Godfrey, bishop of Bath, came to Canterbury, and was ordained priest on the Saturday in Whitsun-week [17th May], by William, archbishop of Canterbury, and on the next day was consecrated with great pomp bishop of the holy mother church of Worcester; and along with him John, archdeacon of Canterbury, was ordained bishop of Rochester. At their consecration were present Richard, bishop of Hereford, David of Bangor, Godfrey of Bath, Sigefrid of Chichester. When Simon of Worcester came to the seat of his bishopric, a great multitude of the people assembled; after which he was received by a honourable procession, and enthroned with the celebration of a mass in honour of the Holy Trinity. On the same day, that is, on the 9th of the kalends of June [24th May], that servant and faithful friend of God, in all his house, by name Benedict, who in the preceding year had been elected abbot of Tewkesbury, (one who had been brought up there in the monkish habit from a boy, and in process of time, by the permission of Wulfstan the bishop, from whom he had already taken all the ecclesiastical orders, having become in peace and love one of the monks of Worcester,) was consecrated by the same new bishop, Simon, to the office of abbot of the church of Worcester. There were present at the consecration of the same bishop, the following; namely, Richard of Hereford, Godfrey of Bath, David of Bangor, and his diocesans, the abbots, Guy of Pershore, William of Gloucester, Godfrey of Winchelcumbe, and instead of his abbot, who was prevented by sickness, Dominic, prior of Evesham, Walcer, the prior of Malvern, to whom the words of the Psalmist may be applied, "The Lord sendeth out the fountains in the valleys, and the whole assembly who met the priest in procession." These same ecclesiastics also received the said Benedict in procession.

A synod was celebrated at London, in the church of the blessed chief of the apostles at Westminster, on the 9th of September, that is, on the 5th of the ides, where, after the discussion of many causes, these canons, seventeen in number, were published and confirmed by all. John de Crema presided in this synod; he was cardinal priest of the holy and apostolic church, of the title of Saint Crisogonus, being the legate of pope Honorius in England, with William, archbishop of Canterbury, and Thurstan, archbishop of York, and the bishops of different provinces, twenty in number, and about forty abbots, and an innumerable multitude of the clergy and the people. These are the canons :

The first canon. Following in the footsteps of the holy fathers, by our apostolic authority we forbid the ordination of any person in the church for money.

II. We interdict the exaction of any fee for the chrism, for oil, for baptism, for penance, for the visitation of the sick or unction, for the communion of the Body of Christ, or for burial.

III. Moreover we ordain, and decree by apostolic authority, that in the consecration of bishops, or the benedictions of abbots, or the dedications of churches, no cope, nor tapet, nor napkin, nor basin, nor anything else whatever, shall be exacted by violence, unless it shall be spontaneously offered.

IV. No abbot, no prior, no monk or clerk shall accept a church, tithe, or any ecclesiastical benefice from the gift of a layman, without the assent and authority of his own bishop. If he shall presume to do this, the donation shall be void, and he himself shall be subjected to the canonical censure.

V. We enact, moreover, that no person shall claim for himself a church or prebend by paternal inheritance, or shall appoint a successor to himself in any ecclesiastical benefice, which if he presume to do, we forbid that it have any effect, saying with the Psalmist, "O my God, make them like a wheel, and (as they have said) Let us possess the sanctuary of God as an inheritance."

VI. Furthermore we enact, that clerks who hold churches or ecclesiastical benefices, and avoid ordination, in order to be able to live more freely in the world; and after having been urged thereto by their bishops, should they still continue to contemn promotion to orders, they shall be deprived of their churches and benefices.

VII. None but a priest shall be promoted to the dignity of dean or prior; none but a deacon to the rank of archdeacon.

VIII. No person shall be ordained priest or deacon except on a definite title. Whoever shall have been ordained absolutely shall lose his assumed dignity.

IX. No abbot, no clerk or layman whatever, shall presume to eject any person ecclesiastically ordained to a church, without the sentence of his own bishop. He who shall presume to do otherwise will subject himself to excommunication.

X. No bishop shall presume to ordain or adjudge the inhabitants of another diocese, for each stands or falls to his own master; nor is any one bound by a sentence which is not pronounced by his own judge.

XI. No person shall presume to take into communion one who has been excommunicated by another. If he shall have knowingly done this, he shall himself be deprived of christian communion.

XII. We command, also, that two archdeaconries or preferments of different ranks shall not be assigned to the same person.

XIII. We prohibit by apostolic authority all priests, deacons, subdeacons and canons, from cohabiting with wives, or concubines, and with all women generally, except it be in the case of a mother, a sister, an aunt, or those women who are removed from all suspicion. Whoever shall be proved by confession or conviction to have violated this decree, let him suffer the loss of his own orders.

XIV. We altogether prohibit usury and filthy gain to all sorts of clerks. Whoever shall have confessed or have been convicted of such a crime, is to be degraded from the orders which he holds.

XV. We command the excommunication of fortune-tellers, soothsayers, and dealers in all kinds of auguries, and those who consent to them, and we brand them with perpetual infamy.

XVI. We forbid the contraction of marriages as well between those connected by blood as those connected by affinity. If any such shall have been joined together in marriage, they are to be separated.

XVII. We forbid not only the acceptance of the testimony of husbands accusing their own wives of consanguinity, but further that of the witnesses whom they may bring forward; but let the ancient authority of the fathers be observed.

"Does this please you?" "It pleases us." "Does this please you?" "It pleases us." "Does this please you?" "It pleases us.' This same cardinal, having left England, went to Normandy and finally returned to Rome. The archbishop William also, considering the church of the kingdom of England to have suffered a heavy scandal in the humiliation of the church of Canterbury, crossed the sea himself on his way to Rome, to obtain what aid he could in the management of his affairs which had fallen into disorder, and to prevent the further progress of the evil. He came, therefore, to Rome, and was honourably received by pope Honorius, who had succeeded Calixtus, and who committed to the archbishop the exercise of vicarial authority over England and Scotland, and appointed him legate of the apostolic see.

A.D. 1126. Henry, king of England, returned to England on the Nativity of our Lord [25th Dec.], and held his court with great magnificence in Windsor Castle, and there united together the nobility of the whole kingdom by his decree. Here, when the archbishop of York was desirous of crowning the king, thereby putting himself on an equality with the archbishop of Canterbury, herein following the example of his predecessors, he was repulsed by the judgment of all, and the general sentiment of all unanimously declared that the office of conferring the crown of the kingdom in no manner appertained to him. The bearer of the cross which he caused to be carried before him into the king's chapel, along with the cross which he carried, was thrust out of the chapel; for according to the judgment of the bishops and some prudent men skilled in ecclesiastical law, it was held to be a ruled point that it is not lawful for any metropolitan to bear a cross before him beyond the bounds of his own jurisdiction. When these festivities were concluded, the king and all the nobility proceeded to London, and there, by command of the king, archbishop William (being the legate of the Roman church), and all the other bishops of England, with the nobles of the land, on their allegiance and oath, bound themselves to the daughter of the king, that they would defend the kingdom of England for her behoof against all persons, should she survive her father; unless he, before his death, should beget a son in lawful wedlock, who in that case should succeed him. On the death of her husband, the emperor Henry, (who had lived in marriage with her for many years,) without children, she returned to her father, and resided in his court, as was becoming, with the greatest honour. On the death of the king's son William, (which we have above narrated,) there was none to succeed as legitimate heir of his kingdom, for which reason he transferred the rights of his kingdom to his daughter, the sister of this William, on the condition which we have mentioned. Henry, also, by the advice of his barons, granted to the church of Canterbury, and to William the archbishop, and to all his successors,

the custody and constableship of the castle of Rochester to hold for ever; and he gave them permission to make in the same castle a fortification or tower of what kind soever they pleased, and have and keep it for ever; and that the soldiers who should be sent to guard the castle should come in and go out as was convenient, and should form the garrison of the same castle. Robert, surnamed Peccatum, bishop of Coventry, departed this life, and reposes at Coventry. Hugh, abbot of St. Augustine's, died.

A.D. 1127. William, archbishop of Canterbury, assembled a general council of all bishops and abbots, and of the religious persons of England, at the monastery of St. Peter, situated in the western part of London. He himself presided at this council, as archbishop of Canterbury and legate of the apostolic see, together with William, bishop of Winchester, Roger of Salisbury, William of Exeter, Hervey of Ely, Alexander of Lincoln, Everard of Norwich, Seifred of Chichester, Richard of Hereford, Godfrey of Bath, John of Rochester, Bernard of St. David's in Wales, Urban of Glamorgan or Llandaff, and David of Bangor. At this time Richard of London and Robert of Chester were dead, and hitherto no person had succeeded to their sees. But Thurstan, the archbishop of York, sent messengers and letters, and showed reasonable cause why he could not be present at that assembly. Ranulph, bishop of Durham, on his way thither, was seized with sickness, and was unable to complete the journey, as the prior of the church and the clerks whom he had sent thither in support of the truth of his assertion attested. And Simon, bishop of Worcester, had gone over sea to visit his relations, and had not yet returned. Great multitudes of clerks and laymen, as well of the rich as of the middle orders, having collected there, the meeting was exceedingly numerous. It sat for three days, namely, the 3d of the ides of May [11th May], and the following day, and the fourth after that, the 17th of the kalends of June [16th May]. A few things were done concerning secular affairs, some determined, some deferred, and some, by reason of the tumult of the stormy crowd, withdrawn from the ears of the judges. We have thought it advisable to record in this work the decrees and statutes which were passed by the common consent of the bishops in this council, as they were publicly recited and set forth. They are these:

I. We entirely prohibit, by the authority of the blessed Peter, the chief of apostles, and our own, the buying or selling of ecclesiastical benefices, or of any ecclesiastical preferments whatsoever. Whoever shall have been convicted of having violated this statute, if he be a clerk, either a regular canon or a monk, let him be degraded from his orders: if a laic, let him be held outlawed and excommunicate, and be deprived of his right over the same church or preferment.

II. We entirely interdict, by apostolic authority, the ordination or promotion of any person for money in the church of God.

III. We condemn the exaction of monies for the admission of canons, monks, and nuns.

IV. None is to be appointed dean but a priest; none arch

deacon but a deacon. If any person in orders below those here specified be already nominated for those preferments, he is to be admonished by the bishop that he proceed to the proper orders. If in disobedience to the monition of the bishop he refuse to be ordained, he is to be deprived of the dignity to which he had been nominated.

V. We altogether forbid priests, deacons, sub-deacons, and all canons, to cohabit with unlawful women. If they will retain their concubines (which God forbid) or their wives, they are to be deprived of their orders, preferment, and benefice. Parish priests (if there be any such) we expel without the chancel, and pronounce them infamous. We command, by the authority of God and our own, all archdeacons and ministers whose duty this is, with all diligence and solicitude to eradicate this deadly evil out of the church of God. If they be found negligent in this, or (which God forbid) if they be consenting thereto, they are, for the first and second offence, to be sufficiently corrected by the bishop, and for the third to be canonically punished with more severity.

VI. The concubines of priests and canons, except they shall have been lawfully married there, shall be expelled from the parish. If afterwards they be found in the same fault, in whosesoever province they may be, they are to be taken by the ministers of the church; and we command, under pain of excommunication, that they are not to be detained by any power lesser or greater, but to be freely delivered to the minister of the church, and to be given up to ecclesiastical discipline or custody.

VII. We prohibit under anathema any archdeacon from holding different archdeaconries in different bishoprics; let him retain that only to which he was first appointed.

VIII. Bishops are to forbid the priests, abbots, monks, and priors subject to them from holding farms.

IX. We command that tithes be wholly paid, for they are the property of the most high God.

X. We forbid by canonical authority any person from giving or receiving churches, or tithes, or other ecclesiastical benefices, without the consent or authority of the bishop.

XI. No abbess or nun is to use garments of higher value than lambs-wool or cat-skin.

King Henry, who was meanwhile residing in London, gave his assent to the acts of this council, and permitted and confirmed by his royal authority and power the statutes of the council which had been celebrated at Westminster by William, archbishop of Canterbury, and the legate of the holy Roman church. A certain Hugh, of the see of Rochester, having been appointed abbot by William, archbishop of Canterbury, in Chichester, on Sunday, the 2d of the ides of June [12th June], was promoted to the rank of abbot of St. Augustine's, an honour which he well deserved. Richard, bishop of Hereford, died at his vill called Dydelebrig, on Monday, the 18th of the kalends of September [15th Aug.]; his body was brought to Hereford, and buried in the church beside his predecessors. Henry, king of England, went over sea.