[631] The coincidence of language between these two passages, beginning respectively "eodem tempore" and "eodem anno," ought to be noticed, for it has been overlooked by Mr. Howlett in his valuable edition of William of Newburgh for the Rolls Series, though he notes those on p. 34 before it, and on p. 48 after it, in his instructive remarks on the indebtedness of William of Newburgh to others (p. xxvi.). [632] "Vir iste nobilis, cæteris in pace recedentibus, solus, rege jubente, fraudulenter comprehensus, et, ne abiret, custodibus designatis, detentus est" (_Mon. Ang._, iv. 142). [633] "Ne regia majestas turpi proditionis opprobio infamaretur." [634] "Milites autem beati Albani, qui tunc, ad ecclesiæ ejus custodiam et villæ fossatis circumdatæ, ipsum vicum, qui juxta cænobium est, inhabitabant, ipsi regi in faciem viriliter restiterunt, donec ecclesiæ, quam quidam ex regiis ædituis violaverant, satisfecisset ipse rex, et ejus temerarii invasores.... Et hoc fecit rex contra jusjurandum, quod fecerat apud Sanctum Albanum, et contra statuta concilii nuper, eo consentiente, celebrati" (Mathew Paris, _Historia Anglorum_, i. 271). [635] An incidental allusion to this conflict between the followers of the king and the abbey's knights is to be found, I think, in a curious passage in the _Gesta Abbatum S. Albani_ (i. 94). We there read of Abbot Geoffrey (1119-1146): "Tabulam quoque unam ex auro et argento et gemmis electis artificiose constructam ad longitudinem et latitudinem altaris Sancti Albani, quam deinde, ingruente maxima necessitate, idem Abbas in igne conflavit et in massam confregit. Quam dedit Comiti de Warrena et Willelmo de Ypra et Comiti de Arundel et Willelmo Martel, temporibus Regis Stephani, _Villam Sancti Albani volentibus concremare_." The conjunction of William of Ypres with Abbot Geoffrey dates this incident within the limits 1139-1146, and there is no episode to which it can be so fitly assigned as this of 1143, especially as the Earl of Arundel figures in both versions. [636] "Et licet multi amicorum suorum, talia ei injuste illata ægre ferentium, pro eo regem interpellarent" (_Mon. Ang._, iv. 142).