cardinal of St. Mark, Anastasius, cardinal of St. Clement, Gregory, cardinal of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul; also Gregory, cardinal of St. Chrisogonus, John, cardinal of St. Potentiana, Risus, cardinal of St. Lawrence, Rainer, cardinal of Sts. Marcellus and Peter, Vitalis, cardinal of St. Balbina, Duuzo, cardinal of St. Martin, Theodbald, cardinal of John and Paul, John, deacon of St. Mary in Schola Græca.

This is the privilege of the lord the pope, which he granted to the emperor concerning the investitures of bishoprics :

"Paschal the Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, to his most beloved son in Christ, Henry, the glorious King of the Germans, and by the grace of God august Emperor of the Romans, greeting, and the apostolic benediction. God's providence has decreed that a singularly close attachment should exist between your kingdom and the holy Roman church; your predecessors, in consequence of their honour and more abundant prudence, obtained the crown and empire of the city of Rome; to which dignity, dearest son, the Divine Majesty has advanced you by the ministry of our holy office. The prerogative of that dignity, which our predecessors have conceded to the catholic emperors, your predecessors, and have confirmed by writing, we also concede to you, our beloved friend, confirming it by this instrument; to wit, that you are permitted to confer upon the bishops or abbots of your kingdom, who have been elected without violence or simony, the investiture of the staff and ring; and that after the investiture they may canonically receive consecration from the bishop to whom that office may pertain. If any be elected against your assent, except he be invested by you, let him not be consecrated. Let bishops or archbishops have liberty from you of consecrating bishops or abbots canonically. For your predecessors out of their royal possessions have so amply endowed the churches of their kingdom, that it is absolutely necessary that the same kingdom should be defended by abbots or bishops, and that the popular riots, which often happen in elections, should be subdued by the royal authority. Wherefore, by God's assistance, you ought to rely on your own prudence and carefulness to preserve the eminence of the Roman church and the safety of the rest by benefits and services. If any person, ecclesiastical or secular, shall audaciously attempt to pervert the import of this concession, let him be bound by the chain of an anathema, except he repent, and suffer the loss of his honours and dignities; and may the Divine Mercy preserve those who observe it, and grant you happily to reign to his honour and glory."

With these conventions and oaths between the lord the pope and the king, peace was made in the feast of Easter. Then the king came to Rome in the ides of April [13th April], and the pope having celebrated mass in the church of St. Peter, consecrated him emperor, and gave him and all his people absolution, and pardoned all the injuries which he himself had received. Henry, king of England, transferred into Wales the Flemings, who inhabited Northumberland, with all their furniture, and commanded them to inhabit the land called Ros. And he also commanded that the new monastery, which

had been built by William, bishop of Winchester, within the walls of Winchester, should be rebuilt outside the walls; and soon after crossed the sea. In this year there was a very severe winter, a heavy famine, and a great mortality among men, a plague among animals, both beasts of the field and domestic animals, and a great destruction of birds.

A.D. 1111.

A.D. 1112. The decision of a council against the heresy concerning the investiture :

In the thirteenth year of the pontificate of pope Paschal II., the fifth indiction, in the month of March, on the 15th of the kalends of April [18th March], a council was held at Rome, in the Lateran, in the Constantine church. In this council, when the pope had returned with his archbishops, bishops, cardinals, and a great multitude of clergy and laity, on the last day of the council, having made a profession of the catholic faith in the presence of all, in order that none might doubt of his belief, he said; "I embrace all Holy Scripture, namely, the Old and New Testament, the law of Moses, and the holy prophets. I embrace the four gospels, the seven canonical epistles, the epistles of the glorious doctor the blessed Paul the apostle, the sacred canons of the apostles, the four general councils (even as I embrace the four gospels), namely, the councils of Nice, Ephesus, Constantinopole, and Chalcedon; the council of Antioch, and the decrees of the holy fathers, pontiffs of Rome, especially the decrees of my lord pope Gregory VII., and pope Urban, of blessed memory. What they accepted, I accept ; what they held, I hold; what they confirmed, I confirm; what they condemned, I condemn; what they rejected, I reject; what they interdicted, I interdict; what they prohibited, I prohibit, in all and through all; and in these things I will always persevere.'

When he had finished, Gerard, bishop of Engoulesme, legate in Acquitain, rose for all; and by the common assent of pope Paschal and all the council, he read as follows:-" All we, assembled in this sacred council with the lord the pope, do, by censure canonical and authority ecclesiastical, by the judgment of the Holy Spirit, condemn, and judge to be void and of no effect, and altogether quash, and (lest it have any authority or efficacy) totally repudiate the privilege, (which is no privilege, but ought rather to be called a violation of the law,) that, namely, which, for the liberation of prisoners and the church, has been extorted from pope Paschal by the violence of king Henry; and it is therefore condemned, because it contains the clause, that one canonically elected by the clergy and people, unless he be first invested by the king, shall not be consecrated; which is against the Holy Spirit and the canonical institutions."

When this charter had been read, the whole council exclaimed at once, "Amen, Amen! so be it, so be it!" The archbishops who were present with their suffragans, were these: John, patriarch of Venice, Semies of Capua, Landulf of Benevento, those of Amalfi, Reggio, Otranto, Brindisi, Capsa, Gyrontium; and of the Greeks, Risano, and the archbishop of San Severino; the

bishops, Centius of Savona, Peter of Porto, Leo of Ostia, Cono of Palestina, Girard of Engoulesme, Galo of Leon, legate for the archbishops of Bourges and Vienne, Roger of Volturara, Geoffrey of Sienna, Roland of Pampeluna, Gregory of Tarragona, William of Troia, Gibin of Syracuse, legate for all the Sicilies, and other bishops to the number of nearly one hundred. Siguin and John of Toscolano, bishops, though at Rome on that day, were not present at the council. Afterwards, they read the condemnation of the privilege, and consented to it and accepted it.

Samson, the twenty-fifth bishop of Worcester, died on Sunday, the 3d of the nones of May [5th May]. Henry, king of England, placed earl Robert of Belesme in custody, in Carisbrook, in the month of October.

A.D. 1113. The city of Worcester, with its cathedral church, and all the other churches, and the castle, was consumed by fire, on Friday, the 13th of the kalends of July [19th June]. There perished in the flames one of the monks, who had been most useful to the monastery, with two servants, and fifteen citizens. Henry, king of England, returned to England in the month of July, and placed earl Robert de Belesme, whom he had brought over from Normandy, in the closest confinement at Warham. Thomas the prior, and Colemann, celebrated monks of St. Mary of Worcester, men of rare worth, departed this life, on Saturday, the 4th of the nones of October [4th Oct.].

Thus by a common fate they pay the debt of nature;

Yet theirs are the highest joys, theirs the most perfect peace; For with the saints they inherit the life which knoweth no end. Teoulf, the king's chaplain, was made bishop of Worcester, on Sunday, the 5th of the kalends of January [28th Dec.], at Windsor.

A.D. 1114. Mathilda, daughter of Henry, king of the English, on the 8th of the ides of January [6th Jan.], was married at Mayence, to Henry, emperor of Rome, and consecrated queen. Thomas, archbishop of York, died on Tuesday, the 6th of the kalends of March [24th Feb.]. Ralph, bishop of Rochester, on Sunday, the 6th of the kalends of May [26th April], was elected to the archbishopric of Canterbury, at Windsor. The city of Chichester, with the principal monastery, was burnt, on Tuesday, the 3d of the nones of May [5th May], by negligence. Thurstan, the king's chaplain, was elected on the day of the Assumption of St. Mary [15th Aug.], at Winchester, to the archbishopric of York. Arnulf, abbot of Burgh, was elected bishop of Rochester. Henry, king of England, after he had led an army into Wales, crossed the sea, before the Feast of St. Michael [29th Sept.]. The river called Medewege became so shallow for many miles, on the 6th of the ides of October [10th Oct.], that even in the middle of the stream the smallest vessels were quite unable to keep afloat from want of water. The Thames, on the same day, suffered the same failure; for between the bridge and the Royal Tower, even under the bridge, the water was so shallow, that not only horses but a great multitude of men and boys crossed on foot, the water scarcely reaching up to their knees. This want of water lasted from the middle of

the preceding night to the middle of the following night. We have heard, from credible sources, that a similar want of water was experienced on the same day at Yarmouth, and in other places throughout England.

A.D. 1115. In this year the winter was so severe, that nearly all the bridges in England were ruined by the frost. The emperor Henry, after he had laid siege to Cologne for a long time, and had lost many of his men in a pitched battle, made peace by oath in the city of Nussa. Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, on Sunday, the 5th of the kalends of July [27th June], assumed the pall at Canterbury, where the bishops of all England were assembled, at the hands of Anselm, legate of the holy Roman church. And on the same day Teoulf, bishop of Worcester, was consecrated with great honour. Wilfrid, bishop of St. David, died in Wales; up to his time the bishops had been Britons. In the octave of the apostles St. John and St. Paul [6th July], a great council was celebrated at Châlons, by Cono, cardinal of the Roman church; in which he excommunicated the bishops who were not present at the council; he also degraded some, and deprived many abbots of their staffs and deposed them from their seats, interdicting them from the exercise of the ecclesiastical office. Henry, king of the Romans, returned to England, in the middle of July. Bernard, the queen's chancellor, was elected bishop of St. David's in Wales, on Saturday, the 14th of the kalends of October [18th Sept.], and on the same day was promoted to the priesthood, by William, bishop of Winchester, at Southwark, and on the morrow, in the presence of the queen, he was consecrated bishop at Westminster, by archbishop Ralph. Regnelm, bishop of Hereford, died on the 6th of the kalends of November [27th Oct.], in whose stead Gosfrid, the king's chaplain, was elected. Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, ordained at Canterbury, on St. Stephen [26th Dec.], Arnulf to the see of Rochester, and Gosfrid to Hereford.

A.D. 1116. Griffin ap Rees ravaged Wales in the spring, and burned the castles, because king Henry would not give him a portion of the land of his father. An assembly of nobles and barons of all England was held at Salisbury, on the 14th of the kalends of April [19th March], and they did homage and swore allegiance in the presence of king Henry to his son William. The dissension which had continued for a whole year between Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, and Thurstan, archbishop elect of York, was mooted here. This archbishop elect, on receiving admonition from the pope to do that which he was bound to do to the church of Canterbury, and to receive his benediction according to ecclesiastical customs, made answer that he was willing to accept the benediction, but that he would by no means make the profession which was demanded of him. But king Henry, when he understood that Thurstan still remained in his disobedience, openly declared that he should either follow the custom of his predecessors, both in making the profession and in other matters belonging of ancient right to the church of Canterbury, or that he should entirely lose both the archbishopric of York and the benediction. When he heard this, being led astray

by the impulse of his temper, he renounced the archbishopric, promising the king and archbishop that he would never claim it while he lived, and that he would make no demand for it whoever was put in his place. Owen, king of Wales, was slain, and Henry, king of England, crossed the sea; Thurstan, archbishop elect of York, accompanying them, in the hope that he might recover the investiture of his archbishopric, and obtain the benediction from the archbishop by the royal command without the exaction of the required profession. About the month of August, Anselm returned from Rome, having brought the pall from Rome for the archbishop of Canterbury; and he came to Normandy, bringing letters from the apostolic see, by which there was conceded to himself the office of legate in England, which he intimated to the kingdom of England by his letters. Hereupon, by the advice of the queen and some of the nobles of England, Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, after the feast of the Nativity of St. Mary [8th Sept.], crossed the sea, went to the king, whom he found residing at Rouen; and having carefully discussed with him the business on which he had come, point by point, by his advice he set out on his journey to Rome.

A.D. 1117. By command of king Henry, a new building was commenced at Cirencester. In Lombardy a great earthquake took place, and, according to the testimony of those who knew about it, it lasted for a space of forty days, during which time many buildings were thrown down; and, what is wonderful, a large town was suddenly moved from its own position, and may be now seen to stand in a place far removed from other towns. While some men of patrician rank were assembled in a tower at Milan, for the transaction of state affairs, a voice at the door resounded in the ears of all, calling one of them by name, and entreating him to come forth at once. When he delayed, a form appeared before them, and by earnest prayers prevailed upon him to leave. As soon as he was gone the tower suddenly fell, and buried all who were present in its ruins. Robert, bishop of Stafford [Coventry], and Gilebert, abbot of Westminster, died on the 8th of the ides of December [6th Dec.].

HERE ENDS THE CHRONICLE OF FLORENCE OF WORCESTER.