[695] "Post aliquod vero tempus industria et expensis Willelmi quem jam pridem in Waldena constituerat priorem, a papa Alexandro, more taliter decedentium meruit absolvi, inter Christianos recipi, et pro eo divina celebrari" (_Mon. Ang._, iv. 142). [696] "Ibique jacuit toto tempore Regis Stephani magnaque parte Regis Henrici Secundi, donec Gaufridus filius ejus, Comes Essexie, vir industrius et justitiarius Domini Regis jam factus Dominum Willelmum abbatem cæpit humiliter interpellare pro patre suo defuncto offerens satisfactionem, et quum ab eo benignum super hoc responsum accepisset, statuta die convenerunt ambo sub præsentia domini Cantuarensis, scilicet beati Thomæ martyris, super hoc tractaturi.... Quo facto, pater ipsius comitis Christianæ traditus est sepulturæ." The earl's grant runs as follows:— "Gaufridus de Magna Villa Comes Essexie, omnibus amicis suis et hominibus et universis sanctæ Ecclesiæ filiis salutem. "Satis notum est quanta damna pater meus, Comes Gaufridus, tempore guerrarum monasterio de Rameseia irrogaverit. "Et quia tanta noxia publico dinoscitur indigere remedio, ego tam pro eo quam pro suis satisfacere volens, consilio sanctæ Ecclesiæ cum Willelmo Abbate monachisque suprascripti cœnobii in hanc formam composui.... Et quia constat sepedictum patrem meum in irrogatione damnorum memoratæ ecclesiæ bona thesauri in cappis, et textis, et hujusmodi plurimum delapidasse, ad eorundem reparationem ad ecclesiæ ornatum dignum duxi redditum istum assignari" (_Cart. Ram._, i. 197). Compare p. 276, _n._ 3, and p. 415. [697] _Chron. Ram._, pp. 306, 333. The king was probably at Windsor at the time, and the date is a useful one for Becket's movements. [698] A curious archæological question is raised by this date. According to the received belief, the Templars did not remove to the New Temple till 1185, but, according to this evidence, they already had their churchyard there consecrated in 1163, and had therefore, we may presume, begun their church. The church of the New Temple was consecrated by Heraclius on his visit in 1185, but may have been finished sooner. [699] "Cumque Prior ille corpus defunctum deponere et secum Waldenam deferre satageret, Templarii illi caute premeditati statim illud tollentes, et in cimiterio novi templi ignobili satis tradiderunt sepulturæ" (_Mon. Ang._, iv. 142). It was generally believed that his effigy was among those remaining at the Temple, but this supposition is erroneous, as has been shown by Mr. J. G. Nichols in an elaborate article on "The Effigy attributed to Geoffrey de Magnaville, and the Other Effigies in the Temple Church" (_Herald and Genealogist_ (1866), iii. 97, _et seq._). CHAPTER X. THE EARLDOM OF ESSEX.