many minsters and towns and houses fell, and did much harm to men. This was a very ruinous year for corn, through the rains, which ceased not nearly the whole year. And the abbat Gilbert of Westminster died on the 8th of the ides of December [8th Dec.], and Faricius, abbot of Abingdon, on the 7th of the kalends of March [23d Feb.]; and in this same year. . .

A.D. 1118. All this year king Henry remained in Normandy in consequence of the hostility of the king of France, and of the earl of Anjou, and of the earl of Flanders. And the earl of Flanders was wounded in Normandy, and being so wounded he went into Flanders. The king was much oppressed in consequence of this war, and he lost much, both in money and in land; and most of all his own men oppressed him, who frequently turned from him and betrayed him, and turned to his enemies; and to the injury of the king, and in treachery towards him, they surrendered their castles. England dearly bought all this in consequence of the manifold taxes, which ceased not all this year. On this year, during the week of the Epiphany, one evening, there was much lightning and immediate thunder after it. And the queen Matilda died at Westminster on the kalends of May [1st May], and there she was buried; and the earl Robert of Mellent died also this year. Also this year, on St. Thomas's mass [21st Dec.], there was a great wind, so exceedingly violent, as that no man then living could remember a greater, and that was everywhere seen, as well in houses as also in trees. This year also departed pope Paschalis ; and John of Gaeta, whose other name was Gelasius, succeeded to the popedom.

A.D. 1119. During all this year king Henry remained in Normandy, and he was exceedingly distressed by the hostility of the king of France, and also of his own men, who departed from him with treachery, and frequently turned from him, until the two kings met together in Normandy with their forces. There was the king of France put to flight, and all his best men taken; and afterwards many of the men of king Henry submitted to him and accorded with him, who had previously been against him, along with their castles, and some of these castles he took by assault. This year William, the son of king Henry and queen Matilda, went into Normandy to his father; and then there was given to him and wedded to wife the daughter of the earl of Anjou. On Michaelmaseve [28th Sept.], there was a great earthquake in some places here in this land, though chiefly in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. In this same year died the pope Gelasius, on this side of the mountains [the Alps], and he was buried at Cluny, and after him the archbishop of Vienne was chosen pope, whose name was Callistus. Afterwards at the festival of St. Luke the Evangelist [18th Oct.], he came into France to Rheims, and there held a council; and the archbishop Thurstan of York went thither, and the king forbade him any return whatever into England, because that he, contrary to justice, and against the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury, and against the king's will, had accepted his dignity from the pope; and thus he was deprived of his archbishopric, and went

towards Rome with the pope. Also in this year the earl Baldwin of Flanders died of the wounds which he had received in Normandy, and after him Charles, the son of his paternal uncle, (who was the son of Cnute, the holy king of Denmark,) succeeded to the earldom.

A.D. 1120. This year the king of England and the king of France were reconciled; and after this reconciliation all king Henry's own men accorded with him in Normandy, as also the earl of Flanders and the earl of Ponthieu. After this time the king Henry settled his castles and his land in Normandy after his own will; and thus before Advent [28th Nov.], he came hither to this land. And in the passage there were drowned William and Richard, the king's two sons, and Richard earl of Chester, and Ottuel, his brother, and very many of the king's court, stewards, and chamberlains, and butlers, and men of different offices, and an innumerable number of common people besides. The death of these people was in a twofold respect painful to their friends; one was that they so suddenly lost this life, the other was that so few of their bodies were found anywhere afterwards. This year the light came twice to the sepulchre of the Lord in Jerusalem; once at Easter [18th April], and the second time at the Assumption of St. Mary [15th Aug.], as credible persons said who came from thence. And the archbishop Thurstan of York was accorded with the king through the pope, and came hither to this land, and received his bishopric, although this was much against the will of the archbishop of Canterbury.

A.D. 1121. This year at Christmas king Henry was at Brampton; and after this, before Candlemass [2d Feb.], at Windsor, there was given to him as his wife Athelis, and she was afterwards consecrated queen; she was the daughter of the duke of Louvain. And the moon was eclipsed on the night of the nones of April [5th April], being in her fourteenth day. And at Easter [10th April], the king was at Berkley; and after that, at Pentecost [29th May], he held a great court at Westminster, and afterwards, during the summer, he went with an army into Wales. And the Welsh came against him, and they came to an agreement with the king according to his will. This year the earl of Anjou came from Jerusalem into his own land, and afterwards he sent hither to this land and caused his daughter to be brought, who had previously been given to wife to William the king's son. And on the night of the vigil of the Natalis Domini [24th Dec.], there was a very great wind over all this land, and that was in many things evidently seen.

A.D. 1122. This year king Henry, at Christmas, was at Norwich, and at Easter [26th March], he was at Northampton. 'And on the Lenten-tide before that the town of Gloucester was burnt during the time the monks were singing the mass, and the deacon had begun the Gospel "Præteriens Jesus" just as the fire came

The whole of this narrative, respecting the conflagration at Gloucester, is an addition by a different hand.

This is the Gospel for the Wednesday in the fourth week in Lent, which, in the year 1122, would fall on March 8.

from the upper part of the steeple; and it entirely burnt the whole of the minster, and all the treasures which were there within it, excepting a few books and three mass vestments. This was on the 8th of the ides of March [8th March]. And after this, on the Tuesday after Palm Sunday [21st March], there was a very great wind on the 11th [12th] of the kalends of April; thereafter came many tokens wide over England, and many prodigies were both seen and heard. And on the night of the 13th of the kalends of August [25th July], there was a very great earthquake over all Somersetshire and in Gloucestershire. After this, on the 6th of the ides of September [8th Sept.], which was on the mass-day of [the Nativity of] St. Mary, there was a very great wind from the morning of the day until the black night. This same year died Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury; that was on the 13th of the kalends of November [20th Oct.]. After this were many shipmen at sea and on the water; and they said that they saw on the north-east along the earth a great and broad fire, and it increased speedily upwards in extent towards the sky, and the sky opened itself in four parts and fought there against it, as if it would extinguish it; but, nevertheless, the fire extended up to the heaven. They saw that fire in the dawn of the day, and it continued until it was quite light. This was on the 7th of the ides of December [7th Dec.].

A.D. 1123. This year at Christmas king Henry was at Dunstable, and there came to him the ambassadors of the earl of Anjou. From thence he went to Woodstock, and his bishops and his whole court with him. Then happened it on a Wednesday, which was on the fourth of the ides of January [10th Jan.], that the king was riding in his deer-fold, and the bishop Roger of Salisbury was on one side of him, and Roger Bloet, bishop of Lincoln, on the other side of him, and they rode there in conversation. Then fell down the bishop of Lincoln, and said, "Lord king, I am dying;" and the king alighted down from his horse and raised him up in his arms, and caused that he should be carried home to his residence, and there he soon died; and they carried him to Lincoln with great honour, and buried him before the altar of St. Mary; and the bishop of Chester, whose name was Robert Pecceth, buried him. Soon after this the king sent his writ over all England, and summoned all his bishops, and his abbots, and his thanes to come to his witena-gemot on Candlemas-day [2d Feb.], to meet him at Gloucester, and they did so. When they were there gathered, then the king enjoined them to choose for themselves an archbishop of Canterbury, whomsoever they would, and that he would grant them this. Then the bishops spoke among themselves and said that never more would they have a man from the monastic order as an archbishop over them; and they went all together to the king and entreated him that they might choose from the clerical order whomsoever they would for archbishop; and the king granted them this. All this had been done beforehand by the bishop of Salisbury, and by the bishop of Lincoln before he died; because they never had loved the rule of monks, but always were

opposed to the monks and their rule. And the prior and the monks of Canterbury, and all the others of the monastic order who were there, opposed it for full two days, but it prevailed nothing; for the bishop of Salisbury was strong and ruled all England, and was opposed to them in everything that he might and could. Then they chose a clerk named William, of Curboil; he was canon of a minster named Chiche, and they brought him before the king, and the king gave him the archbishopric, and all the bishops received him; but almost all the monks, and the earls, and the thanes, who were there, refused to accept him.

At this same time departed the messengers of the earl [of Anjou] from the king in hostile manner, caring nothing for his goodwill. At that same time a legate came from Rome, named Henry; he was the abbat of St. John's minster of Angelo, and he came after the Rome-scot. And he told the king that it was contrary to right that a clerk should be set over monks; and as they had before chosen an archbishop in their chapter according to right [so should they do again]; but the king would not set it aside, for the love of the bishop of Salisbury. Then went the archbishop soon after this to Canterbury, and there he was received, though it was against their will, and there was he soon consecrated as bishop by the bishop of London, and bishop Ernulf of Rochester, and bishop William Giffard of Winchester, and bishop Bernard of Wales [St. David's], and bishop Roger of Salisbury. Then soon in the Lent the archbishop went to Rome after his pall, and with him went the bishop Bernard of Wales [St. David's], and Sefred, abbat of Glastonbury, and Anselm, abbat of St. Edmund's, and John, archdeacon of Canterbury, and Girard, who was the clerk of the king's court. At that same time the archbishop of York, Thurstan, went to Rome by the pope's commandment, and he arrived there three days before the archbishop of Canterbury came, and he was there received with great worship. Then came the archbishop of Canterbury, and was there full seven days before he could come into the pope's presence; and that was because the pope had been given to understand that he had accepted the archbishopric against the monks of the minster, and against right. But that which overcometh all the world overcame Rome, and that is, gold and silver, and the pope relented and gave him his pall. And the archbishop swore subjection to him in all those matters which the pope laid on him by the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the pope sent him home with his blessing. While the archbishop was out of the land the king gave the bishopric of Bath to the queen's chancellor, named Godefreith; he was born in Louvain; and that was on the day of the Annunciation of St. Mary [25th March], at Woodstock. Soon after this the king went to Winchester, and was there all the Easter-tide [15th April], and while he was there he gave the bishopric of Lincoln to a clerk named Alexander; he was the nephew of the bishop of Salisbury. This he did entirely for the love of the bishop. Then went the king thence to Portsmouth, and lay there quite past the week of Whitsuntide [3d June]; and then, as soon as he had a [fair] wind

he went over into Normandy, and then he committed all England to Roger, bishop of Salisbury, to keep and rule. Then was the king all this year in Normandy, and then great discord grew between him and his thanes, so that the earl Walaram of Mellent, and Almari, and Hugh of Montfort, and William of Romare, and many others went from him, and held their castles against him. And the king held strongly against them, and the same year he won from Walaram the castle of Pont Audemer and of Hugh Montfort; and after this he sped the longer the better. This same year, before the bishop of Lincoln came to his bishopric, nearly all the city of Lincoln was burnt, and an innumerable number of people were consumed, men and women; and so much harm was there done that no man could know it, or recount it. And that was on the 14th of the kalends of June [19th May].

A.D. 1124. All this year the king Henry was in Normandy, and that was in consequence of the great discord that he had with king Louis of France, and with the earl of Anjou, and most of all with his own men. Then it came to pass on the day of the Annunciation of St. Mary [25th March], that the earl Waleram of Mellent went from his own castle called Belmont to Watteville, another castle of his. With him went Almari, the steward of the king of France, and Hugh the son of Gervase, and Hugh of Montfort, and many other good knights. Then came against them the king's knights from all the castles that were thereabouts, and fought with them, and put them to flight; and they took the earl Waleram, and Hugh the son of Gervaise, and Hugh of Montfort, and twenty other knights, and they brought them to the king; and the king caused the earl Waleram and Hugh the son of Gervaise to be put into custody in the castle of Rouen, and Hugh of Montfort he sent to England, and caused him to be put in evil bonds in the castle of Gloucester; and of the others, as many as he thought good he sent in custody north and south to his castles. After this the king went and won all the castles of the earl Waleram that were in Normandy, and all the others which his enemies held against him. All this enmity was on account of William, the son of earl Robert of Normandy. The same William had taken to wife the younger daughter of Fulco, earl of Anjou, and therefore the king of France and all the earls held with him, and all the noblemen; and they said that the king kept his brother Robert in captivity wrongfully, and unjustly banished his son William out of Normandy.

In this same year there were many unpropitious seasons in England with respect to corn and all produce, so that between Christmas and Candlemas [2d Feb.], the seed-wheat sufficient for sowing an acre (namely, two seed-lips) was sold for six shillings; and the barley, that is three seed-lips, for six shillings, and the seed for an acre of oats for four shillings. That was because there was little corn, and the penny was so bad that the men who had at market a pound could not on any consideration procure for it in exchange twelvepence.

This same year died the blessed bishop Earnulf, of Rochester