Manuscript: Faustina B. IX

Anno Domini moccoxvii consecratus est Ricardus de Marisco in episcopum Dunelmensem.
Eodem anno, mense Iulio, factum est nauale bellum inter Franciam ⁊ Angliam
nostris temporibus inauditum. Commorante enim in Lundoniis domino Laodowico cum
magna militum multitudine, ne aliquod subsidium de Francia eidem adueniret
Anglici portus omnes occupauerant, ⁊ marina littora districtissime custodiebant.
Franci uero in manu ualida, ⁊ nauium multitudine copiosa uenientes, uice pri
ma in maris medio uictoriam adepti optatum litus possederunt. Sed uice uer
sa deo disponente congregatis undique nautis ⁊ nauibus iterum in medio maris
adinuicem obuiantes, congressione facta Anglici uictoriam optinuerunt, ⁊ ar
chipiratam Francorum, Eustachium monachum appellatum, cum aliis innumeris oc
ciderunt, quorum cadauera piscibus maris sepelienda commiserunt, quorum exequias
marine belue celebrauerunt. Nobiliores autem recinentes in firma custodia sub
spe pacis ⁊ concordie firmioris conseruabant. Nomina uero potentum1 qui ibidem cap
ti sunt hec sunt, Robertus de Curtenei, Willelmus de Baris, Radulfus de Tornellis, Willelmus de Inchri,
Willelmus de Pessei, Per\v/n2 de Iohanris, Thomas de Cusei, Aelradus de Croizillis, Anselmus de Ro
moym, Gallonus de Munteni, Neuellunus de Araz, Willelmus de Mariscis, ⁊ alii multi.
Summa captorum militum sexcies viginti, ⁊ v. Seruientes equitum septies xx ⁊ vi.
Balestarii, xxxiii. Seruientes peditum octingenti ⁊ xxxiii. Hanc summam ⁊ nomina
potentum scripsit dompnus R’ abbas de Wardonia, dompno Willelmo abbati Rieuallis.
Fundata est abbat\i/a de Kilinros a domino Malcolmo comite de Fif,
ad quam abbatiam missus est conuentus vii k’ Marcii, de Kinlos, cum
dompno Hugone, primo abbate de Kilinros quondam priore de Kinlos. Ve
nit ergo idem conuentus apud Kilinros xv k’ Aprilis.
Missi sunt in Angliam archiepiscopus de Suris, ⁊ abbates, Cistercii, ⁊ Clareuallis,
vt pacem inter Laodowicum, ⁊ Henricum, nouum regem Anglie reformarent.
Dicti autem abbates contra G’ cardinalem ad sedem apostolicam pro statu ordinis sui
appellauerunt, eo quod contra priuilegia sibi a sede apostolica concessa, procura
tiones ab ordine Cisterciensi, per exactionem idem legatus exigebat, ⁊ monachorum
monasteria sub interdicto ponebat, tam abbates quam conuentus suspende
bat, ⁊ excommunicatos denunciabat, nec non ⁊ publice ante fores ecclesiarum
eo quod werrantibus communicauerant, accepto a singulis iuramento standi
iudicio ecclesie, ⁊ mandatis domini pape ⁊ ipsius super nudam carnem discipli
nari faciebat, ⁊ communes penas abbatibus ⁊ conuentibus iniungens uix
absolutionis gratiam indulsit. Contra ipsum ergo ut dictum est tam crudeliter
aduersus ordinem Cisterciensis, se gerentem appellauerunt, sed ea uice gratiam non

Notes

1 JRD: Read potentium.
2 JRD: Originally written Peren.
In the 1217th year of the Lord, Richard Marsh1 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.2 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’,3 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,4 Guillaume des Barres,5 Raoul de la Tournelle,6 William de Inchri, William de Poissy, Perun de Johanris, Thomas de Coucy,7 Aelrad de Croisilles, Anselm de Romoyni, Gallon de Mont Cenis, Nivelon d’Arras,8 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;9 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.10 The same convent therefore arrived at Culross on 18 March.
The archbishop of Tyre11 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.

Notes

1 JRD: 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 [accessed 11 April 2023].
2 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.
3 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 [accessed 11 April 2023].
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
7 JRD: Son of Raoul de Coucy, and was lord of Vervins.
8 JRD: Son of the bailiff of Arras.
9 JRD: Máel Coluim, fifth earl of Fife, https://www.poms.ac.uk/record/person/782/ [accessed 16 May 2023].
10 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.
11 JRD: Simon of Maugastel, 1217–27.