a large army, entered Moray, for the purpose of warring against Harold Macmanud50 who had taken possession of that territory; but before the king arrived in Caithness, Harold fled to his ships, being unwilling to engage with the king. On this, the king of the Scots sent his army to Turreham, a town belonging to the said Harold, and destroyed his castle at that place. Accordingly, Harold, perceiving that the king would entirely lay waste his lands, came to the king's feet, and threw himself upon his mercy, the more especially, as there was a storm raging at sea, and the wind was contrary to him when attempting to reach the Orkney islands: he also made oath to the king, that he would bring to him all his enemies, on the next occasion that the king should return to Moray, and on that account the king allowed him to hold the moiety of Caithness; the other moiety of Caithness the king gave to Harold the younger, the nephew of Reginald, former earl of Orkney and Caithness.

The king then returned into his territories, and Harold to Orkney. After this, in the autumn, the king of the Scots returned to Ilvernarran, in Moray, for the purpose of receiving his enemies at the hand of Harold; but, after Harold had brought them to the port of Locloy, near Ilvernarran, he allowed them to depart. The king returning late from the chase, Harold came to him, bringing with him two boys, his nephews, for the purpose of delivering them to the king, as hostages; and on being asked by the king where his enemies were, whom he was to deliver up to him, and where his son Torphin was, whom he had promised to deliver to him as a hostage, he made answer, "I let them go, knowing that if I delivered them to you, they would not escape out of your hands; and as for my son, I could not bring him, because in this land I have no other heir."

Consequently, because he had not observed the covenants which he had made with his master, the king, he was condemned to remain in the king's custody, until his son should appear and become a hostage; and because he had allowed the king's enemies to escape, he was adjudged to have forfeited the lands which he held of the king. The king accordingly took Harold with him to the castle of Edinburgh, and kept him in prison until his people in Orkney had brought his son Torphin; on which, delivering him to their lord the king, as a hostage, they released Harold from the king's custody, and he returned 50 V.r. Macmadit.

to Orkney, and there remained in peace and quietness, until Harold the Younger, having obtained permission from Swere Birkebain, king of Norway, to claim a moiety of Orkney, brought with him Siward Murd from Hegland, and many other warriors, and invaded Orkney; on which, Harold the Elder was unwilling to engage with him, but leaving Orkney, went to the Isle of Man, where he collected a fleet and many

men.

Harold the Younger did the same, and came to the Isle of Man, wishing to have an engagement with Harold the Elder; but the latter, before the arrival of Harold the Younger in Man, departed with his fleet for Orkney by another road, and slew all whom he found there. On hearing of this, Harold the Younger returned to Wick, in Caithness, and there engaged with Harold the Elder; and in this battle the younger Harold and the whole of his army were slain. On the death of Harold the Younger, Harold the Elder came to the king of the Scots, with the safe conduct of Roger and Reginald, the bishops of Saint Andrew's and Ross, and offered the king a large sum of gold and silver for liberty again to hold Caithness: on which the king made answer, that he would give him the said land if he would divorce his wife, the daughter of Malcolm Mathar, and take back his former wife, the sister of Duncan, earl of Fife, and deliver to him as hostages, Lauren-. tius, his clerk, and Bonavar, the son of Iggemund; which Harold declined to do. Upon this, Reginald, son of Sumerled, king of Man, came to William, king of the Scots, and purchased of him Caithness, saving to the king his yearly revenues therefrom.

In the same year, Richard, king of England, gave to William de Chimely, archdeacon of Richmond, the bishopric of Evreux, in Normandy; and the said king gave to master Eustace, his seal-bearer, the archdeaconry of Richmond.

In the same year, Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of the whole of England, and legate of the Apostolic See, by his messengers, often and repeatedly entreated his master, Richard, king of England, to relieve him from the government of the kingdom, pointing out that he could not possibly attend to both the government of the church and of the kingdom. Although the king was unwilling to do this, because there had been no one found like to him as a guardian

of the laws and ordinances of the kingdom; still listening to his entreaties, he expressed himself willing to relieve him of the anxieties of government; on which he repented having made such a request of the king, knowing by experience that, for the guardianship of the laws, a heavy retribution would be exacted. After examining his books and auditing his accounts, he sent word to the king that, in the two years last past, he had acquired for his use eleven hundred thousand marks of silver from out of the kingdom of England; adding thereto, that if his services should appear necessary to him, he would not refuse the labour, nor yet allege his declining years. O, unhappy prelate! although he had so often read that "no man can love two masters, for either he must hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other;" "51 he still preferred to neglect his sacerdotal duties, to which, by his vow, he had been bound, he was not ashamed to appear in the camp of the king of England."

In the same year, Richard, king of England, granted to Philip, bishop elect of Durham, licence to coin money in his city of Durham, which for a long period past had not been granted to his predecessors. In this year, also, there was in England, and in all its borders, a great famine and mortality among men.

In the same year, the earl of Saint Gilles took to wife Joanna, the sister of Richard, king of England, and former queen of Sicily. In the same year died Henry, bishop of Worcester, who was succeeded, at the presentation of king Richard, by John de Coutances, dean of Rouen. In the same year died William, earl of Salisbury, son of earl Patrick, whose daughter and heiress Richard, king of England, gave to wife, together with the earldom of Salisbury, to William, his bastard brother. In the same year died Maurice, bishop of Paris. In this year, also, died Bela, king of Hungary, after whose decease his wife Margaret, sister of Philip, king of France, who had formerly been queen of England, and wife of king Henry the Younger, assumed the cross and set out for Jerusalem, and remained at Acre, in the land of Jerusalem, in the service of God, until the end of her life. In the same year died Bu

51 St. Matt. vi. 24, St. Luke, xvi. 13.
52 Probably meaning "in arms."

card, the treasurer of the church of York, whose treasurership Richard, king of England, gave to master Eustace, his seal-bearer. In the same year died Peter de Ros, after whose decease Richard, king of England, gave to Aimeric, nephew of Philip, bishop elect of Durham, the archdeaconry of Carlisle; and Philip, the bishop elect of Durham, gave to the said Aimeric, his nephew, the archdeaconry of Durham and the church of Acelet, which the before-named Bucard had held.

In the same year, Richard, king of England, fortified a new castle in the island of Andely, against the consent and prohibition of Walter, archbishop of Rouen; and because the king would not desist from his purpose, the said archbishop pronounced sentence of interdict upon Normandy, and then repaired to the Supreme Pontiff.

In the same year, a combat taking place between the followers of the king of France and of the king of England, Hugh de Chaumont, a valiant and wealthy knight, and a very intimate friend of the king of France, was taken prisoner, and delivered to the king of England; on which the king of England delivered him into the custody of Robert de Ros, and Robert delivered him to William de l'Espinay, his retainer, to keep in the castle of Bonville-sur-Toke; who keeping a negligent guard over him, by night he descended from the wall, with the consent and connivance of the said William de l'Espinay. The king of England being greatly enraged at this, because Hugh de Chaumont had thus made his escape from out of his hands, took Robert de Ros and imprisoned him; and exacted from him twelve hundred marks of silver as his ransom; and William de l'Espinay, who was a traitor to his lord, was hanged on a gibbet.

In the same year, Ralph de Wigetof, a clerk of Geoffrey, archbishop of York, was taken ill at Rouen, even to the point of death, and, in the presence of our lord the pope and all the cardinals, made confession that he had obtained many forged letters in the court of Rome, both relative to the business of his master, the archbishop of York, as also his own private business, and that he had now sent them to England: whereupon our lord the pope gave orders to Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, that if there should be any letters found relative to the business of the archbishop of York, containing anything

contrary to equity and justice, the same were to be retained in his possession.

In consequence of this, Roger of Ripon, a clerk, the bearer of these letters, who also carried poison with him, was found at London, who said that Ralph de Wigetof had delivered them to him. He also said that the poison had been given to him for the purpose of making away with Master Simon, the dean of the church of York, and some other persons, canons of the said church. Accordingly, at the summons of Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, the king's justiciary, the said dean of York came to London, and the poison was delivered to him, with golden rings, and a very beautiful belt that was drugged for the purpose of burning him; at the delivery of which an immense multitude of men and women assembled at the place called Totehil to witness the burning of them, where they were accordingly committed to the flames, and reduced to ashes: the bearer of them, however, was kept in confinement, and the adversaries of Geoffrey, archbishop of York, cast all the blame of the crime on him.

In the same year, John, earl of Mortaigne, the king's brother, and Marchades, the leader of the infamous tribe of the Brabanters, on the fourteenth day before the calends of June, being the second day of the week, made an excursion before the city of Beauvais; and while they were intent on the capture of booty, Philip, bishop of Beauvais, and William de Merle, together with his son and many knights and armed people, came forth from the city, being themselves in arms; but they were very quickly worsted in the combat, and the said bishop of Beauvais, and William de Merle and his son, and several knights were taken prisoners, and of the common people the greater part was slain. On the same day, after this capture, the earl John and Marchades proceeded to Milli, the castle of the said bishop of Beauvais, and took it by assault, and levelled it with the ground: and then, gloriously triumphing, they returned to Normandy, and delivered to the king of England the bishop of Beauvais, and Walter de Merle and his son, and many others who had been taken prisoners.

In the year of grace 1197, being the eighth year of the reign of Richard, king of England, the said Richard was at Burun, in Normandy, on the day of the Nativity of our Lord, which fell on the fourth day of the week, greatly vexed, be53 Tothill, in the vicinity of Westminster Abbey.