omnia promtissime se facturum pollicitans coronam etiam regni sub pedibus
legati pone
ndam exibuit. Per omnia benedictus Deus fortis ⁊ potens qui
superbiencium colla sibi subiu
gare ⁊ obduratorum corda nouit cum uoluerit ad
penitentiam uocare. Rex tamen non dum
intelligens se nomen regium, ⁊ pristine
dignitatis honorem amisisse ▬ sepe dictum
P’
simplicem crudeli morte interimi precepit, quod amarissime postmodum se fecisse
pe
nituit, ut inferius declarabitur. ¶Commissum est prelium campestre inter
Philippum regem
Francie, ⁊ Othonem quondam imperatorem Alemannie, die dominica
proxima post festum Sancti Iacobi
eo anno vi kal’ Augus’. In Flandriis, inter
Tornacum ⁊ pontem de Bouines. In illo autem conflic
tu prout scripsit dompnus H’
abbas de Vrsicampo, dompno A’ abbati Cisterciensi capti sunt ex parte
Othonis,
comes Flandrie, comes Bolonie, comes Sale\s/birie, comes de
Tenekebroc, comes Pilosus.
Capti sunt etiam barones ⁊ baronum filii de Flandria,
de Alemania, meliores ⁊ nobiliores omnes
milites egregii in acie prouocantes quos
ipse abbas numerando nominauit, fere sepcies xxti. Ex
parte Othonis erant xxxm equitum ⁊ ccm peditum, numerus militum captorum cctixxti. Interfectorum militum
lxx peditum interfectorum
iiiama. De Francis autem
tres milites tantum. De rege autem Francie uerum est
quod de equo deiectus corruit
inter inimicos suos crudelissimos qui nichil aliud siciebant quam
eius sanguinem.
Sed diuina miseratione ⁊ ut ipse postmodum confessus est Cisterciensis ordinis apud Deum
intercessione protectus, ⁊ uirtute militum suorum quorum quidam super corpus
ipsius interfici se permiserunt,in equum
suum reiectus
illesus euasit. Nec pretereundum est de comite de Bolonie, cuius seditione totum
bellum iniciatum est, quod cum coram rege Francie prostratus ueniam precaretur, ⁊
dicer
et se nichil in regem deliquisse ad hoc uerbum rex indignatus exprobrauit ei
omnia
beneficia que illi sepe contulerat, ⁊ quomodo semper mala pro bonis ipse
reddiderat, ⁊ fremens
in eum tace inquit, quia per ossa Sancti Iacobi faciam tibi
oculos erui, ⁊ scies quia me uiuente
de carcere non exibis. Iuramento etiam
custodes constrinxit, quod nec propter mandatum, nec
propter litteras redderent
eum nisi in manibus eius. Denique in trunco grandi fecit duas ca
tenas grossas ⁊
grandes infigi, quibus ligatus comes uelit nolit factus est Perrone castellanus.
Anno moccoxvo dompnus Conradus abbas Clareuallis
uisitationis sue gratia in Angli
am \ad/uenit, ubi satis rigide se continuit, necnon ⁊ in
filiabus domibus suis ob or
dinis rigorem multa dura ⁊ aspera constituit obseruanda.
¶Dompnus Helyas abbas
Rieuallis suo cessit officio, cui successit dompnus Henricus
abbas de Wardona vi idus April’.
¶Electus est in abbatem de Wardona dompnus
Rogerus magister conuersorum eiusdem domus iii k’ Maii.
¶Intrauerunt in Moreuiam
hostes domini regis Scocie scilicet Douenaldus \Ban/
filius macWillelmi
⁊ Kennauh mac Aht ⁊ filius cuiusdam
regis Hybernie cum turba malignantium copi
osa. In quos irruens Machentagar hostes
regis ualide prostrauit, quorum capita detruncauit,
& nouo regi noua munera
presentauit xvii k’ Iulii, propter quod dompnus rex nouum
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