[675] "In omnibus terris dominicis totius abbatiæ unam tantum carucam reperit et dimidiam, reperit victualium nihil; debitum urgebat; terræ jacebant incultæ.... Oportuit præfatum abbatem xxiiii castell[?anis] vel amplius singulis mensibus pro rusticis suis redemptiones seu tenserias præstare, qui tam per Danielem quam per ipsos malefactores multum exhausti fuerant, et extenuati" (_Chron. Ram._, 333, 334). This description, though it is applied to the state of things which awaited the abbot on Earl Geoffrey's death, is obviously in point here. It is of importance for its allusion to the plough, which illustrates the language of Domesday (the plough-teams being always the first to suffer, and the most serious loss: compare Bishop Denewulf's tenth-century charter in _Liber de Hyda_), but still more for its mention of the _tenseriæ_. Here we have the very same word, used at the very same time, at Peterborough, Ramsey, and Ely. The correction, therefore, of the English Chronicle is utterly unjustifiable (see Appendix AA). Moreover, a comparison of this passage with the letter of Pope Lucius (_ante_, p. 215) shows that at Ramsey, as at Ely, the evil effect of this state of things continued in these _tenseriæ_ even after the bishop and the abbot had respectively regained possession. [676] "Suorum tandem consilio fretus, comitem Gaufridum adiit, monasterii sui detentorem, patenter et audacter ei ostendens tam ipsum quam totam familiam ipsius, tam ex ipso facto quam apostolica auctoritate interveniente, a Christianâ communione esse privatos, domum suam sibi postulans restitui si vellet absolvi. Quod comes vix patienter audiens, plures ei terminos de reddenda possessione sua constituit, sed promissum nunquam adimplevit ita ut cum potius deludere videretur quam ablatam possessionem sibi velle restituere; unde miser abbas miserabiliter afflictus mortis debitum jam vellet exsolvisse" (_Chron. Ram._, p. 331). [677] "Sed prophani milites in sua malitia pertinaces nec sic domum Dei quam polluerant reddere voluerant; induratum enim erat cor eorum" (_ibid._, p. 330). [678] "Oppresserat enim fames omnem regionem; et ægra seges victum omnem negaverat; per viginti milliaria seu triginta non bos non aratrum est inventus qui particulam terræ excoleret; vix parvissimus tunc modius emi poterat ducentis denariis. Tantaque hominum clades de inopiâ panis sequuta est, ut per vicos et plateas centeni et milleni ad instar uteris inflati exanimes jacerent: feris et volatilibus cadavera inhumata relinquebantur. Nam multo retro tempore talis tribulatio non fuit in cunctis terrarum regnis" (_Historia Eliensis_, p. 623). [679] "Efferbuit enim per totam Angliam Stephani regis hostilis tribulatio, totaque insula vi potius quam ratione regebatur" (_Chron. Ram._, p. 334).