After the venerable Bede, truthful historian and
distinguished teacher—the honour and glory of our people—stopped writing, other sure and
seamless narrators have not been found who, as far as we are able to estimate, by
reciting the happenings of the years and times, might have expended labour of such a
kind that it would be fitting both for the instruction of our posterity’s ignorance and
for removing entirely the doubts of this age. Perceiving this, we have, as far as our
indolence allows, given a little effort as far as we are able to meet the need to
investigate carefully the truth of the matter. Accordingly, we begin, nevertheless, to
run through the course and condition of the times very briefly from that period—that is,
from these three years which the aforesaid and venerable Bede, priest and monk of the
monastery Jarrow or Wearmonth, made the end of his account—, and we adopt the beginning
from the words of Bede himself. He most assuredly fixes the form of these words to be
this:
In the 731st year of Our Lord’s incarnation
Archbishop Berhtwald, overcome by great age, died on 9 January. He held the see for 37
years, 6 months and 14 days. In his place, in the same year, Tatwine, from the province
of Mercia, was made archbishop by designation, when he was a priest in the monastery
which is called Bredon. He was consecrated at Canterbury by the venerable men Bishops
Daniel of Winchester, Ingwald of London, Aldwine of Lichfield, and Aldwulf of Rochester,
on Sunday 10 June: a man distinguished in religion and wisdom, and also famously
well-informed in sacred texts. And so at the moment Bishops Tatwine and Aldwulf preside
over the churches of the Kentishmen. Also, Bishop Hingwald presides over the province of
the East Saxons; Bishops Aldberht and Heathulac preside over the province of the East
Angles; Bishops Daniel and Forthhere preside over the province of the West Saxons;
Bishop Aldwine presides over the province of the Mercians, and Bishop Walhstod presides
over the people who live in the west beyond the River Severn; Bishop Wilfred presides
over the province of the Hwicce; and Bishop Cyneberht presides over the province of
Lindsey. The bishopric of the Isle of Wight pertains to Daniel, bishop of Winchester.
The province of the South Saxons, for a number of years remaining still without a
bishop, seeks episcopal administration for itself from a bishop of the West Saxons. And
all these provinces, and others in the southern region th year of the arrival of the English in Britain, the
731st of the Lord’s incarnation. May the world revel in
His perpetual kingdom; and may the many islands be made joyful, with Britain rejoicing
in His faith.
In the 733rd year an eclipse of the sun
occurred on 15 August at about the third hour of the day
so that, as a
result, nearly the whole of the sun’s orb seemed as if it were covered by a shield most
black and dreadful.
In the 734th year the moon was
bathed in blood-red for almost a whole hour on 31 January, about cock-crow; then, after
becoming darker, it returned to its natural brightness.
So far we have been able to
adopt the words of the venerable and most truthful Bede—teacher not only of the English,
but (we venture confidently to say) truly of the whole church—just as from the source of
the clearest spring, namely the Ecclesiastical History of our
people composed by him. Henceforth, however, the history which follows has been
excerpted here and there from various places.
In the same year Archbishop Tatwine
died.
In the 735th year Nothhelm was ordained
archbishop of Canterbury. Egberht bishop of York, the first after Paulinus to have
received the pall from the apostolic see, was confirmed as archbishop by the people of
Northumbria.
In the 736th year Nothhelm, after the pall
had been received from the Roman pontiff, ordained 3 bishops, namely Cuthberht, Herewald
and Æthelfrith. Bede, the venerable teacher, died in Jarrow.
In the 737th year Aldwine bishop of Lichfield died, and in his place
Hwita and Totta were consecrated bishops of Mercia and the Mid-Angles. In the same year
Ceolwulf, the most noble king of Northumbria, when he had reigned for 8 years, became a
monk, and he left the sceptre of his kingdom to Eadberht, son of his paternal uncle.
This Eadberht reigned for twenty-one years.
In the 738th year Swæfberht, king of the East Saxons, died.
In the 739th year Nothhelm, archbishop of Canterbury, and Aldwulf,
bishop of Rochester, passed away.
In the 740th year
Cuthberht, 11th of the church of Canterbury, received the
archiepiscopacy in the time of Zachary, and Dunn succeeded Aldwulf at Rochester.
Æthelwald, bishop of Lindisfarne, passed away to the Lord, and Cynewulf was placed in
the bishopric. In the same year Æthelheard, king of the West Saxons, when he had reigned
for 14 years, died, and Cuthred reigned in his place. The holy Acca of Hexham died; he
was succeeded by the holy Frithoberht, bishop.
In the 741st year the minster in York was set on fire on Sunday 23 April.
Éogan king of Scots died; he was
In the 742nd year
succeeded by his son, Muiredach.
In the 743rd year
In the 744th year a battle occurred between Picts and Britons. In the same year Cuthred, king of the
West Saxons, and Æthelbald, king of the Mercians, were reconciled, and fought against
the British after bringing their forces together.
Muiredach king of Scots died; he was succeeded by his son, Éogan.
In the 745th year shots of fire
were seen in the sky, like scattering stars, during the whole night of 1 January, which
was a great marvel to all who beheld it. In the same year Dom Wilfred II, bishop of
York, died. Also, bishops died in that year: Ingwald of London and the bishop of the
Hwicce.
In the 746th year Daniel, bishop of Winchester,
died.
In the 747th year Selered, king of the East Angles, died; he was succeeded by Ælfwald.
Éogan king of Scots died;
In the 748th year
he was succeeded by his son, Áed the white.
In the 749th year Eadberht, king of the inhabitants of Kent, son
of Wihtred, died; he was succeeded by Æthelberht. In the same year Ælfwald, king of the
East Angles, died, and Hun, Beonna and Alberht divided the kingdom among themselves.
Also in this year Cynric son of Cuthred, king of the West Saxons, small in years, but
great in vigour, was killed in a military engagement.
In the 750th year Eadberht, king of Northumbria, took Cynewulf, bishop
of Lindisfarne, captive in the city of Bamburgh, and caused the basilica of Peter in
Lindisfarne to be besieged. Cuthred strove to finish the war against the haughty king of
Mercia. Bishop Alwig died; Aldwulf succeeded him.
In the 751st year King Cuthred fought against his most daring ealdorman, Æthelhun, who
had stirred up dissension against him. Just when victory had almost fallen to this
ealdorman, he, after receiving a wound, allowed
the righteous cause of
the king to triumph in the end.
In the 752nd year an
eclipse of the moon occurred on 31 July.
In the 753rd
year King Cuthred, with the aforesaid ealdorman Æthelhun, who had been reconciled with
him, came to Æthelbald, the haughty king of the Mercians, at Bereford, who had brought with him men of Kent with Mercians, and also East
Saxons and Angles. Whichever way it may have been fought between them, God, who puts a
stop to the haughty, overthrew the strength of Æthelbald, and who in
In
the 754th year Boniface, also known as Wilfrid, archbishop
of the Franks, was crowned with martyrdom along with fifty-three. In the same year King
Cuthred fought against the British, and caused a great slaughter among them.
In the
755th year Cuthred died, and left the kingdom to
Sigeberht, his kinsman.
In the 756th year Sigeberht,
king of the West Saxons, was expelled from the kingdom, since he had been unbearable,
behaving arrogantly. Fleeing, he hid himself in the wood, which is called Andredswald, where he was found and killed by a certain
swine-herd whose lord—namely the ealdorman Cumbra—the king had wickedly slain. Cynewulf,
an illustrious young man sprung from royal stock, succeeded him. In the same year
Baldred the anchorite, who followed the life of saints, passed away to the Lord. Also
the moon, aged 15 nights,DB: I.e., A full moon. was overtaken with a
blood-red hue on 24 November.
In the 757th year
Beornred succeeded after Æthelbald, king of the Mercians, had been slain at Seckington;
Offa expelled him in the same year, and in his place took the kingship over Mercia for
39 years.
In the 758th year Eadberht king of
Northumbria, with a tonsured head undertaken for God, was made a canon at York under
Archbishop Egberht, and left the kingdom to his son Oswulf. He, when he had reigned for
one year, was wickedly slain by his own people at Mechelwongtune
on 24 July. He left Moll Æthelwald heir to the kingdom.
In the 759th year Æthelwald, also known as Moll, began to reign in
Northumbria in the month of August.
In the 760th year a
most dreadful battle was joined near Eildon, in which Oswine fell. And Æthelwald, who
was also called Moll, had victory. In this year Unuist, king of the Picts, died.
In
the 761st year Archbishop Cuthberht was released from the
flesh. Æthelberht, king of Kent, died; he was succeeded by ¶Ecgfrith.
In the 762nd year the aforesaid king Æthelwald took Æthelthryth as
queen.
In the 763rd year
In the 764th year a huge amount of snow smothered the earth,
accompanied by frost from the beginning of winter almost up to the middle of spring. In
the same year Ceolwulf, formerly a king, then a servant of Christ and a monk, passed
away to the heavens. Abbot Frehelm died. Also in this year there
died Bishops Totta of the Mercian people—Eadberht succeeded him—and Frithowald of
Whithorn—Pehtwine succeeded him.
In the 765th year
shots of fire were seen in the sky. Æthelwald Moll slew Oswine, the most powerful of his
ealdormen, because he had risen against him. In that same year the same Æthelwald lost
the kingship of Northumbria which he had held for 6 years; Alhred succeeded him, and he
reigned for 8 years. Bregowine, archbishop of Canterbury, died; Lambert succeeded him.
Also, two other bishops died: Hemele of the Mercians—Cuthfrith succeeded him—and Aldwulf
of Lindsey—Ceolwulf succeeded him.
In the 766th year
Egberht, archbishop of York, rested in the peace of Christ; Æthelberht succeeded him.
Frithoberht, bishop of Hexham, passed away to the Lord from this light, on 23 December;
Alhmund succeeded him. Frithowald, bishop of Chester, died.
In the 767th year Eata, a faithful anchorite, died happily at Craike,
next to York.
In the 768th year Eadberht, formerly
king, died happily in clerical orders and the service of God. In that year Pope Stephen
and Pippin, king of the Franks, died. King Alhred of Northumbria took Osgifu as
queen.
In the 769th year Earnred the tyrant set
Catterick on fire; and he himself perished in the flames. In the same year,
furthermore, the Roman empire along with the kingdom of the Franks was
annexed by Charles the Great son of King Pippin.
In the 770th year
In the 771st year Abbot Sigbald died.
Ecgric the lector passed over to the fellowship of the
chosen. Offa, king of the Mercians, drove the people of Hastings under him by force of
arms.
In the 772nd year Pictel
the ealdorman, and Abbot Swithwulf, died in peace.
In the 773rd year Hadwine, bishop of the church of Mayo, died, in
whose place Leuthfriht was chosen. Wulfeah, abbot of Beverley,
passed away to the Lord. Æthelberht of York received the pall from Pope Adrian ¶himself
directly.
In the 774th year King Alhred, deserted by
his own people, exchanged kingship for exile; Æthelred son of Moll succeeded him. Offa,
king of the Mercians, fought against the men of Kent at Otford, and triumphed after
dreadful destruction on both sides had resulted. In that year red signs were seen in the
sky after sunset, and dreadful snakes were seen in Sussex, with great astonishment.
In the 775th year the old Saxons, from whom the English
people descended, were converted to Christ. In the same year Ciniod, king of the Picts,
died. And the ealdorman Eadwulf, after being craftily captured, is deceitfully killed.
Charles, most celebrated king of the Franks, conquered the Saxons and subjected the
province of Bükeburg, formerly occupied by the Franks, to his rule.
In the 776th year Pehtwine, bishop of Whithorn, passed away to the
Lord; Æthelberht succeeded him.
In the 777th year
Cynewulf, king of the West Saxons, fought against Offa, king of the Mercians, near
Bensington,DB: This has been identified with Benson in Michael Swanton (ed. and
trans.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, rev edn (London, 2000),
p. 50, n. 10 (A 777), and p. 51 (E 777). but was put to flight by him.
Æthelberht, who had succeeded Pehtwine, was consecrated at York. Ealdwulf, Cynewulf and
Ecga, ealdormen of King Æthelred, on his instructions, were slain deceitfully by the
ealdormen Æthelbald and Heardberht, on 29 September. Áed king
of Scots died; he was succeeded by his son, Fergus.
In the 778th year Æthelbald and
Heardberht, ealdormen of Æthelred, king of Northumbria, rebelling against their lord,
slew Ealdwulf son of Bosa, chief of the army, at Coniscliffe, and afterwards slew
Cynewulf and Ecga, ealdormen of the same king, at Helathyrne; as a result the king fled
from their face, and they established Ælfwald son of Oswulf as king in his place.
In the 779th year Ælfwald took the kingship of Northumbria
after Æthelred had been expelled.
In the 780th year the
ealdormen Osbald and Æthelheard, once an army had been gathered together, set fire to
Beorn, a courtier of King Ælfwald, at Seletun,DB: Michael
Swanton (ed. and trans.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, rev edn
(London, 2000), p. 53, n. 19, suggests this might be Silton (in North
Yorkshire). on 24 December. Archbishop Æthelberht passed away to Christ;
Eanbald was ordained by him while he was still alive, and that year received the pall
directly. Bishop Cynewulf, after worldly concerns had been abandoned, resigned the
episcopacy to Higbald.
Fergus king of Scots died; he was
succeeded by his son, Selbach.
In the 781st year Alhmund, bishop
of Hexham, passed over to Christ, on 7 September; Tilberht succeeded him.
In the
782nd year there was a council at Aclea.
In the 783rd year Wærburh, formerly
queen of the Mercians, then, indeed, abbess, died. In the same year Bishop Cynewulf,
about whom we said something above, died happily.
In the 784th year Cynewulf, king of the West Saxons, is killed by Cyneheard, brother of
Sigeberht, because the king had decided to exile him.
In the 785th year Brihtric succeeded Cynewulf.
In the 786th year Botwine, the venerable abbot of Ripon, rested with a
blessed death; Æthelberht succeeded him. In the same year Ealdwulf is consecrated bishop
by Archbishop Eanbald and by Bishops Tilberht and Higbald at Corbridge; and, enriched
with many gifts, he returned to his church. Ricthryth, also a queen then an abbess,
died. Cyneheard was killed by King Osred in revenge for his lord, King Cynewulf. Pope
Adrian despatched legates to Britain, in order to renew and confirm the catholic faith.
They were honourably received, and returned.
In the 787th year a synod was assembled at Pincanhalh. Æthelberht, abbot of Ripon, passed away to Christ, in whose place
Sigred was ordained.
In the 788th year King Ælfwald,
blamelessly, was slain by his courtier Sicga, and his body was buried in the church of
Hexham. A light sent out from heaven, however, was seen at the scene of his
killing.DB: I am grateful to James Waddell’s translation for ‘at the scene of
his killing’. At the same place a church was built dedicated in honour of SS.
Oswald and Cuthberht; Osred, his nephew, succeeded him.
In the 789th year Osred was driven away from his kingdom by the
treachery of his people.
In the 790th year
In the 791st
year King Æthelred dragged out Ælf and Ælfwine from York by force, and destroyed them
pitiably in Wenwoldremere. Lambert, archbishop of Canterbury,
passed away to Christ; Æthelred,DB: This should be Æthelheard (see note in transcription). abbot of Louth minster,
succeeded him.
In the 792nd year Osred returned from
exile with an army; by their deserting him, he was captured, and is killed by order of
King Æthelred, and is buried at Tynemouth. King Æthelred took Ælfflæd, [daughter] of
Offa king of the Mercians, as queen.
In the 793rd year
dragons of flame were seen in the sky; two curses followed this sign immediately: first
an unbearable famine, then the savagery of a race of pagans—Danes, that is, and
Norwegians—who in this year tore down the monastery of Lindisfarne, slew monks, and
smote Northumbria with pitiful slaughter. In this year the ealdorman Sicga, who had
killed King Ælfwald, perished by a special, yet unholy, death.
In the 794th year the Northumbrians slew their king, Æthelred son of
Moll. Osbald, a courtier raised to the kingship, is, moreover, expelled from the kingdom
after 27 days; he, after taking a religious habit, afterwards was made abbot. Eardwulf
son of Earnwulf—who, as we said above, revived after he was slain—was recalled from
exile, and was made king. Ecgfrith, king of Kent, died; Eadberht Præn succeeded him.
Adrian was raised up to the abode on high; Leo succeeded him. The aforesaid race of
pagans plundered the monastery of King Ecgfrith at Donmouth, but
not with impunity. For, by the merits of the blessed Cuthberht, some were killed, some
were shipwrecked, some taken alive and then killed at the beach.
In the 795th year Charles, king of the Franks, subjugating the race of
Huns to himself after their leader had been put to flight and their army overcome,
apportioned the spoils—that is, 15 cartloads of gold and silver, each pulled by oxen
twice two-by-two—to the poor and to churches.
In the 796th year Offa, king of the Mercians, who had made a great rampart from sea to
sea, died after he had reigned for 39 years. His son, Ecgfrith, succeeding him, died
after 5 months. Thereafter Cenwulf took up the kingship, and held it peacefully for 26
years. He is, besides, the father of Kenhelm the martyr.
Eanbald, archbishop of York, died; another Eanbald succeeded him, with Bishops
Æthelberht, Higbald and Beadwulf ordaining him.
In the 797th year Bishop Æthelberht died, and was buried in his church—that is, at
Hexham; Headred succeeded him. The Romans cut off Pope Leo’s tongue and gouged out his
eyes, and they put him to flight from the apostolic see. But he, through God’s help, was
able [to see] and to speak again, and was reinstated in the apostolic see.
In the
798th year the killers of King Æthelred, along with the
ealdorman Wada, entered into battle against Eardwulf, Æthelred’s successor, at Billingahoh, near Whalley, in which many fell; but Eardwulf had
the victory after the ealdorman Wada had turned in flight. London was suddenly devoured
by fire with a great multitude of men. Cenwulf, king of the Mercians, ravaged the men of
Kent with the fiercest pillaging and, laying hands on their king and disparaging him, he
added his kingdom to his, which Cuthred then received
from him. A synod was assembled at Pincanhalh, with Archbishop Eanbald
presiding.
In the 799th year Brorda, prince of the
Mercians, who was also called Hildegils, died. A certain abbot,
Mora by name, was done away with by his overseer, Tilthegn, by a mournful death. Also
the ealdorman Moll is slain by order of King Eardwulf. The ealdorman Ealdred, killer of
King Æthelred, is slain by the ealdorman Thormund in revenge for his lord. Osbald,
formerly an ealdorman and a courtier, and at one time king, though presently abbot,
died, and was buried in the church at York.
In the 800th year Headred, bishop of the church of Hexham, died; Eanberht succeeded him.
Alhmund, son of King Alhred—who had been before Æthelred—seized by King Eardwulf’s
bodyguards,DB: I am grateful to James Waddell for this translation of tutoribus. is killed at his command. A most powerful
gale destroyed very many cities and settlements, and tore out trees by the roots, on 24
December. The sea goes beyond its bounds; also a great pestilence carries off herds of
cattle. King Charles, relying on imperial majesty, sentenced to death the Romans who had
disparaged Pope Leo; but at the prayers of the same pope, he commuted the death sentence
and thrust them into exile.
In the 801st year Eadwine,
who was also Eata, formerly an ealdorman of the Nothumbrians, then thereafter an abbot,
died happily on 15 January, and was buried in his church at Geinford. Eardwulf, king of the Northumbrians, and Cenwulf of the Mercians,
came together to do battle, but, on the advice of bishops and princes, they established
peace between themselves on oath, to be kept as long as they would live.
In the
802nd year Brihtric, king of the West [Saxons], was
undone by poison prepared and offered to another person which Queen Eadburh, daughter of
King Offa—ever the accuser of good men—presented to him. She, crossing over by sea with
innumerable treasures, offered gifts to King Charles. The king said to her: ‘a choice is
granted to you, to pick who you wish, either me or a son’. But she, since she was given
to sexual pleasure, picked the son because he was younger; and so she lost both of them.
The king, however, gave her a monastery, in which, by donning the habit of nuns, she
lurked under the guise of hypocrisy; and she died wretchedly in Pavia, after being
ravished by a certain base-born man of her own people and found out, and thrown out of
the monastery at the king’s command, thereafter begging through villages and castles.
Ecgberht, however, descending from royal stock, succeeded Brihtric.
In the 803rd year
In the 804th year
Selbach, king of Scots, died; Eochaid the poisonous
succeeded him.
In the 805th year Æthelheard,
archbishop of Canterbury, departed; Wulfred succeeded him.
In the 806th year Eardwulf, king of the Northumbrians, was put to
flight by his own people, and thereafter they lacked a king for a while.
In the
807th year Cuthred, king of Kent, who had succeeded
Ecgfrith, died; Baldred succeeded him.
In the 808th
year
In the 809th year
In the 810th year
In the 811th
year
In the 812th year
In the 813th year Charles the Great, king of the Franks, departed;
Louis his son succeeded him.
In the 814th year
Ecgberht, king of the West Saxons, raided in the kingdoms of others from east to west:
there was no-one who could withstand him.
In the 815th
year the holy Leo passed away from this life; Stephen succeeded him.
In the 816th year
In the 817th year
Ealhstan received the bishopric of the church of Sherborne which he ruled for 50
years.
In the 818th year
In the 819th year
In the 820th
year
In the 821st year Cenwulf, king of the Mercians,
died; Ceolwulf succeeded him.
In the 822nd year
In the 823rd year Ceolwulf
lost the kingdom of the Mercians because Beornwulf snatched it away from him.
In the 824th year the East Anglians slew
Beornwulf, king of the Mercians, in battle; Ludeca succeeded him. In the same year there
was the greatest battle between the Britons and the people of Devon, at Galford.
Ecgberht, king of Wessex, put Baldred, king of Kent, to flight, and took hold of his
kingdom.
In the 825th year Ludeca, king of the
Mercians, was slain and five of his ealdormen with him. Wiglaf succeeded.
in
In the 826th year
In the
827th year Ecgberht, king of the West Saxons, put Wiglaf,
king of the Mercians, to flight, and took hold ¶of his kingdom.
In the 828th year King Ecgberht, moved by compassion, granted Mercia to
King Wiglaf to hold from him. In which year the same King Ecgberht subjugated the North
Welsh to himself by the power of armed force.
In the 829th year, on the death of Wulfred, archbishop of Canterbury, Ceolnoth
succeeded.
In the 830th year
In the 831st year
In the 832nd year
the Danes returned to England, and raided Sheppey.
In the 833rd year the Danes were conveyed in 35 large ships to Carhampton. King Ecgberht
fought against them, but, having got the upper hand on him, there perished on Ecgberht’s
side two bishops, Herefrith and Wigfrith, and two ealdormen, Duda and Osmod.
In the
834th year a naval force of Danes came to West Wales. The
Welsh allied with them and fought against Ecgberht, but they were thumped by him at
Hingston Down. Eochaid king of Scots died;
In the 835th year
he was succeeded by his son, Dúngal. Dúngal
In the 836th year
In the 837th
year
In the 838th year Ecgberht, king of Wessex and
then monarch of all England, departed.
In the 839th
year Æthelwulf son of Ecgberht received the kingdom of Wessex, and his other brother,
Æthelstan, the kingdom of Kent. In the same year Æthelwulf, fighting against the Danes
in one part of his kingdom, sent the ealdorman Wulfheard against them who, with 33
ships, landed at Southampton, and had a victory. Also, he sent Æthelhelm against other
Danes at Portland, who was slain by them.
In the 840th
year the ealdorman Hereberht fought against the Danes at Romney Marsh, and was killed by
them there. In the same year the Danes caused great carnage in Kent, and Mercia, and
East Anglia.
In the 841st year the Danes raided near
Canterbury, Rochester and London. In the same year Louis, king of the Franks, son and
successor of Charles the Great, died; Charles the Bald his son succeeded him. Dúngal
In the 842nd year
king of Scots died; Ailpín son of Eochaid succeeded him.
In the 843rd year King Æthelwulf with part of his army, which he
had apportioned throughout many places, fought against those who had landed, as we said
above, at Carhampton; but they were clearly the victors.
Ailpín king of Scots died; he was succeeded by his son Cináed,
In the 844th year
about whom it is said: It is related that the first to reign in Alba was Cináed,
In the 845th year
son of Ailpín, waging many wars. After the Picts were
expelled he reigned for sixteen years,
In the 846th year
and at Forteviot he was dead. He is called the first king not because he was the first,
but because he first drew up the Scottish laws,
which are called the laws of
Mac Ailpín.
In the 847th year the venerable Bishop Ealhstan
with the men of Somerset, and the ealdorman Osred with the men of Dorset, fighting
against the Danes, obtained victory at the mouth of the Parret.
In the 848th year
In the 849th year a
son, Ælfred, is born to King Æthelwulf in Berkshire, by a noble and religious mother,
Osburh, [daughter] of the renown Oslac, butler of King Æthelwulf.
In the 850th year
In the
851st year Ceorl, ealdorman of the people of Devon,
fought against the Danes at Wicganbeorg and was victorious. A
great army of Danes in 350 ships landed at the mouth of the Thames and ravaged
Canterbury, and Berhtwulf, king of the Mercians, who had come with his army to fight
against them, turned away in flight. Hearing this, King Athelwulf, after an army had
been assembled, with his son Æthelbald, encountered them at a place which is called
Oakley, ¶and, fighting, was victorious.
In the 852nd
year Berhtwulf, king of the Mercians, departed; Burgred succeeded him. In the same year
King Æthelstan of Kent, brother of Æthelwulf, and Ealhhere, gesith or ealdorman,
conquered an army of pagans at Sandwich, and seized 9 of their ships.
In the 853rd year Burgred, king of the Mercians, supported by the help
of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, brought the inland Britons—that is, Welsh—under his sway.
Æthelwulf sent his son Ælfred to Pope Leo to be consecrated king, who adopted him as a
son and anointed him.
In the 854th year Ealdorman
Ealhhere with the men of Kent, and Ealdorman Huda with the men of Surrey, were slain
fighting against the pagans at the island. Eardwulf received the bishopric of
Lindisfarne. Burgred took the daughter of Æthelwulf. Wulfhere was made archbishop of
York.
In the 855th year King Æthelwulf, having given a
tenth part of his kingdom to the churches of God, travelled to Rome, where he stayed for
one year; and his son Ælfred was with him. Returning from there he took Judith, daughter
of Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, as his wife.
In the 856th year
In the 857th
year
In the 858th year on the death of Æthelwulf, king
of Wessex, his son Æthelbald, receiving the kingdom, by an act of notorious wickedness
took his father’s wife, Judith, daughter of Charles, as his spouse.
Domnall king of Scots, his [ ]
JT: Mostly erased, probably when the verse was added. Presumably the phrase is ‘his brother’.
In the 859th year the holy Eadmund received the kingdom of the East Angles.
Cináed king of Scots died; he was succeeded
In the 860th year King Æthelbald
died; Æthelberht succeeded him, who also took the kingdom of Kent, and both Surrey and
Sussex, after the death of Æthelstan, his paternal uncle.
¶by Domnall, about whom it is said: King Domnall succeeded
In the 861st year
him for four years. In battle he was a vigorous knight. He was
the brother of the aforesaid King Cináed. It is related
In the 862nd year
that he was subjected to death at Scone.
Custantín son of Cináed, king of Scots
JT: Mostly erased, probably when the verse was added.
In the 863rd year the holy Swithun, bishop of Winchester, made
for the heavens.
Domnall king of Scots died. Custantín became king for fifteen years after him. He was the son of King Cináed. He fell
fighting in battle by the arms of the Danes: the black channel by name is where the fight was.
In the 864th year Æthelberht,
king of Wessex and Kent, died; his brother Æthelred succeeded him.
In the 865th year an army of pagans, whose leaders were Ívarr and Ubba,
came to England, and ¶stayed on in East Anglia.
In the 866th year the army of pagans who Ívarr and Ubba ruled came to York. The
Northumbrians had thrown out their king, Osberht, and took another, a base man ¶who was
called Ælle.
In the 867th year Osberht and Ælle, who
had been reconciled for the sake of the common good, went to York and, after the wall
had been broken, both kings were slain forcing their way against the pagans
In the 868th year a comet was seen.
Ívarr and Ubba came from Northumbria to Nottingham, and Burgred, king of the Mercians,
withstood them, supported by the help of King Æthelred, and his brother Ælfred. Ælfred
took as wife the daughter of Æthelred, ealdorman of the Gaini,
whose by-name was ‘the Great’, and Eadburg, who was of the royal stock of the
Mercians.
In the 869th year Ívarr and Ubba returned to
Northumbria, revelling wildly and destroying many.
In the 870th year Ívarr and Ubba with many thousands of Danes came to East Anglia and
slew the holy Eadmund,
and Bishop Hunberht with him.
Ceolnoth, archbishop of Canterbury, died; Æthelred succeeded him.
In the 871st year the army of pagans came into Wessex as far as
Reading; their leaders were two kings, Bagsecg and Hálfdan.
Æthelwulf, ealdorman of Berkshire, encountering them at Englefield, slew one earl, Sidroc the Old. After 4 days King Æthelred hastened with his
brother Ælfred, and, after battle had been engaged, many fell on each side, where the
aforesaid ealdorman Æthelwulf also died. Likewise, after 4 days, Æthelred and his
brother Ælfred fought against them at Ashdown. The pagans, moreover, were formed into
two troops, one ruled by the aforesaid two kings, the other, indeed, by the earls all
together. Then Æthelred, after his army had been divided into two parts, with one part
fought against the two kings, and slew one, that is, Bagsecg.
Ælfred, furthermore, with the other part fought against the earls and killed 4: Sidroc the younger, Osbearn, Fræna, and Haraldr. Likewise, after a few days they fought at
Basing, and the Danes were victorious; where Bishop Ealhmund fell. Likewise they gave
battle at Reading. After this King Æthelred died; his brother Ælfred succeeded, by whom
his wife Eahlswith begat two sons, Eadweard and Æthelward, and three daughters:
Æthelflæd, Æthelgifu, and Ælfryth. After a month had been completed, however, he fought
against the pagans at Wilton, but the Danes were victorious because they were many, and
the English few; for they had been tormented by many battles, in which one king and nine
earls from among the pagans had fallen.
In the 872nd
year Ealhwine, bishop of the Hwicce, died; the most learned man, Wærferth, succeeded
him, ordained by Æthelred, archbishop of Canterbury. He, at the command of King Ælfred,
translated the blessed Gregory’s book, The Dialogues, from Latin
into English. During this period the Northumbrians expelled their king, Ecberht, and
Archbishop Wulfhere. The army of pagans went from Reading to London and wintered there,
with whom the Mercians agreed a truce.
In the 873rd
year a renowned army of pagans with King Hálfdan wintered in Lindsey, at Torksey.
Ecgberht, king of the Northumbrians, died, and Ricsic was made king; and Archbishop
Wulfhere was taken back to his see.
In the 874th year
Hálfdan, moving with his army from Lindsey, wintered in Repton, where three other kings
joined up with him, namely Guthrum, Oscetel, and Anwend; and they expelled King Burgred from the kingdom of the
Mercians—who, proceeding to Rome, died there, and was buried in the church of St Mary in
the English school; and the Danes committed the kingdom of the Mercians to
Ceolwulf.
In the 875th year part of the army, with
Hálfdan, subjecting Northumbria to their power, remained there. The other part, with
three kings, wintered at Cambridge. King Ælfred, engaging in a naval battle against 7
pagan ships, captured one and put the rest to flight. Bishop Eardwulf and Abbot Eadred,
carrying the body of St Cuthberht from Lindisfarne, wandered hither and thither for 7
years.
In the 876th year Ricsige, king of the
Northumbrians, died; Ecgberht succeeded him. The army of the three kings came to Wareham
and Wessex. King Ælfred agreed a truce with them, and took hostages. But the next night,
with the treaty broken, they left and raided Exeter, that is Caerwysc. Rollo the pagan,
by race a Dane, invaded Normandy with his men and occupied it. He was later baptized,
and was called Robert.
In the 877th year a naval force
of pagans in 120 [ships] perished in the sea. Ívarr and Hálfdan, with 23 ships, sailed
to Devon, where they were killed by the thegns of King Ælfred, and 1,220 men with them.
Another army went from Exeter to Chippenham with an amazing multitude which had recently
come from Denmark. With his own people fleeing, King Ælfred, indeed, was left behind
with a few, and hid himself in marshes. But in the end, greatly strengthened by a
prophecy through the agency of St Cuthberht, he came against his enemies at a place
which
is called Edington, and fighting, was victorious. They, anxious
about the hostages which had been given, swore that they would withdraw from the
kingdom; and their king, Guthrum, promised that he would become a Christian.
Áed king of Scots, his brother
In the 878th year Guthrum was baptized, whom King Ælfred adopted
from the holy font, and afterwards gave him East Anglia in which the holy Eadmund had
reigned, and called him Æthelstan. Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, died.
Áed 1 year
In the 879th year a new army of pagans, coming into England, stayed in
¶Custantín king of Scots is slain. Áed whitefoot,
brother of the same, reigned, who perished, injured by the sword of Grig son of Domnall,
after he had completed the first year of kingship, he ended life by a wound at Strathallan.
Fulham on the Thames.
Áed king of Scots is slain, after whom: Giric, exercising his right, became :/
Grig son of Domnall, king of
Scots :/ king for eighteen years. The worthy
man was taken by death at Dundurn. He
gave freedoms to the Scottish Church
which had
been degraded by the law
of the Picts. All England was added
to his realm, which a not
unlucky
chance gave him: a crushing
battle.
In the 880th year Guthrum with
his people began to inhabit East Anglia. The army which had come to Fulham crossed by
sea, and stayed on for one year at Ghent. Louis, king of the Franks, son of Charles the
Bald, died.
In the 881st year the same army, coming
into France, made and met with battle. During these days many Frankish monasteries were
abandoned: certainly the brothers of the house of St Benedict, digging up his bones from
the grave, ran about hither and thither.
In the 882nd
year the same army came into France by the River Meuse, and wintered there. King Ælfred
vanquished ships of the pagans in a naval battle, and two were captured.
In the
883rd year the aforesaid army, taking possession of
Condé, goes on the riot there for one year. King Ælfred, after Ívarr and Hálfdan had
been slain, as has been said above, began to settle the devastated parts of Northumbria.
Then St Cuthberht, coming forward through a vision to abbot Eadred, directed that he
should say to the bishop and to all the English and to the Danish people how they should
buy back Guthfrith son of Harthacnut, who the Danes had sold as a slave to a certain
widow at Whittingham, once the price for his redemption had been offered; and they
should raise him up as king over the Northumbrians. And this was done, and he ruled over
York, and Ecgberht, moreover, beyond the Tyne. Then the see which had earlier been in
Lindisfarne was re-established in Chester-le-Street.
In the 884th year Pope Marinus sent many gifts to Ælfred, king of the
English, among which was a small piece of wood from the cross of the Lord; and out of
his love he freed the English school from all tribute and toll.
In the 885th year the aforesaid army of pagans was divided into two
parts, of which one withdrew to eastern Francia, and the other, returning to England,
besieged Rochester; and King Ælfred dislodged them from the siege. King Ælfred sent a
naval force for the defence of East Anglia, where 16 pirate ships were found and
captured, in the mouth of the Stour. On the way back they met a great army of pagans
and, after they had engaged with them, were overcome. In the same year Charles, king of
the Franks, was mangled by the tusks of a boar while hunting; he had succeeded his
brother Louis. Now, their father, Louis, was the brother of Queen Judith, who King
Æthelwulf married. P[ope] Marinus died.
In the 886th
year the army of pagans returned from East Francia to the west, and reached Paris by the
River Seine
Seine
; and, beseiging the city for one year, gained nothing. King Ælfred,
beseiging London, took it, with the English coming to him and the Danes fleeing; he
entrusted ¶the restored city to Æthelred, ealdorman of the Mercians.
In the 887th year the army of pagans, abandoning Paris, went by the
Seine as far as the Marne, and from there to Chézy where, loitering for a year, they
entered the mouth of the River Yonne, and they stayed there for a year, to the great
harm of the region. Charles, king of the Franks, expelled from the kingship by Arnulf,
his brother’s son, died 40 days later. Then the kingdom of the Franks was divided into 5
parts: the same Arnulf took the regions to the east of the River Rhine, Rudolf the
inland realm, Odo the western, Berengar and Guido all Lombardy, and all
regions on the other side of the mountains.
In the 888th year King Ælfred built two monasteries, one for monks in the place which is
called Athelney, the other for nuns next the east gate at Shaftsbury, in which he
appointed his daughter Æthelgifu abbess.
In the 889th
year Æthelred, archbishop of Canterbury, died; Plegmund succeeded him.
In the 890
th year
In the 891st year Guthrum Æthelstan, king of the East Anglians, died.
In the 892nd year Wulfhere, archbishop of York,
died, in the 39th year of his office.
In the 893rd year the pagan king, Hæsten, with
80 light pirate-vessels
myoparonibus
—that is, ships—entered the
mouth of the River Thames, and built a stronghold for himself at Middleton.
In the 894th year Guthfrith, king of the Northumbrians,
died.
In the 895th year
In the 896th year
King of Scots, Domnall son of Custantín.
In the 897th year an army of pagans,
after longships had been constructed, and pursing a raid with many
atrocities, severely harassed the land of Wessex near the seashores. Against them King
Ælfred caused to be constructed others which were much longer and higher. When these
were sent to sea, 20 enemy ships are captured and men slain.
Giric king of Scots died. After him King
Domnall reigned in Scotland. He was a son
descended from Custantín. It is related that
this king perished in the town of Forres
in the eleventh of his reign, with
the sun revolving.
In the 898th year Rollo, first
duke of the Normans, beseiged Chartres. But the bishop of that same town, Waltelin,
getting away, and bearing the tunic of St Mary in his hands, freed the city by putting
Rollo to flight.
In the 899th year
In the 900th year Æthelbald is ordained archbishop of York.
In the
901st year King Ælfred died in the 30th year of his reign, on 28 October, and is buried at
Winchester. His
In the 902nd year
In the 903rd year
died the holy priest, Grimbald, tutor of King Ælfred, and the venerable abbot Fergal
from Gaeldom, and the vigorous ealdorman, Æthelwulf, brother of Queen Ealhswith, wife of
King Ælfred.
In the 904th year the men of Kent,
fighting with a multitude of Danish pirates at Holme, were manifest ¶victors.
In
the 905th [year] the moon was fearfully darkened. Queen
Ealhswith, Christ’s handmaiden, departed. She built a monastery of nuns at
Winchester.
In the 906th [year] the army of pagans made
peace with King Eadweard. Rollo, who was also Robert, first duke of the Normans,
departed; his son, William Longspée, succeeded him. A comet was seen.
In the 907th [year]
King of Scots, Custantín son of Áed
In the 908th [year] Caerlleon, which is now called Leicester, was rebuilt at the command of King Eadweard.
In the same year .'.
In the 909th [year]
died.'.Domnall king of Scots passed away, after whom Custantín moreover, whose father was Áed the white, lived as king for thirty years. For five years
he was in the city of St Andrews. He died there,
delighting in the law of religion.
In the 910th [year] the bones of
St Oswald, king and martyr, were translated from Barney to Mercia.
In the 911th [year] a notable battle was had between the English and
the Danes in Staffordshire, in a place called Tettenhall, and in the end the English
attain victory.
In the 912th [year] Æthelred, ealdorman
of the Mercians, died, after whom his wife, Æthelflæd, daughter of King Ælfred, ruled
the kingdom of the Mercians.
In the 913th [year]
Æthelflæd, lady of the Mercians, built a burgh at Scergeat.
In the 914th [year] Æthelflæd built Tamworth. Sihtric killed
King Niall.
In the 915th year Wærferth, holy
bishop of the Hwicce—that is, of Worcester—died, and Æthelhun succeeded him. Æthelflæd
built ¶Eddisbury and Warwick.
In the 916th year the
most invincible king, Eadweard, took in Bedford into his dominion, and
commanded that a town be founded in the southern section of the River Ouse. Æthelflæd
built Chirbury and Weardbyrig, and Runcorn.
In the 917th year Æthelflæd sent an army into Wales and, after the
Welsh had been vanquished, broke down Llan-gors,DB: I.e., the crannog in the lake
at Llan-gors. The English name was Brecenanmere. where
the wife of the king of the Welsh was captured with 24 men and led into Mercia.
In
the 918th year Æthelflæd stormed Derby and occupied it: she
lost 4 of the bravest ealdormen there.
In the 919th
year Æthelflæd conquered Leicester, and afterwards died at Tamworth.
In the 920th year King Eadweard disinherited the daughter of his
sister, Æthelflæd— that is, Ælfwynn. In that year the king built Cledemutha. King Sihtric slighted Devonport. Charles, who was also Martel,
destroyer of churches, king ¶of the Franks, son of Louis, son of Charles the Bald,
died.
In the 921st year the king of the Scots with all
his people, and Ragnall king of the Danes dwelling in Northumbria, and King Sihtric did
homage to King Eadweard.
In the 922nd year King
Æthelweard, brother of King Eadweard, died. Wilferth succeeded to Æthelhun.
In the
923rd year
In the 924th
year Eadweard, with the epithet ‘the Elder’, most invincible king of the English, Danes,
Cumbrians, Scots has likely been erased (see note in transcription). and
Britons, died. His son, Æthelstan, succeeded him, consecrated by Athelm, archbishop of
Canterbury.
In the 925th year the vigorous king,
Æthelstan, gave his sister to Sihtric, king of the Northumbrians. Wigred is consecrated
bishop of Lindisfarne.
In the 926th year King Sihtric
died, whose kingdom Æthelstan annexed to his realm, after Guthfrith had been expelled.
Also, he vanquished in battle Hywel, king of the Britons, and Causantín, king of the
Scots, and Gwer, king of the men of Gwent and put them to flight: they, seeking peace
from him, concluded, with an oath, a lasting agreement with him.
In the 927th year
In the 928th
year
In the 929th year on the death of Wilferth, bishop
of the Hwicce, Cenwald succeeded.
In the 930th
year
In the 931st year
In the 932nd year the holy Frithestan, bishop of Winchester, ordained
as bishop in his place ¶Byrnstan, a religious man.
In the 933rd year the holy Frithestan died. Eadwine, brother of King Æthelstan, perished
at sea.
In the 934th year King Æthelstan ravaged
Scotland with a land force as far as Dunottar and Wertermore,DB: This refers to the Mounth: Werter is derived from a Brittonic form of Fortriu, and mor is Old English mór. and with a
naval force, indeed, as far as Caithness, because Causantín broke the terms of the
agreement. The holy Brynstan, bishop of ¶Winchester, died.
In the 935th year the monk, Ælfheah, a relative of the blessed Dunstan,
received the bishopric of Winchester.
In the 936th
year
In the 937th year Óláfr, king of Ireland, enters
the mouth of the River Humber with 615 ships, and King Æthelstan and his brother Eadmund
came to meet him at Brunanburh; and, when battle was engaged,
they slew 5 lesser kings and 7 earls, ¶and returned in triumph.
In the 938th year
In the 939th year
Rudolf, king of the Franks, son of Conrad, duke of Burgundy, died.
/40th\
In the 930th
/\ year King Æthelstan died, on Wednesday 27 October, in the 14th indiction, and was buried at the town of Malmesbury; his
brother Eadmund succeeded him.
In the 941st year the
Northumbrians, laying aside the fealty which they had sworn to Eadmund, chose Óláfr,
king of the Norwegians, as their king. He, coming to Northampton, besieged it; and,
achieving nothing, turned the army to Tamworth. When he was returning—after everything
had been ravaged—King Eadmund came to meet him, and battle would soon have been joined
if the two archbishops, Odo and Wulfstan, had not calmed them. Once peace had been
concluded, therefore,
Watlingstreet was the border of each kingdom.
Óláfr perished soon after the church of St Baldred in Tyningham at been set on fire and
ravaged. The son of Sihtric, moreover, Óláfr by name, reigned in place of his
father.
In the 942nd [year] King Eadmund wrested 5
cities—Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and Stamford—entirely out of the hands of
the Danes.
In the 943rd [year] when the holy Queen
Ælfgifu bore King Eadmund Eadgar, the holy Dunstan—then abbot of Glastonbury, later
bishop of Winchester and then archbishop of Canterbury—heard voices of ethereal singing,
saying: ‘the peace of the English church in the timeof the boy
now arisen and of our Dunstan’. In the same year King Eadmund received King Óláfr son of
Sihtric from the wholesome bath—as much yielding to force as believing in words—, and
afterwards held King Ragnall while he was being confirmed by the bishop.
Custantín king of Scots died. King Máel Coluim
succeeded him for three years.
He was the son of King Domnall.
The Moravians killed him
in Blervie. He falls by
the deceit and fraud of
an apostate people.
In the 944th [year] King Eadmund
expelled Óláfr and Ragnall from Northumbria because they had broken the peace concluded
with him.
In the 945th [year] King Eadmund ravaged the
land of the Cumbrians, and entrusted the land subjugated to himself to Máel Coluim, king
of the Scots.
In the 946th [year] Eadmund, the
magnificent king of the English, while seeking to snatch his steward away from the hands
of Leofa, a most evil robber, in case he might have been slain, is killed by the same
man, on Tuesday, on the day of St Augustine teacher of the English, the 4th indiction, at Pucklechurch,DB: The P has evidently been misread as a wynn
at some stage, resulting in Widechirche. and is buried
at Glastonbury. His brother, Eadred, succeeded him, consecrated by the holy Odo, the
archbishop. In the same year he procured rebellious Northumbria to himself, and the
Scots subjected themselves to him without a battle.
In the 947th [year] Óláfr, who had been driven from the kingdom of
Northumbria, returning with a fleet, was restored to the kingdom.
In the 948th [year] the Northumbrians, after Óláfr had been thrown out,
swore fealty to Eadred, king of the English, but they did not ¶keep it for long.
In
the 949th [year] the Northumbrians, incapable of keeping
their fealty, raised Eirik, a certain man of Danish stock, ¶as king over them.
In
the 950th [year] Eadred, king of the English, laid waste
Northumbria: in this devastation the monastery which St Wilfred had built in Ripon was
burned. The Northumbrians, driven by fear, threw out the king who they had made for
themselves, Eiríkr son of Haraldr. He was their last king, for earls succeeded him:
first Oswulf, who afterwards had a partner, Oslac; Waldef the elder succeeded them;
after whom his son, Uhtred; after Uhtred his son, Eadwulf Cudel;DB: Eadwulf Cudel
was Uhtred’s brother, succeeding him in 1016. after him his brother,
Ealdred;DB: Ealdred, son of Uhtred, killed in 1038. Eadwulf, son of
Cospatric son of the aforesaid Uhtred, succeeded him;DB: Ealdred was succeeded by
his brother Eadwulf, not by his nephew Eadwulf, son of Cospatric (who was one of
Bishop Walcher’s killers in 1080). Siward succeeded Eadwulf; after him Tostig,
brother of King Harold; Morcar succeeded Tostig, who entrusted the earldom to Oswulf,
son of Earl Eadulf;DB: I.e., son of Eadwulf brother and successor of Ealdred in
1038.
Cospi succeeded him after he was expelled; after him Cospatric
son of Maldred—Maldred had this Cospatric from Ealdgyth, daughter of Earl Uhtred, and
Ælfgifu, daughter of King Æthelred; that Cospatric was father of Dolfin, Waldef, and
Cospatric. After him the earldom was given to Waldef, son of Earl Siward; after Waldef
had been captured, charge of the earldom was entrusted to Bishop Walcher; after he was
killed, the king gave the earldom to Aubrey; Robert of Mowbray succeeded him after he
had returned home. But, after he had been captured, the kings thereafter held the
earldom in their own hands: first William the younger, then Henry, thereafter Stephen,
and after him Henry II.
In the 951st year the holy
Ælfheah, bishop of Winchester, was snatched away from this world; Ælfsige succeeded him.
In the 952nd year Eadred, king
of the English, placed Wulfstan, archbishop of York, in the strictest custody.
Máel Coluim king of Scots is killed. After
him Illuilb reigned for the same number
of years, being the son of Custantín
son of Áed. Fighting in battle at
the mouth of the River Cowie/Cullen,
he died instantly by the
swords of the Danes.
In the 953rd year, after Wulfstan
had been released from custody, episcopal honour is restored to him at Dorchester.
In the 954th year
In the 955th year Eadred, king of the English, on becoming ill, sent for the holy
Dunstan, an abbot and his confessor. A voice from above called to him as he was
travelling to the palace, and he heard it saying: ‘now King Eadred rests in peace’. The
horse, unable to endure this voice, fell to the ground and died. The king was buried in
Winchester, and Eadwig, son of his brother Eadmund and the holy queen Ælfgifu, succeeded
him, consecrated by Archbishop Odo.
In the 956th year
the blessed Abbot Dunstan, outlawed by reason of his righteousness by King Eadwig,
¶crossed over by sea,
and remained for a time in exile in a monastery which is
called Blandinium.DB: I.e., St Peter’s, Ghent.
Wulfstan, archbishop of York, died; Osketel succeeded him.
4 and a half
In the 957th year Radulf, died; Lothar succeeded him. Dominical letter
D.
In the 958th year the holy Odo, archbishop of
Canterbury, passed away to Christ; Ælfsige, bishop of Winchester, succeeded him, and
Brihthelm is ordained in his place.
In the 959th year
Ælfsige, archbishop of Canterbury, died of cold in the mountains of the Alps while going
on to Rome for the pall. In the same year King Eadwig died and was buried at Winchester.
His brother, Eadgar, is created monarch of the whole kingdom of the English, in the
17th year of his age, the 510th of the arrival of the English in Britain, and the 363rd from the arrival of St Augustine. In that year Brihthelm, bishop of Dorset,
is elected to the primacy of the see of Canterbury; but because he seemed less than
suitable, he returned to his see by order of the king. Then the blessed Dunstan, bishop
of Winchester, by the divine divine will and the advice of wise men, is
created primate and patriarch of the first metropolis of the English; by whose teaching
and learning King Eadgar, accomplishing many things, banished frivolous songs from the
convents of secular clerks, and set up 40 monasteries for monks.
In the 960th year the holy Dunstan set off for Rome, and received the
pall from Pope John on the third indiction. On returning, then, he, by his prayers,
obtained from the king that Oswald, a humble monk, the father’s brother’s son of his
predecessor, Odo, would be ordained pontiff to the bishopric of Worcester. The holy man
man, Oswald, was consecrated, therefore, by the blessed Dunstan.
In
the 961st year
Illuilb king of
Scots is slain, after whom King Dub reigned for four summers and a half, ¶born to Máel
Coluim, wielding royal rights, the treacherous people of Moray killed him. He was
slaughtered by their swords in the city of Forres. The sun hid its rays while he lay
under a bridge, where he was hidden, and also discovered.
In the 962nd year
In the
963rd year the venerable abbot Æthelwold, trained by the
blessed Dunstan, succeeded Brihthelm in the bishopric of Winchester. The holy Æthelwold,
after the clerks had been expelled by order of King Eadgar, provided the old minster at
Winchester with monks.
In the 964th year Eadgar the
peaceful, king of the English, took in marriage the daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman of
Devon, Ælfthryth by name, after the death of her husband, Æthelwold, glorious ealdorman
of the East Anglians. From her he received two sons, Eadmund and Æthelred. He had also
previously had, from Æthelflæd the fair, daughter of the ealdorman, Ordmær, Eadweard,
afterwards king and martyr, and by the holy Wulfthryth Edith, a virgin devoted to God.
In the same year King Eadgar placed monks in New Minster and Middleton, appointing
Æthelgar to the former and Cyneweard to the latter as abbots.
In the 965th year
Dub king of Scots is
killed, after whom: for the same number of years also the son of Illuilb was king,
Cuilén by name, he was a foolish man. It is related that he was cut down at in Lothian by Rhydderch because of the rape of his daughter, who the king
took for himself.
In the 966th year
In the
967th year King Eadgar established nuns in the monastery
of Romsey, which his grandfather, King Eadweard, had built, and the holy Merewenna as
abbess.
In the 968th year Ealdred, bishop at St
Cuthberht in Chester-le-Street, died; Ælfsige succeeded him. Dominical letter D.
In
the 969th year Eadgar the peaceful, king of the English,
commanded the holy bishops Dunstan of Canterbury, Oswald of Worcester, and Æthelwold,
that, once the clerks had been expelled, monks should be placed in the greater
monasteries throughout Mercia. The holy Oswald, carrying this out, put monks into the
church of Worcester, and set over them Wynsige, a religious man.
Cuilén king of Scots is destroyed, after whom: the renowned Cináed,
is said to have reigned in Scotland, offspring of Máel Coluim, for twenty-four years. He
is done for by darts at Fettercairn, cut off by craft, falling by the deceit of Fimb’hele, offspring of Conchobar.
In the 970th year the holy
Æthelwold the bishop raised the relics of St Swithhun from the tomb, and reinterred them
most gently in the church of the apostles Peter and P[aul].
In the 971st year Eadmund the ætheling, son of Eadgar, died, and
Ordgar, ealdorman of Devon, the king’s father-in-law, of whom the first was buried in
the monastery of Romsey, the second honourably in Exeter.
In the 972nd year Osketel, archbishop of York, died; Oswald, his
kinsman, bishop of Worcester, succeeded him, who received the pall from Pope
Stephen.
In the 973rd year Eadgar, the peace-making
king of the English, in the thirtieth year of his age, at Pentecost, is consecrated king
of the whole island—accordingly the first—by the blessed prelates Dunstan and Oswald,
and by all the other bishops of England, in the city of Bath, with the greatest honour
and glory. Then, after an intervention of time, once northern Britain had been
circumnavigated by him with a huge fleet, he landed at Chester where 8 subkings—that is,
Cináed king of the Scots, Máel Coluim king of the Cumbrians, Magnús king of many
islands, and 5 others: Dyfnwal, Siferth, Hywel, Iago, and Ulfkil—came to meet him, as he had commanded them;
and they swore that, as his faithful men, they would resolve to stand
by him both on land and by sea. Boarding a skiff with them on a certain day, having set
them to the oars, he himself, taking hold of the steering helm, steered
it expertly through the course of the River Dee, and with every band of ealdormen and
nobles joining in a similar craft, he sailed from the palace to the monastery of St John
the Baptist where, after a prayer had been completed, he set off back to the palace with
the same display. It is said that, while he was entering, he declared to his nobles on
that occasion at length that each of his successors would be able to congratulate
himself that, as king of the English, with so many kings obedient to him, he would take
possession of the display of such dignities.
In the 974th year the greatest earthquake occurred throughout the whole of
England.
In the 975th year the prince of the
English world, the flower and honour of antecedent kings, the peace-making king, Eadgar,
no less worthy of memory to the English than Romulus to the Romans, Cyrus to the
Persians, Alexander to the Macedonians, Charles the Great to the Franks, Arthur to the
Britains, after he had royally fulfilled all, passed away from this life, in the 32nd year of his age, on 8 July. He left a son, Eadweard,
afterwards a martyr, as heir of both his kingdom and practices. His body, moreover,
borne to Glastonbury, was entombed in royal fashion. While he lived he gathered together
for himself every year, once the Easter celebration had passed over, 3,600 strong ships,
out of which 1,200 assembled in the eastern region of the island, just as many in the
western, and just as many in the northern; and he rowed with the eastern fleet to the
western; and, after it had been sent back, row to the north with the western fleet; and,
after that had been sent back, rowed with the northern to the eastern fleet. In this way
he was accustomed to circumnavigate the whole island every summer, carrying this out
boldly for the defence of his kingdom against others,DB: Taking ceteros to be exteros (see note in the
transcription). and for his own and his armies’ training in war. In winter and
spring, moreover, he used to investigate diligently everywhere within the kingdom, going
quickly through all the provinces of England, to what extent the rule of law and the
provisions of his commands were being observed by rulers, in case the poor, through the
suffering of injustices, were being oppressed by the powerful. Applying himself with
strength in one, and with justice in the other, in both he took care of the public good
and the welfare of the kingdom. Hence the fear in enemies on every side and the love of
all subject to him increased towards him. The public order of the entire kingdom was
thrown into confusion by his death, and trouble began to arrive everywhere after the
period of joyfulness that flourished in his time by peace-making. For indeed, after
great discord arose by throwing monks out from monasteries and electing a king, at
length, by the deeds of the holy archbishops, Dunstan and Oswald, and all catholic men
who were withstanding the opposite party, the monks held their positions firmly.
Meanwhile, after his brother had been rejected, Eadweard the ætheling is
consecrated king, as his father had ordered. The star of a comet was seen in the
autumn.
In the 977th year the greatest synod was
celebrated in East Anglia at a township called Kirklington. Afterwards, at Calne, while
another synod was being celebrated, the high-born men of all England who had assembled
there fell to the ground from a loft—apart from the holy Dunstan: some of them died and
some, indeed, barely escaped the danger of death.
In the 978th year Eadweard, king of the English, was unjustly eliminated by his men on
the instructions of his stepmother, Queen Ælfthryth—pierced by a concealed knife in a
place which is called the gap of Corfe—and he is buried, not in a royal fashion, at
Wareham. His brother, Æthelred, the illustrious ætheling, polite in manners, fair in
countenance, and elegant in appearance, was consecrated as king on the Sunday after the
feast of Easter, on 14 April, by the holy archbishops, Dunstan and Oswald, and 10
bishops, at Kingston. He reigned for 38 years with many disasters on account of the
murder of his brother, who his mother had unjustly eliminated. The
blessed Dunstan, [however],DB: Taking apud to be autem (see note in the transcription). filled with a
prophetic spirit, predicted to him that these same disasters were
going to happen to him during his reign, with these words: ‘Because’, he said, ‘you have
obtained the kingdom through the death of your brother whom your
shameful mother killed, hear therefore the word of the Lord. The Lord
said this: the sword shall not depart from your house, raging against you all the days
of your life, killing your offspring until the time when your kingdom is conveyed to a
foreign kingdom, whose custom and language the people you govern do not know; nor will
your sin, and your mother’s sin, and the sins of the men who killed on vile advice, be
atoned for unless by lengthy punishment.’ Thereupon, after this, a cloud was seen
throughout all England in the middle of the night—sometimes blood-red, sometimes on
fire. Afterwards, about dawn, it disappeared, changing into disparate beams and diverse
colours.
In the 979th year Pope John died;
Benedict succeeded him. Ælfthryth, formerly queen, the murderess of King Eadweard, built
two monasteries—that is, Warewelle and Amesbury—by reason of
penitence. Ælfhere, ealdorman of the Mercians, came with a great number of people to
Wareham, and ordered that the body of St Eadweard, king and martyr, be raised from the
tomb, where many miracles had happened. Once it had been uncovered, it was found safe
and sound from all destruction and pollution. Then, washed and clothed in new garments,
it was borne to Shaftesbury and buried honourably.
In the 980th year Pope Benedict died; Dionysus, the 140th,
succeeded him. Southampton is laid waste by Danish pirates, and almost all its citizens
were either killed or led away as captives. Later the island of Thanet and Cheshire are
destroyed by Norwegian pirates.
In the 981st year
the monastery of St Petroc in Cornwall was destroyed by the same pirates, and they made
frequent raids in Cornwall itself, and in Devon, in the vicinity of the coasts.
In
the 982nd year Pope Dionysus died; Boniface succeeded him,
dying in the same year; Pope Benedict succeeded him. 4 ships of pirates, landing in
Dorset-shire, ravaged Portland. The city of London was consumed by fire.
In the
983rd year Ælfhere, ealdorman of the Mercians, kinsman of
King Eadgar of England, died, and his son, Ælfric, received his ealdormanry.
In the 984th year the holy Æthelwold, bishop
of Winchester, passed away to Christ. on 1 August; the holy Ælfheah, abbot of Bath,
succeeded him. He took up the religious habit in the monastery of Deerhurst.
In the
985th year
In the 986th
year Æthelred, king of the English, besieging the city of Rochester because of certain
disputes, achieved nothing. As a result, departing enraged, he laid waste the lands of
St Andrew the apostle. Ælfric, ealdorman of the Mercians, son of Ealdorman Ælfhere, is
expelled from England.
In the 987th year Lothar, king
of the Franks, died; Louis succeeded him. A fever among men, and a very severe
pestilence among animals, which is called scitte in English,
plagued England everywhere.
In the 988th year Watchet
is laid waste by Danish pirates, with whom the men of Devon engaged. Although their
ealdorman, and a very brave soldier, Strenwold, with many others, were annihilated, the
English however held sway at the site of the slaughter. The holy Dunstan, archbishop of
Canterbury, passed away to Christ; Æthelgar, bishop of Selsey, succeeded him, and held
it for one year and three months. Louis the unfortunate, king of the Franks, died; Hugh
son of Hugh Capet succeeded him.
In the 989th year
In the 990th
JT: See note in the transcription about a
scribal correction here. year Ælfsige, bishop of St Cuthberht’s,
Chester-le-Street, died; Aldhun succeeded him.
In the 991st year on the death of Æthelgar, archbishop of Canterbury, Sigeric succeeded.
Ipswich is laid waste by the Danes. Then, after Brihtnoth, the vigorous ealdorman of the
East Angles, had been slain in battle, and an infinite multitude on each side, the Danes
were the victors near Maldon. Also in this year, on the advice of Sigeric, archbishop of
Canterbury, and the rest of the nobles, a tribute—which was 10 thousand pounds—was given
for the first time to the Danes so that they might keep an enduring peace. The holy
Oswald the archbishop dedicated the monastery of Ramsey which he and God’s friend,
Æthelwine, ealdorman of the East Angles, had built.
In the 992nd year the holy Oswald, the archbishop, before he was due to
prepare the feet of the poor, as enjoined in the usual way, passed away to the Lord on
29 February, and was buried in the church of St Mary which he had built from its
foundations. Ealdwulf, abbot of Peterborough, succeeded him. Ealdorman Æthelwine
died.
In the 993rd year an army of Danes broke into
Bamburgh and plundered it; then it wasted Lindsey and Northumbria in large part.
King of Scots, Custantín
Calws son of Cuilén.
*killed by a sword at the head of
the River Almond; reigning [unroyal]DB: Taking the incomprehensible integalere to have been inregale in the original text (an unusual word which may have been considered inappropriate in a king-list poem). See note in the transcription.
for one-and-a-half years. Cináed
son of Máel Coluim struck him.
In the 994th year Pope Benedict died; John succeeded him, dying
in the same year; another John succeeded him. Óláfr, king of the Norwegians, and Svein,
king of the Danes, are carried to London with 94 triremes, from where they are driven
back by the citizens, not without great loss to their army. As a result, inflamed with
anger, they went mad, raging throughout England, sparing neither sex or age from sword
and flame. A tribute, moreover, of 16 thousand pounds was paid to them. Afterwards, King
Æthelred received King Óláfr, who was confirmed by the holy Ælfheah, as his adopted son,
and sent him back with honour to his country to return no more. Richard, the first duke
of the Normans, died; his son, Richard, succeeded him.
Cináed king of Scots is slain, after whom: King Custantín, a son descended from Cuilén,*
King of Scots, Grim or
Cináed son of
In the 995th year Bishop Aldhun
translated the body of St Cuthberht from Chester-le-Street to Durham. Pope John died;
another John succeeded him.
Custantín king of Scots is put to
death, after whom: King Grim reigned for the space of
eight years, offspring of Cináed who
had been born to Dub. It is held
that the Bards’ PlainDB: Monzievaird, Modern Gaelic Magh Bhàrd, which means ‘Bards’ Plain’: William J. Watson, The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1926), p. 243. was where he
was cut down by the offspring of Cináed,
Máel Coluim by name.
In the 996th year Sigeric, archbishop of
Canterbury, died: he established monks after the clerks had been thrown in confusion
from Kent. Ælfric is consecrated archbishop of Canterbury.
In the 997th year the Danish army which had stayed on in England was
ruinous
for certain counties in large part, and also delivered a
massacre of many men; and, after the monastery of Tavistock had been set on fire, it
turned back to its ships laden with enormous booty, and wintered in the same place.
In the 998th year the aforementioned pagan army landed at
the mouth of the River Frome, laying waste Dorset in large part, and went frequently to
the Isle of Wight. An army was assembled many times against so great a disturbance, but
the enemy were rendered victors by wretched misfortune.
In the 999th year the army of pagans entered the Thames, carried to
Rochester by the River Medway; and they besiege it for a few days. A harsh battle is
waged there with the men of Kent, but the enemy are clearly victors; as a result they
demolished almost the whole district of west Kent.
In the 1000th year the Danish fleet headed for Normandy. Æthelred, king
of the English, devastated nearly the whole land of the Cumbrians. Hugh, king of the
French, son of Hugh Capet, died; his son Robert succeeded him.
In the st year the pagan army was carried back
again to England from Normandy, entering the mouth of a river, and attack Exeter,
achieving nothing; as a result, it was provoked beyond measure, in the usual way, and
wanders throughout Devon setting fire to settlements, devastating fields, and killing
men. On account of this the men of Devon and Somerset, gathered together as one, go into
battle with them. The English, however, turning their backs, go into flight, and the
enemies are rendered victors.
In the 1002nd year
Æthelred, king of the English, after he took counsel with his men, decided, for the sake
of maintaining peace, to pay 24,000. In the same year King Æthelred took as wife Emma,
called Ælfgifu in English, daughter of Richard I, duke of the Normans. Ealdwulf,
archbishop of York, raised the bones of St Oswald the archbishop, and placed them with
honour in a shrine; and not much later he died; Abbot Wulfstan succeeded him.
In
the 1003rd year Svein, king of
the Danes, broke into Exeter, plundered it, and destroyed the
wall, and thereafter Wiltshire; as a result the men of Wiltshire and Hampshire assembled
manfully against the enemy. But, with the ealdorman Ælfric, extremely terrified,
beginning to vomit and inert with cowardice, they turned away from their opponents
without a fight. Seeing this, Svein with his army wasted Wiltshire and Salisbury, and
afterwards headed back to their ships.
Giric king of Scots is
put to death, after whom: the same Máel Coluim
reigned for thirty summers; he was a very victorious knight in battle.
A free
[death]DB: The version of the poem inserted by Walter Bower into his Scotichronicon includes the additional word mors: In uico Glamnis rapuit mors libera (Scotichronicon, ii, p. 410). Its absence causes libera to be left in isolation without any explanation of what
is ‘free’. took the king at Glammis; he perished underfoot, after the enemy
had been laid low.
The daughter of the said king was wife of Abbot Crínán, Bethoc,
worthy of her name.
In the 1004th year Svein, king of
the Danes sailed with his fleet to Norwich and laid it waste and burned it. Because he
came unexpectedly, Ulfcetel, an ealdorman of great vigour of the East Angles, did not
have the opportunity to assemble an army against him; after taking counsel with his men,
he accordingly agreed a truce with him—which, not much later, he
the Danish king
violated, Thetford having been burned. After this had become known, the vigorous
ealdorman Ulfcetel, mustering his army, engages boldly with the enemy; and, after many
from among these men and from among those of the enemy had fallen, the Danes, in truth,
barely escaped. And as they themselves bore witness, they never experienced a harsher
battle in England. Pope John died; Gregory succeeded him.
In the 1005th year a dreadful famine gripped England; as a result Svein,
king of the Danes, went to Denmark; he was to return after no long period of time. Pope
Gregory died; John succeeded him; dying that year, Silvester succeeded him, who was also
Gerbert. They say that that Gerbert did homage to the devil, so that he would
make him rise to earthly dignities, concerning which it is said: Gerbert transfers from
R. to R.; he becomes pope, thriving at R.DB: This translates transit ab R Gerbertus in R papa uigens R, the original text which is
rendered in an obscure way in the manuscript: see the note in the
transcription. That is, from the archiepiscopacy of Rheims to the
archiepiscopacy of the city of Ravenna—which at that time
was renowned
among cathedrals—and at last to the top, that is to Rome, the pinnacle among sees. The
same man, indeed, afterwards felt remorse inwardly and was outwardly tormented
dreadfully: they say that the hands and feet which he had stretched out to the devil
were cut off, and that he had accordingly died mutilated, and was placed among the
blessed.
In the 1006th year Ælfric, archbishop of
Canterbury, died; Ælfheah, bishop of Worcester, succeeded him, and in his place Cenwulf
is substituted. The fleet of Danes, having been borne to England, wasting everything by
fire and slaughter, devastating Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire, turned back to
their ships with spoils.
In the 1007th year Pope
Silvester died; John succeeded him. King Æthelred, forced by need, agreed to pay 36
thousand pounds tribute to the Danes each year, for the further preservation of peace.
Also in this year the king appointed Eadric, surnamed Streona, as ealdorman of the
Mercians—a treacherous man, and later a traitor to his country, although he was to be
the king’s son-in-law.
In the 1008th year Pope John
died; John succeeded him. King Æthelred commanded ships to be built throughout all
England as a matter of urgency, so that the limits of his kingdom so that
might be defended from enemy incursion.
In the 1009th year Pope John died;
Pope
Sergius
succeeded him ¶
. Earl Thorkell with
his fleet, Hemming, and Eilaf, with a countless army of Danes, landed on the Isle of
Thanet; then, on beginning to break into the city of Canterbury, the citizens and the
men of East Kent gave the right hand of fellowship and gave them 3 thousand pounds for a
lasting peace. Afterwards, King Æthelred would have triumphed over them completely
except that the treacherous Eadric prevented this.
In the 1010th year the aforementioned Danish army laid waste and burnt
almost all of the south of England, as far as Lincolnshire, and they, alas, gained
victory in battle over the East Anglians.
In the 1011th
year Pope Sergius died; Benedict succeeded him. The Danes wretchedly waste the town of
Canterbury with sword and fire, and take the holy Ælfheah the archbishop—having
plundered Christ’s chief church—, Godwine, bishop of Rochester, and the abbess Leofrun,
and moreover Ælfred, the king’s reeve, monks and clerks also, and countless people of
either sex. The holy Ælfheah, moreover, is held, bound, and is afflicted by various
insults, and is severely wounded, and is led to the fleet, thrown into prison, and
tormented there for 7 months. Monks, men, women, and little infants are tithed: nine out
of ten are butchered, a tenth left alive. The final total of the tithed was 4 monks and
800 men. Meanwhile, the wrath of God, raging against the murderous people, laid low 2
thousand of them with fearful tortures of their intestines; however they did not make
amends to God or to the holy pontiff.
In the 1012th year the treacherous Eadric Streona and all the leading men of England
assembled in London, and paid 48 thousand pounds tribute promised to the Danes.
Meanwhile, on the Holy Saturday of the Lord’s feast, a proposal was put forward by the
Danes to the holy Ælfheah, that if he should pay 3 thousand pounds, he would be able to
have life and freedom. At his refusal, they delayed his death to the next Saturday. With
that day approaching, they, aroused by a feeling of rage and drunk with much wine, took
him out from prison and dragged him to their council, and, having discarded their
battle-axes, they threw him down and overwhelmed him with stones, bones, and ox-heads.
In the end a certain man, Thrum by name, whom the holy Ælfheah had confirmed the day
before, moved by wicked piety, stuck a battle-axe into his head; and he immediately fell
asleep in the Lord. His body, though,
was carried to London the
following day by Bishops Eadnoth of Lincoln and Ælfhun of London, and he is buried
honourably by the citizens in the church of St Paul.
In the 1013th year St Eadmund slew Svein, the tyrant and
blasphemer who saw him in a hearing at Gainsborough and cried out that he was armed. At
his death the Danish fleet appointed his son, Knútr. But the greater men of English
birth recalled King Æthelred from Normandy.DB: The content of the annals for 1013
and 1014 have been inverted. The erasure of a minim under 1013, and also the darker
ink in copying from 1014, may mean that the scribe perceived that there was a problem
and took a break before deciding (mistakenly) to alter ‘1014’ to ‘1013’. The erasure
could, however, have occurred later.
In the 1014th year Lefing received the archiepiscopacy of Canterbury. Svein, king of the
Danes, was borne away to England with a strong fleet, and, after hostages had been
received, he subjected it to himself, raving like a wild animal almost anywhere
throughout England. Seeing this, King Æthelred travelled to Normandy with his wife and
sons, to Duke Richard.
In the 1015th year King Æthelred
took ill, and Eadmund Ironside, his son, had charge of the kingdom. Many, moreover, gave
hostages to Knútr, who was taking spoils throughout many places; and the treacherous
Eadric submitted to him.
In the 1016th year King
Æthelred, the bishops, abbots, and nobles of England, chose Knútr as their king. The
citizens of London, however, and another part of the nobility, raised up Eadmund
Ironside as king. After he had engaged with Knútr six times, where he evidently almost
always had victory, peace was made between him and Knútr, and England was divided
between them. But a certain traitor under the cleansing house struck Eadmund—naked for
the call of nature—in the privates, and he died.
Let it be remembered that the abbot of Dundrennan borrowed
the chronicle of Melrose in which were 14 quires, 119 folios.JT: For discussion,
see Broun, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, pp. 40–3.
On 8 November, Alexander, son of the most noble Alexander
king of Scots, was joined in matrimony to Margaret, daughter of NicholasDB:
Margaret’s father was Guy, not Nicholas. count of Flanders, in the girl’s
11th year of age, and almost the 20th of the boy’s; and it happened at Roxburgh in the chapel of St John [the
Evangelist] in the castle.JT: Compare with an incomplete (and now erased) note on
Alexander III’s marriage on Cotton MS Faustina B IX, f. 40r (attributed to Scribal
profile 88).
In the 1017th year King Knútr,
son of Svein, took up the sovereignty of all England. Afterwards, after Eadwine the
ætheling, full brother of King Eadmund, had been killed, Knútr sent the sons of the same
king, Eadmund and Eadweard, to the king of the Swedes to be killed; he, not wishing to
kill innocent boys, sent them to be reared by Salomon, king of Hungary. With the advance
of time Eadweard finished his life there. Eadweard, however, received in marriage
Agatha, the daughter of the full brother of the emperor Henry, by whom he begat
Margaret, afterwards queen of Scots, and Christina, a chaste virgin, and the ætheling
Eadgar. King Knútr took Emma, formerly queen, as his wife, by whom [he begat]
Harthacnut, afterwards king of the Danes and the English, and a daughter, Gunhilda, who
afterwards married Henry, emperor of the Romans.
In the 1018th year, at Christmas, King Knútr ordered the treacherous
ealderman Eadric Streona to be killed in the palace, because he was afraid that he
would, at some point, be ensnared by him with stratagems, just as his previous lords,
Æthelred and Eadmund, had been ensnared repeatedly. He commanded, moreover, that his
body be flung out over the city wall, and be abandoned without burial. Others without
guilt were killed, three noble sons of ealdermen. Aldhun, bishop of Durham, died. A
prodigious battle was waged at Carham between the English and the Scots. At Oxford the
English and the Danes were made united concerning the keeping of the laws of King Eadgar.
In the 1019th year Knútr, king of
the English and the Danes, departing for Denmark, stayed there for the entire
winter.
In the 1020th year King Knútr, returning to
England, held a great council at Cirencester during Easter. Eadmund received the
bishopric of Durham. Lyfing, archbishop of Canterbury, died; Æthelnoth, called the Good,
succeeded him.
In the 1021st year Ælfgar, bishop of the
East Angles, died; Alfwine succeeded him.
In the 1022nd year Archbishop Æthelnoth set out for Rome and received the pall from Pope
Benedict.
In the 1023rd year the body of the
blessed martyr Ælfheah was translated from London to Canterbury. Wulfstan, archbishop of
York, died; Ælfric, prior of Winchester, succeeded him.
In the 1024th and 5th year nothing worthy of
memory.
Pope Benedict died; John succeeded him.
In the 1026th year Ælfric,
archbishop of York, set out for Rome and received the pall from Pope John. Richard II,
duke of Normandy, died; Richard III succeeded him. He died in the same year; his brother
Robert succeeded him.
In the 1027th year King Knútr
corrupted the Norwegians; they, rejecting Óláfr their own king because of his sanctity,
were blinded by a great abundance of gold and silver.
In the 1028th year King Knútr sailed to Norway with 50 great ships,
expelled King Óláfr from that country, and subjugated it to himself.
In the
1028th
9th year
Knútr, king of the English, Danes and Norwegians, returned to England.
In the
1030th year the holy Óláfr, king and martyr, son of
Haraldr, king of the Norwegians, who King Knútr had expelled,
returned to Norway and was
In the 1031st year King Knútr set out with great honour and offered
great gifts
King Knútr [ordered] the treacherous ealderman Eadric Streona
King Knútr [ ] king
in gold and silver to St Peter, and obtained from Pope John
that the school of the EnglishDB: I.e., in Rome. should be free.
In the 1032nd year the church of St Eadmund, king and
martyr, was dedicated, in which King Knútr, by the general advice of his prelates and
more important men, placed monks after expelling the secular priests. An almost
inextinguishable fire burnt many places throughout England. Ælfsige, bishop of
Winchester, died; Ælfwine, the king’s priest, succeeded him.
In the 1033rd year Leofsige, of great religion, bishop of Worcester,
died; the abbot of Pershore, Beorhtheah,
succeeded him.
¶This Máel Coluim did not have a son, but a daughter
who was wife of the abbot, Crínán, and by her he begot a son, Donnchad by name, .'.
In the 1034th year Máel Coluim king of Scots died and Donnchad his grandson succeeded him.
.'.Who was king of Alba for six years. Mac Bethad, offspring from Finnlaech,
struck him. The king died of a fatal wound at Elgin.
In the 1035th year, before his
death, Knútr, king of the English, set his son Svein over the Norwegians; placed
Harthacnut, [his] and Queen Emma’s son, over the Danes; over the English, Harold the son
begot from Ælgifu the Hamptonian.DB: I.e., Ælgifu of Northampton, daughter of
Ealdorman Ælfhelm and Wulfrun. And afterwards he departed from this life at
Shaftesbury on 12 November, and is buried with appropriate honour in the Old Minster of
Winchester. Not long afterwards, however, the kingdom of England is divided between
Harold and Harthacnut. Robert, duke of Normandy, died; his son, William Bastard, a boy,
succeeded him.
In the 1036th year the innocent
athelings Ælfred and Eadweard, sons of King Æthelred, came to England from their uncle,
Richard, to a conference with their mother. Earl Godwin placed some of their associates
in fetters, several he tortured by pulling away the skin of their heads and punished by
amputating both hands and feet; he also had many sold as slaves, and he killed six
hundred men at Guildford by various and pitiable deaths. Moreover, he ordered the eyes
of Ælfred, who had been taken in an ambush, to be gouged out, at Ely, where he died not
long afterwards. Eadweard, however, returned to Normandy in haste. Robert, king of the
French, son of Hugh, died—he rested with a holy end; Henry his son succeeded
him.
In the 1037th year Harold, king of the
Mercians and Northumbrians, is chosen by leaders and people so that he was ruling
throughout all England, his brother Harthacnut having been rejected because he was
staying a great deal because in Denmark. Emma, formerly queen, is received
honourably by [B]aldwin, count of Flanders, after having been expelled from England
without mercy.
In the 1038th year Æthelnoth, bishop of
Canterbury, died; on the 7th day of his death Athelric,
bishop of the South Saxons, died, as he had sought from God, lest he survived for long
after such a father. Eadsige, the king’s chaplain, received the archiepiscopacy of
Canterbury, and Gimketel the bishopric of Sussex. Brihtheah bishop of Worcester died;
Lyfing succeeded him.
In the 1039th year there was
a notably severe winter. Brithmær, bishop of Lichfield, died; Wulfsige succeeded him.
Harthacnut sailed down and came to his mother, Emma. Donnchad, king of Scots, died; Mac Bethad usurped his kingdom for himself. Therefore Mac Bethad became king of Scotland for
17 years.
It was a fertile period in his reign.
The offspring of Donnchad, Máel Coluim
by name, cut
him down by a cruel death in Lumphanan.
In the 1040th year King Harold
died in London and is buried in Westminster. Harthacnut—now raised as king—violently
avenged the murder of his brother Ælfred on the deceased brother. Indeed, he commanded
[his people] to throw the head of the deceased king, Harold—pulled out from the
earth—into a bog, and finally into the River Thames. Godwine made peace with the king
for himself with many gifts, and by the oath he himself and many other nobles gave.
In the 1041st year Eadweard, son of
Æethelred formerly king of the English, came to England from Normandy where he had been
an exile for many years and, received honourably by his brother King Harthacnut,
remained at his court.
In the 1042nd year King
Harthacnut—at a well attended wedding-feast in which Osgot Clappa, a man of great power,
was handing over with great joy his daughter Githa to the bridegroom (a Dane and a very
powerful man, Toui Prudan) in the place which is called Lambeth—, while he was standing,
cheerful, safe and merry with the aforesaid bride and certain men, by pitiful chance,
collapsed onto the ground in the course of drinking, and so, staying dumb for 4 days,
expired on 8 June, and was entombed at Winchester beside his father.
In the
1043rd year Eadweard was anointed as king at Winchester
by Archbishops Eadsige of Canterbury and Ælfric of York and other bishops from nearly
the whole of England on the first day of Easter, 3 April. On the death of Eadmund bishop
of Durham—Æthelric succeeded him—Siward administered the earldom of the Northumbrians.
In the 1044th year Ælfweard bishop of London died.
In the 1045th year Brihtwold bishop of WiltshireDB:
I.e., Ramsbury. died; Hereman, the king’s chaplain, succeeded him.
In the 1046th year Magnús, king of the Norwegians, son of St
Óláfr the king, subdued Denmark to himself after the flight of Svein, king of the Danes.
Osgot Clappa is expelled from England.
In the 1047th
year there was a battle at Val-ès-Dunes. Ælfwine bishop of Winchester died; Stigand
succeeded him. Magnús, king of the Norwegians, joining battle with Svein, expelled him
from Denmark, and ruled in that country, and died not long afterwards.
In the
1048th year Svein regained Denmark, and Haraldr Harðraði,
son of Sigurð king of the Norwegians, and on his mother’s side, brother of St Óláfr—that
is, uncle of King Magnús—returned to Norway and through his ambassadors made peace with
the king of the English. There was a notable earthquake during [Sun]day on 1 May at
Worcester, Wic,DB: I.e., Droitwich. Derby and many
other places. A great mortality of men and animals followed, an air-borne fire, commonly
called wildfire, burnt many settlements and cornfields in some places.
In the
1049th year Leo was made pope—the 145th. This isthe Leo who made a new
hymn about St Gregory. The emperor Henry gathered an innumerable host against Baldwin
count of Flanders, because he had burnt and wrecked his most beautiful palace at
Nijmegen. Pope Leo was in that expedition as well as the greatest nobles from many
lands. Moreover, Svein king of the Danes was present at that expedition with his fleet,
and swore fealty to the emperor. At length Count Baldwin was forced to make peace with
the emperor. Pope Leo dedicated the church of St Remigius at Rheims, and there he
afterwards held a council.
In the 1050th year Mac
Bethad king of Scots at Rome distributed silver by throwing it here and there. Eadsige
archbishop of Canterbury died; Robert bishop of London, a Norman by birth, succeeded
him. Hereman bishop of Wiltshire and Ealdred bishop of Worcester went to Rome.
In
the 1051st year Ælfric, also known as Putta, archbishop of
York, died at Southwell, and is buried at Medeshamstede
that is, Peterborough; Cynesige, the king’s chaplain, succeeded
him. King Eadweard freed the English from a heavy tax—that is 30 thousand pounds—in the
38th year after his father had originally ordered it to
be paid to the Danish mercenaries. A conflict arose between the king and Earl Godwine,
for this reason: because the king refused to put to death the count of Boulogne, his
brother-in-law, whose soldiers, rudely seeking lodgings at Dover, where he had arrived,
had killed many of the inhabitants; and he himself with his men had taken refuge in
Dover Castle. The king at length outlawed Godwine with his 5
sons—Godwine, wishing to make peace with the king (after he had twice led an army
against the king, and on the second occasion had escaped from him), fleeing secretly on
the appointed day. King Eadweard received with great honour Duke William Bastard of
Normandy, who was coming to him in England, and he sent him back to his own land, having
been presented with many gifts.
In the 1052nd year
Emma, also known as Ælfgifu, formerly queen of the English, died at Winchester. King
Eadweard and Earl Godwine and his sons were reconciled with each other after Godwine and
his sons recovered their former dignities; and almost all Normans are expelled from
England. Robert, archbishop of Canterbury, scarcely escaping with his household,
withdrew from England.
In the 1053rd year the head of
Rhys, brother of Gruffudd, king of the Welsh, was brought to King Eadweard at Gloucester
on the eve of Epiphany. On the 2nd day of Easter, Earl
Godwine, losing the power of speech while at table beside the king, was thereupon
carried out by his sons to the king’s chamber; and on the 5th day after this his life departed. His son Harold succeeded him in his
earldom, and Harold’s earldom was granted to Ælfgar son of Earl Leofric.
In the
1054th year Siward, earl of the Northumbrians, entering
Scotland with a great army at the command of King Eadweard, engaged in battle with Mac
Bethad, king of the Scots, and put him to flight, and—as the king had instructed—set up
Máel Coluim as king. King Eadweard sent Ealdred, bishop of Worcester, to the emperor so
that he might bring back with him his father’s brother’s son, Eadweard, who had been in
exile in Hungary.
In the 1055th year Siward, earl
of the Northumbrians, died at York, whose earldom was granted to Tostig, brother of Earl
Harold. Not long afterwards Ælfgar son of Leofric, although blameless, was outlawed by
King Eadweard. He soon made for Ireland and, having procured 18 pirate ships, he at
length regained his earldom—supported greatly by the help of Gruffudd, king of the
Welsh—having previously burnt the city of Hereford and the monastery of St Æthelberht,
king and martyr, and killed some of the canons, and 400 or more others at that place.
¶Lulach reigned for four-and-a-half months. Unlucky Lulach was king for three months. He
fell by the arms of the same Máel Coluim. The men met their fates at Essie, in
Strathbogie. Thus, alas, the pitiable
king perished through lack of caution. The island
of Iona holds these men in peace, buried in the graveyard of kings until the
Day of Judgement.
In the 1056th year the emperor
Henry died; his son Henry succeeded him. Æthelstan, of sacred memory, bishop of
Hereford, died; Leofgar, Earl Harold’s chaplain, succeeded him. He was killed in the
same year, with his clerks and many others, by Gruffudd, king of the Welsh. Æthelric,
bishop of Durham, giving up the bishopric of his own accord, returned to his monastery
of Peterborough, and there he finished his life; his brother Æthelwine succeeded him.
¶Máel Coluim son of Donnchad received the kingdom of
Scotland by hereditary right.
Thriving for thirty-five years and 8 months,
Máel Coluim was a worthy king in
Scotland.
The hero is laid low in battle by the swords of the English.
He was the first
king to be buried in Scotland.
In the 1057th year Eadweard the
ætheling, son of King Eadmund Ironside, who the king had sent for in Hungary so that he
might take his place as king after him, died in London. Earl Leofric, of good memory,
son of Earl Leofwine, who from his patrimony, with his wife Godgifu, built the convent
of Coventry, where he was buried; his son Ælfgar succeeded him.
In the 1058th year Earl Ælfgar was outlawed by King Eadweard for a
second time; but by force he recovered his earldom, with the assistance of Gruffudd,
king of the Welsh, and a Norwegian fleet. Ealdred of Worcester, crossing by sea, set out
for Jerusalem via Hungary.
In the 1059th year
Nicholas, bishop of the city of Florence, is elected pope, and Benedict is cast
out.
In the 1060th year Henry king of the French
died; his son Philip succeeded him. Cynesige archbishop of York died; Ealdred, bishop of
Worcester, succeeded him; and the prelacy of Hereford was given to
In JT: For discussion of this folio, see Broun, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, pp. 171–2: ‘The folio is the tail end of a roll containing a dynastic king-list from Máel Coluim III which has been updated to the accession of Alexander III in 1249.’ the 1056th year from the
Lord’s incarnation, Máel Coluim son of Donnchad received the kingdom of Scotland by
hereditary right, and reigned 37 years. Then, in the 1067th
year, the glorious Queen Margaret was betrothed to him, by whom he had 6 sons—that is,
Eadweard, Eadmund, Æthelred, Eadgar, Alexander, David—and two daughters—that is,
Matilda, queen of the English, and Mary, countess of Boulogne. In the 37th year of his reign he was killed in England on 13 November
and, on the same occasion, his first-born son, Eadweard, was pierced through with a
lance; he yielded to fate on 15 November. When the bountiful Queen M[argaret] heard
this—or, to speak more truly, foreknew it by the Holy Spirit—she received confession and
communion and, commending herself with prayers to the Lord, rendered her holy soul to
heaven on 16 November. Domnall, brother of the aforesaid King Máel Coluim, seized the
kingship, sending away the legitimate heirs—that is, Edgar, Alexander, and David—into
exile. But Donnchad, son of the aforementioned Máel Coluim (although born out of
wedlock), who was a hostage in the court of the king of England, W[illiam] Rufus,
attacking with the advice and help of the same king, put his uncle to flight and was
received as king; and he reigned for a year and a half. A certain mormaer—that is, of the Mearns—, on the advice of the aforesaid Domnall,
wickedly inflicted death on him. Domnall, seizing the kingship again, reigned for three
and a half years. Then, in the 1096th year from the Lord’s
incarnation, Edgar, son of King Máel Coluim and the glorious Queen Margaret, received
the kingdom of Scotland by heredity, after Domnall had been captured and condemned to
perpetual imprisonment. So Edgar reigned successfully for 9 years, ending his life in
the 1107th year from the Lord’s incarnation, on 7 January.
His brother, Alexander, succeeded him in the kingship, reigning gloriously for 17 years;
proceeding the way of all flesh in the 11[2]4th year from
the Lord’s incarnation, on 26 April. His younger
and more successful
brother, David,
succeeded him, who reigned successfully—a most powerful king—for 29 years; and so,
commending his soul to God, he departed in the 1153rd year
from the Lord’s incarnation—that is, on 24 May. Earl Henry, son of the same King David,
had died the previous year—that is, the 1152nd year from the
Lord’s incarnation—; and the following year—namely the 1153rd year from the Lord’s incarnation—Máel Coluim, son of the aforesaid Earl
Henry, received the government of the kingdom: a boy and a virgin, abiding in his
virginity until his death, by the grace of God breathing into him. So he reigned for 12
and a half years, and, laying aside the man, was received into heaven on 9 December;
in that way, in the same year—that is, the 1165th year from the Lord’s incarnation—his brother William received the kingdom;
and in the 33rd year of his reign his son, Alexander, was
born to him, in the 1198th year from the Lord’s incarnation.
And he died in the 49th year
of his reign. His son Alexander, indeed, received the kingdom honourably after his
death. And in the year 1221 he united Joanna, daughter of
King John and sister of H[enry], king of England, to himself in matrimony: after this 42
years have passed. She died childless in the year 1238; on account of which the same
king took Mary, daughter of Ingram de Coucy, as wife, in the year 1239, who bore him a
son, in the year 1241, calling him Alexander: 22 years have been completed since his
birth. In the year 1249, and of his reign 35, Alexander the peacemaker died, on 8 July.
His son, Alexander, succeeded him on 13 July: 14 years have been completed after this.
166 yearsDB: \Slashes/ indicate amendments where the scribe has written over erasures. have been completed since
the foundation of Cîteaux.
In the 1264th
year of the Lord, 6 score and 8 years have been completed since the foundation of Melrose.
And since
the martyrdom of St Thomas 4 score and 12. Since the capture of
W[illiam], king of Scots, 89.
Since the Battle at the
Standard 6 score and 5. After the birth of King Alexander 65.
And, on 25 July, the 54th
year was completed since W[illiam], king of Scots,
handed over his daughters, i.e., after the burning of Roxburgh and Berwick 47.
Walter, chaplain of Queen Edith.
In the 1061st year Ealdred, archbishop of York, set out for Rome with
Tostig, and received the pall from Pope Nicholas. Meanwhile Máel Coluim, king of Scots,
ferociously laid waste the earldom—that is, of the Northumbrians—of his sworn brother,
and the peace of St Cuthberht on Holy Isle was violated. Pope Nicholas died; Alexander
succeeded him—the 149th.
In the 1062nd year Wulfstan, a venerable monk of the church of
Worcester, is appointed bishop of the church of Worcester, and is consecrated by
Archbishop Ealdred of York, because episcopal office had been forbidden to Stigand by
the lord pope.
In the 1063rd year Gruffudd, king of the
North Welsh, embarking on a ship, took flight, and only just escaped, unable to
withstand an attack by both the valour of Earl Harold and the sword of his brother
Tostig. As a result the Welsh were constrained, after hostages had been given, and gave
up themselves and their land; and the outlaws abandoned their king, Gruffudd.
In the 1064th year Gruffudd, king of the North Welsh, is
killed by his own people, and his head and the prow of [his]DB: The actual reading
is impius (for ipsius: see note in
transcription). If it had been impie it could have been read
and translated as ‘the prow of the wicked ship’. ship with its trimming is
sent to Earl Harold. These he soon afterwards delivered to King Eadweard. King Eadweard,
moreover, granted the land of the killed king to his two brothers, Bleddyn and
Rhiwallon, on this condition: that they would clearly be faithful to him always, which
they confirmed both by means of an oath and by giving hostages.
In the 1065th year Æthelwine, bishop of Durham, raised the bones of the
blessed Oswine, king and martyr, at Tynemouth, from the grave into a great reliquary,
with honour.
IN THE 1066th YEAR from the Lord’s
incarnation, King Eadweard of pious memory died on the eve of Epiphany—the honour and
glory of the English when he lived, the ruin of the same people when he dies—after he
had held his court at Christmas in London, as well as he could, and caused to be
dedicated, with great glory, the church of St Peter at Westminster, which he had built
from its foundations; after his death Harold, son of Earl Godwine, succeeded
him. Haraldr Harðraði, king of the Norwegians, brother of St Óláfr, king and
martyr, and Earl Tostig are killed at Stamford Bridge. William Bastard conquers and
occupies England; and he is consecrated king at Westminster by Ealdred, archbishop of
York. A comet was seen.
In the 1067th year King William
returned to Normandy, taking with him Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, Eadgar the
ætheling, Earls Eadwine, Morcar and Waldef, and many others of the nobles of England.
Returning, however, he laid an unbearable tribute on the English.
In the
1068th year two popes were made in Rome—that is the
bishop of Parma, who was expelled, and the bishop of Lucca, who remained pope.
In
the 1069th year Earl Robert Comines is killed with almost
700 men at Durham by the Northumbrians. Archbishop Ealdred died.
In the 1070th year King Máel Coluim ravaged England as far as Cleveland.
And then, on the way back, he granted his peace to Eadgar the ætheling, and to his
sisters Margaret and Christina at Wearmouth, where he found them fleeing from the king
of England in order to go to Scotland; and afterwards he joined Margaret to himself in
matrimony. Stigand is deposed from his archiepiscopacy by the legates of Pope Alexander,
and many other incumbents.DB: I.e., many other benefice-holders were
deposed. Thomas and Lanfranc are consecrated archbishops: Lanfranc by
suffragans, Thomas by Lanfranc.
In the 1071st year
Lanfranc and Thomas set off to Rome, and received palls from
Pope
Alexander. Walcher is appointed bishop of the church of Durham.
In the 1072nd year William invaded Scotland, and Máel Coluim, coming to
meet him at a placed which is called Abernethy,
In the 1073rd
year Eadgar the ætheling made peace with King William. Earl Waldef violently avenged the
death of his grandfather Earl Ealdred on the sons of Carl.
In the 1074th year Hildebrand, also known as Gregory, Roman
arch
In the 1075th year Earl Waldef
was slain. Philip, king of the French, put King William to flight from the siege of Dol.
Pope Gregory decreed that no-one should hear the mass of priest in wedlock.
In
the 1076th year Svein, king of the Danes, initiated in belle-lettres, died; his son, Haraldr, succeeded him.
In the 1077th year Robert Curthose began a war against his
father, with the help of Philip, king of the French, because his father, in the presence
of the same king, had promised him Normandy, and had not given it.
In the 1078th year nothing worthy of memory.
In the 1079th year King Máel Coluim ravaged England as far as the Tyne.
King William and his son, William, were wounded by his son Robert before Gerberoi
Castle, and they turned back in flight.
In the 1080th
year Walcher, bishop of Durham, was slain. Odo, bishop of Bayeux, was sent by King
William to ravage Northumbria. King William sent his son Robert against Máel
Coluim into Scotland, as far as Falkirk. He returned, after no business had been
concluded, and founded Newcastle. William received the bishopric of Durham.
At Mainz the emperor Henry pronounced Pope Gregory to be deposed, and made Wilbert,
bishop of Ravenna, antipope on his behalf. The strongest gale, at Christmas.
In the
1081st year the emperor Henry went to Rome as an enemy,
against the pope, storming the city, and yet he did not force his way in.
In the
1082nd year, after many killings and plunderings between
the emperor Henry and Pope Gregory were committed, many were slain on the night of Palm
Sunday. King William placed his brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, in confinement.
In
the 1083rd year the emperor Henry broke into the city of
Rome and took it, and forced in the antipope, Guibert. Gregory, going to Benevento,
stayed there up to his death.
In the 1084th year
Pope Gregory died. King William took 6 shillings from each hide throughout
England.
In the 1085th year King William gave
prelacies to his 3 chaplains: London to Maurice, Thetford to William, Chester to
Robert.
In the 1086th year King William caused the
whole of England to be surveyed. Eadgar the ætheling, with
In the 1087th year the relics of St Nicholas were moved from Myra to
Bari. Aldwin, prior of Durham, departed. King William went into France with an army and
set fire to a town that is called Mantes, and all churches situated in that place, and
two recluses; and then he went back to Normandy. But on his return, an ominous pain
attacked him, and was increasing more and more from day to day. When, therefore, with
his illness worsening, he perceived that the day of his death was near, he released his
brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, and Earl Morcar, and Roger, and Siward nicknamed Barn,
and Wlfnot, full brother of King Harold who had been in confinement from boyhood, and
all those who he had held in confinement, whether in England or in Normandy. Then he
made over the kingdom of England to William; and to his first-born, Robert, who was at
that time in exile in France, he granted the county of Normandy. And so, safe in the
heavenly journey, after he had ruled over the English nation for 20 years, 11 months, he
lost, with his life, the kingdom, on 9 September; and he was buried at Caen in the
church of St Stephen, which he himself had built from its foundations, and which he had
enriched with gifts. William his son, therefore, went to England hastily, taking with
him Morcar and Wulfnoth, but soon after, as he came to Winchester, he held them in
confinement as they had been previously. After this, on Sunday 26 September, he was
consecrated king in Westminster by Archbishop Lanfranc. He apportioned his father’s
treasure, as he himself had commanded, to churches throughout England and to the poor.
He released Ulf, son of the former king, Harold, and Donnchad, son of King Máel Coluim,
from confinement, honoured them with knightly arms, and allowed them to
depart.
In the 1088th year nearly all the earls
and leaders of England had made ready to betray the king, but they accomplished
nothing.
In the 1089th year Archbishop Lanfranc died.
An exceptionally great earthquake was evident throughout England at about the third
hour.
In the 1090th year King William, by secretly
handing over money, got Philip, king of the French, to leave off from the siege of his
castle in Normandy. A violent gale hit London.
*¶about whom it is said:
Domnall, brother of Máel Coluim,
reigned in Alba
for 6 months in
the kingship.
Donnchad son of
Máel Coluim took
the kingdom from him.
He was king in Scotland
for the same number
of months. He was
killed in Mondynes
by the men of
the Mearns.
In the 1091st year King William and his brother Robert were reconciled.
Henry, their brother, occupied Mont Saint-Michel, and ravaged the king’s land. The king
and earl besieged him for the whole of Lent, but accomplished nothing. King William came
to meet the army of King Máel Coluim, a little while ago ravaging Northumbria, in the
province of Lothian, and Earl Robert made peace with them with this condition: that the
king of Scots would obey King William, and King William would give back to the aforesaid
king the 12 estates which he had had from his father, and that he would give him 12
marks of silver each year. An exceedingly great conflict between Pope Urban and the
aforesaid antipope Guibert.
In the 1092nd year Bishop
Remigius transferred the see of Dorchester to Lincoln. King William, coming to Carlisle,
restored it.
In the 1093rd year King William gave the
archiepiscopacy of Canterbury to Anselm, abbot of Bec, and the bishopric of Lincoln to
his chancellor, Robert Bloet. The new church of Durham was begun on 11 August, the first
stones having been placed in the foundations by Bishop William and by Máel Coluim, king
of Scots, and by Turgot the prior. Máel Coluim, king of Scots, was slain with his
first-born son, Eadweard, by the Northumbrians. Margaret, queen of Scots, died.
Domnall seized the kingdom of Scotland,*
In the 1094th year the Scots slew King Donnchad.
The whole people crushed him because he lived badly. After
King Donnchad was slain,
Domnall again held
the royal rights again
for three years.
In the 1095th year Wulfstan, the venerable
bishop of Worcester, died. Walter, bishop of Albano, legate of the Roman Church, sent by
Pope Urban, brought a pall to Canterbury. Robert
Captured by Eadgar,
deprived of his sight,
he died at Rescobie;
and Iona holds
his bones.
of Mowbray, earl of Northumbria, is taken
at Tynemouth and held in confinement at Windsor. Pope Urban, coming to France, preached
the journey to Jerusalem.
In the 1096th year Christians
undertook the journey towards Jerusalem. King William discharged 6 thousand 666 pounds
to his brother Robert, and received Normandy from him as surety. Pope Urban preached the journey to Jerusalem. William, bishop of
Durham, died.
Eadgar reigned after him
for nine years;
it is said the upright
king died at Edinburgh.
In the 1097th year King William
sent Eadgar the ætheling to Scotland with an army in order to set up Eadgar, son of King
Máel Coluim, as king, once Domnall was expelled; and that was done. The Christians took
the city of Nicaea on 20 May.
In the 1098th year the
abbey of St Mary’s, Cîteaux, was created
and Robert was the first abbot.
¶Antioch was
captured
on 3 June
by the Christians,
on 3
June
and a comet appeared. The death of Walkelin
bishop
of Winchester; he was succeeded by
William Giffard.
Magnús, king of the Norwegians, son of King Óláfr son of King
Haraldr Fair Hair, annexed
the
Orkneys
and the Menevian islands to his kingdom. In
the same year, on 1 August, Adhémar bishop of Le Puy died. Pope Urban held a council at
Bari, bringing Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, with him. The Christians took two
cities in Syria, that is Albara and Ma‘arat en-nu‘man, where they suffered such a famine
that they ate the corpses of Saracens.
In the 1099th year Pope Urban held a great council in Rome in the 3rd week of Easter. On Friday, 15 July, Jerusalem was captured
by the Christians, and Godfrey of Lorraine received the kingship. Pope Urban died, and
Paschal was consecrated the following day.DB: I.e., the day following his
election; appears that the passage on Paschal’s election (found, e.g., in Cambridge
Corpus Christi College MS 139 (Historia Regum) f. 116r) has
been lost accidentally. On 3 November the sea goes beyond the shore, and very
many settlements and men, and innumerable cattle and sheep, sank. It is said that when God was asked that he might show who they should
set over themselves as king,DB: I.e., as king of Jerusalem. by sending fire
on the vigil of Easter, and it had appeared on the lance of Robert Curthose, he rejected
that kingdom in the hope of the kingdom of England.
In the 1100th year the antipope
Guibert died. King William is slain in the New Forest by Walter Tirel, with an arrow.
King Henry is consecrated king by Maurice, bishop of London. King Henry recalled
Archbishop Anselm. Rannulf, bishop of Durham, is placed in custody. Robert, duke of
Normandy, Robert of Flanders and Eustace of Boulogne returned home. King Henry married
Queen Matilda, daughter of Máel Coluim, king of Scots, and the holy Queen Margaret,
sister also of Kings Eadgar, Alexander, and David, whom Archbishop Anselm consecrated
and crowned. Thomas archbishop of York died; Gerard succeeded him. Bohemund, now lord of Antioch, was captured by the Turks
before the city of Meletina, and taken away. The Lord, indeed,
gave back that city of Meletina to Baldwin, brother of King
Godfrey. In the same year Godfrey himself died, and Bal--dwin
succeeded him.
In the 1101st year Bishop Rannulf
escaped from custody. Louis, king of France, attended the court of King Henry, at
Christmas. Peace was made between King Henry and Duke Robert, such that the king would
pay 3,000 marks of silver to the duke every year. Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, took
Caesarea in Palastine.
The Tironensian order
begun by Abbot
Bernard at Old Tiron
in the Wood
In the 1102nd year King Henry
expelled Robert of Bellême and his brother Arnold from England; and Mary, sister of
Queen Matilda, was given in marriage to Eustace, count of Boulogne.
In the 1103rd year Archbishop Anselm, enduring many affronts from the
king, travels to Rome. Duke Robert, coming to England, quitclaimed the 3,000 marks to
the king.
In the 1104th year the body of St Cuthberht
was viewed, and was found incorrupt and pliant,
//
and it was translated into the new
church at Durham.
//after 418 years of internment.
In the 1105th year King Henry
crossed by sea; almost all the barons of Normandy, blinded by the greed of much money,
received him, after his brother had been spurned, and he
burned Bayeux.
In the 1106th year Duke Robert
came to England asking from his brother that
he might return all the things that had been taken away from
him; and he [Henry I] opposed him. The emperor Henry dies; his son, Henry, succeeds him.
King Henry crossed the sea, and, after battle had been engaged at Tinchebrai, he took
Earl Robert, and Robert de Stuteville and William, count of Mortain.
King Alexander’s reign lasted
for seventeen summers,
and eight months. After
firm peace flourished
in all Scotland, it is
said that death took
the king at Stirling.
In the 1107th year Eadgar king of Scots died, on 8 January; his brother,
Alexander, succeeded him. Duke Robert and the count
William
of Mortain, are placed in custody in England. The king
returned to England, and in a council at London it was declared that nowhere any more
should anyone be invested by gift of the staff and ring of a bishopric or abbacy by the
king or by lay hands in any way. Archbishop Anselm consecrated 5 bishops in one [day].
Philippe king of France died; his son, Louis the Fat, succeeded him. The ordination of Roger, bishop of Salisbury.
In the 1108th year King Henry
established laws on hanging robbers and thieves, and that the halfpence should be
round. Gundulf, bishop of Rochester, died, and Ralph
succeeded him.
In the 1109th year Archbishop
Anselm died. ¶Thomas was consecrated archbishop of the church of York by Richard,
a Ricardo
bishop of London, on 27 June. King Henry changed the abbey of Ely
into an episcopal see. A comet appeared. The church of Tiron
was founded
and Ralph, sent from Tiron,
was made first abbot
of Selkirk.
In the 1110th year King Henry
gave his daughter in wedlock to Henry, king of the Germans. A comet appeared. The River
Trent dried up from dawn until the third hour for a distance of one mile. Godric the hermit entered the place which is called Finchale, near
Durham, and he was there up to the day of his death—that is, for 60 years.
In the 1111th year Henry of the
Germans, coming into Rome, took Pope Paschal and placed him in custody; but immediately
thereafter they were reconciled.
In the 1112th year
King Henry placed Count Robert de Bellême in custody at Cherbourg.
In the 1113th year King H[enry], returning to England, placed
Robert de Bellême in close custody at Wareham. The
Tironensian monks came to this country.
Bernard, the first abbot
of Tiron, died; Ralph,
abbot of Selkirk,
succeeded him; and
William, a monk of
Tiron, was made
abbot of Selkirk.
In the 1114th year Matilda,
daughter of the king of the English, was married to the emperor Henry at Mainz, and was
consecrated empress. Thomas archbishop
of
York
died. Thurstan, the king’s chaplain, is elected
to the archbishopric of York. Ralph, bishop of Rochester, is made archbishop of
Canterbury. King Henry led an army into Wales. The Thames ceased, so that it could be
crossed over by a boy.
In the 1115th year Ralph received
the pall from Anselm, legate of the Roman Church. Turgot, returning to Durham from
Scotland, died and was buried where he had not long before he
had been prior.
¶The church of Scone was handed
over to the canons.
In the 1116th year the earls and
barons of all England paid homage to William, son of the king, at Salisbury, and swore
fealty. Thurstan, elect of York, refusing to make profession to the archbishop of
Canterbury, crossed the sea with the king. Pope Paschal yielded to King H[enry] and
empowered his representatives in England by letter.
In the 1117th year many buildings in Italy collapsed due to a large
earthquake lasting for 40 days. The moon turned as if into blood.
Ralph, abbot of Tiron,
died; William,
abbot of Selkirk,
succeeded him; and.'.DB: See note in the transcription about the placement of the scribe’s work here.
In the 1118th year Pope Paschal died; Pope Gelasius succeeded him. The
emperor Henry proceeded into Rome, and set up as antipope Burdinus, bishop of Braga,
already excommunicated the previous year by Pope Gelasius at Benevento. Matilda queen of
the English died. Pope Gelasius came to France, and was honourably received by the king
of the French and by all the clergy of the kingdom. Dom
Norbert, going to Pope Gelasius, received the office of preaching from him.
In the 1119th year Pope Gelasius
died at Cluny, and is buried there. In his place the cardinals
.'.Herbert the monk was elected to the abbey of Kelso
afterwardsDB: This follows on from the scribe’s entry in the outer margin: see note there. first abbot of Kelso, succeeded there.
and other Romans elected Guy, archbishop of Vienne, and they
called him Calixtus. The Church is hit by a grave scandal. Pope Calixtus held a general
council at Rheims on 20 October, in which he also excommunicated the emperor H[enry]; in
which he also consecrated Thurstan archbishop of York, although H[enry], king of the
English, and
Ralph
, archbishop of Canterbury, opposed through their messengers. Pope
Calixtus went to Gisors to talk with Henry, king of the English. Dom Norbert established
the Premonstratensian Order by the authority of Pope Calixtus.
In the 1120th year William the king’s son, and his brother born out of
wedlock, andmany nobles who and women, 140 knights,
and 50 sailors with three captains were all drowned at Barfleur.
In the
1121st year King H[enry] joined himself in marriage to
Alice daughter of Godfrey, duke of Lorraine. Eadmer, a monk of Canterbury, elected to
the bishopric of St Andrews
in
Scotland
, returned to his own place after giving up
the intention of ruling the bishopric. Pope Calixtus, with his letters, urged the king
of England to receive Archbishop Thurstan, and he is restored to his archiepiscopacy
without demanding profession. Pope Calixtus departed from Rome and besieged the city of
Sutri, and he takes the antipope Burdinus and drives him to Cava into exile. King
H[enry] came to Wales with a great army. But * the Welsh
immediately came to an agreement. Ranulf, bishop of Durham,
strengthened the castle at Norham.
*the king and
In the 1122nd year John bishop of Glasgow sets out for Rome and Jerusalem. Pope Calixtus
and the emperor H[enry] were reconciled. King Henry went to Carlisle. Archbishop Ralph
of Canterbury
died. Sibyl, queen of Scots, died on 13 July.
/to\
In the 1123rd year John bishop of
Glasgow is forced by Pope Calixtus to return /\ his bishopric. William of
Corbeil is elected to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Pope Calixtus held a council in
Rome on 18 March with 300 bishops attending. Archbishops William and Thurstan came to
Rome and return with affairs unfinished. Baldwin king of Jerusalem
David was king for twenty-nine years, in
Scotland, warily discerning what was provident.
After he fortified the kingdom with
castles and arms. It is said the king died an old man at Carlisle.
David king of Scots.
In the 1124th year Alexander king of Scots died, on 25 April; his
brother David succeeded him. In the same year, 4 months before his death, he caused
Robert, prior of Scone, to be elected as bishop of St Andrews. But his ordination was
delayed for a great time. Pope Calixtus died; Honorius succeeded him.
In the 1125th year the emperor
Henry died without sons; Lothar succeeded him. The legate John of Crema came to England,
and to King David at Roxburgh, and on his way back held a council at London. The chief
moneyers of all England were apprehended by order of King H[enry] and as soon as they
were assembled at Winchester they are emasculated by amputating their right hands and
cutting off their testicles, immediately after 1 January. There was a very great famine
throughout England. The empress, after her husband’s death, ¶returned to her father in
Normandy.
In the 1126th year the king of Jerusalem,
after his ransom had been given to the pagans, and hostages had been given, is released,
free to return to his people. Thurstan and William, archbishops of York and Canterbury,
return from Rome; William of Canterbury, indeed, was made a legate, but Thurstan
remained in his original position.
In the 1127th
year David, king of Scotland, and all the archbishops, abbots, earls, and barons of all
England
swore
to the kingship of the empress, on 1 January, at London.
Charles count of Flanders was killed, while in prayer at mass during Lent.
William Longspée, son of Robert
Curthose,
succeeded him as count. King Henry gave his
daughter, the empress, to the count of Anjou,
Geoffrey.
In the 1128th year the church of
Holyrood in Edinburgh began to be founded. William, count
of Flanders,
was fatally wounded; Theodore succeeded him. Rannulf, bishop of Durham, died;
Geoffrey, the king’s chancellor, succeeded
him.
The church of Kelso was founded on 3 May
In the 1129th year William
Giffard bishop of Winchester died, and the king gave the bishopric to his nephew Henry,
brother of Counts Theobald and Stephen; and the bishopric of Chester was given to Roger,
nephew of Geoffrey de Clinton; and both were consecrated together by William, archbishop
of Canterbury.
In the 1130th year Oengus, mormaer of Moray, was killed by the Scots
with his people by the Scots. Pope Honorius died; Innocent succeeded him.
In the 1131st year King Henry
admitted Robert, prior of Llantony, a man worthy of a bishopric, to the bishopric of
Hereford.
In the 1132nd year, on 5 March, the abbey of
St M[ary]’s of Rievaulx, was created on a Sunday.
and the first abbot [was] William
In the 1133rd year an eclipse of
the sun occurred on 2 August, on Wednesday, so that day turned to night for a while.
Geoffrey, the king’s chancellor, and Æthelwulf were consecrated bishops of the church of
Durham and the church of Carlisle by Thurstan, archbishop of York. Nigel is consecrated bishop of Ely.
In the 1134th year the church of
St James in Roxburgh was dedicated on 17 April, Tuesday of Easter. And the church of St
Paul’s, London, was burned. Máel Coluim is captured and is
placed in close custody in Roxburgh tower. Robert Curthose died in
custody
In the 1135th year Henry, king of
England, died, on 2 December, and Count Stephen, his nephew, received the kingship, and
was afterwards crowned on 22 December; and on the day of his coronation it was forgotten
to give the peace to the people at the mass; and nor did he
have peace for almost the whole period of his life.
In the 1136th year the abbey of
St Mary’s of Melrose was created on the Monday of Easter;
DB: I.e., 23
March.
and the first abbot [was]
Richard
William archbishop of Canterbury died. Dedication of
the church of Glasgow. Northumbria and Cumbria
were restored
to David, king of Scots;
but immediately King David and King Stephen made peace, and Northumbria was restored to
King Stephen, and Cumbria remained with King David. The
translation of St Guthlac, confessor.
In the 1137th year Louis the Fat,
king of France, died; his son Louis succeeded him. Thurstan, archbishop of York, coming
to Roxburgh procured from King David that he would not ravage Northumbria for a while;
but not long afterwards the truce
was
dissolved because King Stephen refused to give
Northumbria to Henry, son of King David.
In the 1138th
year King David pitifully ravaged the whole of Northumbria. At the beginning of the
fast,DB: I.e., Ash Wednesday: 16 February in 1138. King Stephen, coming
with a great army to Roxburgh, returned immediately in disgrace. Peter Leo, the
antipope, died. The legate Alberic, bishop of Ostia, came to King David at Carlisle.
There was a battle between Scots and English at Cowton Moor, at the Standard, on Monday
22 August. And the bishop of Salisbury and the bishop of Lincoln and the chancellor were
captured by King Stephen.
In the 1139th year
Theobald, abbot of Bec,
was
consecrated archbishop of Canterbury by the
legate Alberic, round about the Epiphany of the Lord. Peace was made between the two
kings at the urging of the queen, and Northumbria was given to Henry, the son of King
David.
Earl
Henry took countess Ada, daughter of William, earl of Warenne,
sister of the younger William
, and of Robert, earl of Leicester, and of Waleran, count of Meulan,
whose mother was the sister of Ralph, count of Péronne, a kinsman of the king of France.
Henry bishop of Winchester, brother of King Stephen, was made legate in England by Pope
Innocent. The empress Matilda came to England to obtain land for the needs of her son
who Kind David and many others considered as the legitimate heir.
In the 1140th year King Stephen is taken in battle at Lincoln on 2
February, and is placed in custody. On 14 September, after a numerous army of knights
had been assembled from England and from regions overseas, he was, at
the urging of his queen, entirely freed from his chains and restored to kingship, in
exchange for Robert, earl of Gloucester, King Henry’s son, who was taken there
In
the 1141st year a solar eclipse occurred on 20 March.
¶And King Máel Coluim was born.
Aubrey de Vere is slain in London in a riot by the citizens.
¶Geoffrey bishop of Durham died. William the treasurer is
elected archbishop of York.
In the 1142nd year William
Comyn
, chancellor of David, king of Scots, by the
gift of the empress, entered into Durham Castle, and for some time took hold of the
possessions of St Cuthberht by force, desiring by blind ambition to become bishop. With
him oppressing the church, Roger the prior and Rannulf the archdeacon retired from the
place, and others were scattered, and the church ceased from divine office. In the same year the abbey of Dundrennan was founded in Galloway.
In the 1143rd year William of St
Barbe, dean of the church of York, was elected bishop of Durham. Both Williams were
consecrated by Henry, bishop of Winchester, legate of the Roman Church: William the
aforesaid treasurer as archbishop of York, and William the dean as bishop of Durham.
Pope Innocent died; Celestine succeeded him. The
Premonstratensian Order came to Newhouse. William, king of
Scotland, was born.
In the 1144th year Pope Celestine
died; Lucius succeeded him.
In the 1145th year
William abbot of Rievaulx died; Maurice succeeded him. Pope Lucius died; Eugenius
succeeded him. Edessa, a noble city in Mesopotamia of Syria, which is now called Roeisæ,
is captured by treachery on Christmas night, while the people were free at divine
office; the archbishop with almost all the Christian people having been pitifully
mutilated in the church by the Saracens. In that city rested the blessed apostle Thomas,
transferred long ago from India.
In the 1146th year the
church of St Mary’s of Melrose was dedicated, on Sunday 28 July.
III abbot Rievaulx, Ailred
\\And Arnold was made second abbot of Kelso
In the 1147th year Louis, king of the French, and many nobles, and
innumerable people set out for Jerusalem to conquer the Saracens; where not only did
they accomplish nothing, but in truth they even put up with throwing away very many of
their people in many different places after the noble Earl William de Warenne
was captured by the Turks. ¶The Premonstratensian order
came to Alnwick. ¶John bishop of Glasgow died, and Herbert abbot of Kelso succeeded him,
and was consecrated at Auxerre by Pope Eugenius on 24 August. \\ ¶Henry Murdac abbot of Fountains was elected
archbishop of York and consecrated by Pope Eugenius at Trier on the 2nd Sunday of Advent.DB: I.e., 7 December.
Alexander bishop of Lincoln died. In the same year Pope Eugenius held a great council at
Rheims at the fourth Sunday in Lent.DB: I.e., 21 March.
In the
1148th year
Richard first abbot of Melrose retired, and
Waldef,
brother of Henry earl of the Northumbrians and Simon earl of Northampton, was made abbot
of Melrose. ¶The convent came to Alnwick. The venerable Robert, bishop of Hereford,
died;
Gerard succeeded himDB: Robert
de Bethune died on 16 April 1148, but he was succeeded by Gilbert Foliot
(consecrated on 5 September 1148), not Gerard. Bishop Robert has apparently been
confused with Robert of Lorraine, who died 26 June 1095 and was succeeded as
bishop of Hereford by Gerard, who was consecrated on 15 June
1096.
. ¶The city of Lisbon was taken by the
Christians.
St Malachy, bishop of Ireland, died at
Clairvaux, and he was buried there.
In the 1149th year Richard, the
former
abbot of Melrose, died at Clairvaux in the convent. ¶Henry,
son of the empress,
In the 1150th year the abbey of Holme
Cultram was created, on 1 January,
and
Everard [was] the first abbot
, and the abbey of
Kinloss in Moray
on 21 May
. The Premonstratensian order came to Dryburgh, on 10 November.
Ascelin [was] the first [abbot]
In the 1151st year Pope Eugenius
sent 4 palls with his legate, John Paparo, to Ireland, where a pall had never previously
been taken. Geoffrey count of Anjou died, and his son Henry succeeded him. The Premonstratensian Order came to Richmond.
In the 1152nd year Matilda queen
of the English died. Henry earl of the Northumbrians, son of David king of Scots, died,
and Matilda his daughter. Badwin, the first abbot of Alnwick, died; Patrick succeeded
him. William bishop of Durham died. ¶The convent came to Dryburgh on 13 December,
and Roger was made abbot: the first
In the 1153rd year David king of
Scots died, on 24 May, and his grandson Máel Coluim, a boy of 12 years, son of his own
son Earl Henry, succeeded him. Pope Eugenius died, and Anastasius succeeded him. Henry
archbishop of York died, and Bernard abbot of Clairvaux. Peace was restored in England
after a settlement was reached between King Stephen and Henry, duke of Normandy, who
King Stephen now adopted as a son, and appointed as his heir and successor of the
kingdom, with the venerable Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry bishop of
Winchester mediating. Hugh, the treasurer of York, a relative of the king, was
consecrated as bishop of Durham by Pope Anastasius in Rome on the Sunday before
Christmas.
The renowned King Máel
Coluim reignedin Scotland
for twelve years and three months.
Firm peace did not yet flourish then sufficiently in the kingdom.
It is said the king
died without a slipDB: I.e., he died a virgin. at Jedburgh.
These four
kings then are now buried in peace,
and lie in the tomb where King Máel Coluim is.
In the 1154th year, first
Eustace, the king’s son, died, and then King Stephen; and Henry duke of Normandy, son of
Geoffrey count of Anjou, and son of the empress, succeeded him, and was crowned on the
Sunday before Christmas. ¶William, archbishop of York a little while ago—who Pope
Eugenius had suspended—, having set out for Rome in the year above, regained esteem from
Pope Anastasius, and in the next year was honourably received in his see. But he was
destroyed not long after, by the treachery of his clerks, so it is said—infected after
receiving the eucharist by a lethal fluid within the cleansing-waters. Roger archdeacon
of Canterbury succeeded him.
In the 1155th year
Pope Anastasius died; he was succeeded by Adrian.
In the
1156th year a convent of nuns came for a second time to
Eccles. Domnall son of Máel Coluim was captured at Whithorn,
and was incarcerated in the tower of Roxburgh with his father.
In the 1157th year Máel Coluim
king of Scots, coming to Henry king of England at Chester, became his man, in the manner
in which his grandfather had been the man of King Henry, saving all his dignities.
King Henry led a powerful army into Wales, and he took Rueland.
In the 1158th year the castle of
Wark was strengthened at the command of the king of England. H[enry] king of England and
Máel Coluim
king of Scots
met at Carlisle, but they departed not well pacified on either side,
and as a result the king of Scots was not yet made a knight.
In the 1159th year Robert bishop of St Andrews died. Waldef, of pious
memory, 2nd abbot of Melrose, died on 3 August. He was the
uncle of King M[áel Coluim], and William, a monk of the same church, succeeded him
on 27 November, and he was blessed by Herbert, bishop of Glasgow, in our
church on 29 November, which fell on a Sunday. Pope Adrian died on 1 September; he was
succeeded by Alexander, who was canonically elected and consecrated. And the emperor
Frederick set up for himself a ghost—that is, antipope—Octavian, and declared with his
people, in an execrable council and association of blood at Pavia, that he should be
revered; and a schism in the Church occurred, lasting for a long time. H[enry], king of
England, went to Toulouse with a hosting, and there was very great mortality in that
same hosting, and William count of Boulogne, son of King Stephen, and Hamo, son of the
earl of Gloucester, died. Returning from this hosting, Máel Coluim king of Scots was
made a knight at Tours by Henry king of the English. ¶William, bishop of Moray, and
Nicholas, then at the time the chamberlain of the king of Scots, visiting the Roman
curia on behalf of King Máel Coluim, came to P
o
pe Alexander at Anagni beyond Rome,
where they were received by him with appropriate honour. William returned the following
year, created legate of the kingdom of the Scots. Robert
bishop of St Andrews died
In the 1160th year Máel Coluim,
king of Scots, came from the hosting at Toulouse; and when he had come to the city which
is called Perth, the mormaer Ferteth and 5 other mormaír, enraged against the king because he went out to
Toulouse, besieged the city and wished to take the king, but their audacity had very
little effect. King M[áel Coluim] went out three times into Galloway with a great host,
and at length subjugated them. Arnold, abbot of Kelso, was elected to the bishopric of
St Andrews in Scotland on 13 November, which fell this year on a Sunday, and in the
following Sunday, that is 20 November, he was consecrated at St Andrews in Scotland by
William bishop of Moray, legate of the apostolic see, in the presence of King Máel
Coluim, and the bishops and abbots and mormaír of the kingdom.
And John, precentor of the same church, succeeded him; he was elected on 29 November,
and on the day of the EpiphanyDB: I.e., 6 January. he was blessed by
Herbert, bishop of Glasgow. In this year King M[áel Coluim] gave his sister Margaret to
Conan duke of Brittany. Robert, prior of St Andrews, died;
Walter, cantor of the same church, succeeded him.
William, bishop of Moray, died.
In the 1161st year Theobald
archbishop of Canterbury and legate of the Roman Church died; the venerable Thomas,
chancellor of the king of England and archdeacon of the church of Canterbury, succeeded
him, the best defender of the holy church of God: although of the palace and taken up
with the worldly condition, nevertheless wholly despising the world. ¶Bishop Arnold was
made legate of the kingdom of the Scots by Pope Alexander; and in his time as legate he
consecrated Gregoir bishop of Rosemarkie; and afterwards he ceased to be legate by order
of Pope Alexander.
In the 1162nd year the founder of the church of Dryburgh Hugh
de Moreville died. King Máel Coluim gave his other sister, Ada, to the count of Holland.
Henry king of England honourably received Pope Alex
an
der, who was coming towards France.
Arnold bishop of St Andrews died. The church of St Andrews in
Scotland is founded.
In the 1163rd year Henry king of
England came to England from regions overseas. And Richard, chaplain of King M[áel
Coluim], was elected to the bishopric of St Andrews. And King Máel Coluim, by God’s
pity, recovered from a serious illness at Doncaster. And there is firm peace between
Henry king of England and between Máel Coluim king of Scotland. A general council at the
city of Tours which Pope Alexander III held, in which he excommunicated the antipope
Octavian and other schismatics, with the exception only of
the emperor.
on 12 July*
In the 1164th year the abbey of
Coupar was created, which King Máel Coluim created *.
William, brother of King Henry, died. Octavian the antipope died, and Guido of Crema,
the second antipope, was raised up by the aforesaid schismatic emperor. And Somairle,
subking of Argyll—already
rebelling wickedly for 12 years against his
natural lord, Máel Coluim king of Scots—, when he had landed at Renfrew, bringing a huge
force together from Ireland and various places, he was slain there nonetheless by divine
vengeance, with his son and people without number, by a few born in the one diocese Died¶Herbert, bishop of Glasgow,
died
; Ingelram the king’s chancellor
succeeded him, consecrated by Pope Alexander at the city of Sens on 28 October, although
the messengers of the archbishop of York opposed it very greatly. The venerable Thomas
archbishop of Canterbury withdrew from England on account of the intolerable wrongs
borne by holy church
In the 1165th year Richard,
chaplain of King M[áel Coluim], was consecrated at St Andrews in Scotland b
y
but if, however, it appears bearing hairs, and glowing red, it
scatters them, it shows the destruction of a country. There was a great storm in the
same month in the diocese of York. And the old enemy was seen by many going before the
storm in the guise of an enormous black steed, and speeding on and on, fleeing to the
sea, pursued by thunder and lightening, with terrifying thunder-claps and hail laying
everything waste. Indeed, the footprints of that evil steed, of enormous size, were
discovered—mostly, indeed, where he gave a leap to the sea from the hill of the town of
Scarborough, where perhaps individual footprints as hideous ditches lay open, sunk down
[deep]. This storm destroyed one mill with its occupants on the River Severn, with the
exception of one monk who, through the ineffable pity of God, was saved from the
conflagration. For the discernment of many, indeed, and the comfort of undoubted hope,
and most of all for the praise of the supreme thunderer, the monk and hisDB: I.e.,
his belongings. were preserved unharmed. ¶Pope Alexander went back to Rome
from France, and there he was received with great glory, and almost the whole of Italy
and Tuscany, with the Milanese, accepting him, rejected the rule of the schismatic.
¶M[áel Coluim] of pious memory, king of Scots, died at Jedburgh on 9 December, which
fell on Thursday, in the 25th
th Blancheland. John, abbot of Kelso, came from Rome mitred.
In the 11th year Henry king of England crossed the channel. William, king of Scots,
followed him on his lord’s business; and after he attempted certain knightly feats, he
returned immediately. Earl Gospatric died; his son Waldef succeeded him.
In
the 11th year Ailred, of
pious memory, the 3rd abbot of Rievaulx, died; Silvanus
abbot of Dundrennan succeeded him. Master Robert de Melun died, the venerable bishop of
Hereford;
Robert Folio succeeded him
Patrick, the second abbot of Alnwick, died;
Robert, prior of the same place, succeeded
him
. The empress Matilda, mother of Henry II king of
the English, died. ¶The emperor Frederick, coming to Rome as an enemy to support the
parties of the second antipope, that is, Guido of Crema, and he, himself a schismatic,
thrust that schismatic into the church of St Peter with violence and armed force.
Returning with his army, a deadly plague immediately raged against his people,
and killed certain top-ranking men. And the bishop-elect of Cologne, the
chief of the whole schism, was killed in the Alps; and he was boiled in water so that
the bones would be separated from the flesh and the lot carried to Cologne. For
top-ranking men wished at least to have the relics of their bishop-elect, although not a
bishop; as much as they were worthy of honour to them, they were equally to us as much
without honour, and of false reputation.
In the 1168th year Gilbert of pious memory, abbot of Cîteaux, died; Alexander, 10th abbot, succeeded him. Guido the schismatic, and second
antipope, died, and a certain person was raised up as third antipope, whose name is not
known, and who, not knowing, is to be unknown. Robert the just, earl of Leicester, died,
who is also called the high justiciar.
In the 1169th year Gregoir, bishop of Dunkeld, died;
Richard,
the king’s chaplain, succeeded him. ¶A vile and execrable
conspiracy by almost all England, on the king’s orders, was made against the lord pope,
Alexander, and the venerable archbishop, Thomas, in exile in France. ¶Humbald, prior of
Wenlock, brought a convent to Paisley, which is near Renfrew.
In the
1170th
year Henry king of England returned to England from Normandy. Many perished in this return journey in a shipwreck. ¶William, 3rd abbot of Melrose, humbly let go of the pastoral charge, on
22 April, and on that day the prior, Jocelin, succeeded him. William, king of Scots,
came to King H[enry] at Windsor. David, his brother, was made a knight by the king of
England on Sunday, 31 May. ¶Henry king of England caused his
son Henry, a boy, to be crowned as king at London on 22 May, a Sunday. He was
consecrated by Roger archbishop of York—a usurper who, by royal tyranny and his own
tyranny, with the venerable Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, living in exile in France,
seized for himself authority in another’s province and another’s office, against the
laws of the Church. Suddenly, on 29 June, a huge and savage earthquake, in the east,
beyond the sea of Greece, overwhelmed Tripoli, Jibleh, Latakia, Antioch, and very many
castles, and many cities and castles were overthrown along with their occupants; yet the
land of the heathens was much more pitifully destroyed, along with an innumerable
quantity of them. ¶Richard, King William’s chaplain, was consecrated as bishop of
Dunkeld, on 9 August, by Richard bishop of St Andrews in the cathedral church of St
Andrew. ¶The venerable Godric, hermit of Finchale near Durham, died. ¶Richard earl of
Pembroke, son of Earl Gilbert Strongbow—son also of Isabel, the aunt of Máel Coluim and
William, kings of Scots, and of Earl David of good hope—, came to Ireland, crossing the
sea with many knights and a multitude of worthy men, relying on the help of a certain
subking of that land whose daughter he had joined to himself in marriage; and he,
fighting manfully, at length took certain cities, by the providence of God, including
the most noble of that land—that is, Dublin. ¶Owain subking of Wales died. ¶The
venerable Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, now made legate by Pope Alexander around 30
November, returned from exile to England with the king’s permission. ¶Pope Alexander
suspended Roger, archbishop of York, from all episcopal office, and Bishops Hugh and
Gilbert of Durham and London, and all the others who took part in the uncanonical
coronation of Henry, the king’s son.
In the 1171st
year—oh abominable evil, oh execrable crime, oh detestable disgrace, oh sin unheard of
in all former ages—Thomas of blessed memory, archbishop of Canterbury, legate of the
apostolic see, primate of all England, now striving for six years and more
for justice against the violent deeds of the elder King Henry of England,
who had been exiled in France, there enduring countless wrongs for the church of Christ
(in that those related to him by blood—under-age children, those hanging from breasts,
or in cradles, and the rest, old and young—were banished from England, by the vilest
order of the king); at length, after peace was fully restored (as it was thought)
between him and the king at the urging of the lord pope and the Roman curia, and also
the French church, and mostly of Louis, the pious king of France, and the kiss of peace
had been received by him, he had been allowed to go back to England a free man with the
king’s letters. A few days after he had been received in his see, he was condemned to
death against law and justice by the king’s household—most evil barons and detestable
knights—unleashed by the anger of the king, raging in a manner by a far greater extent
different and more evil than that of Herod against Jesus, or by the second Herod against
John the Baptist, because of his [Thomas’] commission as legate of the lord pope, as has
been said, and because of his suspension of the king’s bishops. It happened before the
altar of the blessed Benedict in the church of the Holy Trinity, England’s principal
church, the holy place of countless martyrs, confessors, and virgins (inasmuch as he was
surrounded by relics in such a church), gaining his place among them five days after the
birth of our Saviour (just as the blessed Thomas the apostle comes on the 5th day before the same birth), that is, on the day following
the birth of the innocents; and he is to be united with the holy innocents in the other
life. He imitated Jesus, remitting the death due to his killers on account of his own
death; the right hand of one of his clerks, who was holding out a cross, was almost cut
off; and so—oh woe!—the true martyr of Christ is maimed: the wrong of his blood-letting
is inexplicable in any language. May the sword of the Lord, the highest deliverer, take
vengeance immediately against the flesh of the evil-doers, especially those who
perpetrated the abominable deed, gave the order, furnished advice, and showed agreement;
in sum, initiators, followers, and all assistants who had notice beforehand of this evil
of evils.
Nicholas, chancellor of the king of Scots, died. Conan duke of Brittany and earl of Richmond died. Ferteth earl of
Strathearn died. The sea appeared to many in England to be on
fire. th year of
his death. And after the rite of holy mass, the same high priest and abbots who we have
enumerated with the entire convent of that monastery placed a new stone—that is, a
polished marble—over the clay of the most holy body. And great rejoicing took place,
with those who were present exclaiming and saying: here truly is a man of God. Dom Pons
abbot of Clairvaux, of pious memory,DB: Pons de Polignac was bishop until 1189,
when he probably died, so this must have been written no earlier than 1189.
was elected as bishop of Clermont; and was appointed pastor in that place, translated
and taken from the valley to the hill, from the Bright Valley to the Bright Hill, from
brightness to brightness, as by the spirit of the Lord. Simon de Tosny, a monk of
Melrose, previously abbot of Coggeshall, was elected as bishop of Moray, and brought.
Henry king of England with a powerful force and great strength was carried across and
transported to Ireland for the sake of making a visitation. Edward bishop of Aberdeen died.
In the 1172nd year there was an
exceptionally strong gale on the day of the Holy Innocents.DB: I.e., 28
December. The church of Canterbury was reconciled and peace restored by two
cardinals sent into France. Simon bishop-elect of Moray received the favour
of consecration at St Andrews in Scotland on 23 January. Matthew archdeacon of St
Andrews was elected to the bishopric of Aberdeen, and consecrated afterwards on 2 April,
namely on the Lord’s Passion. Henry king of England returned from Ireland after
Easter.
In the 1173rd
year Pope Alexander III on Ash WednesdayDB: I.e., 21 February. at Anagni
canonised the blessed Thomas archbishop of Canterbury, and directed that a record of him
be written in the list of saints, and commanded firmly that the day of his suffering be
held as a feast and celebrated by apostolic authority. And he chanted in his most devout
manner the first mass in memory of the martyr, with innumerable clergy and people
standing nearby; both in company and in private, and at post-communion, he solemnly
spoke of him as of a martyr and bishop. And he who saw and heard, bore witness. Strife
and almost relentless war was made between belly and bowels, between father and child,
between Henry the elder and Henry the younger his son king of England, he as a boy,
nevertheless at this point then a knight and a king, after certain troubles had arisen
and grievances been uttered by the father he secretly at night took himself with great
speed to the king of the French, his father-in-law—and this so they have said was on his
mother’s advice; we ourselves don’t know—he who will have these things may judge. For
according to common gossip the father was thinking of seizing the son and putting him in
firm and secure custody. Powerful men and nobles from England as well as Normandy
followed him to war immediately; relying on their help and counsel the son—or rather
sons—rose against the father; and aroused to arms, territories not only this side of the
sea but overseas rushed headlong into the turmoil and whirlwind of war, and clasped
right hands together for fighting. ¶Now William king of Scots, hoping to make good old
losses by a new conflict, by evil counsel renews a brutal war against his relative and
lord Henry king of England, and pitched a fortified camp with a huge army before a
castle called Wark, and made a little delay at the same place, but gained nothing more.
But when the king advanced from there the Scots cruelly burnt with fire a large part of
Northumberland, and fiercely pierced the people through with their sword. From there
they turn back the way to Carlisle, and attack the city with full force, but they
resorted rapidly to flight when the arrival of the army of England was indicated by some
by a pretence. ¶Great and unheard of miracles were performed in England by the blessed
martyr Archbishop Thomas. A fearsome thunder storm roared on 16 August. A certain nasty
and unheard of cough seized nearly everyone far and wide; many died in this epidemic or
because of it. Robert earl of Leicester along with his wife was captured in Bury St
Edmund’s and put in closest custody. But then a large number of Flemish people, who had
departed from their territory in order to seize the territory of England, directed their
course to the same territory as the earl, and ended their life. Blessed be God who
destroyed the wicked lest they would destroy the pious.
In the 1174th year Ingram of good memory,
bishop of Glasgow, died on the day of the Purification of the blessed Mary.DB:
I.e., 2 February. On 1 March Ascelin the first abbot of Kinloss in Moray died;
Renier a monk of Melrose succeeded him in this place of ministry. Osbert first abbot of
Jedburgh died; Richard cellarer of the same place succeeded him. Jocelin abbot of the
monastery of Melrose—the 4th in number—is elected bishop at
the church of Glasgow, compelled by clergy, by people, and the king himself agreeing, on
23 May at Perth in Scotland: a gentle and well mannered man, a mild and moderate man.
William king of Scotland again dispatched—or, rather, himself led—an army to Alnwick;
many he drove away, many he laid low. Henry the elder king of England came to England
amid these thunderous events, and visited the tomb of the blessed Thomas of Canterbury
as fast as he could on his arrival at the kingdom, his conscience stung, spirit crushed,
dressed in woollen clothes, walking barefoot with many bishops and a multitude of the
elite, repenting his sins and calling for peace.
to Richmond
For as morning broke William king of Scots is captured at Alnwick, and led
grief-stricken to Richmond and kept there respectfully in custody for a while. But after
the matter was made known to the king of England, he was transported to Normandy on his
authority, and deposited in the tower of Falaise, a carefully kept desirable treasure.
Earl David, his younger brother, when he got to know this, speedily left Leicester which
he was fighting to gain, and took himself to Scotland with his followers as best he
could. ¶Blessed Bernard, first abbot of Clairvaux, is solemnly canonised by the lord
pope Alexander III in the city of Rome, and arranged by apostolic authority that a
record of him be written in the list [of saints].
In the 1175th year William king of Scotland with his followers returned
to his [country] from custody. Jocelin elect of the church of Glasgow, by order of the
lord pope Alexander III, was consecrated in Clairvaux as bishop by the lord Eskil,
archbishop of Lund, apostolic legate and primate of all Denmark.
Laurence our monk, formerly abbot in Orkney, was elected on 14 May, and on the day after
Ascension DayDB: I.e., on 23 May. he was blessed honourably as abbot in our
church by Jocelin bishop of Glasgow. The church of Clairvaux is dedicated. The relics of
St Bernard first abbot of Clairvaux were honourably translated and placed in that church
with the reverence which was fitting for the saint. The earls and barons and all the
greater and more powerful throughout the kingdom of Scotland, before their king William,
performed an oath of allegiance and gave hostages, and the bishops of the same kingdom
swore fealty on the word of truth,DB: I.e., the Bible. to Henry king of
England at the city of York.
In the 1176th year Vivian, cardinal priest of the church of St Stephen
on Caelian Hill, legate of the Holy See, entered Scotland, trampling and threatening all
obstacles, quick to take and not shy to snatch away. Earl Richard, surnamed Strongbow,
died in Ireland. A dispute arose between Walter abbot of Thiron and John abbot of Kelso
regarding subjection, [i.e.,] which of them should be regarded as the greater.
In the 1177th year Frederick, emperor of the
Romans, restored the unity of holy mother church to the devout Christian; coming to
Venice with the lord pope Alexander III in the church of St Mark the reverence which he
owed [the pope] he both undertook and conferred, and as a sign of faith and firm
alliance they received themselves in turn in the kiss of peace. Cardinal Vivian,
returning from Ireland, called together the prelates of the kingdom of Scotland at
Maidens’ CastleJT: I.e., Edinburgh Castle. and sat in council. Roger first
abbot
In the 1178th year
Richard bishop of Dunkeld died, and Richard bishop of St Andrews.
Master John, surnamed the Scot, was elected to the bishopric of St Andrews. But King
William, withstanding the election with all his might, relying on royal power, caused
his chaplain Hugh to be consecrated bishop in the church of St Andrews, as he wished. A
terrible dispute and dangerous divisionDB: Reading diuio
as diuisio. sprang up on both sides. The sun at midday
on 13 September assumed a pale colour and was almost entirely eclipsed. The drowning of
Holland. Countess Ada, mother of Kings Máel Coluim and William and Earl David, died.
Laurence the 5th abbot of Melrose, of pious memory, died; a
man of wonderful humility and gentleness, and learned to the greatest degree in divine
texts. Geoffrey abbot of Dunfermline died, and Walter de Bidun chancellor of the king of
Scots, elect of the church of Dunkeld.
In the
1179th
JT: Assuming the c
for centensimo is missing in the text. year Arnold
6th abbot of Melrose was blessed in our church by the
lord Jocelin bishop of Glasgow, on the day of Epiphany.DB: I.e., 6 January.
A great council was celebrated in Rome by the lord pope Alexander III, on the day of
‘Rejoice, Jerusalem’,DB: I.e., fifth Sunday in Lent. in the church which is
called Constantiniana, on 11 March in the 20th year of his
pontificate. Henry abbot of Clairvaux was elected bishop of Albano at the same council,
and was consecrated by the lord pope Alexander III in the church of St Mary which is
called Narcissa, on the Sunday after Easter when ‘Voice of Joy’ is sung.DB: I.e.,
fifth or sixth Sunday of Easter, 29 April or 6 May in 1179. Note that, when the
opening words of the canticle Vocem iocunditatis is
translated, it is rendered ‘With a voice of singing’: for example Fifth Sunday after
Easter (“Rogation Sunday”) (Introit) [https://canticasacra.org/?page_id=7762](https://canticasacra.org/?page_id=7762) [accessed
27 May 2025]. Reginald first abbot of St Thomas the Martyr in Scotland died,
and Adam parson of Dunbar. Also Amfred second abbot of Newbattle died on 19 August
.'.
.'.and Hugh the prior succeeded . Alina countess of Dunbar died on 20 August. Great thunder and
lightning occurred on the day of St Bartholomew the apostleDB: I.e., 24
August. throughout the whole of Holy Island shire. William king of Scotland
and David his brother with the earls and barons of the land with a great and strong army
proceeded to Ross; there they built two castles—Dunskeath the name of one and Ederdour
the other.DB: Dunskeath Castle, Canmore ID 15235, [https://canmore.org.uk/site/15235](https://canmore.org.uk/site/15235) [accessed 20 Feb 2023]; Ederdour is Redcastle,
Canmore ID 12662, [https://canmore.org.uk/site/12662](https://canmore.org.uk/site/12662) [accessed 20 Feb 2023].
In the 1180th year John abbot of Kelso died; Osbert
prior of St MachutusDB: I.e., Lesmahagow. succeeded him. A great
controversy which was at issue between the house of Melrose and Richard de Moreville
over the heath and pasture between the Gala and Leader was determined in the presence of
William king of Scots and Earl David his brother, and before innumerable other people
both ecclesiastical and lay, at Haddington, on the Sunday in mid-Lent;DB: I.e., 30
March. and with the help of God he [Richard] yielded to the monks their right
in this area,DB: See Edinburgh, NRS GD55/111; RRS, ii,
no.236; [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/724/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/724/) [accessed 20 Feb 2023]. such
that, namely, possession was adjudged to them by virtue of their charters and the
authority of privileges of the Roman Church. ¶A venerable man and outstanding in
knowledge and holiness, Baldwin abbot of Ford is elected as bishop of Worcester, and the
Lord looked to his humility, who although to many he would have revealed the merit of
life, however humility alone elevated him in the Lord’s sight. For neither he did not
look to the world but despised it, nor did he take heed of those who trampled on
honours. ¶Alexis, subdean of the Roman Church and nuncio of the apostolic see, in order
to get to know the truth about the matter of the Church of St Andrews—with John the
[bishop] elect [who] entered the kingdom of Scotland with William barely allowing
it—upset a great number of people, and the king’s heart was provoked to anger. ¶John
elect of St Andrews is sent by the lord pope A[lexander]; he had been confirmed in the
Curia, but for the sake of the dignity of the church of St Andrews and the king’s
honour, he was to be consecrated in the episcopal see by the bishops he wished. The
aforesaid Alexis, after many consultations and more complaints—some of the king’s clerks
were still excommunicated, and there was also an interdict on the bishopric of St
Andrews—caused John, once bishops, abbots and men in religious orders had been called
together, to be consecrated magnificently as bishop of the aforementioned see at
Maidens’ CastleJT: I.e., Edinburgh Castle. in the Church of the Holy Rood
in the octaves of Pentecost, that is on 8 June, by Matthew bishop of Aberdeen on the
order of the lord pope A[lexander]. But John, realising that he was consecrated but
without [possession of] the bishopric, suddenly in sorrow left the province, extremely
afraid of the king and the anger of royal power, and took himself to safer
places.
In the 1181st year
William of Toulouse abbot of Cîteaux, of pious memory, died; Peter abbot of Pontigny
succeeded him. Louis king of France, a pious and religious man who despised the
worthless world, honourably handed over his kingdom, which he governed vigorously for 44
years, to his son Philip. Now, inspired by God, he afterwards hastened humbly to the
Cistercian order at the abbey which is called PortDB: I.e., Barbeau Abbey.
which he founded, and in the same year he passed away blissfully from his mortal body.
William king of Scots and his brother Earl David took themselves to overseas regions to
King Henry the elder for the sake of their own business. Great lightning and thunder and
storms and inundations of water in various places in England. Many and great miracles at
St Edmund by the blessed boy Robert, who a certain Jew cruelly and secretly consigned to
a violent death. Similarly at Huntingdon strange things happened concerning another boy,
named Herbert, who his own father tied wickedly to a post and wretchedly killed in water
which flowed near that town. ¶A comet appeared in the month of July. Bishop Jocelin
exalted the episcopal see and gloriously enlarged the church of St Kentigern. On 30
August Pope Alexander III of pious memory died in the 23rd
year of his pontificate; Lucius III, who was also Hubald bishop of Ostia, succeeded him.
RobertDB: Read ‘Roger’. archbishop of York died on 22 November in the
27th year of his episcopate.
In the 1182nd year Jocelin bishop of Glasgow and
A[rnold] abbot of Melrose and Osbert abbot of Kelso with other honest men went to Rome
for the sake of the business of the king and the kingdom, and accomplished their purpose
carefully and wisely, by God’s aid, and returned to their [country] from there bright
and healthy. For Pope Lucius III sent over with them a golden rose to William king of
Scots with a fatherly blessing. ¶King Henry the elder crossed the sea and, with God’s
assistance, made peace between King Philip of France and Earl Philip of Flanders.
¶Waldef earl of Dunbar died; his son Patrick succeeded him. ¶The emperor Frederick
forced his nephew Henry duke of Saxony, son-in-law of H[enry] king of England to go into
exile because of his wrong. He indeed, forced by necessity, went in sadness and sorrow
with his followers to King H[enry] in Normandy, and the king received him honourably.
And he specified that place to go into exile. ¶Many fishermen with their boats perished
wretchedly by night in the sea between Hartlepool and Whitby in the month of
September.
This is greatly deficient
In the 1183rd year William king
of Scots honourably gave his daughter Isabel—who he had fathered from the daughter of
Robert Avenel—to Robert de Brus. ¶A depraved and perverse disagreement rose up among the
sons of H[enry] king of England with the same mother, by which many evil deeds
originated and very many lost this present life. ¶H[enry] the younger king of England
died in the 14th year of his coronation at the town which is
called Martel, on 11 June.
In the 1184th
year Richard archbishop of Canterbury died. ¶Henry king of England, although unwilling,
performed his homage to Philip king of France on account of the peace of the Church and
the poor. ¶Peter abbot of Cîteaux was elected to the bishopric of Arras; the abbot of
Fontaines succeeded him. W[illiam] king of Scots gave his daughter Ada to Earl Patrick.
Simon bishop of Moray, one of our congregation, died on 17
September. ¶A dispute which was between the church of Melrose and the men of Wedale over
the pasture of the king’s forest, with God’s aid, before King William and Earl David his
brother, and before bishops, earls, barons and many other worthy men, on the day of St
Luke the EvangelistDB: I.e., 18 October. above Crosslee, by Richard de
Moreville the king’s constable and by 12 faithful men, who on that day, with the king
present, swore with fear and trembling on the relics of our church and truthfully
affirmed, that the king’s forest reaches up to the road which runs to the west side of
the church of the blessed Mary of Wedale, and is the pasture of the church of Melrose,
up to the bounds of Wedale, and up to the stream which is called ‘Fasseburne’: securely
confirmed and unbreakably made firm from the donations of three kings, RRS, ii, no. 253; [http://www.modelsofauthority.ac.uk/digipal/manuscripts/716/](http://www.modelsofauthority.ac.uk/digipal/manuscripts/716/) [accessed 20 Feb 2023]). ¶
In the 1185th year Andrew bishop of
Caithness, of pious memory, died at Dunfermline on 30 December.DB: I.e.,
1184. ¶William, previously abbot of Melrose, of pious memory, died at
Rievaulx. ¶Robert Avenel, a novice, our benefactor, died on 8 March. He gave his land of
Eskdale to God and St Mary and the monks of Melrose, as his charter testifies;JT:
See [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/4376/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/4376/) (Edinburgh, NRS GD55/39) and
[https://poms.ac.uk/record/source/4223/](https://poms.ac.uk/record/source/4223/) (Edinburgh, NRS GD55/40) [accessed 20 March
2024]. may his blessed soul live in glory always. ¶Heraclius patriarch of
Jerusalem and prior of the hospital of Jerusalem came to King H[enry] in England with
toil and tears, humbly seeking aid and advice from him; he did not receive them with as
much splendour and devotion as was appropriate and due. ¶Henry king of England, at
Windsor, restored the earldom of Huntingdon to William king of Scots honourably and
fully as he had it before the war. ¶A great earthquake happened in the month of April
throughout England. ¶An eclipse of the sun happened on 1 May, on Wednesday afternoon,
and stars appeared. ¶There was a battle in Galloway between Roland and Gilla Pátraic on
Thursday 4 July in which very many fell on Gilla Pátraic’s side. He himself was wiped
out with many others. ¶Again Roland had a battle, against Gille Coluim, in which
Roland’s brother fell, and Gille Coluim perished. ¶Pope Lucius III died; Urban III
succeeded him.
In the 1186th year
th
day of the moon. ¶Christian of pious memory bishop of Whithorn died at Holme Cultram on
7 October. Peter abbot of Clairvaux died; Garnier abbot of Auberive succeeded
him.
In the 1187th year Richard, a
clerk of King William, was elected to the bishopric of Moray on Sunday 1 March; and 15
March, on Passion Sunday, he was consecrated at St Andrews in Scotland by HUGH, bishop
of the same church. ¶In Brittany ARTHUR son of Count Geoffrey was born of Constance
daughter of Margaret sister of Máel Coluim and William kings of Scots, on 29 March, that
is during the night of holy Easter. ¶The Turks, enemies of God, violated the church of
St Mary in Nazareth, and killed many, and the master of the Hospitallers there was
killed with 5
nights and many others, on the day of the apostles
Philip and James.DB: I.e., 1 May. ¶Saladin king of Babylon, with 80
thousand knights and more there, invaded the land of the kingdom of Jerusalem on the
sacred day following after the feast of the apostles Peter and PaulDB: I.e., 29
June. and took Tiberias by force. The king of Jerusalem with his followers
advanced into battle against them by a day’s journey towards [Mount] Tabor. And when
they had come to a high and rocky place, there forced indeed by necessity with
threatening enemies on all sides, the king, on the advice of barons, resolved to commit
a worthy battle. In that place King Saladin, with trumpets and an infinite multitude of
warriors, made an attack on the Christians, who were not able to fight because of the
rocky and impenetrable terrain; and they fought against them and fought back with every
kind of warfare. At last, Tughtakin, the nephew of Saladin,DB: Tughtakin was
Saladin’s younger brother, not nephew. captured the king as he took flight and
the Lord’s cross. Nearly all the remainder were shattered, seized, and massacred or
consigned to chains. Saladin immediately caused the military orders of knights of the
Temple and Hospital to be segregated from the others; and they were decapitated before
him. He killed Prince Reynald of Châtillon with his own hand; and—as they declare
truthfully—230 brothers of the Temple were beheaded that day, not including the 600 who
had been slaughtered on the first of May. ¶William king of Scotland with a great army
went into Moray against Mac Uilleim. And when the king was at the town of Inverness with
an army, the earls of Scotland sent their men to take plunder, and they came upon Mac
Uilleim with his followers on a moor which is called ‘Mam Garvia’ near Moray, and soon
fought with him; and with God’s aid they killed him with many others, on Friday 31 July.
Blessed be God, who handed over the wicked. ¶On 29 OctoberDB: Read ‘19 October’.
Anderson (ES, ii, p. 312, n. 5), suggested that ‘fourth’ is a
mistake for ‘fourteenth’; Urban III died on 19 or 20 October. Pope Urban III
died. ¶On 21 October Gregory VIII was elected, who was the chancellor; according to the
explanation of Abbot , he is called the
Ragged. He was consecrated on 25 October. ¶Pope Gregory VIII died on 17 December, and on
19 December Clement IVDB: Usually referred to as Clement III. (The pope usually
referred to as Clement IV reigned from 1265 to 1268.) was elected, and
consecrated the next day.
In the 1188th year Philip king of the French and H[enry] king of the English and Richard
count of Aquitaine and Philip count of Flanders, and archbishops and bishops and earls
and barons, and countless people rich and poor and nobles of both sexes devoutly took
the cross of salvation, stung by inward inspiration. King H[enry] of England
had a conference at Geddington after the Purification of the blessed Mary,DB:
I.e., 2 February. with bishops, earls, barons and his worthy men, cleric and
lay, about various issues and business, and many took the cross there, although not
unconditionally; and the king arranged and firmly commanded that tenths of all their
assets throughout England be given for the relief of the land of Jerusalem which God
foresaw for our redemption. Cardinal Henry, bishop of the church of Albano and formerly
abbot of Clairvaux, died in that place.DB: I.e., in Clairvaux. Richard de
Moreville, constable of King William, and his wife Avicia and William their heir gave to
God and St Mary and the monks of Melrose as perpetual alms the land which is called Park
as their charter testifies;DB: Edinburgh, NRS GD55/108;
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/5136/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/5136/) [accessed 20 Feb 2023]. may their
happy alms always be in eternal memory. Hugh bishop of St Andrew the apostle died.
Silvanus 4th abbot of Rievaulx humbly and unconditionally
resigned his stewardship to God at Dundrennan.
In the 1189th year Arnold abbot of Melrose was elected
to the care of souls of Rievaulx on Thursday 2 March, and Renier abbot of Kinloss, a
monk of our church, was elected as abbot after him at Melrose on Thursday 23 March.
¶Roger, kinsman and chancellor of King W[illiam], was elected to the bishopric of St
Andrew the apostle at Perth, on Friday 13 April.DB: Anderson, ES, ii, p. 320, n. 4 points out that 13 April was a Thursday.
¶Cardinal John of Anagni and 4 archbishops with many bishops and various orders of
prelates, on the authority of the lord Pope Clement IV, passed sentence of
excommunication in the hearing of the two kings, that is of the French and of the
English, and of Count Richard and the whole people altogether, both clerics and laity,
whose fault it was, because peace is not made between the aforesaid kings and Count
Richard, and the crusade to Jerusalem hastened. They promulgated the sentence on them as
on enemies of the life-giving cross belonging to the Lord near La Ferté-Bernard where
the kings were holding having their conference. ¶H[enry] king of England and duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine and count of Anjou died at Chinon on 6 July in the 35th year of his reign, and was buried at Fontevraud in the
abbey of the nuns serving God there; Richard his son the count of Aquitaine succeeded
him on Sunday 3 September, crowned at London with great honour by Baldwin archbishop
In
the 1190th year King W[illiam] gave to Richard king of the
English 10,000 marks of gold and silver for the sake of his dignities and liberties and
honours which he had before the war, and for Berwick and Roxburgh, which King H[enry]
held onto forcibly for 16 years; and so by God’s assistance, the heavy yoke of his
domination and servitude was removed fittingly and honourably from the kingdom of the
Scots. ¶Philip king of France and Richard king of England and Philip count of Flanders
and Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury and a great many other archbishops and prelates,
princes and dukes, nobles and rich men and countless people, kingdoms and countries, and
their dignitaries, set out humbly for Christ departing to Jerusalem; and progressing as
far as the city of Messina in Sicily, they delayed there for the whole winter to the
month of April. Archbishop Baldwin died at Acre on St Edmund’s day,DB: I.e., 20
November. and Robert earl of Leicester died before St Giles’ day,DB:
I.e., 1 September. preceded by sickness, in the Mediterranean Sea and he was
buried at Durrës, a city of Greece;DB: Now in Albania. and his son was made
earl at the city of Messina in Sicily. ¶The blood of Jews was spilt like a beast in many
places throughout England, and especially in York, where they slew themselves
reciprocally, as a result of which they were all expelled. ¶Earl David engaged to marry
the sister of Ranulf earl of Chester, named Matilda, on the first Sunday after the
Assumption of St Mary.DB: I.e., 19 August.
In the
1191st year on 1 January Avicia wife of R[ichard] de
Moreville, constable of King W[illiam], died. W[illiam]
king of Scots
gave his daughter Isabel, who was the wife of Robert de Brus, to Robert de Ros, at
Haddington. Vo– Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury, one of our order, died in the Promised Land; and Ranulf de
Glanville. Robert earl of Leicester died near Brindisi, and the king of England gave to
Robert de Breteuil his son the earldom of Leicester and the rest of his father’s lands,
and he made him earl thenceforth at the city of Messina in Sicily. –id. ¶On 2
AprilDB: Anderson, ES, ii, p. 325, n. 5 suggests that
the actual date may have been 10 April and, if so, iiii nonas
may have read iiii idus in the exemplar. Pope Clement
IV died; Celestine III—who was also Cardinal Giacinto—succeeded him the following day.
¶On 30 March the king of France boarded his ships crossing to the land of Jerusalem, and
the king of England and count of Flanders escorted him with great glory in their
galleys. On 10 April the king of England boarded his ships with his army, with 150 ships
from his own land, and 6 [?]DB: A word seems to be missing, unless the six should
be added to the 150 (as in Anderson, ES, ii, p. 326, but note
n. 5). and 25 transport vessels; and he took his sister Joanna with him, and
engaged to marry a young woman of Navarre. ¶The king of England appointed Arthur duke of
Brittany as his heir of England as well as the rest of his lands if he himself was to
die without children; and he caused this to be confirmed by the formal oath of his
bishops and earls and barons. ¶There was an eclipse of the sun on the vigil of St John
the Baptist, at the 6th hour on Sunday 23 June.DB:
Anderson, ES, ii, p. 327, n. 1 where 6th hour is between 11am
and noon.
In the 1192nd
year Richard abbot of Jedburgh died; Ralph a canon of the same church succeeded him, on
29 May. Dom Everard of pious memory, first abbot of Holme Cultram, died; Gregory his
under-cellarer succeeded him. Philip count of Flanders died in the land of Jerusalem.
After his death Philip king of the Gauls returned to France from the Promised Land
without delay on account of greed, and—against the peace and pact, and justice and the
oath which he swore—he wrongly attacked, seized and cruelly destroyed the lands, vills,
towns and castles of the king of England in Normandy while he was in the emperor’s
custody: as if a pagan not a Christian.
In the 1193rd year W[illiam] king of Scots gave his daughter Margaret to
Eustace de Vesci at Roxburgh, who he begat from the daughter of Adam of
‘Hythus’.DB: Possibly Whitehouse? King William gave sent two
thousand marks of silver from Roxburgh for the ransom of R[ichard] king of England.
Void ¶JocelinDB: See note in the transcription about an indication that this item
should be void. bishop of Glasgow, before many witnesses, gave the church of
St Kentigern the bishop, Hassendean, to God and St Mary and the monks of Melrose, as
perpetual alms, for the salvation of his soul and of his ancestors and successors, as
his charter testifies.DB: See [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/1226/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/1226/) [accessed
20 Feb 2023] (SEA, i, no. 94; Edinburgh, NRS GD55/121/1 and
/2), with probable date of 10 March 1195 (earliest possible date of 18 October 1194).
Note also [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/1229/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/1229/) [accessed 20 Feb 2023].
May his blessed soul always be in eternal glory and happy memory. ¶Donnchad son of Gilla
Brigte of Galloway, before Bishop Jocelin and many other witnesses, gave to God and St
Mary and the monks of Melrose a certain part of his land in Carrick which is called
Maybole as perpetual alms for the salvation of his soul and of all his progenitors, as
his charter testifies.DB: See [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/2443/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/2443/) and
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/2489/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/source/2489/) (Edinburgh, NRS GD55/29 and /30) [both
accessed 20 Feb 2023].
-oidJT: See note in the transcription about this as the end of the word vacat (‘void’).
¶ManyDB: See note in the transcription about an
indication that this item should be void. lay in wait diligently throughout
various places for R[ichard] king of England since he had come back from the Promised
Land in the month of November, after the king of France, so that he might be seized and
handed over. Eventually with divine willingness he is seized by the men of Leopold
[duke] of Austria, and led unwillingly so that it is against his wishes, and he is
placed with sorrow in custody. He is sent afterwards to the lord H[enry], the emperor of
Germany; and in his power for a year and more there, he kept him reverently under guard
as a hostage and as someone who should result in a ransom. Oh what and how sudden and
unexpected a change of wretched deceptive dignity! Oh the mutable and unstable, weak and
frail love and protection of passing possessions and dignities! Oh the lamentable and
tearful, blind and ugly ambition and pride of worldly power and one’s own will! At one
moment a king, at another a prisoner, at one moment powerful, at another weak, at one
moment a rich man, at another a poor man, at one moment a free man, at another a
prisoner servant. You who judge the world, be educated. Come and consider
the works of God: a wretched king, the arrogant lowly, the rich poor. Where is the
boasting and exaltation of your hollow and empty human pride! Behold as smoke rises and
soon vanishes, and like flower of a hay-crop dried up and spent.
In the 1194th year
on Sunday 13 March, at vespers, Richard king of England, thanks to God urging, arrived
in England at Sandwich with great rejoicing from his captivity and pilgrimage, and in
the octaves of Easter he was crowned at Winchester by Hubert archbishop of Canterbury,
that is on 17 April. Then, in the week after the Lord’s Ascension, he was conveyed with
a multitude of armed men to Normandy. After Richard’s crossing, Philip king of the Gauls
besieged Verneuil with an infinite multitude and various machines of war, but,
confounded, returning from there to Gaul, he turning aside burnt the city of Évreux, and
the episcopal church with two abbots, monks, and it would seem nuns, and took away to
Gaul with him the relics of that place. Then at Rouen he captured Robert earl of
Leicester with only 20 cavalry—he childishly sallied forth in Lyons-La-Fôret around the
feast of St BotolphDB: I.e., 17 June.—and imprisoned [him] at Étampes. The
king of England meanwhile took, threw down and razed Mirabel—a town of Gaul—to the
ground. Coming next to Vendôme, he, preparing a siege at that very place, caused the
king of France to flee, and he captured his baggage train with great wealth and his
chapel, on 5 July. After a few days he occupied Loches, Philip’s stronghold, which was
miraculously burnt: when fleeing, the king of Gaul’s garrison applied the fire
themselves. ¶Dom R[enier], 7th abbot of Melrose, humbly
assigned the pastoral care with his seal to Abbot A[rnold] of Rievaulx, namely on 17
September, that is, Saturday; Ralph abbot of Kinloss succeeded him, on Monday 18
September.DB: Anderson, ES, ii, p. 343, n. 1 points out
that 14 kalends October (18 September) was in fact a Sunday in 1194, not a Monday.
This discrepancy could be explained if an extra minim had been added to the
exemplar’s xiii kalends, with the actual date being Monday 19
September (i.e., 13 kalends October). (It is more difficult to envisage how Monday
(feria ii) could arise from copying Sunday, especially if,
as usual, this has been expressed as die
dominica.)
Adam abbot
of Coupar released himself; Arnold prior of Newbattle succeeded.
In the 1195th year Gregory bishop of Rosemarkie died, after whom Dom Reginald, a monk of
Melrose, was elected at Dunfermline on Monday 27 February, who indeed was consecrated on
10 September. Oh the wonderful ordinance of God by which such an election proceeded.
¶Hugh bishop of Durham died on Friday 3 March, the 43rd year
of his episcopate. ¶R[eginald] elect of Rosemarkie received the favour of consecration
with honour at St Andrews in Scotland on Sunday 10 September by John bishop of Dunkeld.
¶The church of St Andrew the apostle of Peebles was dedicated by Dom Jocelin bishop of
Glasgow on Sunday 29 October. William king of Scots changed his
coinage.
In the 1196th year Master John
of Roxburgh, treasurer of Glasgow, died at Melrose, a novice of the same house, on 2
February. William de Moreville constable of the king of Scots died.
In the 1197th year the king of Jerusalem died, and
Frederick, emperor of Germany.DB: This presumably refers to the death of
Frederick’s son, Henry (mentioned under 1193), who died in 1197; Frederick’s death
was noted under 1189. An armed engagement arose in Murray beside Inverness
castle between the king’s men and Ruaidrí and Thorfinn son of Earl Harald. But, God
providing, the king’s enemies turned in flight, and the aforesaid Ruaidrí perished, cut
down with many others. In all things blessed be God who betrays the wicked.DB: As
Anderson, ES, ii, p. 348. Afterwards the same King
W[illiam] with his army advanced into Moray and in the remaining more remote parts of
that land he seized Earl Harald there and caused him to be guarded in Roxburgh Castle
until his son Thorfinn would give himself up as a hostage for his father. Jocelin bishop
of Glasgow dedicated his cathedral church, which he himself had erected anew, on Sunday
6 July, the 24th year of his episcopate. A new town was
built between the Doon and Ayr.
In the 1198th year Pope Celestine
died on 8 January; Innocent succeeded him. Roger, son of the earl of Leicester, was
consecrated bishop of St Andrews on the first Sunday in Lent.DB: I.e., 15
February. Archibald, abbot of Dunfermline, died; Robert of Berwick succeeded
him. Alexander son of William, king of Scots, was born on the day of St Bartholomew the
apostle;DB: I.e., 24 August. and many rejoiced at his
birth.
In the 11
99th
9th
year Jocelin, bishop of Glasgow, died at Melrose on 17
March.DB: Roger of Howden adds: et ibidem in choro
monachorum, ex boriali parte ecclesiae sepultus est (‘and there he was buried
in the choir of the monks in the north part of the church’). Howden, Chronica, iv, p. 85. Richard, king of England, died on
12 April. Dom Arnold, abbot of Rievaulx, resigned his pastoral charge; Dom William of
Puncharde succeeded him. John, king of England, was crowned on Ascension day.DB:
I.e., 27 May. Hugh the chancellor died on 10 July. Matthew, bishop of
Aberdeen, died on 20 August. William Malveisin became chancellor on 8
September.
In the 1200th year Dom William, master of the lay brothers of Melrose,
became abbot of Coupar on 15 January. The lord William Malveisin was
consecrated.DB: I.e., as bishop of Glasgow.
In the 1201st year Dom
Hugh, abbot of Newbattle, resigned his office with humility; Dom Adam, master of the lay
brothers of the same place, succeeded him. The magnates of the country swore fealty to
Alexander the king’s son at Musselburgh on 12 October. ¶John of Salerno, cardinal
priest, held his council at Perth. There he established many things that should be
observed.
In the 1202nd year Roger of pious memory, bishop of St Andrews, died;
William Malveisin, bishop of Glasgow, succeeded him. John of Salerno, legate of the
apostolic see, travelled to Ireland, and made Dom Ralph, abbot of Melrose, bishop of
Down; Dom William, abbot of Coupar, succeeded him in government at Melrose. ¶Dom Ralph,
bishop of Brechin, was consecrated. The lord William Malveisin was translated from
Glasgow to St Andrews. ¶The aforesaid legate of the apostolic see was honourably
received at Melrose, where he stayed for 50 nights and more, mainly in order to settle
the dispute between the monks of Kelso and the monks of Melrose. Making fair promises to
both parties, but giving satisfaction to none; carrying away very many gifts from both
parties—gold and silver, and also a great number of horses—but bringing no comfort at
all to anyone, he left the case entirely
unresolved.
In the 1203rd year John, bishop of Dunkeld, who is well remembered,
died; Richard of the Provender, clerk and kinsman of the lord king, succeeded him.
Richard, bishop of Moray, died; Dom Brice, prior of Lesmahagow, succeeded him. Ernisius, abbot of Rufford, died. Osbert, abbot of Kelso, died;
Geoffrey, prior of the same place, succeeded him.
William, abbot of
Rievaulx, died. Master William of Blois was made bishop of Lincoln. King John returned
to England after quite ignominiously losing his lands and castles beyond the
sea.
In the 1204th year Dom Geoffrey received the administration of Rievaulx. Alan son of
Walter died. Queen Eleanor died. Doncaster was burned to the ground on the eve of
Easter. Earl Donnchadh died. Geoffrey de Lucy, bishop of Winchester, died. Seven bishops
in the Promised Land renounced the Christian faith. Baldwin, count of Flanders, became
emperor of Constantinople. John de Courcy, through the treachery of his own men, was
taken prisoner by Hugh de Lacy. Peter, abbot of Weburn, died at Vacelle. Alexander,
abbot of Sawtry, died.
In the 1205th year Earl David did homage to his nephew Alexander, son of
King William. ¶Two moons of the same size were seen at the same time in the sky: their
horns touched at one end; at the other end they wavered, but finally came together. ¶A
severe frost—dreadful and longlasting—destroyed the sheep and cattle and wild horses of
lands everywhere. The walls of Rouen were thrown to the ground by the men of the king of
France. Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, died on 13 July. Ralph, abbot of Jedburgh,
died on 7 August.
In the 1206th year Dom Richard de CaneDB: See note in the
transcription for the spelling of this name. was made abbot of Kelso on 29
March. ¶Thunder was heard on 11 April, the 19th
DB:
Read ‘29th’ for ‘19th’: Anderson, ES, ii, p. 368, n.
2. day of the moon. ¶On 25 April snow fell in such quantity that it is
scarcely possible to persuade those who had not seen it. William of Blois, bishop of
Lincoln, died on 10 May. Earl Harald died. Dom William, 9th
abbot of Melrose, died on 8 June; Dom Patrick, subprior of Melrose, was made abbot of
the same place.
In the 1207th year John, bishop of Aberdeen, died, after whom
Adam, called of Calder,DB: Styled de Carale in Scotichronicon, iv, p. 438, i.e., Crail in Fife. one of
the king’s clerks, was elected. Dom Patrick of pious memory, 10th abbot of Melrose, died; Adam, prior of the same place, succeeded him.
Florence, bishop-elect of Glasgow, renounced his charge with the permission of the lord
pope. William, bishop of St Andrews, stayed on in regions overseas. Ralph of Soules was
killed in his own house by his household servants. The greater part of Roxburgh was
burnt accidentally. Walter, chaplain of the lord king, was elected as bishop of Glasgow
on 9 December. ¶An angel appeared to a certain holy hermit and spoke these words to him:
‘Roman shall be roused against Roman, and Roman shall be replaced by Roman in Rome; the
new flock shall always increase; shepherds’ staffs shall be lightened, and their burden
shall be a relief; no mere cloud shall begin to rain: for he who will change this
generation has been born.’ Udard abbot of Coupar died and
Richard succeeded.
In the 1208th year, in the month
of March, on the 15th day before Easter,DB: I.e., on
22 March. England was placed under an interdict. This was the reason. On the
death of the archbishop of Canterbury—that is, Hubert Walter—there arose a dispute
between the king and the monks over the election of a pontiff, the king choosing one
person, the monks another. When, however, several monks went to Rome for the cause of
each of the candidates, the apostolic see, hearing their disagreement, quashed the
elections of each of them, ordering that a fresh canonical election be held in his
presence; and they elected Master Stephen Langton. And the pope wrote to the king of
England on his behalf, commending him as an individual to him [the king], so that he
[the king] would accept him. The king, however, was deeply offended, both because his
choice had been quashed, and because the monks who he himself had engaged had acted
against their commission; and he vowed that he would never accept the aforementioned
Stephen. The pope held back, indeed, for a long time, and kept on writing, exhorting the
king: but he gained nothing by exhortation. Whence, as has been said, he interdicted his
land, so that mass was sung neither privately nor publicly; and so it happened that the
dying did not get communion, nor the dead burial. ¶Philip, bishop of Durham, died.
Almost all clerks left Oxford, fearing the king’s tyranny; the few remaining withdrew
not long afterwards—some to Reading, some to Paris—after placing the town wholly under
an interdict because of the hanging of two of them. Dom Richard, abbot of Kelso,
died; Henry, prior of the same house, succeeded him on 17 June. ¶On Wednesday 10
September, Dryburgh’s new cemetery was dedicated by William, bishop of St Andrews.
¶Gilbert, formerly abbot of Alnwick, died; Geoffrey, abbot of Dryburgh, succeeded him in
the following year. In his place Dom William, prior of Dryburgh, was elected
abbot of the same house. Walter, bishop-elect of Glasgow, having sought
permission from the lord pope, was consecrated in his see at Glasgow on the day of the
commemoration of the souls of all the faithful.DB: I.e., All Souls’ Day, 2
November. Adam, abbot of Alnwick, was deposed on 9
December.
In the 1209th year John, king of England, commanded William, king of
Scots, to hasten to him at Newcastle, and they met up together at Bolton. And so
William, king of Scots, went on; and the king of the English came as far as Norham on
Thursday 23 April, and both in returning and in passing William lodged at Alnwick at his
own expense. Both kings held a conference at the aforesaid castle;DB: I.e.,
Newcastle. and they parted from each other on 26 April, their work unfinished.
Ralph, priest of Dunbar, received the charge of Eccles. Bishop John of
In the 1210th year Richard,
bishop of Dunkeld, died in the month of May. And Thomas of Colville was captured and
placed in custody at Edinburgh because of the sedition which he had plotted against his
king and lord, as the disreputable proclaim by gossip; and he ransomed himself on the
feast of St Martin.DB: I.e., 11 November. ¶In the month of June John, king
of England, gathered together an army and subjugated Ireland. Returning then from
Ireland, he despoiled Cistercian monks in many ways. Then, carrying off from the Jews
nearly everything they possessed and driving them from their homes—gouging out the eyes
of some, destroying others by starvation—he cast all of them into such danger through
want that the Jews were begging from door to door for food from Christians in the name
of Jesus Christ; and they suffered hunger like dogs and
went around the cities, so that it was foretold to the letter what was to happen with
regard to them, according to the Spirit, as witnessed by the prophet who said:
‘they shall return in the evening’,DB: Psalm 58:7 (Vulgate) (Psalm
59:14 New International Version). etc. That prophecy also became known through
the actions of the king of France. Knowing that the Jews were able to come to the aid of
each other in time of need—for although dispersed throughout the regions of the world,
their locations scattered far apart and far away, they were yet bound together as one
and the same in a compact of infidelity—he, trusting in subtle cunning, decreed that all
Jews be placed in prison throughout the provinces of France at the same time. When this
had been done, he despoiled them in every way so that they were not able to come to aid
themselves. Moreover, he restored to his knights, free of interest, the lands and
charters which they had pledged to Jews, ‘and the rich he sent away empty’.DB:
Luke 1.53. In that same year the archbishops, bishops and the rest of the
prelates of the entire French church assembled at Paris, with the whole body of masters
of the city, and held there a great council, chiefly against superstitious and heretics who
had made their way into widows’ houses and secretly led astray a multitude of the most
innocent people by teaching holy scripture with a slanted meaning: concerning these it
is more expedient to suffer errors by remaining silent than to make them known by airing
them openly. It was in this same council that some were convicted of heretical views and
of belonging to the abominable sect of Master Amalrich, whose bones—in the hearing and
seeing of everyone there, so that all should be filled with dread—were excommunicated by
all the bishops and archbishops and ordered to be thrown out of the holy cemetery. And
the heretics, 15 days before Christmas, were defrocked in the fields beside the chapel
of St Honoratus in front of all the people, and placed in the custody of lay authority;
and three days later, at the command of the lord king, they were destroyed by fire. And
they held firm with such obstinacy that they let out neither sound nor shreik in the
flames. They were called Papelards by the laity. Moreover, Master Robert of Curzon, a
man of reverent life and a lucid exponent of every doctrine—to whom the lord pope had,
on top of his other responsibilities, given supreme charge of preaching in
France—hounded the aforementioned false prophets from the beginning with every effort,
and dubbed them Amalricians from the aforementioned Amalrich, or Godians, from Godin
their heresiarch, who also perished while being punished [by torture]. Also, many of
those who had been deceived by their error, but who repented, were placed in perpetual
confinement after first being degraded—that is, from holy orders. And so it happened
that, in that year, there arose a great persecution of the Jews as well as of heretics.
¶Louis, son of Philip king of France, was made a knight by /\ /his\father at St Liz with prodigious glory and exultation on the
day of St John the Baptist.DB: Either 24 June (birth) or 29 August
(death).
In the 1211th year on the feast of St Mary MagdaleneDB: I.e., 22
July. John, archdeacon of Lothian, was elected to the bishopric of Dunkeld.
William, dean of Cunningham, died. ¶On the eve of SS. Peter and PaulDB: I.e., 28
June. William de Bois became chancellor of the lord king of Scotland. The king
of England fortified castles in Wales, and subjugated it. Dom Warinus, abbot of
Rievaulx, died; Dom Elias, the cellarer of the same house, succeeded him. Three
abbots—namely those of Fountains, Furness and Calder—were blessed by the lord R[anulf],
bishop of Down, at Melrose on the day of St Lucy,DB: I.e., 13 December. and
two other abbots received the favour of benediction from him in this same year. In this
same year also there was incalculable general slaughter of men in every region,
beginning from the east right and continuing into the west without letting up. It
happened that, when Otto had subjugated innumerable provinces of the eastern
region—Otto, a man of distinguished lineage in all the generations of his ancestry, of
most conspicuous stature in every military array, a most worthy champion in every armed
force; promoted as emperor, anointed and crowned by the pope—nevertheless, before he had
completed countless killing, and still not satiated with human
blood, he—turning blood-stained hands most cruelly against his own mother,DB: I.e., the
Church. belittling the dignities of the apostolic see—strove to extort by
violence her own possessions for himself. Oh how insatiable is the gluttony of ambition
which, always howling demands for new things to devour, becomes extended by gaping with
inextinguishable hunger as much as the greater things it devours. Oh how shameless is
the greed for earthly rank which, nowhere heeding the limits of decency, drives
sacriligious hands to stretch yet further against God, always promising its supporters
that it is possible to ascend to the summit of higher authority, but secretly directing
them beneath the filth of every vice. These and similar things can easily be
ascertained, not only in the aforementioned case, but indeed in all those who
presumptuously raise violent hands against the possessions of holy mother church. What
more? The apostolic sentence was declared publicly and openly against him and, as a
consequence of the proclamation, a new emperor was declared by the decree of the lord
pope to have taken his place. But by what resolution this utterly unworthy legal
struggle would be broken off, or by what law it would be determined, will be made clear
more openly in the following succession of years. In this same year it also happened
that—while for five years and more the Albigensians, a savage // //people disapproved by God, had assailed the religion of the
catholic faith in an open attack, rejecting God’s justice by themselves,DB:
Perhaps ‘by their own authority’ is intended (a se).
seeking to establish their own justice—no small group of the faithful gathered with one
accord in the region of Toulouse against the aforesaid mockers of divine law—on account
of the persuasion of apostolic admonition and the strength of divine preaching of the
word, but principally by the inspiration of divine grace—who, separated into fighting
units by the ordering of divine strength, inflicted slaughter on the infidels by combat
in open countryside such as the present age cannot recall. And this happened in
September in the year 1211, four days after the feast of Mary, under the most Christian
leader and most invincible earl Simon, called of Montfort or of Rochefort, who, from the
beginning, had most vehemently hunted down these people with passion. Yet hardly had
this trouble been quashed and ended, but behold!, a fresh persecution of Christians
emerges in another place. For just then a violent and despicable force of pagans landed
on the coast of Spain with no mean fleet, who induced Christians into fighting. Among
the Christians a great-hearted king, whose by-name was ‘the little king’, attacking with
his fellow knights, with divine strength shattered almost all of them. The king and
leader of the pagans, called king of Morocco, only just escaped alive with the greatest
dishonour.DB: The victory was gained on 12 July by Alphonso X of Castille,
Peter II of Aragon and Sancho of Navarre. ¶The king of France shed not a
little blood subjugating the land of the king of England in overseas regions. The king
of England effected a comparable slaughter in subjugating Ireland and Wales. And also
the king of Scots left the lifeless corpses of many while proceeding against MacUilleim,
namely Gofraid, and destroying his own people who had withdrawn from his
allegiance.DB: In propriosque seductores destruendo
both the Andersons and Stevenson take proprios to refer to
Gofraid: so Anderson has ‘destroyed those responsible for perverting him’ (ES, ii, p. 389), and Stevenson has ‘destroying those persons
who had led him astray’ (‘Chronicle of Melrose’, p. 153). Instead of inferring from
the chronicle that Gofraid was seduced into rising against King William, my
suggestion is that William dealt ruthlessly with Gofraid’s Scottish
supporters.
In the 1212th
year a general order was issued by Innocent, the supreme pontiff, to the whole region
professing Christ, that all pastors of the universal church should, quashing every
excuse, assemble in Rome at a prearranged date, namely 1 November 1215, for a general
council to be celebrated there, excepting a bare minimum who should, by common consent,
remain in each country for the care of souls. In the meantime, the pastors were
themselves to preach the word of life with every urgency, reinforce those who were weak
in the faith, endow the resolute with spirit, and seal them, moreover, with the sign of
the cross in support of the Holy Land of renewed promise, which at that time the
Saracens had man-handled far too shamelessly and disgracefully. ¶Many great
luminaries—that is, of most holy society and most excellent .'..'.doctrine
—were
sent a latere by the lord pope to all Christendom.DB:
Literally ‘to all the region around’. Regionem here
apparently has the same sense as in the previous sentence (in
omnem Christiane professione regionem), where it evidently means (Latin)
Christendom. Two of them were sent, one to England, the remaining one to
France: to England
Master Stephen, consecrated archbishop of
Canterbury; to France Robert of Curzon, cardinal priest of the apostolic see, appointed
legate and arbiter of all France, so that they should brighten each region by the
example of holy society and the ministry of catholic preaching. Also, on the advice of
the aforesaid Master Robert, the king of France banished from all his cities all
Christian money-lenders, public prostitutes, and all other mockers of holy religion.
Also, Alexander, son of William king of Scots, journeyed to England, and at London
received the order of knighthood from the king of England in the 14th year of his life, on 8 March, at Laetare
Jerusalem.DB: I.e., the fourth Sunday in Lent, which in 1212 was on 4 March
(for the correct date for this event, see Anderson, ESii, p.
390, n. 6). And so, having honourably become a knight, he returned to his own
country, with the applause and congratulation of each kingdom. Also, in those days there
arose in England a man of astonishing boldness and abstinence, Peter by name, who,
foretelling the future (by what spirit I do not know), he criticised the king of England
himself from day to day for his cruelty against the Church, and declared in front of his
face that he would in the near future lose the honour of kingship and the title of
kings. This indeed came to pass afterwards, as the subsequent succession of years will
make clear.
In the
1213th year Reynold, bishop of Ross, formerly a monk of
Melrose, died on the day of St Lucy.DB: I.e., 13 December. After his death,
Master Andrew of Moray was elected, who—refusing to be bishop—sought permission from the
lord pope, and humbly resigned the honour of so great a dignity. In his place Robert,
chaplain of the lord W[illiam], king of Scots, was proposed as a substitute. Dom Adam,
abbot of Melrose, was elected to the charge of the bishopric of Caithness on 5 August.
Dom Arnold, abbot of Cîteaux, was elected and consecrated as archbishop of Narbonne. He
destroyed the Albigensian sect by preaching the word of life with every effort,
confirming the faith of Christ, and persecuting them. He was succeeded by Dom Arnold,
abbot of St John’s Well. Dom Wido, abbot of Clairvaux, exhausted by the lasting severity
of the Order and made wearier by extreme old age, resigned to God and to the Order the
seal of the same house and prelacy which he was unable to hold further. After the lapse
of a few days, he departed from this light in the fullness of ripe old age. He was
succeeded by Dom Conrad, abbot of Villeurbanne. Dom Adam, abbot of Newbattle, resigned
his office by the grace of humility; Dom Alan, subprior of Melrose, succeeded him.
¶William de Montibus, of pious memory, chancellor of the church of Lincoln, died after
Easter.DB: I.e., after 14 April. The following year, when Christianity
was restored to England, his body was translated to the church of Lincoln, where it was
interred with due reverence.
Flower of kings, adornment of the kingdom,
complete honour of men,
William the pious king enters heaven.
Fifty years having passed now in the kingship,
He was dead in Stirling,
On 4 December he died in peace;
The gentle one is laid in the soil of Arbroath.
In the 1214th year the aforesaid
A[dam], abbot of Melrose, was consecrated bishop of Caithness by the lord William
Malveisin, bishop of St Andrews, in the month of May, on the day of St Mamertus the
bishop;DB: I.e., 11 May. Dom Hugh of Clipstone, a monk of the same
house, succeeded him on 15 May. ¶The lord William, of pious remembrance, king of Scots,
going the way of all flesh, his kingdom
continuing in perfect peace, departed to the lord with an auspicious death in the 49th year of his reign, the 72nd of
his age, on 4 December. The lord Alexander, son of the aforesaid king William, proceeded
with no mean crowd of magnates to Scone, and there received the government of the
kingdom of the Scots, both peacefully and honourably, in royal fashion and with fitting
celebration, in the 17th year of his age, on 6 December. Dom
William, the cellarer of Melrose, was elected abbot of Glenluce. The church of St Mary
of Hawick was dedicated by the lord A[dam], bishop of Caithness, on 15 May. ¶The
lordDB: The title used is dompnus not dominus. abbot of Cîteaux came //to// England by reason of his visitation. ¶John, bishop of Dunkeld,
of pious memory, died on 7 October; Hugh, called ‘of the seal’, was elected after him.
¶Dom Alan, abbot of Newbattle, with humble devotion returning to his own house,DB:
I.e., Melrose. resigned the charge of government, in the chapter, on 25 May;
¶Dom Richard, the cellarer of the same house,
succeeded him. ¶Master Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in England between
Easter and Pentecost,DB: I.e., between 30 March and 18 May. with everyone
rejoicing and saying: ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’. ¶The interdict
ceased in England around the beginning of July. ¶A certain man from among the clerks of
the lord pope, Pandulf by name, was sent to England in order to soften the king’s heart
and negotiate towards a commensurate reparation, who returned to Rome without having
accomplished a complete peace. On his return a certain other man was sent, Nicholas by
name, of great repute—by profession a Cistercian monk, by office the chief penitentiary
of the apostolic see—who was sent at this particular point in order to confirm, by his
authority as legate, the form of peace which had been discussed previously; and, having
received commensurate reparation from him, to release the king from the chain of
anathema. In the meantime, however, Philip king of France was aroused against him [King
John] (it is not at all doubtful but that this was by divine planning), and invading
with an attack of all his army, reached the English Channel. But also P[eter] the
Simple, the abovementioned prophet, heaped up affronts to the king’s face, and
steadfastly predicted the loss of royal rank; and because he announced that the son of a
good woman
would
reign after him, we infer this pronouncement men churchmen from the start of the interdict on his country;
and that he would hold his land from the lord pope as if placed there by a supreme king.
The king, therefore,
promising most readily to effect all these things
himself, furthermore produced the crown of his kingdom, placing it under the feet of the
legate. Blessed be God, strong and powerful, through all things, who knows to subjugate
the necks of the haughty and the hearts of the stubborn whenever he shall have wished to
call them to repentance. The king, not yet understanding that he had lost the very title
of kings and the honour of his former rank, ordered the oft-mentioned P[eter] the Simple to be put to a cruel
death—which he afterwards regretted most bitterly that he had done, as will be made
clear further below. ¶Battle was joined in open countryside between Tournai and the
bridge at Bouvines in Flanders, between Philip king of France and Otto formerly emperor
of Germany, on the Sunday after the feast of St James, which in this year fell on 27
July. In that conflict—as Dom H. abbot of Ourchamp wrote to Dom A[rnold] abbot of
Cîteaux—on Otto’s side the count of Flanders, the count of Boulogne, the earl of
Salisbury, the count of Tenekebroc and count Pilosus were captured. There were also captured almost 140 barons and sons of
barons from Flanders, and from Germany the better and more noble distinguished knights
called into battle, whom the abbot himself, enumerating them, named. On Otto’s side
there were 30,000 horsemen and 200,000 foot soldiers; the number of knights captured was
220. 70 knights and 3 thousand foot soldiers were killed. Moreover, only three knights
from France were killed. It is, moreover, true concerning the king of France that,
thrown from his horse, he fell to the ground among his most cruel enemies who thirsted
for nothing other than his blood. But by divine compassion, and—as he himself confessed
later—shielded by the intercession of the Cistercian order with God, and by the bravery
of his own soldiers, some of whom allowed themselves to be killed over his body,
he escaped uninjured after remounting his horse. It must
not pass unnoticed that when the count of Boulogne, who began the entire war by his
sedition, beseeched indulgence, prostrate before the king of France, and asserted that
he himself had committed no offence against the king, the king at these words reproached
him indignantly for all the favours which he had often bestowed on him, and how he
himself had always rendered bad deeds in return for good; and, roaring at him, he said:
‘Be silent! For, by the bones of St James, I shall have your eyes gouged out; and you
shall understand this: you will not get out from prison while I am alive.’ Furthermore
he bound the gaolers with an oath that, on account of no order, on account of no
letters, should they give him up except into the king’s own hands. Finally, he caused
two heavy and large chains to be fixed to a large tree-trunk, by which the count was
bound: castellan of Peronne, as the count would wish, though he might now wish it had
not been done.
In the 1215th year Dom Conrad,
abbot of Clairvaux, arrived in England by reason of his visitation, where he practiced
continence with sufficient severity and also established many hard and harsh things to
be observed on account of the severity of the Order in his daughter houses. ¶Dom Elias,
abbot of Rievaulx, ceased in his office; Dom Henry, abbot of Wardon, succeeded him on 8
April. ¶Dom Roger, master of the lay brothers of the same house, was elected abbot of
Wardon on 29 April. ¶Enemies of the lord king of Scotland—namely Domhnall
Ban
, son of Mac
Uilleim, and Coinneach Mac Aoidh, and the son of a certain king of Ireland—entered Moray
with a plentiful throng of evil-doers. Mac an t-Sagairt, rushing in against them,
destroyed them utterly, cut off their heads, and presented them as new gifts to the new
king, on 15 June; on account of which the lord king
appointed him a
new knight. ¶England has ratified a perverse order: who has heard such an astonishing
event be asserted in verse? For the body aspired to be on top of the head; the people
sought to rule their king! More than one cause was behind it. For the king has subverted
the best customs of the realm, has not governed properly the rights and laws, which have
been subjected. He has supposed whatever was his greatest pleasure to be the law; he has
oppressed his own native people beyond measure: he has placed barbarian mercenaries over
them. He has destroyed lawful heirs and hostages: a foreigner has taken possession of
their lands. Knights were summoned to the king’s colloquy: they took care, anxious for
themselves, and they came armed. They swear unanimously that they refuse to suffer
further the tyranny of such an unpleasant king. They came on the first day, ready to
make arrangements for the law: the king delayed to come, unwilling to stand up for the
law. He appointed another day in a future period: he did not come—but they came /\/¶on 11 May at Northampton,\
ready to constrain him. They therefore demanded the deposition of the
king if he does not enact a complete correction of the law and offer a faithful
guarantee for the perpetual preservation of peace. The homage which they had made they
have tendered back and the barons have taken up the cause of the knights. From this
point they divided themselves into seven divisions: they seized lands, towns, farms, and
forts. Their lands the allies of the king laid waste: so many evil deeds were
perpetrated on this side and that. And for a long time, and longer, they opposed
themselves in this way: murders are committed and fortunes frittered away. Thirsting for
the former laws of the kingdom, yet wishing not to send forces against the king
/\
/¶on 18 June in the meadow of Staines.\
and upon this engagement they met the king. The king, denying the
peace plan, withdrew from there, but soon, constrained, he then conceded everything; and
as a result he carefully diverted the power of the knights: he promised that he would
keep whatever he had agreed. They therefore committed the whole
agreement to writing: and they required the royal seal to be affixed. He, calmly making
promises, delayed some days, and gave notice that they should come to Oxford. The king,
after assembling his forces, came on the day which he had appointed /\/¶on 20 July\
, but he
gainsaid the articles of peace. They therefore withdrew with great ill-feeling: the last
error thus became worse than the first. Meanwhile the king therefore turned himself to a
new kind of harm. He took the counsel of I know not what Achitophel, that he should root
out from its foundations the entire progeny of the English from England, and grant the
land of England to be possessed perpetually by barbarian peoples. The king of kings,
however, and lord of those who hold sway, whose decree it is never possible to annul,
preordained that it be otherwise. It is enough that he freed innocent people out of
compassion: no less wonderfully did he throw asunder the counsel of Achitophel. For
indeed, during the time when one from among the king’s supporters overseas, called Hugh
of Boves, on behalf of the king himself, gathered an incalculable multitude of ships,
and filled them right up to the top with a multitude
A general council was
celebrated for 15 days at Rome from 1 November. Inspired by the holy spirit, many things
were determined in this council for the extirpation of vices and destruction of
heretics, for the confirmation of the faithful as well as for the correction of their
conduct. Among these things, moreover, it was decided and strictly commanded by the holy th year from the Lord’s incarnation, all
marked with the holy crossed gathered from all parts of the world should be assembled in
the kingdom of Sicily at the beginning of June. It should also be noted that there were
412 bishops in this same council, over which the lord pope Innocent III presided in the
18th year of his pontificate, which is called Constantiana. Among them 2 distinguished patriarchs stood out,
namely the patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem. (The patriarch of Antioch was not
able to come, held back by severe weariness, but he sent his vicar, the bishop of
Antidore, on his behalf; the patriarch of Alexandria, being held firmly under the
control of the Saracens, did what he could, sending his brother, a deacon, on his
behalf.) There were also 71 primates and metropolitans; the rest were more than 800
abbots and priors. The precise number of archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors and
chapters who were absent was not known. Such a huge multitude of delegates was
present—certainly of the king of Sicily (at that time elect as emperor of the Romans),
the emperor of Constantinople, the king of France, the king of England, the king of
Hungary, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Cyprus, the king of Aragon, and of other
rulers and magnates, of cities and other men—that a certain bishop died, suffocated
before such a very great multitude of great people. When this reached the ears of the
lord pope, he swore by St Peter that his tomb should be sealed with a marble stone. ¶On
17 October, by the carelessness of a badly fixed candle, one of the better granges of
Coupar, full of grain, was burnt, and in it the granger, a lay brother. ¶On 19 October,
Alexander, by the grace of God king of Scots, began to besiege the castle of Norham with
his whole army; but when he had besieged it for forty days, gaining nothing from it, he
abandoned the siege. ¶On 22 October the lord A[lexander], king of Scotland, took the
homage of the barons of Northumbria at Felton.
rd year; the lord bishop
of St Andrews, indeed, in the beginning of the 4th year. The
other prelates did not go in person to Rome,
¶but sent their delegates.
In the
1216th
16
year of the Lord, in the month of
January, there came to pass in Northumbria and the southern part of Scotland an
astounding and unheard-of sacking of towns and cities; for when he had heard that the
lord A[lexander] king of Scotland had laid claim to Northumbria for himself and had
received the homage of the barons of Northumbria, John the king of England, taking with
him his routiers, turned his scourge towards Scotland with great force.JRD: An
allusive phrase: habena(e) can be a whip or scourge, but also
the reins of a horse. When they heard of his coming, the barons from the
country round about York, who had sworn an oath against the king of England and were
stricken with excessive fear, came to the lord king of the Scots for aid, seeking his
protection. They made their homage and also swore fealty and security, touching sacred
relics, all together on 11 January in the chapter-house of the monks of Melrose. But the
king of England, pursuing them close behind, laid waste their towns and strongholds,
their possessions and lands, with avenging sword and fire. These barons had themselves
similarly burnt up their own estates and crops before the arrival of the king lest they
should profit him; and so it happened that, between the two, a great part of the country
was cut down by fire; for on 11 January the town of Wark was burned, Alnwick on 9
January, Mitford and Morpeth on 7 January, and on 16 January, Roxburgh, with so many of
its villages and suburbs. ¶On 15 January, John the king of England captured the town and
castle of Berwick, where with his routiers he applied a boundless ferocity and inhuman
tyranny; for with their eyes set on an abominable reward, these officers of the devil
monstrously tormented as many people of both sexes as they were able to take hold of,
hanging up some by their wrists and ankles, and torturing others with diverse
torments.JRD: Cf. Judith 6.13. It is reported that he brought with him
Jews also, and made them instructors in wickedness.JRD: A passage heavily
diabolical in its terms of reference: not only are King John and his men ‘officers’
and ‘servants’ of the devil (satellites, ministri diaboli), but they are also imputed with a regard for ‘an
abominable reward’ (nefandi questus intuitu) in their
torturing of the inhabitants of Berwick. Stevenson’s translation, ‘for the sake of
plunder,’ misses the point (Stevenson, ‘Chronicle of Melrose’, p. 161). The Jews,
moreover, are made ‘the masters of wickedness’, an expression the Church Fathers
employed for the devil; the Latin version of Gregory the Great’s Dialogue on the life
of St Benedict uses malitiae magister to translate ὁ τῆς
κακίας εὑρετής, ‘the inventor of evil’ (Gregory I the Great, Dialogorum libri IV, ii.8, pl 66, cols.
0151A/0152A), a Greek idiom known a few centuries earlier from Gregory of Nyssa
(Λόγος Κατηχητικός, §26, pg 45, col. 32C). Marching on
from there, he burned down Haddington on the third day, Dunbar also, and with a
devouring flame destroyed other towns in those parts.
On his return,
his routiers—those servants of the devil—plundered the abbey of Coldingham; they also
set light to the town of Berwick, and the king himself began it; for it is said that,
contrary to kingly behaviour and in an unseemly way, he set fire by his own hand to the
house in which he lodged. ¶In February of the same year the lord A[lexander], king of
the Scots, set out after the king of England with a mighty handJRD: Manu ualida, meaning ‘with a mighty hand or strong army’, is a
common biblical phrase: 4 Rg 18. 17, Baruch 2. 11, Ezekiel 20. 34, 1 Maccabees 11.
15, 2 Esdras 1. 10. and all his army; and with devouring fire and arms laid
waste that king’s land as far as Carlisle and beyond. On this occasion, however, one
must lament that against the lord king’s will—for he had by all means forbidden it,
granting instead his firm peace to the religious orders—certain Scotsmen, not soldiers
of the Master but servants of malice,JRD: A play on words: (i) cf. magistros malicie in 1216 at the end of Cotton MS Faustina B IX,
f. 32v; (ii) note the juxtaposition of magistri milicie and
ministri malicie; (iii) magistri
milicie could represent either ‘soldiers of the Master [i.e. Christ]’,
‘commanders of an army’, or ‘teachers of knighthood’. despoiled the monastery
of Holme Cultram of everything they were able to lay their hands on, sacred books,
vestments, chalices, horses and livestock, utensils and clothing. Such was their
abominable and sacrilegious madness that they even stripped off the rags in which a monk
who was laid in the infirmary was clothed, covered with sack cloth at the point of
death; nor did they show any reverence to the sacred altars. This transgression
nonetheless did not pass unpunished; for as they were returning with the spoils they
were drowned in a river called the Eden, more than 1900 Scotsmen in one brief hour of
the day (so far as one could estimate), by the just vengeance of God. ¶In July of that
year, with the whole of his army, except the Scots from whom he took expenses, King
Alexander marched again to Carlisle and took possession of it; that is to say, the city
of Carlisle was surrendered to him on 8 August; but he did not capture the castle at
that time. Advancing from there through the middle of England with all his army (while
King John was still alive and looking on in indignation), he proceeded as far as Dover
to meet the lord Louis, the son of the king of France, who in that year, on 6 May, had
landed with a very great number of ships, having been prevailed upon by the barons of
England to come to their aid. ¶At the outset of this expedition, Eustace de Vescy, the
king’s brother-in-law,JRD: Here gener means brother-in-law
rather than son-in-law; Eustace was married to Margaret, half-sister of King
Alexander II. was slain during the siege of Barnard Castle. ¶It should be
known that when Louis arrived in England, William Longespée, the king of England’s own
brother and earl of Salisbury, and many others who turned away from the king,
transferred their allegiance to Louis; indeed it was made clear by the subsequent
sedition that they committed that this was more for the sake of deceit than devotion,
more in respective of sedition than support. And now, this time, when the lord
A[lexander], king of the Scots, was sojourning in England, he did homage to the said
Louis,
at London
so it is said, under the same form as the barons of England had done to him;
and both Louis himself, as well as the barons of England, swore upon sacred relics that
they would never enter into any peace treaty or agreement with the king of England
without the king of the Scots himself; this was not altogether respected, however, as
will be shown below. ¶On 16 July in the same year, the lord pope, Innocent III of
beloved memory, called by the Lord, departed from this light in the 19th year of his pontificate; a venerable man, the lord
Honorius, bishop and cardinal, as ripe in knowledge as in age, succeeded him on 20 July.
¶Dom Henry, abbot of Rievaulx, died in the same year at Rufford, and was buried there;
Dom William, abbot of Melrose, succeeded him in the rule on 31 August; and in his place
as abbot of Melrose, Dom Ralph, the cellarer of that house, was elected on 14 September;
and he gained his faculty of consecration from the lord Hugh, bishop of Dunkeld, on 29
September. ¶Dom Richard,
England died
H[enry] his
son succeeded him
were taken out and buried in the abbey at Croxton; his body
was carried to Worcester, and was buried there in the minster. ¶At this same time a
cardinal named Gualo was sent to England from the lord pope’s side that he might
resolutely stand for King John and his heirs and defend their liberties against the lord
Louis and all the rest of the king’s opponents, strengthened with the protection of
apostolic authority; and he acted most resolutely. The king having died, as we have
said, Cardinal Gualo took with him the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, and the lord
Peter, bishop of Winchester, and they crowned the king’s son and heir, named Henry, a
seven-year-old boy, at Worcester. On the same day, the abbot of Westminster and the
prior of Canterbury appealed to the judgement of the apostolic see against the said
cardinal, in defence of the liberties of the their churches respecting the coronation of
the king; the abbot of Westminster, because Henry had been crowned at a place other than
Westminster; and the prior of Canterbury, because he had been crowned by someone other
than the lord archbishop of Canterbury, contrary to the liberties and privileges of
their churches. The cardinal, on the other hand, excommunicated the appellants. They
nevertheless did not consider themselves to have been excommunicated, nor did they
withdraw from the appeal they had made. He next published a sentence of excommunication
against the said Louis and all his supporters, and declared it to have been issued by
the lord pope. He also bound both the lord king of the Scots, and all his magnates,
under the same sentence, and did not flinch from placing the lands of the former as well
as those of the latter under the interdict. Yet, his sentence of excommunication and
interdict was not immediately observed throughout England; nor was it declared in
Scotland until well-nigh the following year. The said cardinal, even yet, by the same
apostolic authority with which the penalty was administered, absolved all who had
performed homage or any fealty to the said Louis, provided they had a mind to be
returned to the new king as their own lawful lord.
¶In the same year, Dom Conrad,
abbot of Clairvaux, was translated to be abbot of Cîteaux, in whose place Dom William,
abbot of the monastery in Argonne, was elected as abbot of Clairvaux.
In that
western part of Scotland called Galloway,JRD: Perhaps the earliest reference to
Galloway as part of Scotland. according to what Dom W[illiam] the abbot of
Glenluce (a man of excellent testimony and a monk of holy life)JRD: William, abbot
of Glenluce 1214–1216, formerly cellarer of Melrose; died 4 April 1216. has
written to the lord prior and the sacred convent of Melrose, an infinitely wondrous
transformation of the moon, unheard of in our time, clearly appeared to view. But what
did he write? When he came to Melrose, as we stood near and pestered him, he told the
story of this very event to us with his own lips, and all who were there listened and
marvelled. He then wrote it down into the following letter. To the reverend men in
Christ, Dom A., prior of Melrose, and the convent at that place: Brother W[illiam], the
unworthy servant of Christ’s paupers at Glenluce, wishes eternal salvation th day of the lunar month,
when dusk was turning to night; and behold, as this lay-brother looked back, he saw the
moon full and round; but immediately, at that very moment, something like a cord, black
and somewhat dull, cut the moon into two parts. The blackness of the cord was also
spilling itself out into that half of the moon that was facing north, and made that part
of the moon blacker and duller than the other half; and then, in the twinkling of an
eye, the duller part seemed to cut itself away from the other part and to be
shattered, and to be removed at a distance of one furlong; and it seemed as though that
duller part had been torn away with such violence from the other part of the moon that
it sent out sparks like a dragon flying through the air. At last, after a little while,
the duller part of the moon gradually, and rather painstakingly, approached the other
part: at one moment, as though by timidly being drawn back to itself, at other times, as
though being driven there by force. In the end, however, just as the parts of the moon
were going to meet each other, a cloud covered each part, and the vision disappeared.
Then, with a gust of wind, the cloud passed across, and the moon came out again from
beneath the cloud; and now it appeared to have grown to the size of three moons; and
steadily, the changing shape, as it grew and spread itself through the heavens,
transformed into a beautiful castle. The towers and walls of this castle, suitably
fortified with battlements, stood out. At this sight, as strange as it was astounding,
fear and trembling entered both the lay-brother and his servant, and the servant said to
the lay-brother, ‘Master, what do you think these things mean: can it be, do you think,
that the day of judgement has arrived?’ He said, ‘By no means, my son, they are rather
the wonders of God Almighty, who according to his will works signs, portents, omens and
wonders.’JRD: Cf. Pss. 71.18; 135.4; Deut 6.22, etc. The servant
declared, ‘I have often heard that, through female soothsayers,JRD: Phitonissas: cf. Acts 16.16, puellam
quandam habentem spiritum pythonem. witches and enchantresses, it is
common for the moon to have its shape changed in this way.’ But he replied, ‘It is not
so, my son. In truth, we ought rather to believe that they foreshadow something
marvellous and fearful for the human race.’ But meanwhile the moon had put off the form
of a castle, and was shaped into a very large ship, built with the most elegant
workmanship. But there also appeared on the ship just one man, as though a sailor on
that ship, whose stature was very large. This ship, then, its sails extended and very
quickly unfurled, was seen to set sail towards Ireland on a course that passed by the
Isle of Man. After these things, the moon cast off the form of a ship and was
transformed again into a great castle, a most fearful sight to those looking on; but
this time there appeared on the castle a royal banner of the kind usually carried before
armies of kings marching into battle.
In the 1217th year of the Lord, Richard
MarshJRD: 1209, canon of Exeter and rector of Bampton, Oxfordshire; 1212 vicar
of Kempsey, Worcestershire; November 1211, archdeacon of Northumberland; February
1213, archdeacon of Richmond, offices held concurrently appointment to see of Durham;
died 1226. Robert C. Stacey, ‘Richard March [Richard de Marisco] (d. 1226)’, ODNB (23
September 2004), [https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/10.1093/ref:odnb/18061](https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/10.1093/ref:odnb/18061)
[accessed 11 April 2023]. was consecrated as bishop of Durham. In the same
year, in the month of July, a naval battle was fought between France and England, and it
was unprecedented in our times.JRD: The Battle of Sandwich actually took place on
24 August 1217. See Henry Lewin Cannon, ‘The Battle of Sandwich and Eustace the
Monk’, EHR 27 (1912), 649–70. For so long as Louis
remained in London with his great host of soldiers, the English blockaded all the
harbours, and rigorously guarded the coasts, lest any support should reach them from
France. But the French arrived in a strong force with a large number of ships, and on
the first engagement at sea gained victory and took the shore they wanted. Yet the next
time, by God’s design, when sailors and ships had been assembled from every quarter and
once again met each other at sea, the English attacked and obtained the victory. They
slew the arch-pirate of the French, Eustace, called ‘the Monk’,JRD: D. A.
Carpenter, ‘Eustace the Monk (c. 1170–1217)’, ODNB (25 May 2006)
[https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/10.1093/ref:odnb/37400](https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/10.1093/ref:odnb/37400) [accessed 11 April
2023]. along with countless others. They committed their dead bodies to be
buried with the fishes of the sea, and the whales celebrated their funeral rites. They
kept the more noble prisoners safe in close custody in the hope of a peace and a
stronger agreement. These are the names of the mighty men who were captured there:
Robert de Courtenay,JRD: 1168–1239; Lord of Champignelles, Châteaurenard, Conches,
Nonancourt, Charny and other estates. Grand-Butler of France in 1223; brother of
Peter II de Courtenay; cousin of Raymond VI of Toulouse; uncle of the French
queen. Guillaume des Barres,JRD: Guillaume IV des Barres the younger,
1185–1249, a famous French general. Francisque Michel, Histoire
des Ducs de Normandie et des Rois d’Angleterre (Paris, 1840), p. 201. Lord of
la Ferté-Alais. William IV is Simon IV de Montfort’s half-brother; their mother
Amicie, countess of Leicester, married first Simon III de Montfort, then William III
des Barres. Raoul de la Tournelle,JRD: Lord of Lignières, assisted
Philippe Auguste at the siege of Acre in the Holy Land, and later at the battle of
Bouvines. André Châtelain, Châteaux forts et féodalité en Ile de
France du XIème au XIIIème siècle (Puy-de-Dôme, 1983), p. 155. William
de Inchri, William de Poissy, Perun de Johanris, Thomas de
Coucy,JRD: Son of Raoul de Coucy, and was lord of Vervins. Aelrad de
Croisilles, Anselm de Romoyni, Gallon de Mont Cenis, Nivelon d’Arras,JRD: Son of
the bailiff of Arras. William des Mareys, and many others. The total number of
knights captured was 125; esquires, 146; crossbowmen, 33; foot-soldiers, 833. Dom
R[oger], abbot of Wardon, sent this summary and the names of the mighty men in writing
to Dom William, abbot of Rievaulx.
The abbey of Culross was founded by the lord
Máel Coluim, earl of Fife;JRD: Máel Coluim, fifth earl of Fife,
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/782/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/782/) [accessed 16 May 2023]. and the
convent was sent to this abbey from Kinloss on 23 February, together with Dom Hugh,
formerly prior of Kinloss, as the first abbot of Culross.JRD: Hugh died in office
on 11 April 1227. D. E. R. Watt and N. F. Shead (eds), The Heads
of Religious Houses in Scotland from the Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries
(Edinburgh, 2001), p. 50. The same convent therefore arrived at Culross on 18
March.
The archbishop of TyreJRD: Simon of Maugastel, 1217–27. and the
abbots of Cîteaux and Clairvaux were sent to England so that they might restore peace
between Louis and Henry the new king of England. These abbots appealed against Cardinal
G[ualo] to the Apostolic See for the rights of their order, because this legate was
demanding payments from the Cistercian Order by exaction, contrary to the privileges
granted them by the Apostolic See, and was placing the monasteries of the monks under
interdict, suspending abbots as well as convents and declaring them excommunicated; and
because they had communicated with those who were making war, having taken from each one
an oath to adhere to the judgment of the Church, and to the pope’s mandates, and to his
own, he also had them publicly scourged upon their bare flesh in front of the doors of
their churches; and in enjoining general penalties on abbots and convents, he scarcely
conceded the grace of absolution. They therefore appealed against him (as it has already
been said) for conducting himself so cruelly against the Cistercian Order; but this time
they did not gain favour.
For the Lord Pope had granted unheard-of and
unusual authority to this legate, to do to the clergy and people of England, Scotland,
and Wales whatever (so to speak) was in his mind; the authority to translate, to depose
and appoint others, to suspend, excommunicate, or to absolve bishops, abbots, other
prelates of the Church, and clerks; and what is more, the authority even to deprive the
monks of the Cistercian Order of their privileges. ¶Dom Walter, abbot of Newminster,
died at Cîteaux at the time of the general chapter, and in his place Dom Henry, prior of
La Roche, was elected as abbot. ¶During the general chapter, 2 abbots and 5 priors from
Wales were discharged from their offices, and put out of their own houses, on account of
their stand against the foresaid cardinal; that is, the abbots of Whitland
Blanchelande in
NormandyJT: The glosser has confused the Cistercian abbey of Whitland
(Carmarthenshire, Wales) with the Premonstratensian abbey of Blanclande
(Neufmesnil, Normandy). For the latter, see Monasticon
Anglicanum: a history of the abbies and other monasteries, hospitals, frieries,
and cathedral and collegiate churches, with their dependencies in England and
Wales. Also of all such Scotch, Irish and French monasteries as were in any
manner connected with religious houses in England. Originally published in
Latin by Sir William Dugdale, vol. 6, part 2, ed. John Caley, Henry Ellis
and Bulkeley Bandinel (London, 1846), p. 1116. Note also the entry on Cotton MS
Faustina B IX, f. 20r, at AD 1165: ‘The Premonstratensian Order came to Blancheland.’
, and
of Strata Florida
Vauflory
DB: Strata Florida in Welsh is Ystrad
Fflur, ‘Flower Strath’. The glosser potentially attempted to translate this
into French as ‘flower valley’ (Vauflory). They may
have been influenced by other Cistercian houses in France incorporating the
element ‘valley’ into their names, e.g., Vaucelles Abbey, Vauclair Abbey,
Vauluisant Abbey. As a late-medieval scribe, they may have been based at Thorney
Abbey, rather than Melrose. For the Thorney connection, see Broun, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, pp. 44, 71 and
173.
. ¶ ¶In the month of May, A[lexander], by
the grace of God king of the Scots, mustered his entire army and besieged the castle of
Mitford; and when he had maintained the siege for a week, he returned home. ¶Philip de
Ulecotes and H[ugh] de Balliol threatened by way of revenge that they would devastate
the land of the lord king of the Scots; and when the lord king heard of it, he set out
with the utmost haste for a second time towards Northumbria, on 5 July, with a general
army of English, Scots, and men of Galloway. ¶The lady Eva, of Galloway, died on 11
June. ¶Dom Elias, formerly abbot of Rievaulx, was elected abbot of Revesby in the month
of December. ¶In the month of March of the same year, as it is related, an uprising
occurred against the lord Louis on the island of Rye. For, certain men who had taken a
vow with him against the king of England, namely, William Longspée, brother of King
John, and William the younger Marshal of England, and their accomplices, contrary to
Louis’ expectation, rose up in rebellion against him on the same island. But under the
care of divine grace, which never abandons its own, not a few ships which Louis’ father,
Philip, the king of France, had directed to England, by a marvellous fortune landed on
the same island at the same hour. With their arrival he was freed, and his opponents
were compelled to seek safety in flight. ¶On 20 May, a
battle was fought at Lincoln between the supporters of Louis, son of the king of France,
and the **supporters of Henry, the new king of
England. On Louis’ side was the greater part of all the English knights and alsothe French, among whom these were the more celebrated: the
Marshal of France with his retinue, the Count of Perche, said to be the uncle of this
same Louis, and moreovera kinsman of each of the two kings (of
England, that is, and of France), with his retainers and other dignitaries of France
with a countless number of knights, men-at-arms, retainers, cross-bowmen and multitudes
of foot-soldiers. On Louis’ side also were almost all of the nobility and the barons of
England. On the side of H[enry], the new king of England, on the other hand, there was
the above-mentioned cardinal, G[ualo], who, indecently dressed in sacred vestments,
excommunicated all Louis’ supporters by the authority of God Almighty and the lord Pope.
There were also with him the archbishop of York, and 7 other bishops, namely, of
Worcester, Hereford, Salisbury, Lincoln, Bath, Exeter,
and Winchester,
and likewise also William, marshal of England, William Longspée, earl of Salisbury, and
the earl of Albermarle, and Robert de Vieuxpont, Brian de Insula, Geoffrey de Neville,
chamberlain of England, and Richard, son of King John. In this conflict, therefore, all
who on Louis’ side had been alike weighed down with the burden of excommunication were
somewhat miraculously captured by a few men //
//and
imprisoned and in
Lincoln itself; and it was greatly to be regretted that that noble man, the said count
of Perche, fell in this same conflict after long and lasting defence of himself, slain
with cruel and excessive violence. *were reconciled
¶On 7 September of the same year, a general army
of the whole of England and the large part of the French militia of France gathered
around London, and Louis, the son of the king of France, and Henry, the new king
JRD: Gap perhaps because the
parchment is very thin; a small hole appears at the end of the gap. of England, * through the mediation of the frequently mentioned
Cardinal G[ualo] and the nobility of each kingdom were reconciled, so long as
Louis be given 10 thousand pounds as recompense for his expenses. This same Louis, with
his fellow-soldiers, ungirt and barefoot, came from his pavilion to the tent of the
cardinal to seek absolution, where he finally received the desired absolution, having
first sworn an oath to abide by the judgement of the Church, and that he would rid
England of himself and his men within a specified time. The barons and knights who had
been captured and imprisoned on either side, moreover, were absolved and freed; and all
Englishmen were entirely released from the homage that they had done to the said Louis.
The king of Scotland, meanwhile, and all the earls, and barons, knights and magnates,
bishops and prelates of the whole of the realm of Scotland, were placed under
interdiction and excommunicated. ¶In the same year, the lord A[lexander], the king of
Scotland, having gathered an army, advanced against England, and when he had come as far
as Jedburgh, and had heard of the peace between Louis and the king of England, he
disbanded his army and remained there for the month of September. ¶On 1 December, the
lord A[lexander], the king of Scotland, was released from the fetters of excommunication
at Berwick by the lord archbishop of York and the lord bishop of Durham on the authority
of the lord legate who was resident in England, and on the third day following, the
king’s mother was absolved by the lord bishop of Durham. Immediately after absolving the
king, the archbishop made his way towards Carlisle in order to receive the seisin of the
castle on behalf of the king of England, by order of the lord king of Scotland. ¶At the
same time, as the lord king was setting off towards England, every Scottish church
placed under the interdict ceased from the worship of God, except the white monks, who
celebrated according to the privileges permitted to them by the Apostolic See. Upon his
arrival at Northampton, however, the king was received with the greatest honour both by
the said legate and by the new king of England; and here, on the Saturday next before
the Nativity of the Lord, he did homage to the said king of England in return for the
earldom of Huntingdon and the rest of the lands which his predecessors had held from the
kings of England. ¶
In the 1218th year of the Lord, at the
beginning of January, W[illiam] Malveisin, the lord bishop of St Andrews, returned from
the general council at Rome to his bishopric.JRD: Episcoptus may denote the bishop’s residence. ¶Around the end of the
same month, the lord William, prior of Durham, and Master Walter of Wisbech, archdeacon
of the East Riding, were sent on behalf of the lord legate, who was still residing in
England, to release the Scottish Church, that is, the priests and people (the bishops
and prelates were not included) from the bond of anathema,
and likewise from the interdict. Beginning at Berwick, they made the round of Scotland
and travelled throughout it. And coming to the lord king at Edinburgh, they even
received from the king himself, and from his men, an oath to abide by the judgement of
the Church and the mandates of the lord
pope. From there they journeyed into deepest Scotland, as far as Aberdeen. Upon their
return, however, while they were lodging at Lindores, through the negligence and
recklessness of the butlers, the room in which the prior and his monks were sleeping
caught fire. As a result, the prior was well-nigh suffocated by the smoke and the flame:
for the moment he only just put off dying, but he did not escape death for long. Being
removed to Coldingham after the greatest weakness, and being brought to the point of
death, he breathed out his spirit there on 14 May. ¶On the Annunciation of the Lord in
the same year, Master W[alter] of Wisbech, by command of the legate and by his authority
(with which he was empowered), instructed that all the monks of the Order of Cîteaux
established throughout the realm of Scotland should entirely stop celebrating divine
service. The abbots, namely, Ralph of Melrose, Adam of
Newbattle, Alexander of Coupar, Ralph of Kinloss, Hugh of St Serf, placing everything of
their own in the peace of God and the protection of the lord pope, approached the legate
at York, where, after many prayers and the intercessions of many people, they procured
for themselves with difficulty the grace of absolution. But W[alter] of Wisbech,
meanwhile, at Berwick on Palm Sunday, and on the day after, held a council with many
clerics and prelates. There, he declared the said monks established in the realm of
Scotland decla to be excommunicate, as well as those who communicated with
them. These monks, as they had done before, appealed to the presence of the lord pope,
both against W[alter] and against the legate; and in renewing //
//the appeal
which
the lord [abbot] of Cîteaux had begun for the sake of the order’s status, they held the
sentence to be invalid. When he heard of it, the legate was extremely irritated, and
swore to the abbots assembled in his presence that he was going to show no favour at
all, either to them or to their convents, unless he first learned, by the testimony of
the bishops and their deans, that their convents had accepted the interdict. In the end,
when they had received their abbots’ letters, the monks ceased as much from celebrating
the divine offices as from entering the church for a short time, until they obtained
absolution, from a mandate of the lord legate by the hand of W[illiam], lord bishop of
St Andrews, having first sworn an oath to abide by the judgement of the Church and the
mandates of the lord pope, without prejudice to their order and their privileges. ¶In
the month of May that year, Stephen, lord archbishop of Canterbury, returned from the
general council and entered England. Everyone rejoiced at his
arrival, as though it were the arrival of an angel of peace, of a most tender father and
good shepherd; and again and again they sang out with joy, ‘Blessed is he who comes in
the name of the Lord!’ ¶In the same year month, upon the legate G[ualo]’s
departure from England, Pandulf, a former clerk of the Roman See, at that time appointed
as legate of England, and elected bishop of Norwich, came there. ¶The lord W[illiam],
archdeacon of Buckingham, was elected bishop of Worcester. ¶The bishop of Brechin died;
the lord G[regory], archdeacon of the same bishopric, succeeded him. ¶In
the same year, Otto, emperor of Germany, died; Frederick,
called
‘the Infant of Apulia’, succeeded him. ¶The Count of
Burgundy also died;
and Simon, earl de Montfort, was killed. May their
souls rest in peace. ¶Henry, abbot of Kelso, died on 5 October; Dom Richard, the prior
of the same house, succeeded in his place on 19 October. ¶In the same year, almost all
the abbots of England, Wales, and Scotland set out for the general chapter, at the order
of the lord of Cîteaux, to deal with the Order’s difficult affairs. From this chapter
the lord of Cîteaux, and of Clairvaux, together with 6
In the
1219th year of the Lord, Thomas de Colville died.
¶William de Volgnes died at Kelso; his body, even against the wishes of the monks of
that house, was removed to Melrose, and buried there with honour in the monks’
chapter-house, next to the tomb of his father. ¶Gervase Avenel died, and his body was
buried inthe same chapter-house. ¶Dom Ralph, abbot of Melrose,
died on 1 June; Dom Adam, abbot of Newbattle, succeeded him in the charge of the rule on
6 August; Dom Richard, master of the lay-brethren at Newbattle, was appointed successor
for him. ¶Dom Henry, abbot of Newminster, died at Pipewell; Dom Robert,
The abbey of Deer was created, and
Robert [was]
the first abbot
master of the lay-brethren of that house, succeeded him.
¶That most famous city of the pagans, which is called Damietta, was occupied by an army
of Christians after a period of nearly three years, th year of
grace’). This is evidence that f. 38 was at one stage perceived as the ‘first folio’
of the chronicle, probably a flyleaf with the current recto as the verso given the evident rubbing on f. 38v (as argued in Broun, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, p. 139).
IIn the 1220th year of the Lord, Dom Richard, abbot of Newbattle, died on 5 April; Dom
Richard, prior of that house, succeeded him. ¶On the day after the octave of Peter and
Paul, the relics of blessed Thomas the martyr were translated. The day of his
translation is ordered to be held as a festival in lands this side of the sea. ¶On 2
November, Dom Ralph, abbot of Kinloss, full of good days in holy old age, passed, as we
believe, from the earth into heaven; Dom Robert, the first abbot of Deer, succeeded him
in the charge of the rule; in his place, Dom Alexander, prior of Kinloss, was elected as
abbot of Deer. ¶In the land of our redemption, Master Robert de Curzon, full of the
catholic faith, adorned with virtues and wisdom, left this light for the land of the
divine promise (as we believe); by whose merits before God, frequent and great miracles
were performed (as those who come back from there
say).
In the 1221st year of the Lord, Master James, a canon of St Victor in Paris, a
penitentiary of the apostolic see, and the legate of Scotland and Ireland, having
summoned the prelates of the whole kingdom,
How Damietta was captured in the 1219th year of grace
To Leo, reverend cardinal of the titular-church of
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme,JRD: A minor basilica, and one of the seven pilgrimage
churches of Rome. from H[ermann], the humble master of the house of the
Teutonic Order in Jerusalem,JRD: Hermann of Salza (Grand Master,
1209–1239). greeting. Let the Honour of Your Sincerity know that the Lord
Almighty, being mercifully compassionate to the long-wearied Christian army, has
wonderfully delivered the city of Damietta without a wound or blow being struck, by the
grace of his goodness to his exiles,JRD: On the idea of crusade as exile for God,
see William J. Purkis, Crusading Spirituality in the Holy Land and
Iberia, c. 1095 – c.1187 (Woodbridge, 2008), esp. p. 40. so that it
could not and ought not to be attributed to anyone’s merits, but only to his own praise.
And thus A History of the Crusades: vol. IV The Art
and Architecture of the Crusader States, gen. ed. Kenneth M. Setton (Madison,
1977), p. 149. for which they also wished to render an income annually to the Christiansfor as long as peace should endure. Moreover, all
the Christian captives […]
[The text on this page is faded beyond
legibility, probably because it was once the manuscript’s flyleaf (see the note to
the contribution at the top of f. 37v, attributed to Scribal profile 76). However,
the Andersons managed to make out some of it ‘with the aid of special photographs’
(it is not clear what these were, but the Andersons also note that the writing
‘responds little to ultra-violet light’). The translation is based on the Andersons’
text (Andersons, The Chronicle of Melrose, p.
lii).]
C(?) |
C... |
|
[Deleted: 1241, 1242, 1243] |
| 1246 |
Henry de BalliolJT: Henry Balliol (d. 1246),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/1420/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/1420/) [accessed 18 May 2023]. is
buried in the chapter-house. |
| 1247 |
[deleted: 1219] Thomas of KentJT: Thomas of
Kent, constable of Edinburgh Castle,
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/14090/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/14090/) [accessed 18 May 2023].
at [ ] is [or are] buried in the chapter-house. |
| 1248 |
Sir John of Crawford,JT: Probably John, son of Reginald Crawford,
sheriff of Ayr, [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/8709/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/8709/) [accessed 18 May
2023]. at Melrose, it is not known where. |
| 1249 |
King Alexander.JT: Alexander II, king of Scots (d. 1249),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/58/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/58/) [accessed 18 May
2023].
|
|
[Deleted: 124, 1250] |
| 1250 |
Sir Robert de Muschamp,JT: Robert de Muschamp (d. 1250),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/6071/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/6071/) [accessed 18 May 2023].
with us, it is not known where. |
| 1256 |
Waleran de Normanville,JT: Waleran de Normanville (d. 1253),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4636/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4636/) [accessed 18 May 2023]. at
Melrose, it is not known where. |
| 1258 |
[deleted: 1269] William, bishop of Glasgow,JT:
William of Bondington, bishop of Glasgow (d. 1258),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/435/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/435/) [accessed 18 May 2023].
near the high altar. |
| 1185 |
Robert Avenel,JT: Robert Avenel, lord of Eskdale (d. 1185),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/154/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/154/) [accessed 18 May 2023]. it
is not know where he is buried. |
| 1189 (?) |
Richard de Moreville,JT: Richard de Moreville (d. 1189 or 1190),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/112/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/112/) [accessed 18 May 2023]. and
his wife, Avice,JT: Avice of Lancaster (d. 1191),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4393/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4393/) [accessed 18 May 2023]. it
is not known where. |
| 1196 |
It is not known [possibly John of RoxburghJT:
John of Roxburgh, master, treasurer of Glasgow (d. 1196),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/1124/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/1124/) [accessed 13 September
2023].]. |
| 1219 |
William de ValognesJT: William de Valognes (d. 1219),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/832/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/832/) [accessed 18 May 2023]. and
G[ervase] AvenelJT: Gervase Avenel, lord of Eskdale (d. 1219),
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/854/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/854/) [accessed 18 May 2023]. are
buried in the chapter-house [?]. |
| 1241 |
Christina Corbet, wife of William the son of the earl,JT: Christiana
or Christina Corbet (d. 1241), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4764/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4764/)
[accessed 18 May 2023]. [is buried] in the chapter-house. |
| 1242 |
Walter Oliphant, justiciar of Lothian,JT: Walter Oliphant, justiciar
of Lothian (d. 1242), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/1285/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/1285/) [accessed
18 May 2023]. [is buried] in the chapter-house. William de
SomervilleJT: Probably William de Somerville (II), son of William,
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/15554/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/15554/) [accessed 18 May 2023].
[is buried] at Melrose. |
| 1243 |
Master A[dam] of Bathgate,JT: Adam of Bathgate, master, sheriff of
Roxburgh (d. 1243), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4015/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4015/) [accessed 18
May 2023]. it is not know where. Sir Roger [Avenel]JT: Roger
Avenel, sheriff (d. 1243), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/2223/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/2223/)
[accessed 18 May 2023]. … |
| 1269 |
The lady Lora, countess of Atholl,JRD: This is the only evidence for
Lora, countess of Atholl. One might conjecture that she had been married to
Patrick, earl of Atholl (son of Thomas of Galloway, earl of Atholl, d.
1231), who was murdered in 1242 before coming of age:
[https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/5942/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/5942/) [accessed 18 May 2023].
[is buried] with us, it is not known where. |
held a general council at Perth which lasted four days in a
row, beginning on the octave of the Assump Purification. ¶The lord Alexander,
king of Scots, on the Saturday next before the feast of St John the Baptist, took to
himself at York a queen named Joan, a daughter of King John and sister of Henry the king
of England; and after they had celebrated the marriage with the utmost magnificence,
just as they should, he brought
her to Scotland, while all who dwelt in either kingdom rejoiced. ¶Dom Richard, abbot of
Kelso, died on 2 August; Dom Herbert Maunsel, the secretary of that house, succeeded
him. ¶Philip de Stichill died. ¶In the same year, the lady Margaret, daughter of
William, king of Scots of blessed memory, and sister of the lord king, Alexander, was
given as wife to Sir Hubert de Burgh, the justiciar of England, with the consent of the king on either
side, that is, of England and of Scotland, and the advice
of the magnates of either kingdom. ¶In the same year, that
famous city which is called Damietta, recently secured by Christ for the Christians, but
too weakly and carelessly defended, was again besieged by the pagans and, on the vigil
of the Beheading of blessed John the Baptist, wholly taken from the power of the
Christians. By what deserts, however, or by what judgement of God this came about, it is
not known; especially since already at the time the excellence of the worship of God had
commenced to be praised in a magnificent fashion in the said city.
For, indeed, etc.JT: Reference to the text at the bottom of the page (‘For, indeed, the new bishop ordained in that very city…’).
*
In the 1222nd year of the Lord,
Brice, bishop of Moray, died; Master Andrew of Moray succeeded him. ¶Dom Alexander, the
abbot of Deer, died on the journey to the general chapter, at the Valley of the blessed
Mary, on 6 September. ¶On his return from that same chapter,
Dom Geoffrey, the abbot of Dundrennan, also died, in the monastery at Auberive. ¶In the
same year, a father of blessed remembrance, also an excellent pastor, the lord Adam,
bishop of Caithness, a former abbot of Melrose and truly a monk of the Cistercian Order,
together with his fellow monk, a deacon of Newbattle named Serlo, through the triumph of
manifold suffering, was happily made worthy (as we believe) to attain the fellowship of
the citizens of heaven. For it does not make sense to think of him as one deprived of
the fellowship in heaven of those in whose martyrdom he was made worthy to participate
when his feet were on the earth; especially since it was for the rigour of justice that
he chose to die, namely, for the exaction of the tithes according to the custom of
ecclesiastical taxation; and in the manner of the best shepherd, to lay down his life
for his sheep rather than permit the flock entrusted to him to continue any longer in
its former deviant wandering. Since the reason that makes the martyr (being sufficiently
obvious and just) came first, rather than the suffering; and since the price of the
suffering was immense; anyone who is of the opinion that less honour or merit should be
attributed and shown to him than to any other of the holy martyrs, is proved to impose a
wrong upon the bishop, especially since he is acknowledged to have endured alone the
many torments of the holy martyrs. After the most savage threats and repeatedmocking, after the weals
*For, indeed, the new bishop ordained in that very city had a revenue of 1000 talents;
and there were also 40 canons in that city, each of whom had 100 talents
¶a year.
and bloody wounds of whips, he endured both the clubs of
James and the stones of Stephen, and was eventually offered up whole, by the
flames and burning of St Laurence, for a burnt-offering of the Lord. And he suffered at
the episcopal manor which is called Halkirk in the English language, on 11 September,
being a Sunday. And his body, though dried up from the burning, and black and blue from
the stoning, was found whole beneath a pile of stones after the flames were
extinguished; and, as was fitting, it was commended with honour to a tomb in front of
the holy altar in the baptismal church. Therefore the father whom the wicked and
degenerate sons had most cruelly slain in the mother’s lap, the faithful daughter took
into her own bosom for protection, more happily to be brought forth once again with
glory at the general resurrection. ¶Dom Geoffrey, the abbot
of Dundrennan, died on his way back from the general chapter, at Auberive. ¶P[hilip] de
Valognes, by agreement of the lord king, took as his wife , the former wife of Walter de Lindsay, against
hisJT: Or possibly ‘her’ (meaning Walter’s former wife), since the ipsius here could refer to either her or Philip de Valognes. own will,
because they were related in the third or fourth degree of kinship or close affinity.
For this reason, P[hilip] himself went to Rome and, as he himself has reported, obtained
from the lord pope a dispensation of remaining in the marriage he had contracted.
¶Robert, archdeacon of Glasgow, of good memory, died at
London on his way back from Rome, and his body was interred there with honour in the
churchyard of blessed Paul the apostle. Thomas the parson of Lilliesleaf succeeded him
in the archdeaconry. He died in the same year. And Thomas the clerk, afterwards
chancellor of the lord king of Scotland, succeeded him.
In the year of the Lord 1223
In the 1223rd year, on 14 July,
Philip the king of France died, full of days, in good old age and the catholic faith, in
the 43rd year of his reign (but of his age, I do not know
). In his will, with royal
munificence, he assigned fifty thousand Parisian pounds to the Jerusalem Temple, and
another fifty thousand to the Jerusalem Hospital, and another fifty thousand to John de
Brienne, at that time king of Jerusalem. Louis his son succeeded him in the kingdom,
even then a vigorous and manly knight. ¶Dom William, abbot of Rievaulx, died on 1
February; Dom Roger, abbot of Wardon, succeeded him; in whose place at Wardon, Dom
William, the prior of the same house, was substituted. ¶Dom Robert Matussal, subprior of
Dundrennan, was created abbot of the same house on the vigil of the Epiphany. ¶About the
same time, Dom Herbert, a monk of Coupar, was made abbot of Deer. ¶Dom Adam, the abbot
of Holme Cultram, resigned his office. Dom Ralph, abbot of Jugum Dei in Ireland,
succeeded him; in whose place
It fails here
It is not known who may have succeeded this Ralph
was substituted in Ireland Dom John, the cellarer of
Glenluce. ¶John de Brienne, the lord king of Jerusalem, came to England, in order to
speak at London with the king of England and the magnates over difficult matters.
¶Isabel, daughter of King William (of good memory), and sister of Alexander the king of
Scotland, returned from the custody of the king of England, still unmarried.
[Faded pencil writing covering roughly
lines 8–22]JT: Though some letter forms are visible, enough to identify
Scribal profile 87, the text is largely too faded to read. It appears to run from
lines 8–22. The Andersons (The Chronicle of Melrose, p. liii)
note ‘pencil additions to this annal are now illegible’.
In the 1224th year
[On 8 November, A[lexander], the king’s son, was taken.]JT: This reading is taken from the Andersons, The
Chronicle of Melrose, p. liii. They note: ‘A line below this is quite
illegible. The note appears to refer to the marriage of Alexander in 1282: see the
memorandum at the bottom of [f. 11v]’.
In the 1225th
year
In the 1226th year of the Lord
L[ouis] king of France,
and R[ichard] Marsh,
bishop of Durham, died.
In the 1227th year of the Lord
the venerable Pope Honorius died, the father and defender
of the Cistercian order. May his soul live in glory. Pope Gregory, formerly bishop of
Ostia, succeeded him.
Alexander, king of the
Scots, invested John Scot, the earl of Huntingdon—his cousin, a son of Earl David—and
many other noble men with knightly arms on the day of Pentecost in Roxburgh
castle.
Thomas the king’s chancellor and archdeacon of Glasgow died; after him
Master Hugh of Potton took up the archdeaconry, and Master Matthew Scot was made the
king’s chancellor.
William son of John, the lord of Hownam, died. He was succeeded by John de Landellis,
his nephew.
In the 1228th year of the
Lord
The translation of
Richard, bishop of
Salisbury, to Durham.
Stephen, archbishop of
Canterbury, died.
In the 1229th year of the Lord,
the abbey of St Edward was made at Balmerino by King
Alexander and his mother, and the convent of Melrose was sent there with the lord Alan,
its abbot, on the day of St Lucy the virgin.
Consecration of
Richard, archbishop
of Canterbury; and
Roger, bishop of
London; and
Hugh,
bishop of Ely;
and Robert,
bishop of
Salisbury.JT: This entry roughly
duplicates the content of that under 1230 lower down the page which is attributed to
Scribal profile 92 (and was evidently added first). See Stevenson, Chronica de Mailros, p. 142, nn. t and x, where he points out that the
consecrations happened in 1229 and that the bishop of Ely was in fact Hugh, not
Roger.
In the 1230th year of the Lord
on the day of the Conversion of St Paul, Dom Simon de Rise
was elected abbot of Rufford in the chapter of Melrose.
The Earl Máel Coluim of Fife died, and he was buried in the church of St Serf at Culross, which he had founded. Máel
Coluim, his nephew, his brother’s son, succeeded him, who afterwards married the
daughter of Llywelyn. ¶At this time the Jacobin friars and
the Vallescaulian monks first enter Scotland.
Master Richard Grant was consecrated as archbishop of
Canterbury, and Master Roger Niger as bishop of Lincoln London, and as bishop of Ely, Roger the abbot of St
A new command I give you […]JT: The text has been
smeared out to obscure it. It is from John 13:34.
In the 1231st year of the Lord
Thomas, earl of Atholl, the brother of Alan of Galloway,
died and was buried at Coupar abbey. ¶At this time the Friars
Minor first enter Scotland.
Richard, archbishop
of
Canterbury, died.
John, the earl of Caithness, was killed in his house and was
burned, and deservedly received vengeance from God to match the punishment the venerable
Bishop A[dam] bore subject to him.
In the 1232nd year of the Lord
Dom Walter, the bishop of Glasgow, died in the
24th
year of his episcopate. After him, William the king’s
chancellor was elected. Dom William of Ramsay, the abbot of St Serf, died. After him,
Dom Hugh, master of the lay-brothers at Melrose, was elected, on the day of the
Assumption of St Mary.
Ranulf the earl of Chester died; his nephew, John Scot,
the earl of Huntingdon, succeeded him, who had married the daughter of Llywelyn a few
years before.
Patrick,
venerable earl of Dunbar, summoned his sons and daughters, his kinsmen and neighbours,
so that they might celebrate with joy the feasts of the Lord’s Nativity with him. Four
days later, however, he was gripped nephew, a vigorous knight and the king’s
nephew, succeeded him.
Consecration of Edmund,
archbishop of CanterburyJRD: This marginal entry is misplaced: Edmund was consecrated in 1234.
In the 1233rd year of the Lord
Ermengarde of good memory, queen of William the king of
Scotland, the mother of King Alexander III, died on 11 February, in the 47th year since she was betrothed, and was buried in the abbey
of St Edward at Balmerino, which she founded herself.
The church of St Mary at Newbattle was dedicated by Bishop
Andrew of Moray, on 13 March. Also, the
church of Arbroath was dedicated on 8 May. Also, the church of St Mary at Coupar was
dedicated on 15 May.
Dom Gilbert, abbot of Glenluce, resigned his office at
the chapter of Melrose, and made his profession there.
Alan of Galloway gave his
daughter in marriage to John de Balliol, and his sister to Walter Bisset.
Clement,
a canon of the Order of Preachers, was elected to the bishopric of Dunblane. And he was
consecrated by bishop William of St Andrews on the day of the Translation of St
Cuthbert.
at Wedale.
Also, William, bishop of Glasgow, was consecrated by Bishop
Andrew of Moray, on the Sunday after the Nativity of blessed Mary.JRD: I.e., 11
September.
in the church of Glasgow.
William, abbot of Holme Cultram, resigned his office.
Gilbert, master of the lay-brothers of the same house, succeeded him.
William Comyn, earl of Buchan, th year of the Lord,
Alan son of Roland, lord of Galloway and constable of Scotland, died and was buried at
Dundrennan. He left 3 daughters as heirs, and one bastard son, who, while his father was
alive, married the daughter of the king of Man. His daughters, however, were married to the following men:
the first to Roger de Quincy, earl of Winchester; the second to John de Balliol; the
third to the son of the earl of Aumale; and Alan’s land was divided between them. But
the natives of that land, preferring to have one lord rather than many, approached the
lord king, requesting that, over and above them, he would take the lordship from the
heirs of the inheritance; but the pious king paid no regard to this. For this reason the
Galwegians became extremely angry and prepared themselves to rise up and also laid waste
by sword and by flame some of the lord king’s lands that lay closest to them, which did
not succeed prosperously with them,JRD: Cf. Num 14:41. as shall be apparent
in what follows.
¶Also, Dom Waleran the abbot of Deer died; the venerable Hugh, the
prior of Melrose, was elected in his place.
In the 1235th year of the Lord, Dom W[alter] the bishop of Candida Casa
died. On the first Sunday in Lent, Dom Gilbert, master of the novices at Melrose, and
former abbot of Glenluce, was elected as bishop, both by the clergy and by all the
people of Galloway, except for the prior and convent of Whithorn. On the Sunday when Oculi mei is sung, however, the above-mentioned prior and his
convent elected Odo, the former abbot of Holywood, and immediately made his way with him
to the archbishop of York, that is, to Walter de Gray, seeking from him the gift of
consecration, but he did not give them an audience. For he had heard about the first
election, and for this reason, having examined the case on each side, he reproved Odo
and consecrated the above-mentioned G[ilbert], the monk of Melrose, as bishop, on the
Sunday before the Nativity of the blessed Mary,JRD: I.e., 2nd September. in
the greater church at York.
¶Also, Dom Hugh, elect of Deer, after the completion of
one year, in which he had charge of the above-mentioned church, as much by reason of
infirmity
Consecration of Robert
Grosseteste to
[the bishopric of] Lincoln. H[enry], king
of
England, married Eleanor.
of body as from the harshness of the climate in that place,
returned to the monastery of Melrose. There he resigned his office not long afterwards,
and restored as prior [of Melrose], faithfully departed to the Lord. Robert, a monk of
the same house, was then made abbot of Deer.
In the same year, on the Sunday before
feast of the blessed Mary Magdalene, the lord king mustered his army and marched them
into Galloway. He reached a place sufficiently fair to behold,JRD: Cf Isa.
2:16. and since the daylight had already waned, he planned to pitch camp
there. But the Galwegians, who had lain hidden in the hills the whole day, knowing the
locality better, now turned the tables and took the battle to the king. Since the place
mentioned above had given them a certain amount of confidence, for it was full of
marshes covered all over with grass and flowers, in which the king’s army (mentioned
above) was for the most part bogged down. At the outset of the engagement, however, the
earl of Ross, Maccintsacairt by name, arrived and attacked the enemy from the rear.
After this was realised by the enemy, they turned their backs and repaired to the hills
and the woods. The earl (mentioned above), together with many others, pursued them,
producing much slaughter and hounding them until nightfall. The following day, however,
the king employed his accustomed mercy and bestowed his peace upon all who came to him.
The Galwegians who had survived therefore came together to the king’s peace, being
brought out with cords around their necks. T[homas], the bastard-son mentioned above,
meanwhile set off for Ireland with his supporter Gilrodh. The king, having gained the
victory, therefore went to other parts of the kingdom on difficult matters of the realm,
leaving the earl of Menteith behind there to subdue the country. After the king’s
departure, some Scotsmen, not masters of the military but ministers of malice, plundered
the abbeys of that land with such heinous and infamous madness that they even stripped a
monk laid in the infirmary of Glenluce at the point of death of the hair-shirt in which
he was clothed, and carried it off with them. At Tongland, too, they murdered the prior
and the sacrist inside the church. The Almighty did not allow their sins to pass
unpunished. Not long afterwards, the murderer was caught, and was torn in pieces by
horses at Roxburgh. When they heard that G[ilrodh] (mentioned above) had come with a
fleet from Ireland, bringing Irishmen and the son of a minor king with him, making their
unbridled flight, the Scotsmen reached a certain river, in
which many of that abominable host perished. After G[ilrodh] (mentioned above) had
returned from Ireland, and as soon as he set foot on land, he destroyed all his ships
alike, using cunning of this kind lest those whom he had brought with him should by any
means be able to return to their own country. After these matters had been reported to
G[ilbert] the bishop of Galloway and A[dam] the abbot of Melrose, and also to P[atrick]
the earl of Dunbar, they did not fail to afford to the son, though illegitimate, the
friendship they had towards his father while he was alive. The bishop and abbot went on
their own, the earl with his army, as far as the borders of Galloway, enjoining the
oft-mentioned G[ilrodh] either to bow his neck to the king or meet the earl’s army in
battle. The oft-mentioned G[ilrodh], seeing that his force was weaker, went along with
their advice, and the king handed him over for some time to the aforesaid earl for
safekeeping. The bastard son, therefore robbed of advice and support, was compelled to
seek the king’s peace; and the king held him for a short time at Maidens’
Castle,JT: I.e., Edinburgh Castle. and afterwards allowed him to go
away. After these events, the Irishmen, in leaving the country by stealth, made their
journey via the city of Glasgow. When they learned this, the citizens went out as one,
and cutting off
the heads of as many as they came across, and caused them to
breathe out their souls. But they kept back two of the older men, whom they then had
torn to pieces by horses at Edinburgh. At length, with Galloway settled, the heirs took
possession of their lands and divided them among themselves in equal measure.
Also, the lady Marjorie, sister of the lord Alexander, king of the Scots, was given in
marriage at Berwick on the day of St Peter’s Chains; and the king himself attended this
wedding, as well as the magnates of his kingdom, just as on the other side there were
present the lord G[ilbert], marshal of England and earl of Pembroke (who married her),
with many of the noblemen of England.
In this year, the lord Alexander, the king of Scotland,
bestowed the forest of Ettrick on the house of Melrose and established the abbey of
Melrose, with 4 granges round about, to be free from his forest.
In the 1236th year of the Lord,
Dom Constantine, abbot of Newbattle, resigned his office; Dom Roger, the cellarer of
Melrose, succeeded him.
Gilbert, the venerable bishop of Dunkeld, died in the same
year, and was buried on the Isle of St Columba.JRD: I.e., Inchcolm Abbey.
In his place, Dom Geoffrey, a clerk of the king, was elected.
Also, Jordan, the
abbot of Dundrennan, and Robert, the so-called abbot of Glenluce, were deposed, and Dom
Leonius, a monk of Melrose, is elected to the rule of Dundrennan on Ascension Day. Not
long afterwards, Dom Michael, prior of Melrose, is appointed abbot of Glenluce.
Also, Dom Alan, the first abbot of St Edward in Balmerino, died on the vigil of the
apostles Peter and Paul; Dom Ralph, the cellarer of the same house, succeeded him. ¶The
king of England and the king of Scotland came together at Newcastle, where they had a
conference with each other. Also, Dom Herbert, the abbot of Kelso, placed his staff and
mitre upon the high altar on the Nativity of blessed Mary, and so bade farewell to his
pastoral charge. Dom Hugh de
In the 1237th year of the Lord, Richard, the lord bishop of Durham of good memory, and the
distinguished founder of the new church of Salisbury, entered the way of all flesh on
the morrow of Saints Tiburtius and Valerian, that is, the Tuesday before Easter, upon
the first hour; his body being buried in the church of the holy nuns of Tarrant, which
he founded himself. ‘At his sacred tomb, the limbs of the sick in great numbers, by
whatever disease they might be burdened, are now restored to health.’JRD: Direct
quotation from the hymn, Iste confessor. In the same
year, the kings mentioned before, along with their queens and the noblemen of the two
realms, met at York on St Maurice’s day, where for 15 days they discussed the affairs of
their kingdoms; and Otto, the legate of the lord pope, was present. At length, after the
council was dissolved, the king of Scotland returned to his own country. The queen
of Scotland, however, together with the queen of England, travelled to
Canterbury in order to pray, and in the vicinity of London closed her last day, as will
become clear in what follows. Dom Gilbert, the abbot of Holme
Cultram, died at Canterbury, while he was returning from the general council; Dom John,
abbot of Iugum Dei,JRD: ‘God’s Yoke’, Grey Abbey, Co. Down. succeeded him;
and
In the 1238th year of the
Lord, Master Hugh of Potton the archdeacon of Glasgow died; after his death the
archdeaconry was divided; for Master Matthew of Aberdeen was declared archdeacon of
Glasgow, and Master Peter of Alintun was called archdeacon of Teviotdale. William the
abbot of Dunfermline died; Geoffrey the prior of the same house succeeded him. The lady
Joan, the queen of Scotland, detained by grave illness in London, received the
sacraments of the Church and closed her last day, without issue, on 4 March in the arms
of her brothers, namely H[enry] the king of England and R[ichard] the duke of Cornwall.
Her aforementioned brothers buried her body with great sorrow and honour in the church
of the holy nuns at Tarrant. ¶William Malveisin, bishop of St Andrews, died; and David
de Bernham was elected to the bishopric. ¶The abbot of Clairvaux died, and John the
abbot of Cîteaux gave up his pastoral charge, having caused no little conflict within
the order. ¶Peter the bishop of Winchester died.
In this year, a woeful war began between our lord, Pope
Gregory, and the emperor Frederick (called the Son of Puglia). Holy Church is reported
to have endured unheard-of storms between them in our times. At this time it is first
heard in our land that the impious army of the Tartars has laid waste many lands.
Whether this be true shall become plain in what follows.
In the 1239th year of the Lord,
Gilbert the bishop of Aberdeen died; Dom Ralph of Lambley the abbot of Arbroath
succeeded him. Dom Roger, abbot of Rievaulx, resigned his office, and Dom Leonius, abbot
of Dundrennan and a monk of Melrose, succeeded him. Richard,
prior of Melrose
Alexander, the most noble king of Scotland, married the lady
Mary, daughter of that noble man, Ingram de Coucy, on 15 May, the day of Holy Pentecost,
at Roxburgh
HOtto, cardinal deacon at the titular church of S. Nicolain Carcere Tulliano, and legate
of the apostolic see, entered Scotland around the feast
of St Matthew
the apostle and evangelist; and on the vigil of St Dionysius at Melrose, in his
presence, H[ugh], mentioned before, was elected a second time as abbot of Kelso. For his
predecessor, Herbert, a man of praiseworthy life and manners, full of days, willingly
gave up his pastoral charge. The same Otto celebrated a counscil at Edinburgh on the morrow hAdam, bishop of Caithness, were raised
from the place where they had been buried after his martyrdom, and being removed to the
episcopal see, they were buried there with honour. Upon their elevation (as it is
reported), not a few miracles were produced.
In the 1240th year of the Lord,
the venerable Leonius, abbot of Rievaulx, died on 8 January; Dom Adam de Tilletai, an
abbot, succeeded him after Easter.
On St Vincent’s day in the same year, the lord
David de Bernham was consecrated in his see by William, the lord bishop of Glasgow.
Dom Walter, abbot of Dryburgh, resigned his office.
and Dom John, a canon of the same house, succeeded him.
Llywelyn, king of Wales, died, and Dafydd his son
succeeded him. John de Normanville died. Also, Dom Alexander, abbot of Coupar, gave up
his pastoral charge, and Dom Gilbert, a monk of the same house, succeeded him.
Also, Jocelin, bishop of Bath, died. Also, bishop of Norwich, died; the lord
William de Raley succeeded him.
Boniface
succeededJT: This relates to the entry on Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury. Boniface of
Savoy was elected archbishop on 1 February 1241: Clive H. Knowles, ‘Savoy, Boniface
of (1206/7–1270)’, ODNB (23 September 2004), [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/2844](https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/2844)
[accessed 19 April 2023].
Also, Master Robert de Bingham, bishop of Salisbury,
died. Also, Master Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, died. Also, Alexander, bishop of
Chester, died; the lord Hugh of Pattishall succeeded him. Also, Gregory, the lord pope,
commanded that certain bishops from every kingdom of the Christian faith should come to
Rome in person and present themselves to him upon the next Easter. From Scotland there
werecalled, namely, the lord William of Glasgow, and the
lord David of St Andrews, who set out on their journey upon the Advent of the Lord, and
departed from their own land, leaving behind many who were sorrowful at their departure.
Dom Geoffrey, abbot of Dunfermline, died, and Dom Robert,
a monk of the same house, succeeded him.
In the same year, the bones of the abbots
of Melrose, which used to lie in the entrance to the chapter-house, were raised and
entombed more fittingly on the east side of it, except for the bones of our venerable
father Waldef, whose tomb was opened and his body found in ashes. Those who were present
took away with them from it some of the tiny bones, and left the rest in peace. There
was present there a knight of good repute called William fitz Count, a nephew of the
lord king. He obtained by his prayers a tooth, by which, as he himself related, the sick
secured many benefits.
In the 1241st year of the Lord,
numerous miracles are reported to have happened at the tomb of blessed Edward,
archbishop of Canterbury. Walter fitz Alan the younger died. The church of Durham, a
long while
In the same year, the first-born
son of the lord Alexander, king of Scotland, was born at Roxburgh, on the day of the Translation of St Cuthbert,
on 4 September, being a Wednesday. And he was called Alexander. And he was born at the
beginning of the 44th year of his father’s age, and nearly
the end of the 27th of his reign. John of Maxwell is buried
at Melrose. Bishop William of Argyll is drowned in the sea.
In the 1242nd year of the Lord, Master Peter of Alington, the archdeacon
of Tweeddale, died; and Master Reginald of Irvine succeeded him. Master Roger, surnamed
Niger, the bishop of London, died. Dom Hugh
de Pattishall, the bishop
of Chester—otherwise of Coventry, or of Lichefield—died. H[enry] the king of England
crossed the channel in order to secure his overseas lands. John Comyn, the earl of
Angus, died in France. Alas, Patrick of Atholl, son of Thomas of Galloway (the earl of
Atholl), a distinguished youth and (as far as human judgement is concerned) imbued with
all courtly wisdom and urbanity, is vilely murdered by the scheme of certain wicked men,
along with two of his companions, by night in his quarters at
Haddington, after he had laid himself to sleep. And so that such a great outrage might
be concealed, the house in which they lay is burned, so those within would appear not to
have been murdered, but killed by a fire accidentally set. Yet the One who reveals the
things that are hidden exposed in public what those wicked men had done in secret, as
the following account shall disclose.JRD: Cf. Lk 12: 2–3. After [Patrick’s]
death, however, David of Hastings received his earldom, which came down to him from his
wife’s side, who was the maternal aunt of the murdered youth. William de Somerville is
buried at Melrose. Sir Walter Oliphant, the justiciar of Lothian, died, and is buried
with honour in the chapter-house of Melrose. Dom Andrew, the bishop of Moray, died.
Thunders roared on 17 December.
In the 1243rd year of the Lord, John Bisset, with Walter his uncle and his other
accomplices, is outlawed because rumour was alleging that the John, at the suggestion of
Walter, had delivered up Patrick of Atholl to death. Master Adam of Bathgate is buried
at Melrose. Sir Gilbert de Umfraville took the countess of Angus as his wife. All the
prelates who had been in the imperial prison, having been released, were freely allowed
to leave. Arriving in Rome, they presented themselves to the cardinals. Presently, being
gladdened by their presence, the cardinals went to Agnani, and elected as pope the lord
Synebald, cardinal priest at the titular church of San Martino ai Monti, on the day
after the Saint Nativity of St John the Baptist. He is consecrated on the
Sunday between the octave of the apostles Peter and Paul, and is named Innocent IV. Dom
William, the abbot of Clairvaux, goes the way of all flesh while returning from the
curia with the lord William, abbot of Cîteaux. For the abbot of Piété Dieux, having laid
down the office of abbot, is detained there by the pope, and
The abbot of Dundrennan received on loan the rest of these chronicles. See
made a cardinal. Sir Roger Avenel is buried at Melrose next
to his father. Dom Michael, the abbot of Glenluce, is buried at Vaucelles on St
Michael’s day; in a similar way, Dom Gilbert, the abbot of Coupar, at Saint-Rémy on 10
October; while they are returning from the general chapter. Dom William de Binin, the
prior of Newbattle, is appointed to the rule of the house of Coupar on the Advent of the
Lord.
In the 1244th year of the Lord, the lord William,
the abbot of Cîteaux, was unwilling to act as abbot, and the lord , abbot of la Ferté, succeeded him. Also, Alan Musarde of
Rievaulx was appointed abbot of Glenluce. In the same year, Innocent, the lord pope,
entered the land of the lord king of France, and stayed at Lyons, where on the day of
the Holy TrinityJRD: I.e., 29 May. he consecrated Otto, formerly the legate
of England and Scotland, as bishop of Porto. For he earlier made John, the former abbot
of La Piété Dieu, cardinal priest at the titular-church of San Lorenzo in Lucina. In the
same year, that most detestable traitor, Walter Bisset, and his accomplices, did not
stop pouring the poison of dissent in the ears of Henry, the king of England, until he
had assembled his army and begun to advance against the lord Alexander, the king of
Scotland, as far as Newcastle. The king of Scotland came as far as Ponteland to meet him
with an immense host. But, at the urgent entreaties of the archbishop of York in
particular, as well as of other important men, peace was re-established on the eve of
the Assumption. On account of this, the king of Scotland returned to his country, and
the king of England made plans to move against Wales. For the Welsh were rebelling, not
being able to bear the yoke of the English; not omitting to mention that, there, the
King of Glory was pleased to exalt the king of Scotland in the grace of miracles—as we
have heard from many. In this year, the land of Jerusalem was destroyed and these
letters which reached the lord pope. To Innocent, the most holy father and
lord, by the grace of God
Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman See:
Robert, by the same grace patriarch of the holy church of Jerusalem and legate of the
Apostolic See; the Queen of Cyprus and regent of the kingdom of Jerusalem; the
Archbishop of Tyre; the bishops, R[alph] of Acre, G. of Sidon, R[alph] of Lydda; Brother
Armand de Périgord, master of the Knights Templar; Brother William, master of the
Hospital House of St John; and the Praeceptor of the House of St Mary of the Teutons;
Odo de Montbéliard, lord of Tiberias and constable of the kingdom of Jerusalem; and
Philip de Montfort, lord of Toron, kiss your blessed feet with everlasting obedience. We
do not suppose that what has been communicated to you by our patriarch concerning the
wretched condition of the Holy Land and its sufferings, which have recently come about
after the sudden and unexpected arrival of the Khwarezmians, has escaped your Holiness’s
memory. Since, however, it is more necessary to report to your ears, O most Holy Father,
being set in the watch-tower of the Lord,JRD: Cf. Isa. 21.8. pre-eminent
over the others, supporting by daily constancy the care of the churches,JRD: Cf. 2
Cor. 11.28, instantia mea cotidiana sollicitudo omnium
ecclesiarum. and on whose shoulders the ark of the Lord is borne.
Because, as our faults demand,JRD: The idea of peccatis
exigentibus and exigentibus culpis was a standard
explanation for Christian failure in the crusades. See, for example, Rebecca Rist,
Papacy and Crusading in Europe 1198–1245 (London and New
York, 2009), pp. 35, 89 and 190–3. the Lord in these times has multiplied
scourges on the Holy Land, we are together obliged to make known the sighs of the church
at Jerusalem, and the cutting down of the Christian people, and the peril of the Holy
Land. And so, we do not wish your Holiness to be ignorant that the above-mentioned
Khwarezmians, whose cruelty goes beyond animal savagery, at their first arrival occupied
most of the province of Jerusalem, namely, from Latrun, which is 8 miles away from
Jerusalem, and to the areas of Ashkelon and Gaza. At their arrival, an unexpected fear
and trembling came upon the minds of the Christian people because they savaged them with
every kind of cruelty, thirsting for their blood. Having been driven from their native
lands by the power of the Tartars and with no other place to go, they entered the
aforesaid land ruled by the Sultan of Babylon [Cairo]. It is said that he bestowed on
them the land in which Christians used to dwell. The Khwarezmians did not come merely to
devastate the land and then depart, but they settled in it with their wives and
households as if it were their own, believing that they could claim the dwellings and
homes for themselves forever unless the power of the Most High opposed them, and the
Apostolic See stretched forth its helping hand against them. For the aforementioned
Sultan protects and defends the leaders of sacrilege. He serves them with generous
salaries and allowances, believing that through them he can subjugate the kingdom of
Damascus and the Christian people. Although the same Sultan does not leave Babylon
[Cairo], and they are not allowed to enter the land of Babylon [Cairo], because of doubt
concerning the aforementioned situation because of their power and infidelity. Although
the affliction caused by the Khwarezmians could have sufficed, which had assailed the
minds of all, another immense grief followed with the arrival of the Tartars, whose
immeasurable army terrified and devastated the entire eastern region. Crossing cold
waters to reach the iron bridge near Antioch, they came like locusts in an innumerable
swarm, laying waste to everything. But by divine mercy, the Sultans of Damascus, Aleppo,
and Homs, not without a considerable expenditure of money, entered into a temporary pact
with them and thus returned to the distant regions from where they had come. With their
departure, the anxieties of both our own people and the Christian population subsided.
Yet, considering the imminent threat of the Khwarezmians with the utmost concern, we
have not ceased, nor do we cease, to labour with all our efforts for their expulsion. We
earnestly encouraged the illustrious King of Cyprus and the Prince of Antioch to provide
aid to the Holy Land, but from the aforementioned king, we were unable to obtain any
assistance. The same prince of the Tartars, fearing their return, offered numerous
excuses. Since there are very few knights or pilgrim foot-soldiers in the Holy Land, to
the point where, even when they are all counted, they can hardly be numbered in the
hundreds, knights of the land
are also scattered here and there,
fortifying near their castles. Because they cannot leave the stronghold unprotected, the
common counsel of the land has strongly dissuaded us from attacking or fighting those
evildoers without greater support. It was not safe to fight against such a great and
powerful multitude with only a few, especially since shortly after their initial
arrival, another host of the same people came, along with those who were not there, as
mentioned earlier, but fewer in number. As it is certainly reported, they had, besides
others, common men, their wives, and families, along with more than twenty-one thousand
equipped horsemen. Therefore, it was decided by common deliberation to call upon the
Sultans of Damascus and Homs in support of the Christians. These sultans are bound by
truce and alliance with the Christians and have a deep-seated enmity against the
Khwarezmians. The said Sultans, when repeatedly asked, promised that they would come to
the aid of the Christians with all their forces. But the arrival of these forces, which
had been anticipated daily, was unexpectedly delayed, and without their men, it was
dangerous for the Christians to engage in a conflict with the Khwaresmians. Meanwhile,
the people dwelling in Jerusalem, surrounded by enemies on various sides, tormented
within by hunger and without by the sword, were distressed by numerous terrors and
perils. We believed that they were gathering an army day by day for their relief. But
the treacherous Khwarezmians, invading with a large multitude, entered Jerusalem on
Monday, the eleventh day of July. The Christians who were present there, seeking refuge
in the hospitals and the churches of Jerusalem, which are adjacent, defended themselves
with wooden fortifications and stone bulwarks, on that day, with the mercy of Jesus
Christ favouring them, achieved victory over the oft-mentioned and most wicked men,
killing many of them. Since they could not, however, achieve their goal, they left in
confusion and by violence took possession of the Church of Saint James of the Armenians
in the same city. And they rashly slew many Armenians found in that church, including
priests, clerics, and laymen, beheading the imperial castellan and the preceptor of the
Hospital of Saint John, who had bravely gone out to fight against them. But they were
driven out of the city that day and returned to the encampments they had made near the
city. The aforementioned people of Jerusalem, who were enduring great distress, urgently
requested assistance from us, sending letters and messengers to us and other Christians
on numerous occasions. But since they could not be helped in any way with the assistance
requested, as the nearby areas were surrounded by enemies from all sides, access to the
city was not possible without the Khwarezmians’ army. With great compassion, we shared
in their suffering, and our hearts were filled with bitterness at their afflictions.
But, earnestly focusing on their aid, we collectively deliberated to send a message to
the Sultan of Nazareth, who had recently entered into a truce with some Christians, so
that with his assistance, the aforementioned people would receive safe conduct as far as
the land of Christians. We therefore sent formal messengers with our letters to the
aforementioned Sultan, and we gave them instructions that, upon hearing his response,
Brother Simon of the Order of Preachers would approach Jerusalem with his escort,
comforting the Christian people, and he would convey to them the Sultan’s response,
consider the state of the land and the people, and report everything to us. And so, with
the aforementioned messengers approaching the said Sultan regarding the agreement, and
with them diligently inquiring about the aforementioned escort, the said Sultan replied
in Jerusalem that he would willingly provide the escort, but he could not do so without
the consent of the Khwarezmians. But he firmly promised to send solemn messengers to the
Khwarezmians, whom he would persuade through prayers and gifts, as he reported,
so that, after securing protection, he could safely allow the people to
leave for the land of the Christians under the same Sultan’s escort. Brother Simon,
following our orders, left the other messengers behind and went with the Sultan up to
Jerusalem, escorted by the Sultan himself. And with the entire people gathered, and
preaching the word of God to them, repeatedly comforting, both exhorting as well as
granting remission to them, just as he had received in letters-mandate from us, the
Patriarch, he reported to them the response which he had received in other messages from
the sultan. But the people of Jerusalem, having shared their plan, responded that they
would rather die in the city from famine and pestilence than to hand themselves over to
the cruellest of peoples or to entrust themselves to the hands of the Sultan, of whose
infidelity they were certain, and had no doubts about. But they were determined to
remain in the city, hoping for the mercy of Jesus Christ and awaiting help. Brother
Simon, however, having inquired about the state of the land, understanding that they had
provisions and that it could suffice for six weeks, upon hearing their response firmly
forbade anyone from secretly leaving the city without a common escort. Instead, trusting
in the mercy of the Most High, they were manfully to defend themselves as they awaited
the Christian army. He, at length, departing from the city, returned with the Sultan,
coming to us to report these events, under his escort. After his return, on the third
day, at the ninth hour, we learned for sure that, without the knowledge or consent of
others, a significant number of armed men left the city and unfortunately reached Joppa
during the night. Sorrowful and not a little troubled by their secret departure, and
because they had divided and disrupted the rest of the Jerusalemites, we shortly
afterwards received distressing and tearful reports about the often-mentioned people of
Jerusalem. For they, fearing the renewed arrival of the Khwarezmians, left behind some
six thousand men in the city who were unwilling to depart from the city. By common
consent, involving both clergy and religious men, as well as laity of both sexes, on
Tuesday, the eve of Saint Bartholomew, around the evening hour, they left the city and
embarked on a journey towards Christian territories through mountainous regions. They
relied on the truce they had with the Saracens of the mountains, hoping to avoid the
peril of the Khwarezmians that way. But believing that they were avoiding Scylla, they
tragically fell into Charybdis. Indeed, the previously mentioned Saracens, after
treacherously leaving their mountain homes, launched a sudden attack on them and fought
against them throughout the night night, and it is reported that they killed
over two thousand of them. They spilled innocent blood like water round about Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them. They captured both boys and girls, showing no mercy,
even to the elderly. Those of that population whom they did not wish to kill were
wretchedly taken as captives and put up for sale to other Saracens. Furthermore, while
the few of that community who had escaped the clutches of the Saracens descended into to
the plain of Ramla, death and the sword overtook them as they attempted to evade their
fate. For the Khwarezmians, violently attacked and viciously killed them, resulting in a
scene of carnage among the dead and the captives. From the entire population, scarcely
three hundred persons escaped, arriving at Joppa in groups, wounded and left half-dead.
Now, as innocent blood cries out from the ground to the Lord, its plea for compassion
and mercy is brought for consideration before your Holiness. Thus, the prophecy of
Jeremiah regarding Jerusalem has been fulfilled: ‘Her adversaries have become her
lords,JRD: Lamentations 1:5. her festival days were turned into
mourning, her sabbaths into a reproach.’JRD: 1 Maccabees 1:41. We also
report with sorrow that, after such a great devastation, ‘the city of Jerusalem sits as
though solitary’,JRD: Cf. Lamentations 1:1. nearly deserted by the greater
part of the people. The treacherous Khwarezmians, with no one resisting them, entered
the Church of the Lord’s Sepulchre, and by the edge of the sword pathetically
slaughtered the Christian people who had sought refuge in that very church, destined to
receive martyrdom for the sake of Christ in the place where our Lord Jesus Christ had
poured out his precious blood beneath the gibbet of the cross for the salvation of the
human race, the pavement of the entire church being stained red with the blood of
martyrs. What more can be said? Priests, while celebrating the sacred mysteries on the
altars of that church, were decapitated by the hands of the ungodly, offering themselves
as a sacrifice to God the Father. Oh, happy soul of Master Peter Monstrand
of Montranda, a canon of Rheims and Sens,
who, bearing the cross of the Lord, followed him.
For when they were
celebrating in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the very place where the Son of God
was offered as a victim to God the Father, he [Master Peter] offered himself,
slaughtered by the godless, as a sacrificial victim to Jesus Christ. The wickedness and
boundless cruelty of this perfidious nation surpassed all others who had occupied
Jerusalem, even though they had shown some respect for Greeks, Armenians, Jacobites, and
others dwelling there who professed the Christian name. They had allowed them to
celebrate the divine mysteries and maintain the same truce in peace at the Holy
Sepulchre and other honoured places, even though they had been subjected to servitude.
But those most treacherous people profaned the holy sites to the best of their ability,
having no regard for religious order, sex, or age. Within the city itself, they did not
leave any Christian. They removed the lead roof from the church of the Lord’s Sepulchre,
and even stretching out their sacrilegious hands to the marble panels that surrounded
the Lord’s tomb, they entirely demolished it, variously defiling the very place where
the Lord was buried as far as they could. And no one can remember any of the Saracens up
to that time having committed such heinous acts. And going up to the church of
Bethlehem, they are said to have violated it in many ways, treating even the holiest
places, namely, Mount Zion, the Temple of the Lord, and other venerable places of the
city of Jerusalem with utmost disrespect. Thus, in the city of great beauty that had
once been the joy of the whole earth, where justice had once resided, on account of the
sins committed by the Christian people now dwell murderers. For they continually offered
sacrifices, desecrated the place of consecration, set fire to the sanctuary of God,
defiled the place of the tabernacle of his name, in insult and disgrace to the name of
Christians. Furthermore, you should know, Holy Father, that they have risen to such a
height of audacity and pride that they roam everywhere throughout the whole of the
aforesaid land, and their hands in no respect avoid indiscriminate evil. And advancing
neither towards Tiberias nor the neighbouring areas in the aforementioned fires and
killings, they came near Acre, about seven miles away. They came for plunder. And you
should know that the land beyond the sea [or Outremer] stands in dire need and great
danger, such as has not been recalled for a hundred years. Therefore, let the mournful
cries of the Holy Land, the lament of the Church of Jerusalem, and the abuse of those
who revile the Christian faith rise to the ears of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Let a
two-edged sword issue from the Roman Church to avenge the innocent blood; let
consolation for the desolate come forth from her treasures. Let the word of exhortation
thunder from her throat to all the kings and princes of the world, so that, to avenge
the injury to Jesus Christ, through whom they live and reign, and not allowing the
insults of all Christendom to be endured, assistance be swiftly provided to the
aforementioned land as Your Holiness sees fit to decree. Executed at Acre, in the
1244th year of the Lord, on the feast of St
Matthew.JRD: I.e., 21 September.
To the religious men in Christ beyond the sea, John and
Andrew, E., humble archbishop of Tyre, etc. Regarding the sorrowful, pitiful, terrible,
horrible, and destructive rumours from overseas, refer to the Prior of the Hospital of
St John, who carries letters to the most Christian king of the Franks, written not in
ink but, as it is said, in blood. I have not seen them myself, but those who have seen
them report that they are written in red. In summary, it is said that the Master of the
Hospital and the entire conventual community, except for a few, the whole Templar
community, the whole community of the Hospital of St Mary of the Teutonic Order, with
very few escaping, and the entire overseas knighthood, along with Nassar, the Sultan of
the Turks, and another sultan, were captured by the Khwarezmians and the men of the
Sultan of Babylon [Cairo] and killed on the 17th day of
October. It is said that Count William and the lord Philip were captured. The lord
Patriarch and the Constable escaped. Behold, mourning and lamentation!
In the 1245th year, Dom Hugh, the
abbot of St Serf, died; he was a man of praiseworthy life in all respects, and zealous
for the sacred religion. A monk of the same house, named Matthew, succeeded him in the
pastoral rule.
the 11th May
In the same
year, Pope Innocent IV entered the land of the king of France on the Advent of the
Lord.JRD: I.e., Advent Sunday, 3 December.
In the same year,
Louis, the most Christian and illustrious king of the French, and beloved of God, was
seized by illness in the city of Paris, by the providence of the God who rules and
disposes all things. As the physical trouble of the illness grew worse, and movement
signifying life ceased, it seemed to those around him that he had paid death’s due. But
when he had lain upon his bed of sorrow in this way for three days, with no sign of life
apparent in him at all, suddenly, to the amazement of everyone who was there, he lifted
his eyes to heaven and blessed the name of Almighty God with a clear voice. Immediately,
having summoned the bishop of Paris, he ordered that the banner of the most Holy Cross
should be placed upon his shoulders, intending to set out to extol the name of Jesus
Christ and the glory of the cross wherever Holy Church should wish to direct him. The
bishop just mentioned, with a fitting devotion, fulfilled the pious king’s devout wishes
and the king immediately made a full recovery from his illness. ¶At the same time, when
that most abominable emperor Frederick heard about the aforementioned king’s illness and
his taking up the Cross, he dispatched these letters with—so it is believed—fraudulent
intent: Frederick by the grace of God emperor of the Romans and perpetual Augustus, king
of Jerusalem and Sicily, to L[ouis] by the grace of God illustrious king of the French,
greeting and the affection of a sincere love. A disturbing rumour has reached our
hearing, a rumour relating a sorrow, which informed us that your royal person, succmbing
to the demands of frail flesh, recently experienced a period of serious illness. Our
laments however were turned into joy and the piercings of inward sorrow were transformed
into healing when a little later we heard of the recovered health with which the right
hand of the Divine power, which mercifully pities and heals, most clemently delivered
you as it were from the gates of death. We assuredly believe that a visitation of this
kind, being required by events and the needs of the time, has sprung forth from the
depths of the counsels of the Lord by a providence both salutary and necessary, so that,
as the wickedness of the infidels alas breaks out again, having inflicted a sorrowful
cost on our faith by the manifold slaughter of the faithful, a new champion might rise
up, roused by Divine prompting, and that this athlete of the Lord, having taken up the
banner of the Cross, which now is the most potent aid to our faith, might set about
avenging the immense injury of our God. It was indeed the benefit arising from this
pretext that rightly turned to joy the reason for this illness which looked to the
future, seeing that a manifold advantage of fruit to follow is being garnered from that
previously disadvantageous situation. First of all, in general, that out of the
auspicious royal expedition to recover the homeland of the Lord from the swords of the
enemy by Gallic forces, with the wickedness of the Saracens destroyed, the harm done to
our faith is taken care of; its honour is adorned, in which you, by a wonder[ful]
Letters of
P[eter] de Vinea,
Basel edition,
folio 61.
Raised by Divine favour, although
unworthy, to the summit of the Apostolic dignity, it is our duty [to assume] the care of
all Christians with assiduous and watchful discrimination, discerning the merits of each
person with the eye of inward contemplation, and weighing them in the balance of prudent
deliberation, so that we may raise with appropriate favours those whom the force of
righteous judgment shows worthy, but also that we may reduce with due penalties those
who are culpable, always considering worthiness and its reward impartially by allotting
an amount of punishment or thanks to each according to the quality of his action.
Indeed, since the dreadful tumult of wars has long troubled several provinces of
Christian profession, we desiring peace and calm with all our heart for the Holy Church
of God and all Christian people in general, resolved to send special envoys of great
authority to the secular prince who is the chief author of this discord and trouble, one
bound by the chain of anathema because of his transgressions by our predecessor Pope
Gregory of happy memory, these envoys being namely the venerable brothers, P[eter] of
Albano then archbishop of Rouen, William then bishop of Sabina, formerly of Modena, and
our special son W[illiam], cardinal priest of the basilica of the Twelve Apostles, at
that time abbot of St Facundus,JRD: Sahagún, Léon. who were zealous for his
salvation. We proposed to him through these envoys that we and our brethren,JRD:
I.e., the cardinals. in so far as we were able, desired to be at peace with
him, as indeed with all men, in all things; and that we were prepared to extend to him,
as also to the whole world, peace and tranquillity. Because the reinstatement of the
prelates, clerics and all others whom he held captive, and of all whom he had seized in
the galleys, both clerk and lay, could be very conducive indeed to peace, we had these
same envoys request and plead with him to deliver them up, since both he himself and his
envoys had promised this same thing before we had been called to the Apostolic office.
We informed him, moreover, that our envoys were ready on our behalf to hear and treat of
peace, and even to consider compensation, should the prince be willing to make it with
regard to all those things for which he was bound by the chain of excommunication; and
he was to be offered besides, that if the Church had injured him in anything contrary to
what is right—which it did not believe it had done—it was prepared to correct and
restore the proper position. If he said that he had injured the Church in anything
contrary to justice, or that we had injured him contrary to justice, we were prepared to
call the kings, prelates and princes, both ecclesiastical and secular, to some safe
place that they might meet together there, either in person or through other official
envoys; and that the Church was ready on the advice of the council to compensate him if
it had injured him in anything, and was also ready to revoke the sentence if it had been
brought unjustly against him; and with all clemency and mercy, in so far as it could be
done in accordance with God and its own honour, to receive reparation from him for the
injuries and wrongs committed by him against the Church itself and his own people. The
Church also wished to put its friends and supporters at peace and for them to enjoy full
security, so that they could never on this account experience any risk or danger. But
although, for the sake of peace, we have taken care to deal with him by fatherly advice
and gentle entreaties, he nevertheless imitates Pharaoh’s hardness of heart, and
stopping his ears like an asp, he has with proud obstinacy and obstinate pride rejected
such entreaties and counsels. And again, in course of time, on the Maundy Thursday which
has just passed, in our presence and that of our brethren, and in the presence of our
dearly beloved son in Christ the illustrious emperor of Constantinople,JRD:
Baldwin II, Latin emperor of Constantinople (1228–1261, titular emperor
1261–1273). and of no mean assembly of prelates, before the senate and people
of Rome and a very large number of other people who had gathered at the Apostolic See
from various parts of the world because it was a solemn feast day, he took upon himself
an oath through the noble count of ToulouseJRD: Raymond VII, count of Toulouse
(1197–1249, count from 1222), son of Raymond VI (count 1195–1222) and Countess Joanna
(1196–1199); nephew through Joanna of Richard I and John, kings of England.
and Masters Peter de Vinea and Thaddaeus of Suessa,
who were judges of
his own court and his envoys and proxies, and who had a special mandate from him in this
matter, swearing that he would abide by our commandments and those of the Church.
Afterwards, however, he did not fulfil what he had sworn to do. Indeed, as it can
clearly be gathered from his subsequent actions, we may reasonably believe that he took
the oath with the intention of mocking both us and the Church, rather than obey, since
after more than a year he could not be brought back to the bosom of the Church, neither
did he care to receive reparation for the losses and injuries inflicted on him. Although
he has been asked to appear on this matter, because we are not able to bear his
iniquities any longer without grave offence to Christ, we are compelled and urged by our
conscience to punish him according to the law. To say nothing at present about his other
crimes, he has committed four of the most serious which cannot be hidden by subterfuge.
For as often as he has sworn oaths, he has casually violated the peace previously
restored between the Church and the Empire. He has perpetrated sacrilege, causing the
imprisonment of cardinals of the holy Roman Church, and of prelates and clerics of other
churches, both religious and secular, who were on their way to the council that our
predecessor had decided to summon. He is also held suspect of heresy, on grounds which
are not doubtful or trivial, but difficult
effective
and inescapable. It is indeed clear enough
that he has been guilty of perjury many times. For when he was formerly residing in
Sicily, before he had been elected to the dignity of emperor, in the presence of
G[regory] of happy memory, cardinal deacon of St *[*]Theodore TheodoreJRD: Gregory of Crescentio,
cardinal 1205–1226. and legate of the Apostolic See, he took an oath of
loyalty to our predecessor Pope InnocentJRD: Pope Innocent III (1198–1216).
of blessed remembrance and his successors and the Roman Church, in return for the grant
of the kingdom of Sicily made to him by this same Church. And, as it is said, after he
had been elected to that same dignity, he came to the City,JRD: I.e., Rome.
and in the sight of I[nnocen t] and his brethren, and in the presence of many others, he
renewed that oath, doing liege homage in the pope’s hands. Then, when he was in Germany,
he swore to the same I[nnocent], and after his death to Pope HonoriusJRD: Honorius
III (1216–1227). of happy memory and his successors, and to the Roman Church
itself, in the presence of the princes and nobles of the Empire, to preserve, as far as
he was able, the honours, rights and possessions of the Roman Church, and to protect
them in good faith, and to see to the restoration without trouble of whatever came into
his hands, enumerating the said possessions in the oath. He later confirmed this, after
he had acquired the imperial crown. But he has become an audacious violator of these
three oaths, and not without the stigma of treachery and the charge of
lese-majesty.JRD: I.e., treason. For in opposition to our predecessor
G[regory] and his brethren, he dared to address threatening letters to these same
cardinals, and in many ways to defame G[regory] in front of his brethren, as is apparent
from the letters which he sent to them at that time, and even as it is reported, almost
throughout the whole world. He also personally caused our venerable brother
O[tto],JRD: Otto of Montferrat, cardinal 1227–1251. bishop of Porto, at
that time cardinal deacon of San Nicola in Carcere Tulliano, and the bishop of
Palestrina of happy memory,JRD: James of Pecoraria, cardinal 1231–1244.
legates of the Apostolic See, noble and important members of the Roman Church, to be
arrested. He also had them stripped of all their goods, and after being led
ignominiously more than once through various places, he had them committed to prison. He
did his best, moreover, to diminish or take away from that same Church the privilege
which our lord Jesus Christ handed down to blessed Peter and his successors, upon which
the authority and power of the Roman Church surely stands, namely, ‘Whatsoever thou
shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt
loose, it shall be loosed’,JRD: Mt 16:19. writing that he did not fear the
sentences of the aforementioned G[regory], and despising the keys of the Church, not
only not observing the excommunication laid upon him by him [Gregory], but also
compelling others himself, or through his officials, not to observe either that or other
excommunications and sentences of interdict, which he entirely held in contempt. He also
does not fear to occupy the possessions of the Roman Church, namely the March, the
Duchy, and Benevento, whose towers and walls he caused to be destroyed, as well as other
possessions which he was acquiring in the lands of Tuscany and
Lombardy and certain other areas which, with the exception of a few places, he continues
to occupy to this day. And as though it were not sufficient for him that he was
manifestly breaking their oath in such a way, he himself, or his officials, compelled
the men in these territories to swear an oath, absolving them de
facto from the oaths of fealty by which they were held to the Roman Church,
since it was not possible de jure, making them nevertheless
renounce the aforesaid fealty, and to take an oath of fealty of the same kind to
himself. It is fully established that he has become a violator of the peace, because
once, at the time between when peace was re-established between him and the
Church, he had sworn an oath in the sight of J[ohn] d’Abbeville, bishop of Sabina, and
Master Thomasius, cardinal-priest of the title of Santa Sabina, in the presence of many
prelates, princes and barons. He had sworn that he would exactly and unconditionally
unconditionally
abide by and obey all the mandates of the Church in the matters for
which he was bound by the chain of excommunication—the reasons for his excommunication
being set out in sequence before him—then remitting every sanction and penalty to all
the other men of Germany, of the kingdom of Sicily, and whomsover else had held to the
Church against him; and that he would at no time wrong or cause them to be wronged
because they had assisted the Church. This oath he caused to be sworn on his own soul
through N., the count of Acerra.JRD: In fact Thommaso d’Aquino, count of Acerra
(b. 1190, count 1220–1251); see Michele Maccarrone, Studi su
Innocenzo III (Padua, 1972), pp. 167–70, and pp. 171–219. Afterwards,
Afterwards
by no means ashamed to embarrass himself in perjury, he did not keep
the peace or his oath in this matter, for he had some of those very men seized, both
noble and others; and when he had stripped them of all their goods, he had their wives
and children incarcerated; and he shamelessly occupied the Church’s lands contrary to
the promise which he had made to the same men, J[ohn] the bishop of Sabina, and Cardinal
Thomasius, even though they pronounced sentence of excommunication in his presence
should he henceforth violate his promise. And when they commanded by their apostolic
authority that he should not, either himself or through others, hinder nominations,
elections or confirmations of churches and monasteries from freely being conducted in
the kingdom in the future, according to the statutes of the general council, and that
henceforth nobody in the same kingdom should treat a cleric as a layman, and that he
should make adequate compensation to the Templars, Hospitallers and other ecclesiastical
persons for the damages and injuries inflicted upon them; he scorned the execution of
this order. It is also evident that there are eleven or more archiepiscopal sees, and
many episcopal sees, as well as abbacies and other churches vacant in the aforesaid
kingdom, and that because of his actions—this is clearly evident—they have for a long
time been without the rule of prelates, to the serious disadvantage and harm of the
churches themselves, as well as to the peril of souls. And although perhaps in some
churches of that kingdom elections are conducted by the chapters, because clergy who are
his friends have been elected by them, it can probably be concluded that they
nevertheless do not have the means of conducting a free election. He has not only caused
the resources and goods of the churches of this kingdom to be seized at his pleasure,
but has also carried off the crosses, chalices, thuribles, and other sacred treasures
and silk vestments, as though he despised divine worship; although, as it is said, these
things have been in part restored to these churches, after the exaction however of a
certain amount of money. The clergy are
also
variously distressed by the collecting of taxes
and tolls; and not only are they dragged before the secular tribunal, but they are even,
as it is reported, forced to undergo judicial combat; they are imprisoned, put to death,
and tortured on gibbets, to the shame and disgrace of the whole clerical order.
Concerning the damages and injuries brought upon the same aforementioned Templars,
Hospitallars, and ecclesiastical persons, there has been no reparation. That he is a
perpetrator of sacrilege is also certain; for, when the aforementioned bishops of Porto
and Palestrina, and many more prelates and clergy of the churches, religious as well as
secular, were travelling by sea to the Apostolic See, as he had blocked all land routes,
for the celebration of a council that he himself had previously asked to be convoked,
he had sent his own son Enzio with a great number of galleys; and
using many other galleys that had been deliberately prepared long in advance, he laid
traps against them on the Tuscan coast, that he might the more forcefully be able to
vomit out his preconceived venom, and caused them to be captured with audacious
sacrilege. Some prelates and other people were drowned during this capture, several also
were slain and others put to flight, by hostile pursuit; as for the rest, having been
stripped of all their possessions, they were ignominiously led from place to place
within the kingdom of Sicily; and there they were delivered to dreadful prisons, some of
whom, wasted and worn down by filth and hunger, wretchedly expired. With good cause,
moreover, a suspicion of heretical depravity has arisen against him, since, after he had
incurred the sentence of excommunication, published by the aforementioned J[ohn], bishop
of Sabina, and Cardinal Thomas (and when the said Pope G[regory] had bound him with the
chain of anathema), and after the capture of the cardinals of the Roman Church,
prelates, clergy and others while they were travelling * [*]at also various times to the Apostolic See, he
disdained and still does despise the keys of the Church; having the Divine mysteries
celebrated for him—or rather profaned as far as he can—and has resolutely asserted, as
it has been said in what has gone before, that he does not fear the sentences of the
aforementioned G[regory]. He is, furthermore, bound together in an execrable alliance
with the Saracens. He has often sent envoys and presents to them, and in turn received
the same from them with honour and merriment. He embraces their customs, and keeps them
with him as his day-to-day servants. Also according to their custom, he has not been
ashamed to appoint eunuchs as guards for his wives (who are descendants of a royal
lineage); chiefly eunuchs whom, as it is seriously said, he himself has had castrated.
And what is more loathsome, when he formerly lived overseas, having made an agreement,
nay rather a conspiracy, with the Sultan, he allowed the name of Mahomet to be publicly
proclaimed in the temple of the Lord day and night. And recently, after the Sultan of
Babylon [Cairo] had personally and by means of his own men inflicted serious losses and
untold injuries to the Holy Land and its Christian inhabitants, he caused the Sultan’s
envoys, as it is reported, to be honourably received and magnificently entertained
throughout the kingdom of Sicily, with praises for the prestige of the same Sultan. Also
taking advantage of the pernicious and horrendous services of other infidels against the
faithful, and taking care to be united with those who, damnably holding the Apostolic
See in contempt, are separated from the unity of the Church; and having scorned the
Christian religion, he caused (by certain report) the duke of Bavaria, of illustrious
memory, one devoted to the Roman Church, to be killed by assassins. And he has bestowed
his daughter as a wife to Vatatzes, an enemy of God and the Church, one solemnly
separated, together with his collaborators, counsellors and allies, from the communion
of the faithful by sentence of excommunication. Indeed, rejecting the conduct and
manners of Catholic princes, disregarding salvation and reputation, he has no
inclination towards works of piety. Furthermore (to say nothing of his abominable
excesses), since he has learned to oppress, he does not care in mercy to relieve the
oppressed, not reaching out with his hand, as befits a prince, to bestow alms; and since
he has aimed at the destruction of churches, and has ground down both religious and
ecclesiastical persons with continual affliction, he has been seen to have built neither
churches, nor monasteries, nor hospitals, nor other pious places. Surely these are not
trifling but substantial grounds for suspicion of heresy against him, since the civil
law declares that those who even on slight grounds shall have been found to have
deviated from the judgment and path of the Catholic religion are to be included in the
classification of heretics, and ought to submit to the sentences pronounced against
them? Besides these things, the kingdom of Sicily, which is the special patrimony of St
Peter, and which he, the said prince, was holding in fee from the Apostolic See, has now
been reduced by him to such abasement and servitude, both among
its
clergy and its laity, that having very nearly nothing, and with almost all honest men
expelled from it, he obliges those who have remained there to live in a state of
slavery, and in various ways to assault and attack the Roman **church
curia like an enemy, whose subjects
and vassals they chiefly are. He could also be censured with good reason because, for 9
years and more, he has failed to pay the yearly pension of a thousand sequinsJRD:
I.e., gold coins. in which he is bound to the Church of Rome in return for
that same kingdom. Having therefore
held careful deliberation beforehand with our brethren and the sacred council concerning
the aforementioned matters and so many of his other abominable offences; and since we,
though unworthy, hold the place of Jesus Christ on earth, and it has been said to us in
the person of blessed Peter, ‘Whatsoever thou shalt
InJT: The pencil writing here is incredibly
faint. the 1274th year of the Lord, Dom Richard,
abbot of Kinloss, of good memory and holy life, died at Ware in England on the vigil of
blessed Dionysius on his way back from the general chapter. His body [was taken to]
Wardon […] And in the chapter-house of the same place was entombed with due reverence.
In his place is appointed Andrew, prior of Newbattle and formerly prior of Pluscarden,
of a different order; and on the vigil of the Epiphany, the cure of souls at Kinloss is
bestowed on him in the chapter-house of the said place, and he is installed in the choir
of the same place by the father abbot of Melrose, Dom Patrick, with great rejoicing. O
how marvellous is the dispensation of God from which such an election
proceeded!
P[eter] de Vinea,
book 1 chapter 3
[F]rederick, by the grace of God emperor of the Romans and perpetual Augustus, king of
Jerusalem and Sicily, to prelates of churches, earls, barons, nobles and all throughout
the kingdom of England to whom the present letters are shown, greeting and every good
thing. Although we believe that popular rumour’s advance-reports and royal messengers’
truthful accounts have brought the justice of our cause to your notice: yet since, ‘What
we hear / With weaker passion will affect the heart / Than when the faithful eye beholds the part,’JRD: See Philip
Francis, A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace: with the
original text, and critical notes collected from his best Latin and French, 2
vols, 3rd edn (London, 1749), vol. 2, p. 453. we set before you the very pure and
naked truth of the proceedings which the supreme pontiffs have up till now carried on
against us. For the full and careful inspection of all the times and days appointed, let
your affection for us allow us sufficient time on one day in which, if it be granted,
your counsellors may diligently consider with due attention whether there be in our
pontiffs a zeal for pontifical justice, and whether a just defence shall have been or be
now denied to us who have been assailed by so many and great injuries; whether, indeed,
the vicars of Christ have fulfilled the duties of Christ, and whether the successors of
Peter imitate the example of their predecessor. Let them also consider according to what
legality one should assess his /\ /robust\
legal proceeding carried on
against us; or by what name it ought to be designated, and whether the sentence which an
incompetent judge proclaimed ought to be so called. For, although we very plainly
acknowledge, as our Catholic faith enjoins, the full power in spiritual matters bestowed
by the Lord to the bishops of the Holy Roman See; and that, to whatever small a degree
he may be a sinner (which God forbid), ‘What he shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven, and what he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;’JRD: Mt
16:19. yet, at no time do we read that it is granted to him by divine or human
law that he is able to transfer dominions at will, or to make judgment concerning the
temporal punishment of kings or princes of the earth by taking away their kingdoms.
Although our consecration belongs to him by right and by the custom of our ancestors,
yet deprivation or removal will not belong to him any more than to any prelate in
kingdoms who consecrate and anoint their kings by custom. Even granting, without any
prejudice to us, that he holds such power; yet can it be, from this plenitude of
authority, that observing no legal process at all, he is able to censure anyone whom he
declares to be subject to his jurisdiction? For he has recently proceeded against us, as
it is said, not by the due process of accusation, since a suitable accuser did not
appear and no application was produced; neither has he proceeded by public knowledge,
since no legal denouncer appears; nor by means of inquisition, since it has not been
preceded by ‘notorious suspicion’; and also since none of the inquisitors’ original
documentation was produced against us, unless perhaps [secretly],JRD: Cf. Matthew
Paris Chronica maiora vol. II (Cambridge, Corpus Christi
College MS 16.ii, f. 202rb) which has occulte for ecclesia. See manuscript details here:
[https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/rb378fk5493](https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/rb378fk5493) [accessed 16 May 2023].
since none of them was publicly cited at the inquisition by the judge in this affair. He
declares to be notorious all the things that we clearly deny to be notorious, and which
are not proved to be notorious by the legal number of witnesses. For in scorning the
legal code in this way, any judge could on his own authority condemn any one by merely
declaring a crime to be notorious. False witnesses stood up against us at the council,
as it is said, but only a small number. Understandable hatred rendered one of them
inimical to us, namely the bishop of Calvi, whose own brother and nephew had been
lawfully condemned by us to be hanged for treason, and whose evidence ought rightfully
to be rejected on that account. Others, for instance, coming from the furthest parts of
Spain, namely the bishops of Tarragona and of Compostella, were ignorant of the affairs
of Italy because of the distance of that native zone; and also being misguided by
poisonous lies, they were made hostile to our righteous cause. Let us allow, moreover,
that the prosecutor and judge were legally constituted, and that the witnesses held
good: the third
party
was nevertheless still wanting, and one ought only to be condemned
according to justice if one is present or if one is absent through contumacy. For
indeed, although we were cited in his public proclamation at Lyon, as we have heard,
even though unofficially, * [*]we were namely
that, being cited, no other persons and
cases whatever having been mentioned, we would be bound to appear, either ourself or
through suitable proxies to do justice, we were for certain not present but absent, and
for just reasons, but our legal representatives were not admitted to prove it. Nor were
we absent out of contumacy; since,
besides
from the fact that the pope’s
citation was no citation (as we have already said), it did not have, in order to accord
with the demands of the legal process, a fixed time, just as the form of the citation
sent by letters to the princes and prelates clearly shows. The full mandate of Master
Thaddeus de Suessa, our proxy and well-beloved and sworn man, and judge of our high
court, excuses our contumacy; and his authority is by no means weakened by the fact that
we were proceeded against not on civil charges but criminal ones (which our proxy
opposed in vain), since the terms of the citation which required us or our proxies to
attend plainly conveyed the contrary meaning, namely that the case against us was to be
treated not as a criminal case, but as a civil case, even with all the things mentioned
set aside without prejudice to our justice. Even allowing that we were manifestly
contumacious, it is not a legal penalty for contumacy that the denounced, or the accused
and contumacious party, ought to be condemned by definitive sentence before a private or
public judgment is duly instigated, and nothing concerning his own case has been
considered. In fact other penalties for contumacy have been introduced for such cases in
civil and canon law. Finally, suppose that all the aforesaid unanswerable legal defences
were lacking from our case, * [*]suppose the legal
defences are supported by the law, even though they irrefutably serve our case
both the terms of such a pronouncement, by which not our
representative who was present but we who were absent stand condemned, shows the
sentence itself to be null, and also laws and rights anywhere plainly prove the sentence
to be null ipso iure. The grounds of the judgment, which he has
described in the sentence, show the plain injustice both of the legal case and of the
proceedings, from which grounds the incorruptible truth and public documents defend us,
exactly as taken in order, the trustworthy report of the bearer of this letter and of
the actual documents clearly declare. Notwithstanding that all and singular things
mentioned had hardly been sufficient grounds for a sentence of such severe punishment
against a Roman prince, even if the sentence which was, as is well known, precipitately
passed on us can be called a sentence, his obvious and inconsiderate haste, which came
from a bitterness of mind long preconceived, can assuredly be recognised in what I have
related. The supreme pontiff would not wait even for three days for the lord bishop of
Freising, the well-beloved prince, Brother H[enry], master of the Hospital of the
Teutonic Knights of St Mary, and Master A.
P[eter]
de
Vinea, a judge of our high court, our well-beloved and sworn men, whom we had lately
sent to the council to conclude a treaty of peace, however they could. They also awaited
Master Walter de Ocra, our chaplain and vicar,
who
to whom had been sent to
us with the consent of the supreme pontiff and of certain of the brethren;JRD:
I.e., the cardinals. and ought to have been allowed twenty days, yet at the
considerable insistence
of the nobles and many other prelates, he was not waited for even for
the two days which was the distance he was from Lyon at the time of the aforesaid unjust
proceedings. The animosity and arrogance of the sentence appears no less from the
severity of the imposed penalty by which the Roman Empero
r
, the imperial ruler and lord of
majesty, is condemned of the crime of lese-majesty,JRD: I.e., treason. and
by which he who by his imperial rank is freed from all law is ridiculously subjected to
the law; in respect of whom the exaction of temporal punishments not belongs
not to man but to God, since he has no temporal superior. We accept with reverence and
devoutly observe the imposition on us of spiritual penalties as priestly penances, both
for contempt of the KeysJRD: I.e., of St Peter. and for other sins of human
transgression, when imposed not only by the supreme pontiff (whom in spiritual matters
we acknowledge as our father and lord, as long as he recognises us in a proper relation
as his son), but also by any priest. From all these things it is plainly [made clear]
how disgracefully, how unjustly,
Henry, king of England, son of King John, has reigned now for 47 ye[ars]JT: Henry III was coronated on 28 October 1216, meaning 47 years would
be from 28 October 1263.
we are considered suspect in respect of the Catholic faith,
which we firmly believe and devot plainly confess, with the Supreme Judge as
our witness, in each and every article of that faith according to the discipline of the
universal church and the creed approved by the Roman Church. Let your reasonableness
discern whether the aforesaid sentence, which is null in itself, and whether the legal
proceedings, which are null in law, ought to be complied with, not more to our injury
than to that of all kings and princes, and of all temporal dignities; a sentence which
none of the princes of Germany, upon whom the assumption and deposition of our rank
depend, have confirmed by their presence or advice. Let another thing be considered
also: what manner of result is to be expected from such beginnings. It begins, indeed,
with us; but be certain that it will end with some other kings and princes, from whom
they openly boast that, if (God forbid) our power can be trodden underfoot by them in
the first place, they will not fear any resistance. Guard the justice of your own
kingdom, therefore, in defending our cause, and look after your own people and their
heirs. Not do we refrain from requiring the constancy of your royal integrity which
comes from our bond of affinity, so that far from secretly or openly showing favour to
our adversary or his nuncios and legates, you manfully and vigorously assist us to the
utmost of your power. Your royal honour ought by no means to receive any nuncio or
legate at all who, to our detriment, would attempt to win round the populace under your
jurisdiction. Knowing for sure that the pontifical office, through us in whom a bold act
of such effrontery has been commenced, so as to depose us, just as though we were some
priest or other, is extending its own authority and jurisdiction. So with the right hand
of the King of kings, which ever accompanies justice, supporting us and our helpers,
these incipient actions will meet opposition, provided the might of kings and princes
princes
does not oppose us, that is, those whom our cause likewise affects and whose interest
is no less engaged than ours; that [Christ] our DefenderJRD: Defensio nostra from a prayer in the Holy Roman Imperial Coronation
rite. shall not allow any cause of justified fear about such matters for us
and other nobles of the
world
earth. As God is our witness, we do this
unwillingly, but are driven to it by necessity when we see Christianity in our times
ground down by a manifold pestilence; and we hoped to come to her aid with all our
might, together with you, as we very recently wrote to the king’s majesty. May God
require an account for this from the hand of him who supplies the means for so terrible
a disaster which threatens the ruin of almost the whole of Christendom. Given at Turin
on 31 July, in the third
indiction.
Alexander king of Scotland
In the 945th year, King Edmund
laid waste the land of the Humbrians, and having brought it under his yoke, he entrusted
it to Máel Coluim, king of Scots.JRD: The ‘land of the Humbrians’ is an error for
the ‘land of the Cumbrians’. See Anglo-Saxon Chronicle version A, s.a. 945: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 173, f. 27v (see manuscript
here: [https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/wp146tq7625](https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/wp146tq7625) [accessed 16 May
2023]).
In the 1070th year, King Máel Coluim
laid waste England as far as Cleveland, and at that time, when he found them at
Wearmouth fleeing the king of England, upon his return, so that they might enter
Scotland, he granted his peace to Edgar Ætheling and his sisters Margaret and Christina;
and afterwards he joined Margaret to himself in matrimony. ¶In the 1091st year, William the king of England and his brother Robert
were reconciled and William the king of England went with an army to meet King Máel
Coluim, at that time laying waste Northumbria, in the province of Lothian; and Earl
Robert made peace between them, on this condition, that the king of the Scots should be
obedient to King William, and that King William should give back to King Máel Coluim the
12 vills which he had held under his father, and that he should give 12 marks of gold
each year.
In the 1138th year,
King David wretchedly laid waste the whole of Northumbria. King Stephen, upon arriving
at Roxburgh with a large army at the beginning of Lent, immediately turned back in
humiliation. ¶In the 1139th year, peace was made between the
two kings at the queen’s urging, and Northumbria was given to Henry, the son of King
David.
In the 1185th year, at Windsor, Henry the king
of England returned the county of Huntingdon to William the king of the Scots, with
honour and in full, just as he held it before the war. ¶In the 1190th year, William the king of the Scots gave to Richard the
king of the English 10 thousand marks of gold and silver for his liberties and dignities
and honours which he held before the war, in return for Berwick and Roxburgh, which King
Henry violently occupied for 16 years, and so, with God’s favour, removed the heavy yoke
of his domination and servitude from the kingdom of the Scots, with dignity and
honour.JRD: This payment was consequent on the ‘Treaty of Canterbury’, 5
December 1189: see E.L.G. Stones (ed), Anglo-Scottish Relations,
1174–1328 (London, 1970), pp. 6–8. ¶In the 1209th year, John the king of England commanded
¶Around
the feast of St James,JRD: I.e., 25 July. the king of England and the king
of Scotland faced each other with their armies, and there they concluded a peace between
them.JRD: This is the Treaty of Norham, 7 August 1209. And so the king
of the Scots gave the king of the English his two daughters to be married, with 13
thousand pounds;JRD: Margaret (1187×95–1259) and Isabella (d. after 1259). Nothing
came of this arrangement immediately; but Margaret was eventually married to Hubert
de Burgh (d. 1243) in 1221, and Isabella to Roger Bigod, fourth earl of Norfolk (c.
1212–70) in 1225, Roger being under the wardship of King Alexander II (Isabella’s
brother) from 1226 until he came of age in 1233. and he received licence to
destroy the castle which had been built opposite Berwick,JRD: A fort at
Tweedmouth, being built by the English at that time. and this was done; and
for the maintenance of peace, he gave him as hostages the sons of the worthy men of his
land, and this was done against the wi¶shes of the Scots.
In the 1162nd year, King Máel Coluim recovered by God’s mercy
from a serious illness at Doncaster; and there was a firm peace between Henry the king
of England andMáel Coluim the king of Scotland.
In the
1173rd year William, king of the Scots, hoping to heal
old wounds with a new conflict, on dangerous advice renewed savage wars against his
kinsman, the lord Henry, king of England. He pitched a military encampment with a great
army in front of the castle which is named Wark, and remained there for some time, but
gained nothing further. The king moved on from there, and the Scots cruelly burned a
large part of Northumbria by fire, and fiercely put its people to the sword.JRD:
Gladio transuerberauerunt; compare Judith 5.28, gladio transverberabitur. Transuerbero is a rare verb.
From there, they moved swiftly back towards Carlisle, and stormed the city with all
their might, but when the arrival of the army of England was pretended and signalled by
someone, they beat a hasty retreat.
In the 1174th year,
William the king of Scotland again drew up his army at Alnwick, and put many to flight
and ¶slew many.
In the 1193rd year, William the king of
the Scots sent two thousand marks of silver from Roxburgh towards the ransom of Richard
the king of England.JRD: Richard I was in the custody of Leopold of Austria at
Dürnstein from December 1192 to February 1193; he was tried for betraying the Holy
Land at an imperial court at Speyer in March 1193, and agreed to pay a ransom of
100,000 marks and to supply the emperor with 50 galleys and 200 knights for a
year.
In the 1246th year of the Lord,
the lord Matthew, the cellarer of Melrose, was elected as abbot on the day after Saints
Tiburtius and Valerian,JRD: I.e., on Sunday 15 April. and was solemnly
blessed by the lord William, bishop of Glasgow, on Ascension DayJRD: I.e., on
Thursday 17 May. in the church of Melrose. The body of the lord Henry de
Balliol was carried from St James’sJRD: I.e., the church in Roxburgh. and
buried with honour in the chapter-house of Melrose. Also, Abbot Matthew of St
Serf’sJRD: I.e., Loch Leven. was deposed, and Geoffrey the prior of
Newbattle was chosen in his place. Also, the canonization of St Edmund the
archbishop.
In the 1247th year of
the Lord, the lord Thomas of Kent died and was buried in the House of Melrose. Also,
Philip of Pitcox and Robert of Currie, and Adam of LomokestunJRD: Perhaps
Lennoxtown. were brought and buried; along with Ada de Balliol, who was buried
next to her father; and Master William of Greenlaw was buried in the chapter-house.
Also, the lord Ralph, the bishop of Aberdeen, died; Master Peter of Ramsay succeeded
him. The change of the money.
In the 1248th year of the Lord, Louis, the most noble king of the French, and many others,
noble as well as those of low birth, forsaking their native soil for the sake of Christ,
set out for Jerusalem. And when they arrived at the island of Cyprus, they spent the
winter there. On the same expedition, the lord Patrick, earl of Dunbar, departed from
this light; the lord Patrick, his son, succeeded him. The lord John of Crawford was
buried at Melrose. Dom Hugh, the abbot of Kelso, died; Robert of Smailholm, a monk of
the same house, succeeded him. The lord Nicholas, bishop of Durham, gave up his pastoral
charge;
the lord Walter of Kirkham, the dean of York, succeeded
him.
In the 1249th year of the Lord, the
lord Gilbert, the bishop of Brechin, died; the lord Robert, his archdeacon, succeeded
him. Louis, king of the French, leaving the island of Cyprus, arrived at the famous
Damietta. He vigorously stormed it, and captured it, having killed the enemy, and
entered with his army on 21 June. The lord Philip, abbot of Jedburgh, died; Robert of
Gisburn, a canon of the same house, succeeded him.
In the same year, Alexander, the
noble king of the Scots, was seized by a grave illness as he set out to stay in Argyll.
He was carried to the isle of Kerrera, where, having received the sacraments of the
Church, his happy soul was taken from this light, and as we believe, he was given a
place with all the saints in heaven. His body, as he himself as he himself
had commanded while he was still alive, was transported to the church of Melrose, and
was there committed to the bosom of the earth in the manner of kings. He departed from
this light, therefore, in the 51st year of his age, and the
35th of his reign, on Thursday 8th July. And he bequeathed his kingdom to Alexander his son, a boy of almost
eight years, who in the manner of his forefathers was set upon his father’s throne by
the magnates as the appointed king on 13th July, and he was
honoured by all as the lawful heir. Robert, abbot of Jedburgh, died; Nicholas, a canon
of the same house, succeeded him.
In the 1250th year of the Lord,
when
everything had been going well for the
Christian army; but on account of the arrogance of the French in particular, so it is
said, the Christian knighthood was betrayed to the pagans, who won their victory on the
victor Saturday of the first week of Lent, and cut down the Christians by
a wretched slaughter, but not without great loss
of their own men.
They even captured the king of himself France, and carried him off alive, and held him
for some time in a manner befitting his rank. Afterwards, when a ransom had been given
and a truce made between them, they allowed him to return to his country unhindered.
After the departure of the king, however, when the pagans entered Damietta and saw the
temples with their idols overthrown, they were angered beyond measure, broke the truce,
and slew by various manners of death all the Christians whom they could find. Having
heard these things, the king returned to Acre, and there awaited assistance from the
crusaders. The lord Robert of Muschamp was buried at Melrose. After the death of Bishop
Geoffrey, Master Richard of Inverkeithing was elected and consecrated to the rule of the
bishopric of Dunkeld. Frederick, who was emperor, died. Adam, the abbot of Dundrennan,
died; and Brian, a monk of the same house, succeeded him.
In
the 1251st year of the Lord, Ralph, abbot of St
Edward,JRD: I.e., Balmerino. died; John, a monk of the same house, and
formerly prior of May, succeeded him him. During the same time, the lord
Herbert, abbot of Kinloss, a man of great age, renounced his abbacy; Richard, a monk of
the same house, succeeded him. In the same year, H[enry], king of England, and
Alexander, king of Scotland, met at York, along with the great men of both kingdoms. And
on Christmas Day, the king of Scotland received the arms of knighthood from the king of
England; and on the next day he joined to himself in marriage the first-born daughter of
the aforesaid king, named Margaret. And then it happened that Alan the Doorward, and
certain others, were accused there to the king of Scotland for treason against him. On
account of this, many were compelled to resign their offices; others, fearing for
themselves, turned to flight
and ignominiously returned to their
country. But the king of Scotland, doing everything with restraint and with the advice
of the king of England, returned with much honour to his country with his wife. This,
then, was the cause of the accusation. The king of England was declaring that it had
been made known to him that the lord Alan, the Doorward of Scotland, and also justiciar
at that time, had together with his accomplices sent messengers with gifts to the lord
pope, so that his daughters, whom he had begotten with the king’s sister, might be made
legitimate, in such a way that, if any evil should befall the king of Scotland, they
might succeed him in the kingdom as his lawful heirs. If he had brought this about, he
would without any doubt whatever have been a traitor to the king and
queen.
In the 1252nd year of the
Lord, John, abbot of St Edward,JRD: I.e., Balmerino. resigned his office,
and Dom Adam, the porter of Melrose, succeeded him. In the same year, Geoffrey, abbot of
St Serf, and Robert, abbot of Deer, departed from this light; and Henry, prior of Kinloss, was made abbot of
Deer; and Michael, the porter of the same house, was made abbot of St
Serf
Diana died.
to which position, Dom
John of Haddington, a monk
of St Serf, succeeded.
In the 1253rd year of the Lord, William the earl’s son, died; and David, bishop of St
Andrews, left this light. After his departure, a dispute came about during the election,
concerning which an appeal was made. The prior of St Andrews, on the one side, sent his
representatives, with his canons, to the Roman curia; and the king, on the other side,
sent his envoys, with Master Abel. But Master Abel, so it is said, esteeming his own
promotion over the honour of his king or of the kingdom, had himself
consecrated as bishop by the supreme pontiff, and so departed from the curia. The lord
Gilbert, bishop of Whithorn, died, after whom the lord Henry, abbot of Holyrood, was
elected, and the lord Ralph, a canon of the same house, was made abbot of Holyrood. In
the same year, H[enry], king of England, crossed [the Channel], so that he might settle
his lands overseas. Alan, the Doorward of Scotland, followed him, and powerfully vanquished and subdued the king of England’s enemies. For this reason, he not only
recovered the king’s friendship, but he also became the accuser of his
accusers and their accomplices before the king upon many matters. Because of
this, a great dissent between the magnates of the kingdom of Scotland is perceived, and
this shall become apparent in what follows. Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln,
died.
In the 1254th year of the
Lord, Master Abel entered Scotland; at first, the king’s council opposed this, but
afterwards assented; and he was received in his bishopric with honour. He was taken from
this light in the same year. After him, Master Gamelin, the king’s chancellor, was
elected by the prior and convent of St Andrews, and was confirmed in the bishopric by
the king and his councillors. The king of France returned home from Jerusalem. And
Edward, the first-born of the king of England, took the daughter of the king of Castille
to himself in marriage, and was made a knight by him. Pope Innocent died; Alexander
succeeded him.
In the 1255th year of the
Lord, all the great men of Scotland,JRD: Omnes maiores natu
Scocie; cf. 3 Rg. 8.1, omnes maiores natu Israel,
‘all the elders of Israel’. on the one side, and
Alan the
Doorward and his supporters on the other side—who were greatly increased in
number—gathered with the lord king at Edinburgh, as though to have a dialogue about the
restoration of peace. The real reason, however, was for the detention of their lord the
king. For when they had decided there that they ought to convene a second time at
Stirling within a few days, and without doubt restore peace there, the king’s
councillors, with the rest of the magnates, went away so that they could prepare the
things that would be necessary for so great an occasion. Suddenly, Earl Patrick and the
rest of the men who were on the other side, armed, entered Maidens’
Castle,JT: I.e., Edinburgh Castle. and ejected however many of the
king’s household there were; they took their lord the king himself, and
garrisoned the castle with some of their own armed men, commanding the others
of their company that they should prepare to assist them in carrying the king away to
the place they wished; and they did this quickly. The earl of Gloucester, called
V.JRD: In fact, Richard de Clare. de Clare, had
arrived from England to help them, and it was by his advice that they had perpetrated
the aforesaid treason by force of arms. And the king of England, with his wife, was also
following him. And when the king’s councillors and guardians had heard that the king was
captured, they were keenly affected with grief and amazed at such treason, and decided
to assemble the army and render him assistance. But this by no means escaped the
attention of their enemies. And for that reason they led the king away with a mighty
force as far as Roxburgh. Upon entering the castle, they decided who from among their
own men would guard it, according to their will. They themselves took with them the king
and the queen, and they met the king of England at Wark, and having amicably enjoyed
something of a discussion, the king of Scotland returned to his own country the same
day, but his queen remained there with her mother. The king of England, invited by the
king of Scotland and his councillors, entered Roxburgh on the Assumption of the blessed
Virgin Mary. The king of Scotland ran towards him and received him with enormous joy,
and he led him into the church of Kelso with a great procession. Having held a
discussion there, [the king of England] commended the king and the country to the
earl of Dunbar and his associates; and thus, after a royal banquet, he
returned to his own country, bearing it ill that the bishop of Glasgow and the
bishop-elect of St Andrews, and also W[alter] Comyn, called the earl of Menteith, with
the rest of the magnates of the land, did not wish to affix their seals to a certain
most abominable document that the aforesaid conspirators had made and endorsed with
their seals, in which were contained many things that could bring about the disgrace of
the king and the kingdom. In the same year, on St Stephen’s Day,JRD: I.e., 26
December. which fell at that time on a Sunday, Master Gamelin was consecrated
in his See as bishop of St Andrews, although the king’s councillors had sent messengers
to forbid it. The lord Henry, bishop-elect of Whithorn, was also consecrated, by Walter,
archbishop of York; this Walter died the same year, and Master Sewal his dean succeeded
him. John, abbot of Holme,JRD: I.e., Holme Cultram. died; Henry, his monk,
succeeded him.
In the 1256th
year of the Lord, the lord Waleran de Normanville was buried at Melrose. R[ichard], the
king of England’s brother, was elected to the empire of Germany. And Sewal was
consecrated. In the same year, Bishop Gamelin was outlawed by the king’s councillors,
since he both did not wish to acquiesce in their abominable plans, and also because he
refused to give a certain amount of money, as though for the purchase of his bishopric;
and since Scotland had cast him out, and England denied him passage, led by Neptune, he
made for France; and thus he boldly went to visit the Roman curia against his
adversaries. After his departure, the king’s councillors pillaged the goods of his
bishopric, and squandered them at will. Peter, bishop of Aberdeen died; Richard of
Potton succeeded him. Roger, abbot of Newbattle, died as he returned from the chapter;
and he was buried at Vaudey [Abbey]. William, his prior, was appointed in his place.
In the 1257th year of
the Lord, the coronation of the king of Germany. The king of England made war on the
Welsh; defeated by them he returned home. In this year, ambassadors sent by the king of
Scotland’s guardians came to the lord pope and made a complaint on the king’s behalf
against the bishop of St Andrews. When he had heard and examined the cases on either
side, the pope declared with his own mouth that the bishop himself was innocent of all
the crimes unjustly laid on him and that he was most worthy of the bishopric; and he
excommunicated the bishop’s accusers and those who had pillaged and invaded his
bishopric. He then commanded Clement, bishop of Dunblane, and the abbots M[atthew] of
Melrose and N[icholas] of Jedburgh, to publish throughout the kingdom of Scotland the
sentence issued by him, by the ringing of bells and with lighted candles; first in
general terms, and then, if they should remain obstinate, by name; and they made the
denunciation at Stirling; and after many warnings, they issued the sentence in the
conventual church of Cambuskenneth, name by name, on those unwilling to come to their
senses. When all the great men of Scotland,JRD: Omnes maiores
natu Scocie; cf. 3 Rg. 8.1, omnes maiores natu
Israel, ‘all the elders of Israel’. whose chief was Walter Comyn, called
earl of Menteith, therefore realised that their lord the king was dwelling in the midst
of the excommunicated, and fearing lest the whole land should be placed under interdict,
they rose up, and wresting him from their hands at Kinross, restored him to his kingdom.
Upon hearing this, Alan the Doorward, the architect of the whole evil business, afraid
because of the treason by which he had seized his lord the king, fled to the king of
England; and the rest of his accomplices were scattered hither and
thither.
of Ross and Mar
In the 1258th year of the Lord,
A[lexander], king of Scotland, came to Roxburgh with his army, to bring the rebels and
excommunicated traitors under his yoke. They requested a truce, and deceitfully
promising that they would obey him and his laws, set a day at Forfar so that they might
make amends there for whatever they had done wrong. Having accepted these things they
made their way in haste to the king of England, requesting that they might be protected
against their enemies by his advice and his aid. Meanwhile the Scots and the men of
Galloway who were in the army, and ate meat both during Lent and even on Good Friday
itself, returning home unhappy, despoiled the country in many ways. At the same time,
G[amelin], bishop of St Andrews, being recalled by the king from exile, was restored to
his bishopric. Clement, bishop of Dunblane, died; after him, Master Robert, called ‘de
Prebenda’, the dean of that church, was elected. Sewal, archbishop of York, died;
Godfrey, the dean of that church, succeeded him. Around the time of the Nativity of the
blessed Mary, the king of Scotland came a second time with his army against the
aforesaid traitors, whom he had heard had arrived with an armed force, and certain
magnates, from the king of England. While the king of Scotland was therefore waiting for
his army at Melrose, the earl of Hereford, the earl of Aumale, and John de Balliol came
to him on behalf of the king of England, as though to relieve the people and restore
peace between the aforesaid traitors and their adversaries; but in reality, as tradition
asserts, so that they might seize the king once more, and carry him away to the king of
England—something that was by no means unknown to the king of Scotland. And so he set an
appointed time for them the next day at Jedburgh, in which forest a large part of his
army was already assembled, since he had indeed heard that the aforesaid envoys had left
John Maunsell, with an armed force, and with the aforesaid traitors, in Norham castle.
Gathering the next day at Jedburgh, therefore, they held mutual discussion for nearly
three weeks. During those days, Robert, abbot of Kelso, was taken from this light, and
Patrick,
a monk of the same house, replaced him. The Scots, however,
and the men of Galloway, had very nearly laid waste to the whole of that land. After the
completion of three weeks, the aforesaid envoys—realising that the army of Scotland was
already assembled and ready to fall on them if they should cause delay, and also
realising that they did not have the strength to resist—concluded a peace between the
aforesaid traitors and their adversaries, and with peace thus restored, everyone
returned home. On Michaelmas Day, Dom William, abbot of Cupar, laid down in humble
devotion the care of office in the chapter-house of Melrose. William, his cellarer,
fulfilled the rule. The lord Walter Comyn, earl of Menteith, died. Our venerable father,
William, bishop of Glasgow, departed from this world on Martinmas Eve,JRD: I.e.,
10 November. and he was buried at Melrose on St Brice’s DayJRD: I.e., 13
November. next to the high altar. After him, Master Nicholas, archdeacon of
Teviotdale, was elected, and confirmed by the king. After the PurificationJRD:
I.e., 2 February. he went to the Roman curia to receive the gift of
consecration from the supreme pontiff.
and I. of Ross
In the 1259th year of the Lord, Master Nicholas, elect of Glasgow,
returned to his own country from the Roman curia without consecration, because he was
not willing to offer a certain sum of money which the pope and the cardinals were asking
for, lest he should be perceived not to have entered the sheepfold by the gate, and also
because those who had come with him supposedly to help him, on the contrary opposed him
with all their might, the chief among them being R[obert], elect of Dunblane, who being
blinded by pride, calculated that having easily quashed him, it was possible to move up
himself to the bishopric of Glasgow.
But by no means did this come about. For Master John of Cheam
was consecrated and sent from the pope’s presence to rule the church of Glasgow. This
R[obert], to be sure, was consecrated and sent off to the bishopric to which he had been //
//elected. William, abbot of Newbattle, resigned
his pastoral charge. Dom Adam the cellarer of Melrose undertook that rule on St
Vincent’s Day.
In the 1260th year of the Lord, Master John, bishop of Glasgow, requested and received
licence from the king of Scotland; he entered his [the king of Scots’] land; and thus he
[John] was presented to him [the king of Scots], by whom he was graciously
received; he was conveyed to his seat, and there solemnly enthroned. A[dam], abbot of
Balmerino, gave up the rule, which he was no longer able to maintain because of illness,
to his successor, that is, Adam, a monk of the same house. Moreover, Abbot Patrick of
Kelso demitted himself, and Henry of Lambden succeeded him. Walter, bishop of Durham,
died; Robert, a monk of the same house, succeeded him. The first-born daughter of the
king of Scotland was born in England; she was named Margaret. Michael, abbot of St Serf,
departed and John his monk succeeded.
InJT: The text here is faded beyond legibility, though
enough letter forms are visible to allow for identification of Scribal profile 109.
However, the Andersons managed to make out some of it ‘with the aid of a special
photograph’. The translation is based on the Andersons’ text, as presented in their
edition: Andersons, The Chronicle of Melrose, p.
lxiii. the 1277th year of the Lord, winter was so
severe […] winter time has not been seen. Besides […] almost throughout England and
Scotland [… .] In one house of the Cistercian Order, more than two thousand and fifty of
the herd livestock, except for sheep, died within half a year.
In the 1261st year of the Lord,
Pope Alexander died; Urban succeeded him. Dom Matthew, 16th
abbot of Melrose, in chapter on the Vigil of St James, entrusted the keeping of his seal
to his prior on account of his own physical weakness, and so bade farewell to his
pastoral charge. After his departure on the day of St Peter’s Chains, Dom Adam, abbot of
Newbattle, was unanimously elected and installed. And Guy, porter of the same house, was
appointed to the rule of Newbattle.
[In the year] of the Lord etc.
H[enry] abbot of Deer.
In the 1275th year of the Lord, Dom Waldef of blessed remembrance and
holy life, abbot of Newbattle, going the way of all flesh, departed to the lord on 3
February in the third year of his rule, leaving the house, upon his happy departure, in
utmost peace, and in a the best condition in spiritual matters as much as temporal. His
body was entombed with the reverence due to a father abbot, being the vigil of Agatha,
virgin and martyr.
In the 1262nd year of the Lord,
H[enry], abbot of Deer, was released from the rule of his flock. And to rule them
is elected and brought. In this year also, T[homas]
son of Ranulf died, and Juliana his spouse, and their bodies were brought to the
monastery of Melrose
Laurence of Argyll, a
friar of the Order of
Preachers, succeeded him.
In the 12
th year of the Lord, Dom Waldef of good remembrance,
abbot
In the 1272nd year of the Lord,
on 20 March, David the son of King In the year of the Lord Alexander III was
born, around the first hour of the night, at
[…] DomJT: The text here is mostly illegible.
This translation is based on the Andersons’ transcription: The
Chronicle of Melrose, p. lxiv. The writing continues onto the lower margin of
f. 61r. Adam of Smailholm, formerly the cellarer of Melrose, who [after] a few
years, having had enough […] had all manifestly risen up against him together, the
lay-brothers as well as the monks, forasmuch as […] which had been found among them. In
the general chapter there came to him at the monastery of Coupar a bothersome monk,
threatening him that if he were returned to the house of Deer he would be undone by a
capital punishment, and so deterred, the father abbot of the house of Deer, that is, the
abbot of Kinloss, being forgiving […] his own seal […]
As Papias says in the third distinction of the Elementarium,JRD: Papias (fl. 1040s–1060s) Elementarium Doctrinae Rudimentum, ‘the first fully
recognizable dictionary’ (Richard Sharpe, ‘Vocabulary, word-formation, and
lexicography’, in Medieval Latin Studies. An Introduction and
Bibliographical Guide, ed. F. A. C. Mantello and A. G. Rigg (Washington,
1996), pp. 93–105, at p. 96); published Milan 1476; Venice 1485, 1491, and 1496
(republished Turin 1966). chronicles can be described as narratives of times
past,JRD: In fact, this definition does not appear in the Elementarium. or according to some other authority, chronicles can be
called witnesses of time, explanations of truth, records of memory, messengers of
antiquity. Therefore, after the task of composing chronicles was assigned to me, it was
pleasing to recall some //miracles//
, by chroniclers who held the
responsibility of chronicles before me // adding accounts of subsequent times that **had been omitted.
For it is unjust that the unwritten
miracles, which God has performed for the orthodox men of true holiness distinguished by
manifold merit in the community of the Melrose monks, should be passed over. Therefore,
first and foremost, I shall here weave anew the memory and name of a certain renowned
monk of the same monastery. In the days of that venerable abbot of Melrose, Adam of
Harcarse, there was another Adam, whom before /\/just now\
I have mentioned
as the renowned monk, who was originally from the province of York. One day, when he
was—not without some practical reason—in the orchard of the aforementioned monastery, he
heard the first bell rung for the conventual VespersJRD: Uespertine sinaxis (lit. ‘the evening gathering for prayer’). and
hurried at once to the church; but as he did so he saw from a distance that the open
postern-door through which he had passed a little while earlier, now that he was
returning, was closed in front of him and firmly locked with a bolt; and the great gate
next to the postern was likewise locked with a very strong bar; and he had no idea at
all what to do about the situation. And then, as he stood in front of the gate with his
heart pounding, behold, suddenly the postern was divinely opened of its own accord, and
he went out through it as he had wished. We may imagine from this episode that the one
who was worthy enough to have the securely locked postern-door so readily unlocked for
him by God entered the kingdom of heaven easily. O Blessed Lady of Heaven! I reckon that
this little door was thrown open by you. This is the one reasonable explanation. For one
day, as he was standing before you in front of the altar of St Stephen the proto-martyr,
he was privileged to behold you. You were not directly on the ground, nor upon a wall or
supported any other perishable matter. But as the man of God, your most devout admirer,
reported, he saw you in the open and spacious body of the church, now in motion, now
standing still before him, as it pleased you, clad in a most beautiful but delicate and
seamless garment of the purest white. While he thought he could not be seen by anyone,
he now made genuflexions, now complex movements of his hands,
rejoicing with extraordinary cheer in the presence of the beloved lady. While a certain
monk standing not far behind the man of God observed these actions, he secretly moved
back from the place where he was standing lest by chance the anger of the holy man
should assail him if he had then declared the movements of rejoicing as supposedly
foolish and excessive. And afterwards, approaching the one who rejoiced before the
Mother of God, he asked of him what gave him such joy when, on such a **day and such an hour he was rejoicing before such an altar? To
whom the man of God replied, ‘I beseech you, by the power of God and by the mercy of his
Mother, that as long as I am alive you tell no one about the vision which I have seen,
and I will tell you about it.’ And when he had disclosed it to the monk, the monk
promised that he would never reveal his vision to anyone as long as the other survived.
But the monk asked why it was that the Mother of God could not be seen by him, since he
was standing so near to both of them; and the other one answered him, /\/that\
the Mother of God reveals herself only to those who have
served her devoutly for a long time, by rendering her such services as have in
themselves the nature of good works.
There is still one more miracle worth telling
about this blessed man, which God performed for him long after his death, for in the
monastery of Melrose there was a man a certain very old monk, named William
of Duns; he was very blind, smitten by an extraordinary tightness, so that if either he
or another person applied his hand to open his eyelids they could by no means be opened;
sorrowing now for many days on account of the loss of the sight of his eyes, he
eventually asked three times that the attendant assigned to him might lead him to the
tomb of the holy man of whom I have just made mention, whose close acquaintance the
blind monk had also earned before his passage out of this life to Christ. So, when he
had reached his tomb, falling on his knees he prayed, saying, ‘O sir Adam, just as I
truly believe that you loved God with your whole heart during your lifetime, and that
you are with him in eternal life, having been called from us to himself, so I ask that
you would offer up prayers for me to him, that through you I may be worthy to receive
the light of my eyes which I have lost, my sins demanding it. Remember, dear friend, /\/how much\ I loved you during your lifetime, and that I have done you honour to
the best of my ability when you wished it.’ For this blind man had formerly been the
sacrist of the monastery,
and had often provided his friend with any
supplies he needed. With these and similar words having been prayed by him, behold, a
light of marvellous brightness entered first into one of his temples, and passing
through the middle of the sockets of his useless eyes, came out through the other
temple, as he himself told me. When this had happened, he suddenly got up, seeing
perfectly, and he who had come to that place with someone guiding his steps, went back
from the tomb without a guide.
Having seenJRD: Or, ‘having read’ (viso). the foregoing miracle about the holy Adam of
York, it now pleases me to recount something relating to that miracle about another
Adam, a monk of ours who came from Lennox. It has been asserted that his holiness was
such that for the twenty years he spent at Old Melrose he was never seen or known to get
into bed nor to get out of bed. The plain proof of this was that it would be noticed
that the straw placed under the sheets of his ////supposed sleeping-place always remained in the same condition for the whole of
this period of time; but since God did not wish that this excellent man should incur the
evil of hypocrisy, the straw of his bed disintegrated into dust from time to time on
account of old age, although not often. The man, full of God, had other fresh straw laid
upon it as if he would break his habit and lie down to sleep on the bed. He did sleep,
however, but insofar as he slept he used to do it in front of the altar of the blessed
Virgin-Mother of God, sitting or prostrate, where he was also accustomed on winter
nights to spend the most part of the night in playing the harp with little songs, which
are called motets, written in honour of the holy Virgin Mother. During the day he would
nearly always sit near the door of the church, daily going through the Psalter according
to custom. A basket placed next to his hand, constantly filled with bread of such great
abundance that no pauper left his presence complaining, because he did not go away
empty-handed, but carrying something with him. Hence the storehouse of all the poor who
flocked to him, as they themselves said, abounded with good fortune thanks to the bread
which they were accustomed to receive from his hand. The rich also used to come to
him—even the king of the land, Alexander, who is buried in the church of Melrose, and
many others—on account of their reverence for his holiness, earnestly requesting that he
would take as much of their wealth as he saw fit; but he would rarely allow this
to be done. He nevertheless
sometimes accepted a few of their cows so that they might supply milk for the poor when
they came to him. He himself also had two cows belonging to the monastery, which
supplied milk sufficient for himself and his companion. The reason why
the noblemen of the land would come to him, however, was so that they might confess
their sins to him and be blessed by him whose blessing they believed would be a great
benefit.
In the 1260th year of the Lord,
Henry of Lambden, the chamberlain of the monastery of Kelso, returned from the Roman
curia carrying with him papal letters; they said that Patrick the lord abbot, who ruled
the same monastery at that time, should upon seeing the papal mandate immediately resign
in favour of the bearer of the mandate, the said Henry; he immediately and obediently
did this; for on the same day in which the said Henry entered the house of Kelso, he
placed the pontifical insignia, with which he was invested, upon the high altar of the
monastery without any further delay; and the aforementioned Henry, by virtue of the
supreme supreme pontiff’s gift, quickly adorned himself with them. It should
be noticed in what manner he entered that pastoral charge; for afterwards—we do not know
whether by God’s vengeance or by his good will—he was overcome by sudden death at his
table as soon as he had eaten the first course, and he was laid in the sepulchre
immediately after the community’s second meal that same day, perhaps because they did
not wish to keep vigil around his body
for the ensuing night.JRD: Added
very faintly, probably intended to stand after ‘keep vigil around his body’.
In the 1261st year of the Lord,
our venerable father Matthew, the lord abbot of Melrose, was deposed in his absence in
the chapter of Rievaulx, without consultation and without the knowledge of any living
soul in Scotland; and many, including the monks and lay-brothers of the monastery of
Melrose, lamented his deposition in this way, since according to their judgement nothing
remiss was found in him for which he deserved to be deposed in such a manner. The father
abbot was satisfied, however, that this should happen to him in this case, because of
some objections he was aware of against him, which seemed reasonable to him. After the
announcement of his deposition in that day’s chapter in which he was deposed, all at
Melrose were released by the father abbot himself from the obedience and professions
they had made to him. But alas! For it is through this Matthew, a good, devout, and most
generous man, that the house of Melrose has several possessions and many allowances for
the monks as a result of his facility for acquisition; because of him we have
pittance-breads on Fridays in Lent when we are fasting on bread and water; he also built
our large houses at Berwick; and moreover, he constructed both many shelters for cows
and oxen as well as a great chamber for the abbot, which is on the bank of the river,
together with the addition of ¶not a few other buildings.
¶In the year of the Lord […]
In the 1263rd
year of the Lord, Haakon, king of Norway, arrived by the Western Sea with a great number
of ships to make war with the king of Scotland; but to tell the truth, as H[aakon]
himself verified it, he was not repulsed by human force, but by divine power, which
wrecked his ships, and sent death over his army, and on the third day after // //Michaelmasthey met to join battle, and through the
infantrymen of the land divine power defeated and prostrated them; and so their ships
were assembled to return with their wounded and dead, and thus they returned, more
wretched than when they had arrived.
In this year, on St Agnes’ Day, the queen of Scotland gave birth to a son at Jedburgh , who was baptized by Gamelin the bishop of St
Andrews, and was called Alexander in accordance with his father’s command. And it
happened that on the same day on which it was reported to the king of Scotland that he
had been given a son by God, he was also told that the king of Norway was dead. Jubilant
on account of this double joy, he gave thanks to God who exalts the humble, and humbles
the proud.JRD: Cf. Lk 1: 51–2.
In the 1271st year of the Lord,
the winter stood out as harsh and cold
|
|
Abbots of Melrose |
Bishops appointed from the house of Melrose |
|
AD 1136 |
1 |
RichardJT: Richard (abbot from 23 May 1136; resigned in 1148), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/503/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/503/). p. 17a |
Simon monkde TosnyJT: Simon de Tosny (elected bishop in 1171; consecrated 23 January 1172; died 17 September 1184), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/834/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/834/). to the bishopric of Moray |
|
1148 |
2 |
WaldefJT: St Waldef (abbot from 1148; died 3 August 1159), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/631/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/631/). fol. 17b |
Abbot JocelinJT: Jocelin (elected bishop 23 May 1174; consecrated in 1175, probably before 15 March; died 17 March 1199), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/745/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/745/). to Glasgow |
|
1159 |
3 |
WilliamJT: William (abbot from 27 November 1159; resigned 22 April 1170), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/141/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/141/). fol. 18a |
ReinaldJT: Reinald (elected bishop 27 February 1195, consecrated 10 September 1195; died 13 December 1213), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/10/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/10/). the monk to Ross |
|
1170 |
4 |
JocelinJT: Jocelin (abbot from 22 April 1170 to 23 May 1174), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/745/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/745/). fol. 19b |
Abbot RalphJT: Ralph (bishop from 1202–1213), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4052/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4052/). to Down |
|
1175 |
5 |
LaurenceJT: Laurence (abbot from 14 May 1175; died 1178), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/492/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/492/). fol. 21A |
Abbot AdamJT: Adam (elected bishop 5 August 1213; consecrated 11 May 1214; died 11 September 1222), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4118/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4118/). to Caithness |
|
1179 |
6 |
ArnoldJT: Arnold (abbot from 6 January 1179 to 2 March 1189), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/422/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/422/). fol. 21B |
GilbertJT: Gilbert (elected 25 February 1235; consecrated 2 September 1235; died in 1253, after 22 June and perhaps after 24 August), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/469/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/469/). the monk to Galloway |
|
1189 |
7 |
RenierJT: Renier (abbot from 23 March 1189; resigned 17 September 1194), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/796/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/796/). fol. 24a |
|
|
1194 |
8 |
RalphJT: Ralph (abbot from 18 September 1194 to 1202), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4052/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4052/). fol. 25a |
|
|
1202 |
9
|
WilliamJT: William (abbot from 1202; died 8 June 1206), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/826/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/826/). fol. 26a |
|
|
1206 |
10 |
PatrickJT: Patrick (abbot from 1206; died 1207), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/804/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/804/). fol. 26B |
|
|
1207 |
11 |
AdamJT: Adam (abbot by 23 Mar 1210, to 5 August 1213), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4118/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4118/). fol. 27a |
|
In the 1214th year |
12 |
Hugo of Clipstone on 15 May fol. 29b |
|
|
1215 |
13 |
WilliamJT: William de Courcy (abbot from 16 November 1215 to 31 August 1216), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/7230/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/7230/). fol. 31a |
|
|
1216 |
14 |
RalphJT: Ralph (abbot from 14 September 1216 to 1 June 1219), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/8383/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/8383/). fol. 32a |
|
|
1219 |
15 |
Adam of HarcarseJT: Adam of Harcarse (abbot from 6 August 1219 to 1245 or 1246), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/3395/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/3395/). fol. 36a |
|
|
16 |
MatthewJT: Matthew of Newton (abbot from 15 April 1246 to 1261), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/2131/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/2131/). fol. 54a |
|
|
17 |
Adam de MaxtonJT: Adam of Maxton (abbot from 1 August 1261; deposed 1267), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/6078/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/6078/). fol. 65a Anno 1267 |
|
|
18 |
John of EdromJT: John was elected abbot when Adam of Maxton was pressured into resigning in 1267; John resigned the following year. Edrom is in Berwickshire. the same [folio] AD 1267 |
|
|
19 |
Robert of Keldeleth,JT: Robert de Keldeleth (abbot from 1269; died 1273), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4395/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/4395/). formerly abbot of Dunfermline fol. 72b AD 1268 |
|
|
|
Patrick of SelkirkJT: Patrick of Selkirk (abbot after 16 March 1273), [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/3308/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/3308/).
|
|
In the 1263rd year of the Lord,
Eleanor, queen of England, who was thought to be the root, the fomenter, the
disseminator of all the discord that was sown between her own husband, the lord Henry,
king of England, and the barons of his kingdom, left England for fear of those same
barons; and a few days later John Mansel, the said king’s chief advisor, followed her
out of fear of the barons. When they had arrived across the sea in France the said
Eleanor gathered such a great and innumerable multitude of men from various nations that
they seemed to cover the surface of the earth: their intention was to take England by
storm and to wipe all its inhabitants from the face of the earth. Upon arriving at the
coasts of France, Normandy, and Flanders, they were delayed there so long that in the
end nearly everyone sold their horses, saddles, clothing, and all the other things they
had brought with them, because they were in such need. For divine providence had the
strong north wind blow violently against them day and night, without interruption for
about two months or more, and they were not able by any means to cross by sea to
England. Seeing that the power of God was entirely resisting them, each returned to his
own home after two months had passed—except for the many who died on the way. In the
same year, the barons of England prepared themselves the whole year for a deadly war,
plundering rightly or wrongly whatever they could. In this
they resembled fish, which snatch whatever they can (as Aristotle says in the 4th book of Animals).
In the 1264th year of the Lord,
at the Battle of Lewes, shortly after Easter, the barons of England, together with an
army of Londoners and the help of Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, triumphed over their
king, Henry, and Edward his first-born son. On the day after the battle, however, the
barons handed over each of them, that is, the king and his son, to the custody of Simon
de Montfort. In the same battle two noblemen from Scotland, Robert de Brus and John
Comyn, were captured and delivered up to prison custody in Dover castle. The
disagreement, because of which the strife between the king and his barons arose, had its
beginning and its end in the maintenance of foreigners, whom the king himself and his
queen, Eleanor, mother of Edward, had for a long time kept and fostered against the
interests of their kingdom, inasmuch as they trusted their advice; and against the will
of the native people inasmuch as they rejected and, as it were, almost entirely despised
their advice. This being the case, in order to be rid of such foreigners, because they
had grown far too powerful against those born in the land, to the extent that very many
people were disinherited, the struggle talked of above was entered upon so that the
foreigners might be utterly driven from the kingdom of the English. After victory in
this struggle had been secured by the barons, as we have said, all foreigners were soon
banished, except for Simon de Montfort, and a very few of the foreigners who were with
him. All these men also faithfully adhered to the barons’ faith with an oath sworn on
the holy gospels. Now, Simon was the earl of Leicester and the brother-in-law of the
aforenamed king. He was an excellent man, vigorous in conducting and planning warfare,
It is not like any fish that they all bring into their housesJT: This text is at the bottom edge of the folio, and is very faded.
remarkably prudent and cautious, intensely valorous, and he
was a knight: on account of this the barons chose him to have charge in their war and
their counsels. He was descended from a line of French noblemen who were the most
powerful in all France; as their descendant he was not degenerate but was made in the
same way as them, a man endowed with god-like wisdom and abounding in excellent
stratagems, one of which it is fitting to introduce here. When Simon was preparing to
lead the army of Londoners into the aforementioned battle against the king, a few days
before they left he ordered a vehicle of deception to be constructed, and had it covered
entirely in iron on the outside. He forced two well-known elderly burgesses of the city
of London inside it, since they were opposed to him and to the entire city, and
frequently argued with the citizens that they should not march with Simon against the
king. It was when this had been made known to Simon, and doubtless because of the nature
of their hostile, foolish, and stubborn advice, that he forced them inside, as we have
said. As the said army was setting out from the city, therefore, Simon led those crafty
persuaders out with them, they being inside the wagon, lest they should perhaps return
to the city for the king’s advantage while the army of Londoners was on campaign against
the king. Now the prisoners’ wagon had a narrow exit through which the aforesaid old men
were accustomed, not without a close guard, to get out and back in again in order to
answer the call of nature. On the day before the battle was to be contested between the
king and the barons, as evening was approaching on that day, Simon had instructed the
opening through which the necessary food was passed to the aforementioned burgesses to
be closed so firmly that all further opportunity of going out was entirely denied to
them. Simon then had his standards, which are called pennants, hung around this wagon so
that the king and his army might be fooled by it and think that Simon was in the wagon
even though he was not. Simon, however, was lying low in the woods, surrounded by hills
and steep cliffs, some distance from the town of Lewes (which is to be found somewhat
towards the south west of England), with the earl of Gloucester and a few other earls.
With them were the barons of nearly the whole of England and a great number of renowned
knights, with many mounted warriors and innumerable foot-soldiers. Among them there were
many crossbowmen and catapultiers who worked up great confusion in the king’s army on
the day of battle by hurling stones into them like a hail of thunderbolts from their
catapults. Among the leading men mentioned above was also the bishop of Worcester. He
was afterwards driven into exile because, overturning the order of episcopal behaviour,
he put off the peaceable bishop and put on the warlike knight,JRD: Cf. Col. 3.
9–10. bearing a sword at his side all the while instead of a crozier, and a
helmet on his head instead of a mitre. When the king went out to battle against the
barons, therefore, the more powerful men in his army seeing the little pennants (which I
mentioned before) hanging all around the wagon, rushed hastily towards it. The Londoners
had already declared to the king’s army that Simon, whom they had chosen as their leader
in the battle, was inside the wagon. They said, ‘He has decided to remain behind us: he
would not go out to fight for us as he had
promised us. Since we are
very suspicious of him on that account—for he would pretend that he is ill and unable to
mount a horse—and being afraid lest he betray us to his brother-in-law, the king, and
come upon us with an army from the rear, we had this impregnable wagon built, so that if
we have to perish in battle, he will have to perish at the same time with us. Plenty of
firewood has already been placed underneath the wagon that he is in so that it can be
used to set it alight.’ At these words, those who were on the king’s side, whom I have
named above as the more powerful ones, were emboldened, and rushed towards the vehicle,
thinking that Simon was inside it. But as long as they attacked the deceptive vehicle
with great force, they profited nothing in overcoming it, their weapons as well as their
spirits being insufficient. And that wagon helped the Londoners a great deal. For so
long as many of the king’s army were working around its weakness so that it might be
broken by their most violent efforts, the lives of many whom I have called Londoners and
who were stationed either close by or at a distance from the wagon were being saved. For
the barons had not yet joined them, and in the delay of waiting for them while the
deceptive vehicle was being attacked, most of the Londoners had hardly engaged, so that
by the time the barons’ army arrived behind the king’s army to the rear, the greater
part of the Londoners, who were particularly in the face of the royal army and who had
been near the wagon, preserved their strength intact, which is without doubt the reason
they later fought more robustly in every way against the exhausted men of the king’s
army. And this is partly why the deceptive vehicle was constructed, so that there should
be more than enough security for the safety of the citizens of the city of London; so
that while it was being violently assaulted, the royalists inside would be tossed about
all over the place and be confused, and the Londoners would be saved, conserving their
strength (as we have said) sufficiently intact. Most of the day—almost till the eighth
hour—was spent as the bravest fighters followed after the most outstanding mounted
warriors from the king’s army, charging with almost mad force towards the impregnable
wagon in order to drag Simon out, because they thought he was inside; and not without
losing their strongest men, not without the great loss of countless weapons, and not
without severe fatigue and much anguish.
The strongest of the king’s warriors
appeared to have been seized with madness, filling the air with such a tremendous
clamour, calling out, ‘Simon, Simon, come out!’ For it was supposed that Simon had with
him inside the wagon the means by which he could let himself out. So it was that they
repeatedly called out these chants, ‘Out! Out! Simon, you devil! Get out of the wagon,
you wretched traitor!’ As they repeated these and similar things over and over at the
top of their voices, they heard from those inside that the Simon whom they were looking
for was not there, but only two citizens of London whom Simon, in contempt of the king,
was known to have betrayed—‘Lest the city of London be returned by us to the king’s
cause,’ they said, ‘if we had remained at home after Simon had led the others out of the
city to do battle against the king.’ But it should be known that nobody of sound mind
ought to classify or call Simon by the name of ‘traitor’; for he was not a traitor but
the most devout supporter and faithful protector of God’s Church in England; the shield
and defender of the kingdom of the English; and an enemy of the foreigners; who drove
them out, even though he was himself by birth
one of them. Justly
therefore did he convey, and not betray, the two native-born opponents by means of the
wagon; for they wanted to alienate a city more important than all the wagons and towers
in Christendom—I mean the city of London—and prevent it from coming to the aid of the
barons; since without the incomparable and crucial help of so great a city, the
expulsion of the foreigners would by no means have been possible to effect, on account
of the royal force which surrounded them on every side. Because these old men, in their
singular and perverse opposition and excuses, had set themselves against the whole city,
it came to pass by the righteous judgement of God that they should perish outside the
city in a wagon burnt by an intense fire. In this battle, moreover, many thousands of
men were cut down, foot-soldiers as well as horsemen. The brother of King Henry,
Richard, earl of Cornwall, who a little while before had challenged the barons to
battle, calling them betrayers of the king and of the realm, fled terrified from the
battlefield for fear of death, into a mill that was said to grind by wind-power,
securing the entrance behind him. As evening approached on the day of battle the barons
approached it, calling out loudly towards him, ‘Come down, come down, you wretched
miller! Come out, come out of the mill, you master of ill fortune!’ And also reproving
his cowardice and utter folly, they added, ‘By what great misfortune was it that you had
to become a miller, you who so recently challenged us poor barons to a battle, who also,
when you challenged us, wanted to be called by no less a name than King of the Romans
and Ever Augustus!’ (He had, a short time before, been king of Germany, and it was on
account of this that he called himself Ever Augustus and King of the Romans.) Richard
therefore came out of the mill and was forcibly carried off by the barons, fettered in
chains, to be held in close custody. From there, because he was exceedingly wealthy, he
was set free after about five months in return for a great ransom, namely, for the
desirable amount of 17 thousand pounds sterling, and 5 thousand pounds of gold
treasure.
In the 1265th year of the Lord,
during the reign of Alexander III, king of the Scots, and having been sent by the same
king, the lord Reginald of Roxburgh, a monk of Melrose, a man of famed eloquence and the
very best judgement, set out for Norway in order to acquire the land of Man, which was
formerly called Regio, together with the numerous tiny islands situated in great numbers
around the territory of the Scots. When he arrived there he was received with much
honour by the king, who made all the great men of his land assemble in one place to
consult with him, and he treated with them over the abovementioned islands. During these
dealings the king said that for the preservation of peace it might be very expedient
that the islands be sold to the king of the Scots. When his magnates had heard this,
some assented and some spoke against it. But their king’s opinion prevailed, and
eventually they all granted their assent that the islands be sold to the king of
Scotland, as he asked. An agreement was therefore drawn up between the two aforesaid
kings, of whose agreement this is the main annual point, that is, that the king of
Scotland will give a hundred pounds sterling every year for ever to the king of Norway
for recognition of the homage made to the king of Norway by the said Alexander, king of
Scotland, who as a down payment or security paid the king of Norway
In the year immediately following he founded here a noble abbey of the Cistercian order called Hailes
4,000 merks straight away, which the king of Norway received
all at once on the island of Orkney, by the agency of the bishop of the same island, in
return for the aforementioned islands.
In the 1266th year of the Lord, the said lord Reginald, a monk of
Melrose, returned from Norway, having completed the negotiations he had gone to carry
out according to the wishes of all the Scots. Assuredly, no other ambassador from among
the sons of the Scots was ever able to accomplish this apart from the aforesaid monk.
Indeed, this wise man and very clear in solemnly expounding the scriptures,
truly earned for his own house the eternal gratitude and favour of all future kings in
Scotland, unless these kings should turn out to be ungrateful and return evil for good
to the house of Melrose—may God keep such a thing from the heart of every Christian
king! Soon afterwards that same year, the chancellor of the lord king of Norway followed
after this monk, arriving in Scotland carrying with him the agreement mentioned
above.
In the 1267th year of the Lord,
the abbot of Melrose, Dom Adam of Maxton, was deposed in general chapter; he deposed his
own son, the abbot of Holme, without the authority of the chapter of the Order, and so
received deposition in like manner; the abbot of Holme was deposed with him because he
deserved deposition, since he brought about the deposition of his own abbot Henry, who
was restored to his former seat by the general chapter. The lord John of Edrom, master
of the lay-brethren of the same house, succeeded the deposed abbot of Melrose. Dom
James, abbot of Cîteaux, was deposed in the general chapter; his deposition was brought
about by the convent of Cîteaux. Afterwards this same deposed man became archbishop of
Narbonne in Gascony; Dom John, abbot of Savigny, became his successor. The lord Adam of
Smailholm, abbot of Deer, a monk of Melrose, freely laid down his office, preferring
\to sojourn/
\inside/
the sweetness of Melrose, which he had known before, than to preside
over
\the
poverty/
of the monks’ little hut *JRD: The following passage is scored through lightly, and replaced by the one at the foot of the page. at
Deer, whose intense religious observance he was never able to know by true experience.
JRD: The original entry reads: ‘The lord Adam of Smailholm, abbot of Deer, a monk of Melrose, freely laid down his office, preferring the sweetness of Melrose, which he had known before, than to preside over the monks’ little hut at Deer, whose intense religious observance he was never able to know by true experience.’ The corrected version reads: ‘preferring \to sojourn/ \inside/ the sweetness of Melrose, which he had known before, than to preside over the \poverty/ of the monks of his own place, notwithstanding he was able to know by experience their intense religious observance.’ Dom Hugh, the cellarer of that same house, succeeded
him.
In the 1268th year of the Lord, Edward,
the first-born son of the king of England, when he went out one evening into the fields
to take exercise in the company of but a small number of Simon’s household, escaped from
Simon’s custody. He arranged for many men from the marches to meet him; those who had
for a long time been his tenants in the march, that is to say, in the county of Chester;
*the monks of his own place, notwithstanding he
was able to know by experience their intense religious observance.JRD: This
passage replaces a section of text further up the page.
and he was met by them on the way with great joy.JRD:
The gift of the whole county of Chester with its castles and lands in North Wales was
made to Edward in 1254, and he received the homage and fealty of the nobles of
Cheshire and the men of North Wales in July 1256. See R. Stewart-Brown, ‘The End of
the Norman Earldom of Chester’, EHR 35 (1920), 26–54 (at
52–3). On the earldom of Chester, see A History of the County of
Chester. Volume II, ed. B. E. Harris (London, 1979). Edward remained
with his men for two days, and hurried on to the earl of Gloucester, concerned with the
matter of his father’s release. When he reached him, he was received by the earl with
the honour that was due to him. While they were discussing with each other the issue of
the king’s detention at the hands of Simon, and the earl’s assistance was sought in the
freeing of the king, the earl presently gave his assurance that he would offer the king
his whole army; and when he had mustered it with the utmost speed, he made haste along
with Edward and his marcher-men against Simon to free the king. Simon was at that time
in Hereford; and the king was with him in his custody. When it was disclosed to Simon
that the earl of Gloucester was armed and ready for his expedition with his army, and
was on the way to do battle against him, he hurriedly
sent
word to the
leading nobles who in the first war had been loyal to the barons’ cause. Indeed, when
this message was made known to these chief nobles and barons, astounded by Edward’s
unexpected escape, they soon afterwards joined Simon on a chosen day at Evesham. Now
Simon, in considering the precautions necessary, allowed Simon his son to remain behind
in one of the foremost fortresses of the whole of England, that is to say, in the castle
of Kenilworth, with many armed nobles; so that if it should happen that Edward were to
confront Simon the father head on, Simon son of Simon, coming upon Edward from the rear,
would overpower his army. And this might have been accomplished, except that a
treacherous knight betrayed to Edward Simon’s provision of a great number of soldiers in
the aforementioned castle. When this provision was disclosed to Edward—for the traitor
had by now informed him that the soldiers were going to leave the castle while it was
still daylight, and would spend the night in the nearby town—he sent that very night a
great number of soldiers from his assembled army so that they could attack Simon’s
soldiers, who (as we have already said) had left the castle the day before,
inauspiciously happy that they would be sleeping in the various houses of the town next
to the castle. They left the castle with the purpose that, after rising early in the
morning from their beds and being well bathed (for they chose to leave in order to have
a bath), they would be made lighter and fresher to do battle the coming day, thanks to
the benefit of the baths. For in the town they were able to make use of an ample supply
of vessels to bathe themselves—such as they could certainly not so well enjoy in the
castle. This, then, was the reason for their leaving Simon’s strongest fortress: and
when the aforementioned knight betrayed their departure to Edward, he told him about the
baths provided for them in the town. In the middle of the night, therefore, a very loud
cry was raised through the whole town by Edward’s soldiers as they attacked Simon’s men
while they slept. When Simon’s men heard it, they were frightened truly beyond measure
by the terrifying noise, and fear and trembling, terror and dread fell upon
them.JRD: Timor et tremor, cf. Ps. 54.6 (55.5); Judith
14.17–18 (14.19). PL184, col. 1012D (p. 690) Ad beatam uirginem
deiparam sermo panegyricus (Attrib. Bernard of Clairvaux); formido et pauor, cf. Ex. 15.16. They could hear the clattering of
horses, and soldiers shouting at them horribly and saying, ‘Get up, get up! Get
out!JRD: Cf. Gen. 19.14. Get out of your beds and come outside, you
traitors! You slaves of that obstinate and wicked traitor, Simon! By God’s death,’ they
said, ‘you are all dead men!’ So, those wretched, evilly betrayed men all got up and
fled by the rear of the houses, abandoning their horses, arms, clothing, and all the
equipment they had. You might then have seen some men fleeing completely naked, others
wearing just breeches, some indeed
only night-shirts and drawers. There
were very few, perhaps none, who were able to get completely dressed. Many of them
nevertheless carried off their garments in their arms, as God, in the forbearance of his
infinite mercy, granted them their life at least, as they departed in a headlong rush.
With this, Edward’s armed men entered every house, plundering the horses and arms and
everything else left behind (as we have already said) after the fugitives. And when
morning came, the foot soldiers, who the previous day had followed the tails of the
horses of Edward’s knights, put on the armour of the fugitives, and mounted the horses
of the noblemen who had now taken flight. You could have seen the Preacher’s prophecy
fulfilled there and then which says, ‘I have seen servants upon horses: and princes
walking on the ground as servants.’JRD: Eccles. 10.7. And when all those
hired soldiers came to Edward, well armed and on the horses of noblemen, he rejoiced
with great joy. Edward therefore advanced against Simon with his well-equipped army
towards Evesham; and when he came within two leagues of Evesham, Simon marched out
against Edward, hoping against hope when there was no hope. For he had hoped (as I
mentioned above), that Simon the son—who had fled with the others—would come to his aid
from the rear, behind Edward. With hope and what little army he had, Simon therefore
went forth. And everyone who would be going forth to battle
with him was first confessed, and communicated from the viaticum of the most holy
Eucharist. But for every six or seven men that Edward had, Simon had barley two. The
fearful and well-equipped army of Edward, and the paltry force of Simon de Montfort,
therefore met each other and joined in battle, with that bold-spirited knight Guy de
Balliol preceding Simon’s army with Simon’s banner. Nearby was Henry, a renowned knight
and first-born son of Simon, who had been so named after King Henry. He struck the first
blow in the battle; and he it was who fell first of all and died, cast back and mortally
wounded with many blows at the hands of various men. Indeed, few were killed on Edward’s
side, because of the great number of soldiers of superior strength; nearly all on
Simon’s side, including Simon himself were killed, and they died because the small
number of their supporters quickly deserted, except for the few who, surrendering
themselves to Edward’s fighters, gave up their arms to them. But Guy (whom I mentioned
before), a most valiant knight and a Scot by birth, although he could have been saved
from the death of this world, was not willing to be. And so he perished with many of the
magnates of England who had come to the battle to fight for England’s justice. The
infallible sign of this justice, after a while, was the frequent display of heavenly
miracles shown around Hugh the Dispenser, the chief justiciar of England—a man most just
and even-handed in every judgment concerning both rich men and poor—and around Simon and
several others who kept their faith to God, even unto death, on account of the justice
of the English realm, which they had rightly undertaken to preserve against foreigners,
and even against the king, who unjustly held them back—as it has been related in the
account made about the battle of Lewes—from the hand of the holy man Robert Grosseteste,
the bishop of Lincoln, for the forgiveness of their sins. And so they perished
righteously, fighting for justice; and for that reason, after their death, several of
them merited from God the manifestation of miracles, glory, and veneration; and
therefore they are believed to reign with God in glory. Among those most courageous
heroes was Roger de Rule, a companion of Guy (mentioned above), who also died along with
him. Now the king, the lord
Henry, who had fostered England’s injustice
by showing too much favour towards those born in foreign lands, went forth to this
battle with Simon armed in the armour of another man (I know not whose) so that
England’s justice could justly be gained. I venture to say that it was for the benefit
of England’s justice that the king went out armed in this manner, so that he would not,
if perchance he came out of the battle alive and rule it again, possibly once more
reassemble the foreigners in opposition to the natives, and the last error would be
worse than the first. So it seems that the barons proposed the king ought to die along
with them—if they themselves were bound to die in a battle where the king was
present—falling under the many harsh blows of his own loyal men, being of course
unrecognised by them.JRD: Because he was wearing the armour of another man.
He was no longer fit to fight with the rest, but with such cries as he could make, he
shouted out, saying, ‘I am old Henry, the king of England!’ swearing now, ‘By the love
of God!’ now, ‘By God’s head!’ and declaring that he was the king. And he said to those
who were attacking him, ‘Do not strike me, for I am not able to fight, because of my
age!’ It was usual for him to swear by such oaths; and so, as he repeatedly swore in
this way, his helmet was removed from his head, and when it was ascertained from his
face that he was indeed the king, he was led away beyond the army of dying men. The next
day he was restored to his kingdom at the wishes of Simon’s enemies and the barons’
murderers. A few weeks later, it came about that the king, yielding to his own counsels
and those of some of his nobility, banished his own sister, the wife of Simon, from his
kingdom, along with her only daughter—a very beautiful young girl who afterwards married
the prince of Wales—and likewise three of her sons born of Simon. And so, upon Simon’s
death, and the death of Hugh Despenser and other nobles of the land, there was a great
lamentation among the people of England. But later on a cause of enormous joy followed
it, since the wondrous works of God are preachedJRD: Fantur Dei
magnalia (‘the wondrous works of God are preached’), from v. 5 of the
Ambrosian hymn for Matins on Whitsunday, Iam Christus astra
ascenderat, which in turn is based on Acts 2.1–16; cf. Acts 2.11, audivimus eos loquentes nostris linguis magnalia Dei (‘we have
heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God’). in the
precious death of holy men.JRD: Cf. Ps. 115.6, Pretiosa in
conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus (‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of his saints’). For God produced many signs of true holiness
through Hugh. When the blind come to his tomb they receive sight, the lame walk upright;
and all the other righteous miracles that God performed for him—a righteousness gained
from God himself, because he was always truly righteous, as much as lay in
him,JRD: Cf. Lucretius, De rerum natura: quantum in se
est (Newton, Descartes, etc.). regarding the righteousness of the just
judgementsJRD: judiciorum justorum, Daniel 13.9.
of God and of men, from whose truth he would never be turned aside. God has therefore,
without doubt, produced for him (as I have said) all his divine rights after his death,
because he always kept to the path of righteousness in the life before his death. But
did Almighty God leave Simon alone without any miracles? No! Let us therefore now make
known at least a few miracles divinely performed on his account. It happened then that,
no sooner had Simon been killed and stripped of the armour in which he lay dead, one of
the sons of BelialJRD: A name for the personification of evil, the Devil: Deut.
13.13, Jdg 19.22, 1 Rg. (= 1 Sam.) 1.16, etc. went up to his body and cut off
the hands and feet from it; and you may find a true story about one of those hands as
follows. There was a MarcherJRD: Read ‘Marcher baron’.
\baron/
in the earldom of Chester who was here with
Edward at the battle of Evesham. After the battle he laid hold of one of the slain
Simon’s hands (about which we have already spoken) and sent it by means of a retainer—a
collaborator in his impiety—to his wife so that she might rejoice over the killing of an
enemy, Simon’s amputated hand being a most certain sign of his killing. Arriving with
the hand at his lord’s manor, and not finding the lady of the manor at home, he hastened
to the parish church, where she was to be found, not far from her husband’s estate. When
he arrived there with the hand, which he was carrying in his breast and wrapped in a
handkerchief, he approached the lady and whispered to her about the slaughter of Simon.
He said, ‘This is the token of his brutal death,’ intending to show her the amputated
hand. But the woman was embarrassed, or was perhaps in fear of God;
and while she continued steadfastly in prayer, she had no wish to look at the hand nor
to touch it, although the retainer was insistently prevailing upon her to accept what he
had brought and to keep it in her own possession. As he was perversely exhorting her,
the lady said to him, ‘Wait until the celebration of divine service is over.’ And so he
withdrew at the lady’s command and stood among the congregation in order to hear the
mass. When the sacred host was elevated and the people raised their hands—and the
retainer likewise—to adore the Lord elevated by the priest, behold, the hand of the holy
man, which this henchman of the Devil’s henchman had brought, was raised by divine power
above his head without his perceiving anything, so that by its superiority in height it
could be seen more clearly than the hand of the tallest man in the whole congregation of
men who were then present there could be well observed. When the hand adored the Lord of
Majesty at his elevation (about which we have already spoken), as it had bowed itself
towards the altar to worship him, quicker than any telling, it sank back on its own to
the place from which it had come out—not without the power of God—the handkerchief in
which it was wrapped up being found to be as wholly stitched together as it had been at
first, without the bearer’s noticing anything at all. The woman (whom I have already
mentioned) being a God-fearer and pondering the miracle of this new experience, said to
the retainer after the celebration of the mass, ‘That hand which my lord sent to me
through you: return it to him, for it shall not come into my house!’ For she had been
struck with wondering astonishment at the sight of this strange and unprecedented new
miracle. She therefore said to the retainer, ‘Whoever it is who cut off that hand
deserves great vengeance.’ And then she privately told the messenger about the vision,
which not all, but many of Christ’s faithful who had been present there, had been
privileged to see, instructing him that when he reached his master, he should faithfully
report to him the vision that he had heard about. The servant then hurried off quickly
to the master who had sent him with the hand that he had carried; for he did not go into
the house of his mistress, as she had vowed, on account of the hand which he bore. And
so it seems that she was one of those foolish women who had rejected such a holy hand so
unwisely; and this was not done without the guidance of God, who disposes all things;
for her husband, that son of Belial, was not worthy to keep a hand of such great
sanctity in his house; and so it is thought that it had passed on, by God’s providence,
to a much more worthy owner; but of how it got there I am entirely ignorant. Yet this I
hold steadfast for a truth, and this I firmly believe, that at the daily elevation of
the saving host, Simon, while he was still alive, was in the habit—not without
remarkable reverence
for
Christ
, not without profoundest love—of raising up
his hands. Certain and infallible inference of their most devout raising up was made
clear after his death when his dead hand was raised up (as we have said) to worship the
Redeemer of the World, born of the most pure Virgin. Hence, I well recall what was
written about him in that little treatise about the battle of Lewes, that he was endowed
with divine wisdom. For what in this life is wiser, more righteous, or better for a man,
than daily to love, honour, and worship his own Creator from his inmost heart? That
Simon did this I do not doubt. Therefore, drawing this miracle to an end, I quickly move
along to recount another miracle that Almighty God performed for Simon’s sake. The hands
of this man are much more holy in the sight of God than the hands of Scipio # Close to a
certain town in Northumbria there is a celebrated house in which the canons of the
Premonstratensian
#which Seneca worshipped, as it is shown in the last chapter of
the 12th book of The Twelve Degrees,
written by Seneca himself.
Order live, serving God. One of Simon’s
feet was carried to this house by a man of blessed memory, the lord John de Vescy, the
lord of the borough of Alnwick, the founder and patron of the house of canons which I
have already mentioned. After the foot had remained here for several months it was found
to be entirely incorrupt; and so, because they had been privileged to discover the
endurance of such incorruption in the holy man’s foot, the canons of that abbey (which
is called the abbey of Alnwick because it lies near the town of Alnwick), out of
reverence for the Author on high, made a shoe of purest silver for the incorrupt foot.
But a wound could be seen in this foot, between the little toe and the toe immediately
next to it, whether made by a knife or a sword I do not know; for it was not enough for
the one who amputated the holy man’s foot that his body had been mutilated in so many
ways, unless he were by a greater malice to add a wound to him in his foot. It happened
at that time that a very wealthy burgess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne became gravely ill; so
much so, that he was deprived of almost all movement; for he did not have the power to
move even a foot from his bed, nor to bring his hand to his mouth, nor to perform any
bodily function; but neither did he wish to be touched by anyone. So great was the
affliction of this prodigious disease by which his whole body was besieged that he chose
rather to die than to be moved from his bed, because of the staggering burden of his
illness. One night a voice was manifest to him in his dreams, saying, ‘Get up tomorrow
morning and you shall be somewhat relieved from this illness; if you make haste to
Alnwick, you shall find there in the abbey of the Premonstratensian canons the foot of
Simon de Montfort; and from that foot,’ said the voice, ‘you will gain your full
health.’ Getting up very early the next morning, he was somewhat relieved, just as the
divine voice had predicted to him, but he could not mount his horse without serious
pain. After that, he went as quickly as he could to Alnwick, and when he had entered the
house of these aforementioned religious men, dismounting his horse as best he could, he
hurried to see the foot of the holy man. No sooner had this been discovered by those
canons devoted to God, than two of them—so that the burgess, being seriously ill, might
come to the foot by a short way lest he should over-exert himself in approaching
it—reverently carried the foot to him from its resting-place, in the shoe in which it
was encased, for him to touch the shoe and kiss it. But before the sick man could come
close, simply from a single glimpse of the shoe, he was deigned worthy to receive full
health on account of Simon’s merits. It is worth considering, then, how much glory there
will be in Simon’s foot when his whole body is joined with it again after the general
judgement, compared with the glory in the foot before the judgement, which even in the
dead material that housed it—in the silver shoe—shone out with such saving grace that
God’s power invisibly came out of the foot through the shoe to make the sick man well.
His other foot—as we should piously believe—was not left without the honour of a
miracle. This foot was sent to Llewellyn, prince of the Welsh, who had entered into a
treaty with Simon, about which many things have been suspected, and which I pass over in
view of people’s suspicions; for at this time Simon was not without suspicion, having
all the royal prerogative of England to rule alongside the king, whom he justly held
prisoner with him by the barons’ advice and consent. And it was because Simon had
promised his daughter to Llewellyn,
whom Llywelyn later made his wife
(as it has already been related), that Llewellyn received Simon’s other foot, which was
sent to him in hateful contempt of each of them—that is, of him and of Simon—so that by
sending the foot, and on account of Simon’s foot, the prince would feel himself to be
greatly hated by the English. Again, concerning Simon’s hand, which I mentioned
earlier—I do not know whether it is truly that hand or his other hand, which I have not
mentioned—nevertheless, as told to me by a venerable and holy man, the lord Thomas of
Stonegrave, the abbot of the Rievaulx monks, I have learned that one of Simon’s hands is
set in a place of great reverence at Evesham. It has not been left there by God, as we
ought piously to believe, without the showing of a miracle. For God does not justify one
part of a person through a miraculous display of veneration only to leave the other part
without a miracle. And for this reason I think we ought entirely to believe that, for
the sake of Simon’s other hand, and for the sake of the other foot (about which I have
made no mention above regarding the exhibition of a miracle), Almighty God, as it
pleased his Godhead, has deigned to perform two or more miracles. Since Simon is
therefore believed to have pleased the supreme Godhead, he is rightly to be compared to
Simon Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. And for this reason I beg the reader that if in
the comparison by which I compare Simon to Simon he should find anything not so well
argued, he should set right what is amiss and grant pardon to the one who lacks
understanding. For I do not compare the lesser Simon with the greater Simon in this way
so that I might prefer him (or any other Simon in the world) to the Prince of the
Apostles. But when I remember that the lesser Simon was faithful about the apostolic
faith, I surely compare the display of one miracle divinely done on his account with the
display of one more-or-less similar miracle carried out for Simon the Apostle. My
comparison therefore goes as follows. If the illness was completely driven out of the
burgess before he could reach the foot (as we maintained above), who hurried insofar as
he was able to Simon’s foot in order to kiss it, approaching from a little distance, and
before Simon’s foot was seen by the burgess; ought not this Simon (saving our respect
for the Prince of the Apostles) be compared with the greater Simon, when he himself also
hurried to reach the house of a wealthy man. Before he was able to enter the house, a
most cruel demon which had possessed a girl (the rich man’s daughter) from her seventh
year until her twentieth was suddenly put to flight from her for fear of Peter, because
it did not dare wait for Peter to enter. May I not say again that there is a just
comparison between the great Simon and Simon de Montfort? When Simon Peter was
approaching the girl, her demon was suddenly put to flight (as we have said); and when
the burgess came towards Simon’s foot, the demon of his illness was suddenly driven out
before he was able to reach the foot (as I have already mentioned). Behold the miracle
on each side! But the greater miracle falls to the greater Simon, and the lesser to the
lesser Simon. For the greater miracle was that the demon who had taught the girl (whom I
have mentioned) by the vehemence of his fierce fury to cut, bite, and tear to pieces
those who came near her; and, as it is shown there [in the source], the same demon
taught her to render many people helpless and impotent, and even entirely to destroy
several; and so when Simon Peter hurried to her, all these evil things were destroyed in
her to the glory of Christ and Peter (as it is made plain in Clement’s History, at the end of the 11th
book).JRD: Clemens Romanus, Recognitiones,
IX.38. And so it is clear that the greater miracle has fallen to Peter and the
lesser indeed
to the Simon whom I have called the lesser. For there
was, without doubt, a thousand times less evil in the sick burgess’s demon than in that
very ferocious demon of the savagely raging girl, as is made plain by the extent and
quantity of the greater and lesser evils of each demon. For a second time I beg those
who are going to read this not to begrudge me one further comparison between the
aforesaid Simons, since I consider this one far superior to the preceding comparison.
For what is finer among men, or more reasonable in the very nature of things, than the
highest comparisons rightly explained? For a man is rightly compared when his comparison
has a direct relation; on this account Simon Peter said, ‘When the middle of the night
is passed, I now awake of my own accord so that sleep does not come to me again. This
happens to me because I have formed the habit of recalling to memory at that time the
words of my lord Jesus, which I heard from him himself; and for this reason, in my
desire for them, I rouse my mind, and command my thoughts, so that I should be awake to
each one of my Lord’s sayings; and in recalling and retracing them, I truly hold them in
my mind. From this I have therefore acquired in myself, by the grace of my Lord, the
habit of waking: desiring the words of my Lord to dwell in my heart with all delight.
Thus by the introduction of some inexpressible principle to my mind through such a
habit, my old custom is changed.’ (It is set out in this way at the beginning of the
second book of Clement’s History.)JRD: Clemens Romanus,
Recognitiones, II.1. The Simon whom I mentioned
before is most fitted for a comparison with this man. For a
comparison, unless it has something suitably comparable placed next to itself, is not
adequate when posed by itself with this man. [For a comparison, unless it have
something suitably comparable placed next to itself, is not adequate when posed
by itself
.] And so Simon
de Montfort, a man incomparable, as it were, to anyone in our times, was comparable to
Simon Peter. Simon de Montfort, after he had sworn an oath with the barons at the king’s
bidding, with the king himself having sworn as well, in fact, before Simon, that he
would faithfully adhere to the provisions of the barons recorded in a roll by the
responsible men of England at Oxford, began as it were to deny himself in a manner
similar to Simon Peter and to engage in night-time devotions, and did not deviate from
this practice until the day of his death. He would rise every night around midnight at
the signal of a noiseless clock—if it is even appropriate to call the provision he made
a clock—which never failed him once he adopted such a form of timekeeping. His clock was
a wax candle that he lit every night at the time he usually went to sleep; on this
candle he inscribed by divine guidance a mark according to the varying length of the
nights, whether short or long, so that when it reached that mark, around midnight, he
got out of bed every night as though divinely roused, and so noiselessly that noneof those sleeping with him heard him, nor were they aware
that he had risen. Indeed, he would do this habitually, just as if one of the most
precise clocks had woken him; then you would see him, stripped of the old habit of
having to sleep until the crowing of the fowls or cockerels, or
the dawning of the day, and clothed with the new habit of Simon Peter as to waking, so
that, from the hour of the night at which he had arisen, until the night-time of the
following day, sleep would no longer come upon him, just as sleep was believed not to
have come upon Simon Peter. See the very pleasing comparison of Simon to Simon! While
the one kept up continual prayer
before God each night, the other
carried on the repeated recollection of the words of God every night which he had had to
preach the following day to the people who had no faith. For Simon used to know the
primer by heart through his wakefulness in prayer; he also knew the Psalter and the
other prayers; he said them one after another through the night without a break, with
readiness and devotion, and was not forgetful of his creator’s love and his
commandments. And so, without doubt, he was on account of these things believed to
please the Author on High, especially if what was reported to his secretaries by other
servants of the bedchamber was true, nay rather because it was true. That is, that every
that
day and night he was dressed in a hair shirt, and his self-denial in food was of
praiseworthy parsimony, his manner of clothing commendable; for ‘he did not exercise
himself in great matters, nor in things too high for him;’JRD: Ps. 130. 1.
but among his household servants he was happy in clothes of russet-cloth; among the
great men of the land, land he was rarely in rich attire. In fact he was
often dressed in a garment of bluet or burnet so that it might be less easily suspected
that he was wearing a hair shirt underneath, talk about which had maybe got about among
men, as he himself feared. Again, what may I say about his sparing
self-denial—praiseworthy for one who lived among abounding riches and overflowing
luxuries—except that his self-denial has to be compared to the very meagre subsistence
of Simon Peter? And his clothing too ought to be compared to the Simon Peter’s humble
garb, whose food was just bread with olive /\/oil\
; and only rarely was it his
practice to have bread with vegetables; and Peter’s clothing was only a tunic with a
cloak, and these two were enough for him, as he himself would say. These things
concerning Peter are to be had in the eighth book of the History
mentioned above, towards the beginning of the book. Let us now see what kind of
self-denial there was in Simon the knight. It should be known that self-denial is of
this nature: it makes a habit of taking neither too little nor too much food, but always
holds the middle way between the two, that is, between too much and too little. Since he
did not consume either food or drink beyond his accustomed measure of frugality, Simon
therefore deserves to be called frugal; this is drawn out of his behaviour, since he
always rose early, and because of this he got into the way of saying Vigils, as it has
been said, whereas those who slept along with him did not rise like that, but spent
nearly the whole night asleep; but they all got up at different times, supplied with a
full amount of sleep. Like Simon [Peter], our Simon did not feel the lack of a full
amount of sleep. For Simon his sleep-requirement was small since hismoderation was great and sparing at the same time. And so we find Simon
compared to holy moderation, for in him temperance in sleep accompanied temperance in
diet, as it is said by the most holy Bernard. We have shortly before this had an
illustration of the moderation of Simon Peter; for, to continue the extract which I have
already made from his own words, ‘We (that is, I and my brother Andrew), from the time
that we were boys, were always in a state of poverty.’ Observe here, the moderation of
Peter commences with the early dawn of poverty, which was afterwards adorned in the
school of Christ
with the moderation of true holiness; so that these
two Simons might appear to be companions in the matter of moderation, due regard being
had to the superiority of the apostle, whose moderation springs from the words of our
Lord Himself, who said, ‘Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness,’JRD: Luke 21.34. two sins
which were very far distant from both of these Simons. Thus Simon, the scholar of
Christ, could have said to Simon, soldier of Christ, had they been contemporaries, as he
said to his disciple Clement, in the passage referred to above, ‘I wonder at this, and
praise you for it, that though you are a man of great wealth,’ (for pope Clement was of
imperial family, just as Earl Simon was of a kingly family) ‘yet since you have come
among us, you have so easily changed your habits, and adapted yourself to our way of
life, which uses only what is necessary for poverty not pleasure.’ And it is not
surprising that those persons who take the path of righteousness for the sake of God,
obtain from him the gift of perfect frugality, which never falls short of the goal,
measured against moderation and sobriety. For we read that there exist some brute
creatures which have been endowed by God with the gift of such entire abstinence as
never to touch anything for their food which is of a corporeal substance, as other
living things do. Thus Solinus mentions in his book The Wonders of
the World, in the 164th chapter,JRD: Gaius
Julius Solinus, De mirabilibus mundi, chapter 40 (ed.
Mommsen). when speaking of a quadruped called the chameleon, that its nature
is such that it takes neither food nor drink and is supported solely by swallowing air
which it is constantly sucking in; and yet, according to Pliny’s testimony, it has flesh
and blood and intestines; and he adds that its head and cheeks are fleshy, and that the
blood of its whole body lies in a small tail with which it is provided; and yet, though
it is a very large creature, as he himself states in the 11th book of his Natural History, in the 38th chapter, there is nothing in its inside but a hollow
cavity, which is thought to be empty of air, for according to the same authority, its
mouth is always gaping after the support which it derives from the air—nor, indeed, has
it any other.JRD: Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 8.
51 (Loeb). Other living things, worms, for instance, live without bodily food.
There are some of them which
are
to be found in a province near the Torrid Zone,
as the letter of Prester John informs us, and these are called salamanders.JRD:
Prester John, Letter to Emanuel of Constantinople. The only fitting abode of
these important worms is the fire, from which they derive their vigour. Distinct from
these salamanders are others which belong to other provinces: they are not only good for
nothing, but they are venomous; and therefore they spin little coverings of silk for
themselves within which they conceal themselves, just as the other worms which produce
silk do; and the garments which are worn by kings and nobles are made from these
cocoons. The only way of cleaning these garments is by putting them in a strong fire. I
suppose that the garment of which Pliny speaks was one of these; his words are, ‘There
is a certain kind of dress which resists sword and fire.’JRD: Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 8. 73 (Loeb). Having seen, then,
that creatures exist who in their moderation and abstinence surpass all that man can
exhibit, we have no to reason to be amazed if we discover that Simon received the gift
of moderation from God to such a degree that he never went so far as to use anything
which was superfluous; for even the camel refuses to move forward
one
step beyond the length of the journey to which he has been accustomed, nor will he carry
more than his usual load; concerning which see Pliny, book 8 chapter 19.JRD: Pliny
the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 8. 26. This excellent
habit may well be compared with the virtuous moderation of our Simon, which by no means
suffers by the comparison. We now have something to say about his shirt of hair, whose
sanctity must be acknowledged. For if, as Pliny says (in the 8th chapter of the same book),JRD: I.e., in Book 8 of Naturalis Historia. there is healing power in a camel’s bristles—by
bristles, meaning hairs—so much more ought the hair shirt of every saintly man which is
made of a camel or some other animal’s hair be venerated for its holiness. Now compare
the hair shirt of our valiant Simon the knight with the tunic and cloak of the most holy
fisherman, about which we have already spoken; and, unless I am much mistaken, you will
find that the sharpness of Simon’s haircloth inflicted upon the wearer a punishment no
less sharp than the bare cloak and tunic of the more illustrious Simon did. I cannot
imagine that Simon’s garments would need to have been criticised for their newness. I
should suppose, rather, that they were old, not new, and therefore thin and chilly. So,
in these circumstances, it is indeed believed that during the winter he often suffered
from the cold, and the severity of the cold was a great hardship for him. When placed
under the influence of the burning sun in such clothing, did he fail to feel its burning
heat? Certainly not, unless perhaps the cool voluminous shade of his garment afforded
him some protection against the heat. *
There was no lack of austerity austerity in
each of these two Simons, arising out of the excess of their love for the eternal life
for which they yearned. And so, indeed, Simon Peter says of himself in the 8th book of the Itinerary of Clement, ‘My mind is fixed not
upon the things which are present, but upon those which are yet to come; and therefore I
have no delight in that which is present and visible.’ Nor did Earl Simon have any
pleasure in gratifications like this; and therefore he said that he would never retreat
from the cause which he had justly undertaken for God’s sake—the defence of
England—neither for life nor for death of any sort, since, as he added, ‘I am about to
die for it.’ The main cause of Simon’s death was the loyal oath he had made for England;
for from the day he took it, he ever afterwards grew stricter in his manner of life,
until the day of his death, as has been said before. Up to this point he had not
withdrawn from the loving embraces of his own wife, but from then on, he estranged
himself from it, following the example of Simon Peter, about whom it is believed that he
wholly abstained fromthe embraces of his wife, who was at that
time in the habit of following behind the train of Peter’s disciples, along with the
mother of St Clement and other holy women, as is stated in the 8th book of the Itinerary of Clement.
*
This was especially the case when he journeyed about from nation to nation,
preaching to them the kingdom of God, and so was exposed, while doing so, for many a weary day, to the burning sun of summer.
And it came to pass in those days, that
when
Simon
used
took the hair shirt, about which I already
remarked, that you might at that time hear serious and religious men of various orders
throughout England saying (and some of them who came to Scotland used to say the same
thing), that after hisdeath, they would no less prefer to
choose to visit his tomb than to travel overseas to Jerusalem for the purpose of praying
to the Most High. *abundantly endowed by God with many miracles This was on account of the austerity of Simon’s life, in the haircloth
which he wore, for those who shared his quarters with him had made it known among some
of their more intimate friends that Simon used a shirt of hair, and so
Simon it was found out; ‘for there is nothing hidden which shall not be
revealed.’JRD: Luke 8: 17. Another reason was that he had taken in hand
the most righteous cause of defending the native-born people of England. There were
others who said, that if Simon had already died then for the sake of justice (as he
afterwards did), they would as readily go to his tomb to pray to God there, as to the
great shrine of the holy martyr Thomas in which he rests at Canterbury, /\ /afterwards\adorned with
many
very many
almost innumerable precious stones, *.JRD: Read ‘as to the great shrine of the holy martyr Thomas in which he rests at Canterbury, afterwards adorned with very many almost innumerable precious stones, abundantly endowed by God with many miracles.’ And so, this was
the kind of reasoning they would make for themselves when they talked with each other,
that Simon died for no less a just cause—the legitimate possessions of England—than had
Thomas died for in times past—for the lawful cause of the churches of England. Both of
them had died lawfully in their own day, clothed in the penance of haircloth—a penance
which sooner than any other leads a man to God—that they might the
more easily deserve to gain the clothing of eternal incorruptionJRD: Cf. 1
Cor. 15: 53. through the penitence which, justly inspired by God, they
willingly embraced for the sake of justice. After Simon’s descent into a precious death,
the Friars Minor, whom he had loved in religious manner, and who have themselves been
privy to the inmost thoughts of his heart in many respects, in in taking the subject
matter from his life out of his outstanding deeds an esteemed Historia about him, namely lections, responsories, verses, a hymn,JRD:
See A. G. Rigg, A History of Anglo-Latin Literature,
1066–1422 (Cambridge, 1992), p. 201. and the other things appropriate
to the glory and honour of one martyr. But while Edward remains alive it is expected
that this [office] shall not be solemnly sung in God’s Church sung.
Several who belittled this holy man after his death earned an ignominious death. One of
them was a canon of Alnwick, who, after he had excessively and unnecessarily denigrated
Simon one day (for [the relic of] his foot had not yet reached that monastery), the next
morning, when he had to rise from his bed, found no eye in his accursed head, for the
previous day he had falsely sworn ‘by God’s eyes’ that Simon was a traitor to the king
of England and his chief men; and so it is no wonder his eyes fell out of his head on
their own; divine vengeance was punishing him on Simon’s account; indeed, in place of
each eye there was found a deep
and ghastly hollow, and he died
suddenly the same day. John, the bishop of Glasgow, died in France at the city of Meaux,
where he was buried. In his place is elected William Wishart, the king’s chancellor.
While he was still the bishop-elect—Gamelin, bishop of St Andrews—having died, he was
elected to the bishopric of that saint. And Robert Wishart, his nephew, the archdeacon
of Lothian, became the elect of Glasgow, and was afterwards consecrated as bishop.
Another one truly accursed of the devil, who cut off the genitals of the holy man Simon,
two years after carrying out such a great crime died a most foul death in Scotland,
drowned in the great depth of the river Tay where it flows to the sea next to the noble
town of Perth; and when he had to be pulled out of the river there were found upon his
stomach two astonishingly horrible crabs, having their claws so firmly fixed in his
belly that they could barely be torn away. His unhappy corpse, taken out of the water,
was honoured with a horse’s burial, for in some places, such as in the region of
Agrigento, thoroughbred horses are buried ////according to their pedigree, and pyramids are erected as their tombs, as it is
shown in the 8th book of Pliny’s Natural
History, the 44th chapter. So I would say that the
unhappy man about whom I have just spoken received unworthily the honour of a horse’s
burial, seeing that he was inferior to the nobility of those horses that deserve a noble
resting place, concerning which it is said in the chapter just mentioned that the Divine
Emperor built a tomb for his horse, and a poem was composed about that horse. Likewise,
as it is shown there, King Alexander the Great, among the 12 Alexandrias which he
constructed, built one city with a name derived from his own, that is to say, called
Alexandria Bucefalia, with the name of his horse added, for his horse was called
Bucephalus, for which he performed funeral rites after it died. Thus the latter
Alexandria was called Bucephalia because Bucephalus, Alexander’s horse, was buried in
it; and that horse was well suited to such a burial, since it brought his lord Alexander
safe out of the most dire encounters in battles by his own initiative, as Solinus
recounts in his book on The Wonders of the World, in the 173rd chapter.JRD: De mirabilibus
mundi, c. 46, ed. Mommsen. This horse was taken with Alexander’s
beauty (although I think it was rather with affection) while Alexander was still a boy,
as it is shown in Pliny’s text (as above); and so I would be justified in saying that
his horse was taken with affection for Alexander as a boy, inasmuch as it threw off all
riders who mounted its back, except its own master, that is, Alexander that
it never deigned to carry anyone except its master, and there are many other
praiseworthy things in the chapters which I have mentioned above about the nature of
horses; for example, that they shed tears for the death of their masters. How loyal and
noble are horses! Again, when they lose their masters, whom they love, they freely die
by starvation. How affectionate is the friendship of horses! But for fear of being
over-wordy, I have left these things out. And so, having seen
(above) the honour bestowed upon horses, at their burial in places of honour, was it not an
occasion for indignation to see the one who cut off the genitals of a holy man buried in
such a beautiful field, when he ought rather to have been buried next to the gallows
where robbers and other evil-doers are accustomed to have their graves, if he was
unrepentant towards Simon?
John Mansel died overseas, in great
poverty and distress. This wretch had amassed such large ecclesiastical revenues that he
could expend 18 thousand marks out of them every year. Hence he turned down the greater
bishoprics of England, partly because he held an abundance of many of the richest
churches in plurality, and partly because he was lecherous. He said of one church with a
modest revenue, that is, 20 pounds, ‘That little church will do for our hounds,’ meaning
by this that the bran and meal and other things his dogs needed ought to be procured
from the income of that church. This person, as Simon’s opponent and the king’s chief
advisor, persuaded the king entirely to dismiss the oath he had made with the barons for
the preservation of England’s fealty; and that is how it came about. He was therefore
sent to the court of the supreme pontiff to petition for a dissolution so the king
should not be held to the oath sworn with the barons; and the royal entreaty quickly
gained the requested dissolution. For this reason the first war (which we have already
written about) was taken up against them after he had gained this dissolution. But alas
for the royal breach of faith! For the king had sworn that he would abide by the barons’
provisions in every respect, and the barons had also sworn to the king that they would
stand by the same provisions, made in faith for the king and his realm; but since the
king did not maintain his his oath, it was believed by many that on this
account the barons gained the victory over him, because they swore the faithful oath for
the salvation of the kingdom. Edward never granted his assent to this oath; and when he
was later in custody [Earl Simon] respectfully waiting on him at royal
banquets, used to say to him, ‘My lord Edward our service to you,’ to which
Edward was accustomed to respond being entirely ignorant that Simon was
thinking about the death to which he was going to submit beneath his sword. In those
days, a venerable man, Oliver, abbot of Dryburgh, was sent to Edward on behalf of the
queen of Scotland, Edward’s sister. When Simon learned of his arrival, he was led
to Edward, having left the canon who had come with him downstairs by
himself, for Edward was at that time housed in an upper room. Simon therefore climbed
each of the chamber’s stairs in front of the abbot, the abbot following him; and when he
had reached the one to whom he had been sent, and when greeting had been made, they sat
down together in a friendly way and talked to each other, with Simon standing in front
of them the whole time until they left one another. And as he stood there, he turned his
eyes neither to this place nor that, but observed them both with a constant gaze, lest
suspicious letters should be passed to Edward, or lest a sinister word should be spoken
by the abbot on the part of those who had sent him. And when they had spoken together
for as long as they wished, the abbot arose, and having asked permission, withdrew.
Simon followed him, fearing (perhaps as the abbot suspected) that if he left by walking
behind Simon, he might present a devious letter to Edward, into whose presence the abbot
had previously arrived (as we have said) following Simon, lest perhaps, if the abbot had
gone in front of him, he might secretly have given a letter of suspicious content by
tossing it to Edward. Such caution on Simon’s part was in fact very modest compared with
other greater precautions of his. Now I shall make an end of speaking about Simon; and
seeing that I have written nothing about him except what I have honestly received on
trust from trustworthy men (as I suppose), I rightfully ought not to fear the insults,
evil-speaking, or lies of any envious person against me on account of his life, which,
one way or another, has been clearly explained by me in the smallest matters and in some
lofty ones; and those who do not believe the reports of those men will by no means
believe Augustine when he says, in the 16th book of the City of God, at the 11th
chapter,JRD: R. W. Dyson (trans.), The City of God Against
the Pagans (Cambridge, 1998), xvi, 8, p. 709. that within the time of
his own memory there was one man with two heads, two chests, and four hands, but with
one stomach and two feet; and not Orosius either, who tells of a boy who had four feet
and four hands, with four eyes and as many ears, double the male organ, born of a
maid-servant, as it is shown in the 7th book of the Ormetista Mundi, at the 11th
chapter;JRD: I.e., Paulus Orosius, Historiarum aduersus
paganos libri vii, v, 6. See Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Zangemeister (ed.), Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 5 (Vienna,
1882). nor Pliny, in the 7th book and 5th chapter of the Natural
History,JRD: Pliny, Natural History, vii,
4. relating that a girl still with her parents became a boy, who by the
augurs’ command was deported to a desert island; nor likewise will they believe that an
infant returned into the womb of his own mother; nor still that 7 infants on one day
came out of the womb of one woman as it appears in the tenth book and 4th chapter;JRD: The reference seems in fact to be vii,
3. nor Isidore, in the 11th book of the Etymologies, at the 3rd
chapter,JRD: See Stephen A. Barney (trans.), The Etymologies
of Isidore of Seville (Cambridge, 2006), xi, 3. saying that some men
are born with teeth, some bearded, some white-haired, and that a calf was born from a
woman and that another woman gave birth to a serpent; nor besides will they believe that
an elephant gave birth to a serpent as it is found in the book of Pliny mentioned above
in the said chapter. Analogies of this kind having been produced against the liars on
Simon’s account, I ask that no one speak against him by way of
slanderous talk, lest one of the forms of retribution deservedly falls on the slanderer
for his slander by which several of Simon’s rivals at the time merited death. Earl Simon
was indeed descended from warriors and, not degenerating from them, was made in their
likeness (as it has been said above); the warrior passed in battle into death’s rest,
for the sake of justice, just as they too, in the cause of justice, died in battle; that
is, his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather, his great-great grandfather, and
his great-great-great grandfather.
Here ends the little work written about the noble Simon de Montfort.
JohnJRD: The entry ‘John of Edrom … chancellor of Scotland’ added later by the same scribe in a
lighter ink. Oblique lines to the left of the text link it to the annal for
1269. of Edrom, the lord abbot of Melrose, resigned his office of abbot; he was
succeeded by the lord Robert of Kenleith, a monk of Newbattle, who had
previously been abbot of Dunfermline, and chancellor of Scotland.
In the 1269th year of the Lord, that glorious
prince, the king of France, as he was sailing towards the Holy Land, was blown off his
intended course, towards a strange country, by the immense fury of the winds upon the
Sea of Greece;JRD: I.e., the sea to the south of the Italian peninsula. and
when he had landed there, discovering that it was the region of Barbary, he brought its
king under his control and besieged its chief city, a celebrated and most valiant place
having many inhabitants, and took possession of it. The king of France imposed upon that
city, called Tunis, and upon other cities of that region, the payment of a large annual
tribute. Its inhabitants worship the one God, the Most High—but not three persons—
and
therefore they were spared and not killed by the
French, seeing that they worship the one God, apart from the law of the Jews. There are
two bishops in that region. And so, after the region of Barbary had been made subject to
the king of France, while that same king was returning homewards in company with the
king of Navarre,JRD: Teobaldo II (1253–70). both of them died on the way;
and David, earl of Atholl, died with them on that expedition.JRD: David of
Strathbogie, eighth earl of Atholl, [https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/2247/](https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/2247/)
[accessed 16 May 2023]. Philip his son succeeded Louis as king.
Albin, bishop of Brechin, died, to whom succeeded friar William of
Kilconquhar, reader of the Friars Preachers of Perth. ¶The most pious King Louis, of
whom mention has already been made, built that famous monastery of the
Cistercian order, called Réalmont, not bestowing possessions to it in the manner ////of the founders of other monasteries, but continual
supplies of wheat, of wine, and of all other things necessary, to be received in the
most convenient places by the most trustworthy agents at particular times year by year,
in order that the monks of this place might dedicate themselves to God alone by all
means, and to the world by none.
Guy, the lord abbot of Newbattle,
resigned the government of his house, to which was appointed Waldef, a monk of Melrose,
who had been the cellarer of the same house Lora, countess of Atholl, died, and
was buried at Melrose.
John Balliol died. This dear friend of
scholars, on account of his love towards God, built a permanent house at Oxford,
allowing to each of the scholars every week 8 pence for their common table. ¶There is
another house for scholars there, better than that one; they receive a payment of 12
pence every week for their com
¶mons, from the gift of the bishop of Bath.
In the 1270th year of the Lord, the lord Edward, the
first-born son of the king of England and a knight most skilled in warfare, set out for
the Holy Land. On his arrival there he stayed in the citadel of the city of Acre and did
not set foot outside that city to perform any arduous exploits, except for one occasion
when he was led by a Christian scout who belonged to the sect of the Sulians, who are
Christians that live as hermits among the Saracens; and there is always peace between
them because they dwell in the wilderness, for all the Saracens and heathens revere all
hermits on account of their honour for that holy solitary John the Baptist, whom they
esteem and honour with the highest reverence because they triumphed in battle against
the Christians on his solemn feast day. Now, this Sulian came to Acre to report to
Edward that the inhabitants of a town called Qaqun had at this time gone forth with
their flocks and herds of cattle, as is the custom of that country, to put them to
pasture. They had gone to wooded places, where they had pitched their many tents; for
once a year the inhabitants of that city go together to such places for recreation and
the benefits of the fresh air; and they all return to the city together. Edward
therefore headed towards the tents of the holiday-makers who were three days’ journey
away from Acre. By day he hid in shady or wooded places, as he had been instructed by
the Sulian, for fear of the multitude of the heathen who could quickly overcome the
small number of Christians who were with him; for he had with him only a few
pilgrim-crusaders along with some choicer people from Acre. He was travelling by night,
therefore, so that the heathen would be deceived as long as they did not know the course
of his route. Arriving at the aforementioned place very early one morning, he discovered
the Saracens and their wives in bed with their little ones; and he killed them by the
edge of the sword asJRD: Ex. 17. 13, Num. 21. 24, Deut. 13. 15, etc.
enemies of the Christian faith. And after killing them, he took with him to Acre all
their herds and flocks, along with all their goods. And out of all the men who were with
him, he lost none except one esquire named Nicholas, who was the esquire of a knight who
came from Scotland whose name was Alexander of Seton. This esquire, on his horse, had
turned aside from the main body of the Christians to evacuate his bowels, carrying with
him on his back the shield belonging to his lord. He was immediately seized by a few
heathen who were living next to the road along which the Christians had just passed
completely unnoticed by
the heathen, whom the Christians would have
killed if they had come across them ; but since that day the Christians have
not seen that esquire whom the heathen carried off with them. Now, this glorious
soldier, the lord Edward, could have provided plentiful proof of his military prowess
over the heathen in those days, for at that time he was as the flower of the whole world
in the valour of his military exploits; that is, if he had been given the support of the
Christians; but the king of Sicily, named Charles, a traitor to the Christian people,
and the brother of King Louis of the French, had withdrawn them from him. The assistance
of several nations was taken away from Edward by this man, namely, that of Sicily,
Apulia, Calabria, and Italy, on account of Charles’s avarice; for he had obtained
extraordinarily great treasure from the heathen before Edward had arrived to expel them.
This treasure had been accepted on the understanding that the truce which the Saracens
were asking for, so that they could fortify themselves against the Christians, would be
granted to them by Charles. They therefore asked for a period of 15 years for the
construction of such fortification, and Charles freely granted it to them with a pledge
of security which he gave them himself, as they wished, by his
letters and the swearing of oaths. So Charles the traitor returned, followed by the
treasure he had wickedly obtained from that treacherous people stowed in a strong ship.
When the ship had been brought to a safe harbour near a Christian city, God’s vengeance
came down upon it because of the perfidiously obtained treasure, and right in the
harbour it was suddenly smashed ////by a great wave.
None of the accursed money was salvaged. Yet, by God’s merciful will, every man, as many
as were in the ship, escaped from it, and all were saved at that time. And so the ship
was lost. Charles should take care in case, being found outside the ship of the Church,
he himself be eternally lost. For the ship of the Church is the unity of the Church; and
Charles seems entirely to have departed from that unity when he preferred money against
Christ rather than war for Christ against Christ’s enemies. Afterwards that true
treasure of Christ, the lord Edward, returned from the Holy Land; he had given up the
war against the heathen which he was no longer able to carry on because of the lack of
Christians. He resolved, however, that he would never return to his own country until he
had, in so far as he was able, put the heathen to shame, provided he could
obtain the help of Christendom. But he heard of the death of his father, the most worthy
King Henry, who had always directed the government of England in peace and tranquillity
until he was badly advised (being a boorish man, though religious) by unsuitable
counsellors, among whom his own wife, Queen Eleanor, held the first place; for he
allowed several wars to be waged against the barons of his kingdom. Edward was then of
necessity required to return home to be crowned, being entitled to succeed his father in
the kingdom as the lawful heir. Adam of Kilconquhar, earl of Carrick, died at
Acre; whose wife, the countess of Carrick, Robert Bruce the younger afterwards
¶made his own bride.
Since it would be improper to pass over
in silence the way in which Edward, that most valiant youth in the world, that renowned
soldier of Christ, saved himself by the aid of the Most High from being slain by a
formidable Saracen: it is fitting that my pen should hurry back to him once again. A
certain section of the treacherous Saracen people who dwelt near Acre, assuming that the
lord Edward was one of the most mighty of all Christian soldiers, despatched a wealthy
and powerful emir to him, a man well endowed with lands. When he had come to him under
the pretence of a diplomatic mission, being an official but secret messenger, besides
with had no in guile in his heart,