church was burned, with all that was in it. Thus was the monastery of Peterborough burned and pillaged. May Almighty God have pity on it in his great mercy: and thus the Abbot Turold came to Peterborough, and the monks returned thither and performed christian worship in the church, which had stood a full week without service of any kind. When Bishop Ægelric heard this, he excommunicated all the men who had done this evil. There was a great famine this year; and this summer the fleet from the Humber sailed into the Thames, and lay there two nights, and it afterwards held on its course to Denmark. And Earl Baldwin died, and his son Arnulf succeeded him; and Earl William (Fitz Osbern) and the French King should have been his support: but Earl Robert came and slew his kinsman Arnulf, and the Earl; and put the King to flight, and slew many thousands of his men. * * * * * “In the second year after Lanfranc’s consecration he went to Rome. Pope Alexander so greatly honoured him, that contrary to his custom he rose to meet him, and gave him two palls in token of especial favour: Lanfranc received one of them from the altar after the Roman manner, and the Pope, with his own hands, gave him the other, in which he himself had been accustomed to perform mass. In the presence of the Pope, Thomas brought forwards a calumny touching the primacy of the see of Canterbury, and the subjection of certain Bishops. Lanfranc briefly and clearly states the conclusion to which this affair was afterwards brought in England, in an epistle to the aforesaid Pope Alexander. This year a general council was held at Winchester, in which he deposed Wulfric Abbot of the new monastery, and made many regulations touching Christian discipline. A few days afterwards, he consecrated Osbern at London as Bishop of Exeter, and Scotland at Canterbury as Abbot of St. Augustine’s. “In his 3d year he consecrated Peter at Gloucester as Bishop of Litchfield or Chester. This year also a great council was held at a place called Pinenden (Pinnenden or Pinchenden Heath, near Maidstone), in which Lanfranc proved that he and his church held their lands and their rights by sea and by land, as freely as the King held his: excepting in three cases: to wit, if the highway be dug up; if a tree be cut so as to fall upon it; and if murder be committed and blood spilt: when a man is taken in these misdeeds, the fine paid shall belong to the King; otherwise their vassals shall be free from regal exactions. “In his 4th year he consecrated Patrick at London as Bishop of Dublin, in Ireland, from whom he received a profession of obedience, and he moreover gave him very memorable letters to the Kings of Ireland. “In his 5th year a general council was held at London, the proceedings of which Lanfranc committed to writing, at the request of many.