the king and his brother proceeded with the army: and when king Malcolm heard that they sought to attack him, he marched with his array out of Scotland into Lothian in England, and remained there. And when king William approached, earl Robert and Edgar etheling mediated a peace between the kings, on condition that king Malcolm should repair to our king, and become his vassal, and in all the like subjection as to his father before him; and this he confirmed by oath. And king William promised him all the lands and possessions that he held under his father. peace Edgar etheling was reconciled to the king. And the kings separated in great friendship, but this lasted during a short time only. Earl Robert abode here with the king till Christmas drew near, and in this time he found little good faith as to the fulfilment of the treaty, and two days before the feast he took ship from the Isle of Wight and sailed to Normandy, and Edgar etheling with him.

By this

A. 1092. This year king William went northward to Carlisle with a large army, and he repaired the city, and built the castle. And he drove out Dolfin, who had before governed that country; and having placed a garrison in the castle, he returned into the south, and sent a great number of rustic Englishmen thither, with their wives and cattle, that they might settle there and cultivate the land.

A. 1093. This year, in Lent, king William was very sick at Gloucester, insomuch that he was universally reported to be dead: and he made many good promises in his illness; that he would lead his future life in righteousness-that the churches of God he would guard and free-and never more sell them for money-and that he would have all just laws in his kingdom. And he gave the archbishopric of Canterbury, which he had hitherto kept in his own hands, to Anselm, who was before this abbat of Bec, and the bishopric of Lincoln to his chancellor Robert; and he granted lands to many monasteries, but afterwards, when recovered, he took them back, and he neglected all the good laws that he had promised us. After this the king of Scotland sent desiring that the stipulated conditions might be performed; and king William summoned him to Gloucester, and sent hostages to him in Scotland, and afterwards Edgar etheling and others met him, and brought him with much honour to the court.

But when he came there, he could neither obtain a conference with our king nor the performance of the conditions formerly promised him, and therefore they departed in great enmity and king Malcolm returned home to Scotland, and as soon as he came thither, he assembled his troops and invaded England, ravaging the country with more fury than behoved him: and Robert, earl of Northumberland, with his men, lay in wait for him, and slew him unawares. He was killed by Moral of Bambrough, the earl's steward, and king Malcolm's own godfather:* his son Edward, who, had he lived, would have been king after his father, was killed with him. When the good queen Margaret heard that her most beloved lord, and her son, were thus cut off, she was grieved in spirit unto death, and she went with her priest into the church, and having gone through all befitting rites, she prayed of God that she might give up the ghost. And then the Scots chose† Dufenal, the brother of Malcolm, for their king, and drove out all the English who had been with king Malcolm. When Duncan, the son of king Malcolm, heard all this, for he was in king William's court, and had remained here from the time that his father gave him as an hostage to our king's father, he came to the king, and did such homage as the king required; and thus, with his consent, he departed for Scotland, with the aid that he could muster, both English and French, and he deprived his kingman Dufenal of the throne, and was received as king. But then some of the Scotch again gathered themselves together, and slew nearly all his men, and he himself escaped with few others. They were afterwards reconciled on this condition, that Duncan should never more bring English or Frenchmen into that country.

A. 1094. This year, at Christmas, king William held his

* Ingram translates the original "godsib" baptismal friend, and adds the following note, "literally a gossip; but such are the changes which words undergo in their meaning as well as in their form, that a title of honour, formerly implying a spiritual relationship in God, is now applied only to those whose conversation resembles the contemptible tittle-tattle of a christening:-Gibson translates it a susceptor,' i. e. an undertaker."

"From this expression it is evident, that though preference was naturally and properly given to hereditary claims, the monarchy of Scotland, as well as of England, was in principle elective. The doctrine of hereditary, of divine, of indefeasible right, is of modern growth."-INGRAM.

court at Gloucester; and there came messengers to him out of Normandy, from his brother Robert, and they said that his brother renounced all peace and compact if the king would not perform all that they had stipulated in the treaty; moreover they called him perjured and faithless unless he would perform the conditions, or would go to the place where the treaty had been concluded and sworn to, and there clear himself. Then at Candlemas the king went to Hastings, and whilst he waited there for a fair wind, he caused the monastery on the field of battle* to be consecrated; and he took the staff from Herbert Losange, † bishop of Thetford. After this, in the middle of Lent, he went over sea to Normandy. When he came thither he and his brother, earl Robert, agreed that they would meet in peace, and they did so, to the end that they might be reconciled. But afterwards, when they met, attended by the same men who had brought about the treaty, and had sworn to see it executed, these charged all the breach of faith upon the king; he would not allow this, neither would he observe the treaty, on which they separated in great enmity. And the king then seized the castle of Bures, and took the earl's men who were in it, and he sent some of them over to this country. And on the other hand the earl, with the assistance of the king of France, took the castle of Argences, in which he seized Roger the Poitou and seven hundred of the king's soldiers; and he afterwards took the castle of Hulme; and frequently did each burn the towns and take captive the people of his rival. Then the king sent hither and ordered out 20,000 Englishmen to aid him in Normandy, but when they reached the sea they were desired to return, and to give to the king's treasury the money that they had received; this was half a pound for each man, and they did so. And in Normandy, after this, the earl, with the king of France, and all the troops that they could collect, marched towards Eu, where king William then was, purposing to besiege him therein, and thus they proceeded until they came to Lune

Battle Abbey.

+ Commonly called Herbert de Losinga. His letters are of much historical interest: they were supposed to be lost, until they were recently discovered by Robert Anstruther in the Brussels library, and published 8vo, Bruxellis, apud Vandale, et Londini apud D. Nutt.

ville, and there the king of France turned off through treachery, and on this the whole army dispersed. In the meantime king William sent for his brother Henry, who was in the castle of Damfront, and because he could not pass through Normandy in security, he sent ships for him, with Hugo, earl of Chester. And when they should have made for Eu, where the king was, they directed their course instead to England, and landed at Hampton* on the eve of All Saints' day; and they then remained in this country, and were in London at Christmas.

The same year also the Welsh gathered themselves together, and made war upon the French in Wales, or in the neighbouring parts, where they had been before deprived of their lands, and they stormed many fortresses and castles, and slew the men, and afterwards their numbers increased so much, that they divided themselves into many bodies; Hugo, earl of Shropshire, fought with one division and put it to flight, but nevertheless the others abstained not, during the whole year, from committing every outrage in their power. This year also the Scots conspired against their king Duncan, and slew him, and they afterwards took his uncle Dufenal a second time for their king; through whose instructions and instigation Duncan had been betrayed to his death.

A. 1095. This year king William was at Whitsand during the first four days of Christmas, and after the fourth day he set sail and landed at Dover. And the king's brother Henry remained in this country till Lent, and then he went over sea to Normandy, with much treasure to be employed in the king's service against their brother, earl Robert and he gained ground upon the earl continually, and did much damage to his lands and subjects. Then at Easter the king held his court at Winchester, and Robert earl of Northumberland would not repair thither; therefore the king's anger was greatly stirred up against him, and he sent to him, and sternly commanded that if he would remain in peace he should come to his court at Pentecost. This year Easter fell on the 8th before the Kalends of April, and after Easter,

*Now called Southampton, to distinguish it from Northampton; but the common people, in both neighbourhoods, generally say " Hampton" to this day. INGRAM.

on the night of the feast of St. Ambrose, the 2nd before the Nones of April, there was seen all over the country a great multitude of stars falling from heaven during nearly the whole of the night, not one or two at a time, but so thickly that no man might number them. After this, at Pentecost, the king was at Windsor, and all his witan with him, excepting the earl of Northumberland, for the king would neither give hostages nor pledge his troth that he should come and go in security. On this the king called out an army, and marched against the earl into Northumberland, and as soon as he came thither he seized almost all the chief men of the earl's court in a certain fortress, and he put them in confinement. And he besieged Tinmouth castle until he took it, and there he seized the earl's brother, and all who were with him: thence he proceeded to Bambrough, and there he besieged the earl; and when the king found that he could not reduce him, he caused a castle to be built over against Bambrough, and called it in his speech, Malveisin, which is in English, "the evil neighbour," and he garrisoned it strongly, and afterwards he departed southward. Then one night, soon after the king's return into the south, the earl went out of Bambrough towards Tinmouth: but those in the new castle, being aware of his design, pursued and attacked him, and they wounded him, and afterwards took him prisoner, and some of his followers were slain, and some taken alive. In the meantime the king was told that the Welsh had stormed a certain castle in Wales, called Montgomery, and had slain earl Hugo's men who defended it; on this he commanded another army to be called out in haste, and after Michaelmas he proceeded into Wales. He divided his forces, and his troops made their way through all parts of the country, and met at Snowdon, on All Saints' day. But the Welsh ever fled before him to the mountains and moors, so that no man could get near them, and the king at length returned homewards, because he could do no more there that winter. When the king came back, he commanded his people to take Robert earl of Northumberland, and lead him to Bambrough, and to put out both his eyes, unless the besieged would surrender the castle, which was defended by his wife, and his steward Morel, who was also his kinsman. On this, the castle was given up, and Morel was received at William's court; and