Ecce rei veritas de convenientiâ Wellensis ecclesiæ quam venerandæ memoriæ Gyso scriptam reliquit.a Qui, cum annos circiter xxviij. in cathedrâ pontificali sedisset, decurso dierum suorum circulo, obdormivit in Domino, et sepultus est in ecclesiâ quam rexerat, in emiciclo facto in pariete a parte aquilonali prope altare, sicut Duduco prædecessor ejus sepultus est a meridie juxta altare.

Ipsi vero Gysoni successit JOHANNES, natione Turonensis, vir prudens et providus. Qui cum Rex excellentissimus Willielmus senior, qui xxij. annis regnaverat, fine laudabili vitam conclusisset, et Willielmus junior filius ejus pro eo regnaret, consecratus est episcopus in Julio, et statim cathedram Pontificis transtulit de Wellâ Bathoniæ. Nam cum in multis et magnis obsequendo Regis familiaritatem optineret, impetravit ab ipso, sibi, civitatem Bathoniæ; et non multo post, hæreditatem Hugelonis cum Barbâ, lx. libras valentem, ab eo mercatus est; et ex hiis episcopatum adauxit. Quo facto, quum episcopus putabat sibi licere episcopatum ex parte minuere, quem ex parte auxerat, partem reddia reliquid.

Behold, now you have the truth concerning the settlement of the possessions (28) of the church of Wells which Gyso of venerable memory left in writing. He, when he had sat about twenty-eight years in the episcopal chair, the circle of his days being completed, slept in the Lord, and was buried in the church which he had governed, in a little niche made in the wall, on the north side near the altar, (29) as Duduco his predecessor was buried on the south side of the altar.

To Gyso succeeded JOHN, by birth a man of Tours, prudent and provident; who when the life of the most excellent King William the elder who had reigned twenty-two years had come to a praiseworthy end, and William the younger his son reigned in his stead, was consecrated bishop in the month of July, and immediately transferred the episcopal seat from Wells to Bath. For, having been employed by the King in many and great affairs, and having in consequence grown into familiarity with him, he begged of the King for himself the city of Bath,(30) and not long after he purchased the inheritance of Hugelo cum Barba (31) for sixty pounds. With these he enriched the bishopric. Having done this, the bishop thought that as he had increased the revenues of the church in one direction, so he might be at liberty to diminish them in

tuum ecclesiæ Welliæ contra canones distraxit, et Heldeberto dapifero suo distribuit redditus ecclesiæ equiperantes xxx. libras et ultra. Domicilliis quoque canonicorum quas Gyso venerabilis construxerat, refectorio scilicet et dormitorio, necnon et cellario, et aliis officinis necessariis, cum claustro, dirutis, canonici foras ejecti, coacti sunt cum populo communiter vivere; quos Gyso docuerat regulariter et religiosè cohabitare. Set cum Dei misericordia, quæ super omnes est et in omnibus, illum respiceret, sicut scriptum est Quos Deus prædestinavit hos et vocavit, et quos vocavit hos et justificavit,' pœnitentiâ ductus de sacrilegio perpetrato, respuit et pœnituit, et poenitentiam suam scriptam reliquit.b Johannes vero Archidiaconus terras quas pater suus [obtinuerat] per hæreditatem, et præposituram canonicorum, nichilominus sibi usurpavit. Sedit autem Johannes episcopus circiter xxxvj. annos, et in pace quievit iij. kalendas Januarii, et sepultus est in ecclesiâ Bathoniæ ante altare beatæ Mariæ.

Cui successit GODEFRIDUS natione quidem Thetonicus, nobili genere ortus, vir mansuetus et pius; cujus toto tempore Johannes

a reliquid.

another, and he accordingly took a portion of the rents of the church of Wells against the will of the canons and gave them to Heldebert his steward, to the value of thirty pounds and more. Also the houses of the canons which the venerable Gyso had built, as the refectory, the dormitory and the pantry, and other buildings having been destroyed by him, together with the cloister itself, the canons whom Gyso had taught to live together regularly and religiously, were turned out of doors to live in common among the people. But when the mercy of God, which is over all and in all, was directed upon him (according as it is written 'Whom God hath pre-destinated those also he hath called, and those whom he hath called those he has justified') being led to repentance for the sacrilege of which he had been guilty, he wished undone what he had done, and left a written evidence of his penitence. (32) But John, the Archdeacon, nevertheless asserted for himself a right to the lands of his father by inheritance, and to the provostship of the canons. (33) John the Bishop sat about thirty-six years, and dying in peace on the third of the calends of January was buried in the church of Bath before the altar of the Blessed Mary.

To him succeeded GODFREY, a German by birth, sprung from a noble family, a man

Archidiaconus terras canonicorum, quas injustè usurpaverat, tenuit et tenere non destitit: ita quod aliquatenus episcopus, licet quæstionem inde sæpius movisset,a terras optinere nequivit. Sed neque judicium vel justitiam habere potuit, obstantibus Rege Henrico et Rogero episcopo Sar', quippe cum ipsi b causam Johannis licet injustam fovere non desisterent. Episcopus vero, cum xiij. annis sedisset in episcopio, factus est de medio in angusto, et sepultus in ecclesiâ Bathoniæ juxta altare a parte aquilonali. Johannes vero Archidiaconus, correptus infirmitate, statim exinde pœnitentiâ ductus, hæredi suo et fratri Reynaldo postea præcentori Welliæ mandavit, quatinus animam patris sui et suam [dilexit] et se ipsum a pœnis inferni liberaret, ut c desisteret sibi vendicare terras canonicorum.

Nec mora post, Henrico Rege decedente, et Rege Stephano succedente, suscepit ROBERTUS episcopatum Bathoniæ. Iste Robertus monachus cœnobii de Lewes, quem bonæ memoriæ Henricus episcopus Wynton' quomodo illinc acceperat et Glaston' miserat, uti rebus abbatiæ disponeret, claris parentibus exstitit oriundus, vir religiosus, et omnibus omnia factus. Qui cum sedem b ipse.

a monuisset.

cet.

gentle and pious; during the whole of whose time John the Archdeacon continued to hold the lands of the canons which he had unjustly usurped, nor could the bishop obtain them, though he made some efforts to do so. But neither judgment nor justice could he obtain, being opposed both by King Henry and by Roger then Bishop of Salisbury, for they always favoured the cause of John, unjust as it was. But this Bishop, when he had sat thirteen years, passed from the world to the grave (?) and was buried in the church of Bath near the altar on the north side. But John the Archdeacon, being seized with sickness, was led at length to repentance, and charged his brother and heir Reginald, who was afterwards precentor of Wells, as he loved the soul of his father and his own soul, and would free himself from the pains of hell, he should desist from asserting a right to the canons' lands.

Immediately on the death of Henry the King, and the succession of Stephen, ROBERT became Bishop of Bath. This Robert was a monk of Lewes, whom Henry, Bishop of Winchester, of worthy memory, had somehow taken thence and sent to Glaston, that he might put the affairs of the abbey in order. (34) He was descended of illustrious

episcopii concendisset, et res et terras ecclesiæ Welliæ flebiliter et injustè distractas invenisset, Johanne Archidiacono jam defuncto et Præposito, terras ecclesiæ sic destructas et districtas et ecclesiæ sullatas, consilio et auxilio illustris Regis Stephani et venerabilis episcopi Henrici, sedis apostolicæ tunc legati, conservavit et canonicis resignavit: et quibus Johannes Præpositus nichil nisi lx. solidos annuos solverat, episcopus unicuique c. solidos annuos assignavit. Et Reynoldus, qui quasi hæres videbatur, accepto fratris mandato, Bathoniam veniens in manum [R] clarissimæ memoriæ, quem jam tunc invenit episcopum, terras et redditus canonicorum quos injustè pater et frater suus usurpaverant refutavit, et præcentor ecclesiæ Welliæ effectus est, episcopo donante ei præcentoriam et præbendam et totum manerium de Cumbe cum pertinentiis. Addendum est etiam, quod ipse ecclesiam beati Petri apostoli de Bathoniâ magnis cum expensis construi fecit. Capitulum quoque et claustrum, dormitorium et refectorium, et infirmatorium b nichilominus edificari fecit. Porro non est oblivioni tradendum, quod ecclesia Wellia suo consilio fabricata est, et bfirmatorium.

a

refutante.

parents, a religious man, and expert in business. He, when he had ascended the episcopal seat and found the lands and goods of the church of Wells woefully and unjustly torn away, John the Archdeacon and Provost being then dead, the lands thus torn away he got together, and restored to the canons, being in this counselled and assisted by the illustrious King Stephen and the venerable Bishop Henry, at that time the legate of the apostolic see; and while John the Provost had paid to them no more than sixty shillings annually, the Bishop assigned to each of them an annual pension of one hundred shillings. And Reginald, who was in one sense the heir, according to the injunction left by his brother, repaired to Bath, and there resigned into the hands [of Robert] of renowned memory, whom then he found bishop, the land and rent of the canons, on whom his father and his brother had unjustly usurped. He was made precentor of the church of Wells, the Bishop conferring on him the precentorship (35), and, as a prebend, the whole manor of Combe, with its appurtenances. It is also to be added that the same bishop built, at a great expense, the church of the blessed Peter the Apostle at Bath. (36) He built also a chapter-house and cloister, dormitory, refectory and infirmary. Nor ought it to be forgotten that the church of Wells was

auxilio. Et factum est, cum perfecta esset ecclesia Welliæ ab eodem domino Welliæ, ascitis sibi et adjunctis grandis et præclaræ memoriæ tribus pontificibus, G.a Sar' et S. domino Wygorn', Roberto domino Herefordiæ, consecravit et dedicavit ipsam ecclesiam. A quibus omnibus statim factâ dedicatione, magnum mirificum et memorandum collatum est donativum; videlicet quod singulis annis in die dedicationis anniversario, ipsis Dei misericordiâ confisis concedentibus, c. dies de pœnitentiâ suâ relaxantur pœnitentibus ipsâ die ad eandem, ad honorem Dei, venientibus.

Decanatum etiam in ecclesiâ constituit, et decanum et præcentorem primos ordinavit. Duas etiam præbendas apposuit, ecclesiam Jattona et Hywys cum ecclesiâ de Cumtonâ; quarum et aliarum distinctionem et ordinationem cum fecisset, in memoriam perpetuam cartam inde scripsit; quam etiam dominus Papa confirmavit. Nec est etiam cum silentio prætereundum, quod cum ab antiquo Wellensis ecclesiæ Pontifices, in curiâ Romanâ, et in registris, et scriptis a curiâ missis, Pontifices Fontanenses' dicerentur, et tunc postquam cathedra translata fuit Bathoniæ, et

& H.

was built by his counsel and assistance. And so it was, that when the church of Wells was finished, the Bishop associated with him three other bishops, Gosceline Bishop of Salisbury, Simon Bishop of Worcester, and Robert Bishop of Hereford, who consecrated and dedicated the said church; who as soon as the work was accomplished, all joined in conferring a great, wonderful, and memorable favour; namely, that in every year on the anniversary of the dedication, to those trusting in the mercy of God, being penitent, and coming on that day to the said church to the honour of God, one hundred days of their penance should be released. He also established the office of dean in the church, and ordained the first dean(37) and precentor(38), assigning to them two prebends, the church of Yatton, (39) and Hywys (40) and the church of Compton; (41) of which churches, and of others, when he had made the distribution and ordination, he prepared a charter of it for perpetual memory, which the Pope confirmed. Nor is it to be passed over in silence, that, whereas from early times the Bishops of the church of Wells in the court of Rome, and in the registers, and in writings sent from the court, were called 'Pontifices Fontanenses,' and so continued to be named after the episcopal seat was transferred to Bath, the Bishop of whom we speak obtained CAMD. SOC. 8.

E