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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.

MDCCCLIII.

B

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

FROM THE LIBRARY OF
MRS. ELLEN HAVEN ROSS
JUNE 28, 1938

1

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.

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