Page:The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Giles).djvu/208

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THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE.
A.D. 1123, 1124.

him his pall, and the archbishop swore obedience in all things that he should impose, on the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the pope then sent him home with his blessing. Whilst the archbishop was abroad, the king gave the bishopric of Bath to the queen's chancellor, named Godfrey; he was of Louvain: this was done at Woodstock on the Annunciation of St. Mary. Soon afterwards the king went to Winchester, where he remained during the festival of Easter; and while there he gave the bishopric of Lincoln to a clerk named Alexander, who was a nephew of the bishop of Salisbury, and he did this all for love of that bishop. Then the king proceeded to Portsmouth, and stayed there over Pentecost week; and as soon as he had a fair wind he sailed for Normandy, having committed all England to the care and administration of Roger bishop of Salisbury. The king was in Normandy all this year, and a great war broke out between him and his thanes, for earl Waleram of Mellent, and Amalric, and Hugh of Montfort, and William of Romare, and many others revolted from him and held their castles against him; and the king on his part opposed them with vigour, and the same year he won from Waleram his castle of Pont-Audemer, and from Hugh that of Montfort, and after this his affairs continued to prosper more and more. The same year, before the bishop of Lincoln came to his see, nearly the whole town of Lincoln was burnt, with a great number of persons, both men and women, and so much harm was done that no man could tell another how great the damage was. This happened on the fourteenth before the Kalends of June.

A. 1124. All this year king Henry was in Normandy, being detained there by his great wars with Louis king of France, and the earl of Anjou, and with his own subjects most of all. Then it befell on the day of the annunciation of St. Mary, that Waleram earl of Mellent was going from one of his castles called Beaumont, to another, Watteville, and Amalric the steward of the king of France, and Hugh the son of Gervais, and Hugh of Montfort, and many other good knights went with him. Then the king's knights from all the neighbouring castles came against them, and fought with them, and put them to flight, and they took the earl Waleram, and Hugh the son of Gervais, and Hugh of Montfort, and