Latare Jerusalem,' ,"71 the ceremony being performed at Westminster, on the eighth day before the ides of March.

In the same year, pope Celestinus, sinking nder the weight of old age and a grievous malady, departed this life, at Rome, in the month of January, on the sixth day before the ides of the said month, being the sixth day of the week, in the seventh year of his papacy, and was buried at the Lateran. On the day after his death, the cardinals, meeting together, elected as Supreme Pontiff Lothaire, a cardinal deacon, a young man, about thirty years old or a little more, who assumed the name of pope Innocent. Immediately after his election, he wrote

70"Unde pudor frontem signet, mentemque reatus

Torqueat, aut famæ titulos infamia lædat."

71 The beginning of the introit for the fourth Sunday in Lent.