20 THE ANNALS OF ROGER DE HOVEDEN. COMPRISING THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND OF OTHER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE FROM A.D. 732 TO A.D. 1201. TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY HENRY T. RILEY, Esq., B.A. BARRISTER-AT-LAW. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. A.D. 1181 TO A.D. 1201. LONDON: H. G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. THE ANNALS OF ROGER DE HOVEDEN. THE SECOND PART-CONTINUED. IN the year of grace 1181, being the twenty-seventh year of the reign of king Henry, son of the empress Matilda, the said king was at Le Mans, on the day of the Nativity of our Lord. After this festival, he enacted throughout all his territories, beyond sea, that every man who had a hundred pounds of money Anjouin, in chattel property, should keep a horse and a complete set of military accoutrements; that every man who had chattel property to the amount of forty, thirty, or twenty-five pounds Anjouin, at the least should have a hauberk, an iron head-piece, a lance and a sword; while all other persons were to have a gambeson,' an iron head-piece, a lance and a sword, or a bow and arrows; and he forbade any person to sell or pledge his arms; but on his death he was to leave the same to his next heir. When Philip, king of France, and Philip, earl of Flanders, came to hear of this, they ordered that their men should arm themselves in a similar manner. In the same year, after the Purification of Saint Mary, Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, came into Normandy, bringing with him the son of Roderic, king of Connaught, and delivered him to the king of England as a hostage for the performance of the treaty made between him and the king of Connaught, as to the payment of tribute by Ireland; shortly after which the said archbishop of Dublin died at Auc, in Normandy, and was buried there. After his decease, the king of England sent to Ireland 1 The gambeson, or wambais, or subarmale, was made of quilted stuff, and formed the body armour of the burgesses. VOL. II. B Geoffrey de Haye, his own secretary, and the secretary of Alexis, the legate in Ireland, to take possession of the archbishopric of Dublin, and also sent with them John, the constable of Chester, and Richard of the Peak, to take charge of the city of Dublin, of which Hugh de Lacy had had the keeping. For our lord the king was unwilling that he should any longer have charge of it, because he had, without his permission, married the daughter of the king of Connaught, according to the usage of that country. In the same year, our lord the pope most strictly commanded Richard, the archbishop of Canterbury, all pretexts and excuses laid aside, under pain of ecclesiastical censure, to compel Geoffrey, the bishop elect of the church of Lincoln, and son2 of our lord the king of England, either to renounce his election, or without delay to take priest's orders, and assume the dignity of the pontifical office. On this, Geoffrey being placed in a dilemma, sensible of his own insufficiency, and considering that he was not competent to perform the duties of so arduous an office, preferred to renounce the episcopal office, rather than undertake to bear a burden which he could not support. Accordingly, he wrote to Richard, the archbishop of Canterbury, to the following effect. The Letter of Geoffrey, bishop of Lincoln elect, on his resignation of that bishopric. "To the venerable father and lord Richard, by the grace of God, archbishop of Canterbury, and legate of the Apostolic See, Geoffrey, son and chancellor of our lord the king of England, health and all due and duteous respect. It has pleased his Apostolic Majesty to instruct your holiness to call upon me within a certain time to take priest's orders and to assume the dignity of the pontifical office. Now upon considering how many bishops of more mature years, and more advanced in wisdom, are still hardly of an age to prove themselves equal to the requirements of such a weighty office, and are scarcely able to fulfil the duties of their pontificate without danger to souls, I have been alarmed at myself, who am so much younger, assuming a burden, which those more advanced in years are unable to bear, not doing so from any levity of feeling, but from a feeling of respect for my Vows. Having therefore had an interview hereon, with our lord the king, my father, and my lords and brothers the king 2 Illegitimate son. He was afterwards archbishop of York. and the earls of Poitou and Brittany, and Henry, bishop of Bayeux, Froger, bishop of Seez, Reginald, bishop of Bath, Sigfred, bishop of Chichester, who were present, I have come to a different determination as to my mode of life and profession, wishing for a time to serve in a military capacity under the orders of the king, my father, and to refrain from interfering in episcopal matters. Accordingly, most holy father, I do spontaneously, freely, and entirely, resign into your hands all rights consequent upon my election, as also the see of Lincoln; requesting of you as being my metropolitan, and for this purpose especially delegated by the Apostolic See, absolution both from the said election and from holding the said bishopric. Farewell." In like manner, the said bishop elect of Lincoln wrote to the canons of the church of Lincoln, asking of them absolution both from the said election and from holding the said bishopric. After this, our lord, the king, by whose advice his son Geoffrey had resigned his election into the hands of the archbishop of Canterbury, gave him his chancellorship and a yearly revenue of five hundred marks in England, and the same in Normandy. In this year, Saladin, the king of Babylon, seeing that Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, being smitten with leprosy, had not strength to resist him, raising a great force, came into the land of Jerusalem, and laid it waste, and there was no person to make any resistance to him. In the same year, the king of England was at Chinon during the festival of Easter; and after Easter returned into Normandy, and held a conference with Philip, king of France, at Vé Saint Remy, on the fifth day before the calends of May, being the second day of the week; at which the Templars and Hospitallers of Jerusalem presented to the beforenamed kings letters from Alexander, the Supreme Pontiff, to the following effect: The Letter of pope Alexander on the necessity of giving aid to the land of Jerusalem. Alexander, the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his dearly beloved sons, those noble men, the dukes and princes, earls, barons, and all the faithful servants of God, to whom these letters shall come, health and the Apostolic benediction. The sinister rumours which, according to the universal report of those passing this way, have reached us from the land of |