and delivered up to him. On this, Peter de Capua, cardinal, and legate of the Apostolic See in France, upon his arrival, laid an interdict upon France, for the capture of the said bishop elect of Cambray, and upon Normandy, for the captivity of Philip, bishop of Beauvais : and, before the said sentence was revoked, Philip, king of France, set the before-named bishop elect at liberty, and John, king of England, gave his liberty to Philip, bishop of Beauvais, after he had paid two thousand marks of silver for the expenses incurred upon him and through him in the time of Richard, king of England, and since the death of king Richard up to the day of his liberation. The said bishop of Beauvais also made oath, in presence of the before-named cardinal and other ecclesiastics, that for the future he would never, in all his life, bear arms against Christians.

Philip, king of France [at this time], made Arthur, duke of Brittany, a knight, and received his homage for Anjou, Poitou, Maine, Touraine, Brittany, and Normandy. On the day after the Assumption of Saint Mary, and the following day, there was a conference held between the king of England and the king of France, through their envoys, at a place between Buttevant and Guleton, and on the third day after, the kings had an interview in person. However, the king of England found no favour with the king of France; and, on the king of France being asked why he held John, king of England, in such great hatred, who had never done him any injury, he made answer, that he had, without his permission, taken possession of Normandy and other territories; and that he ought first to have come to him, and to have asked them of him as of his right, and to have done homage to him for the same. At this interview also, the king of France demanded, on his own behalf, the whole of the Vexin, that is to say, the whole of the country that lies between the forest of Lyons, the Seine, the river Andely, and the river Ethe. For he asserted that Geoffrey, earl of Anjou, the father of king Henry, son of the empress Matilda, had given the same to Louis the Fat, the king of the Franks, in return for his assistance in gaining Normandy, against Stephen, king of England. He also demanded, on behalf of Arthur, Poitou, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine, and made other requests to which the king of England would on no account accede, nor ought he so to have done; and so disagreeing, they separated.

Upon this, the counts and barons of the kingdom of France who had adhered to Richard, king of England, came to John, king of England, and did homage to king John, and made oath to him that they would not make terms with the king of France, unless with his sanction and consent; and he swore to them that he would make no treaty with the king of France, unless they were included therein.

In the meantime, pope Innocent and the Romans elected as their emperor, Otho, king of Germany, and rejected Philip, duke of Suabia, and all the others who had been selected. Accordingly, the election of the said Otho being confirmed by pope Innocent and the Roman Church, pope Innocent proceeded to excommunicate Philip, duke of Suabia, and all his adherents, advisers, and abettors, if they should not desist from their attacks upon the said Otho; who was publicly proclaimed in the Capitol and throughout the whole of the city, in the words, "Long live our emperor Otho!" Accordingly, being elected emperor, Otho sent word to John, king of England, his uncle, to wait a little time, and defer making peace with Philip, king of France, as he himself, God willing, would, before long, give him the very best aid that his imperial highness could possibly give him.

In the meantime, Philip, king of France, took Conches, the castle of Roger de Toni; this happened in the month of September.

In the same month of September, Joanna, wife of Raymond, earl of Saint Gilles, the former queen of Sicily, and sister of John, king of England, departed this life, at Rouen, in Normandy; and, being carried to the abbey of Fontevraud, was there interred among the nuns.

In the month of October the king of France took the castle of Balun, of which Geoffrey de Burelim had charge, and levelled it with the ground. When William des Roches, the leader of Arthur's army, knew of this, he was greatly vexed, and strongly censured the king of France, saying that it had not been so arranged between him and his lord Arthur; to which the king of France made answer, that for his lord Arthur he should not forbear doing just as he pleased with reference to his gains from the enemy.

After this, the king of France laid siege to Lavardin, but the king of England surprised him with his army, and the king of France, abandoning the siege, betook himself to the city of

Le Mans. However, on the king of England pursuing him with his army, the king of France left Le Mans, and took his departure. In the meantime, William des Roches, by means of extreme cunning, recovered Arthur from the hands of the king of France, and made peace between him and John, king of England, to whom he delivered the city of Le Mans, which the king of France and Arthur had delivered into his charge.

36

On

On the same day, Arthur was informed that the king of England intended to take him and throw him into prison. this day also, the viscount de Tuaz, who had charge of the castle of Chinon, came to the king of England, at his summons, at Le Mans, and, being forced so to do, surrendered to the king the castle of Chinon, and the seneschalship of Anjou; on which the king of England" immediately delivered the castle of Chinon into the charge of Roger, constable of Chester, until such time as the king should have found another custodian for the

same.

On the following night, however, Arthur, and his mother, and the said viscount de Tuaz, with many others, left the king of England and took their departure, and withdrew to the city of Anjou. For the mother of Arthur, having left her husband, Ranulph, earl of Chester, had married Guido de Tuaz, the brother of the before-named viscount de Tuaz.

On the sixth day before the ides of July, in this year, died Hugh, bishop elect of the church of Glasgow, and was buried at Geddewerde." In the month of October, in the same year, William Malvoisin was elected bishop of the church of Glasgow.

In the meantime, Peter de Capua, cardinal, and legate of the Apostolic See, who had been sent by Innocent, the Supreme Pontiff, for the purpose of putting an end to the dissensions between Richard, king of England, and Philip, king of France, and at whose instance the said kings had promised that they would observe a truce for the space of five years, now that the said truce had failed, in consequence of the death of Richard, king of England, used every possible effort that the said truce should be observed between the king of France before named, and John, king of England, the heir of the before-named Richard. The consequence was, that a truce was agreed to between them until the feast of Saint Hilary. In the same year, Philip, bastard son of Richard, king of England, to whom 36 Probably "Thouars." 37" France," incorrectly in the text. 38 Jedburgh.

the said king, his father, had given the castle and the manor of Cuinac, 39 slew the before-named viscount of Limoges, in revenge for his father.

In the same year, there were in England, and the various parts thereof, such vast floods of water that bridges, mills, and houses, were carried away. The bridge of Berwick having been carried away, by command of William, king of the Scots, earl Patrick, the governor of Berwick, and the then chief justiciary of the whole kingdom of Scotland, attempted to rebuild the bridge; on which he was forbidden, on behalf of Philip, bishop of Durham, to sink a foundation for a bridge on his land; but the bridge could not be made unless it had its foundation on the land of the bishop of Durham, as it had before. At length, however, the bishop of Durham, by the advice of William de Stuteville, allowed the bridge to be made, and to have its foundation on his own land, saving always the covenants that had been made between the king of Scotland and Hugh, bishop of Durham, his predecessor.

In the same year, Geoffrey, the archbishop of York, Simon, the dean, Haimo, the treasurer, Reginald, the præcentor, Adam de Tornouere, and William Testard, the archdeacons, and the other canons of the church of York, having met in the presence of Peter de Capua, cardinal deacon and titular of Saint Mary de Viâ Latâ, and legate of the Apostolic See, Geoffrey, archbishop of York, and the above-named clergy of the church of York, submitted the decision of their disputes to Hugh, the lord bishop of Lincoln, Master Roger, dean of the said church, and Master Columba; on which occasion, the archbishop promised, on the word of truth, that if he should refuse to abide by the decision of the before-named arbitrators, he would pay to the dean and canons of York two hundred marks by way of penalty; the dean also, and the before-named clergy of the church of York, made oath distinctly that they would not refuse to abide by the decision of the before-named arbitrators, but would dutifully receive and dutifully observe whatever should be determined by them.

After this, when the officers of the archbishop of York, on various grounds, attempted, by the pope's letters, to summon them to trial before other judges, they made claim against the archbishop of the said two hundred marks of silver, by way of penalty. Also, while the said archbishop was staying with the 39 Now Cognac.

VOL. II.

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king in Normandy, Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, and Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, the king's justiciary, at the entreaties, and in behalf of, the chapter of York, sent word to the king and advised him not to allow the archbishop of York to return to England without him, for, they declared, if he should come into England, he would be bringing a sword, and not peace.

Some Statutes enacted by king John.

In the same year, John, king of England, enacted that no wine of Poitou should be sold at a higher rate than twenty shillings the tun, and that no wine of Anjou should be sold at a higher rate than twenty-four shillings the tun, and that no French wine should be sold at a higher rate than twentyfive shillings the tun; unless the said wine was so good that any one would be willing to give for it as much as two marks at the highest. He also enacted, that no wine of Poitou should be sold at a higher rate than fourpence the gallon; and that no white wine should be sold at a higher rate than sixpence the gallon. He also enacted, that all the tuns which should in future come into England from Rech,40 after the present vintage, should be changed. This statute he ordered to be observed from the octave of Saint Andrew in December and thenceforward; and, for the observance thereof, ordered that in every city and borough in which wine is sold twelve inspectors should be appointed, and should make oath that they would cause the said assize to be kept and observed. And, if they should find any vintner selling wine at the tap contrary to the said assize, the sheriff was to arrest his body, and have him kept in safe custody in the prison of our lord the king, until he should have some other command relative to him, and all his goods were to be seized on behalf of our lord the king, on view of the said twelve men. If any one was also found who should buy or sell a tun or tuns contrary to the said assize, both parties were to be seized, and placed in safe custody in prison, until some other command should be received relative to them; and it was enacted, that no wine should be bought for regrating, out of the wines that should have been landed in England.

However, this first ordinance of the king had hardly been enacted, when it was immediately done away with; as the merchants could not bear up against this assize. Accordingly, 40 Rochelle: