23. #wið#: the usual prepositions are against and to, but comp. ‘nalde na mon mis-don wið oðre,’ OEH i. 15/17, 35/2, and see 48/300 note. #dær#. Their peace was soon broken, ‘Ferae quoque, quae in tota prius regione, tanquam in indagine reclusae, cum summa pace reservabantur, nunc quaquaversum turbari, a quolibet passim dispergi, ab omnibus, abiecto metu, prosterni,’ Gesta, 4. 27. #blais#: L. _Blēsae_: _ai_ is an English graph for _ei_. Tonic e free (L. ē) passed through _ei_ to _oi_ in most French dialects, but in Norman it stopped at the first stage: in the Norman _patois_ of to-day, L. _me(n)sem_ is meis, mes. Similarly L. Pictavum passed through Peitou to Poitou in central French, but remained at the first stage for some time in Anglo-Norman; see 10/179. Stephen was ‘filius comitis Blesensium’; he was himself ‘comes Boloniensis.’ 28. #Willelm curbuil#, Guillelmus Curbuliensis, W. of Corbeil (L. Corboilum), a canon regular of the Augustinian Order, became archbishop of Canterbury in 1123, and died 1136. The subject of #halechede# is lundenisce folc: according to the Gesta (p. 4) they claimed the right to elect. #mide-wintre dæi#, Christmas Day; the pre-Christian name for the festival. 30. #ricemen#, powerful men, nobles: comp. 8/99, 19/34, 206/324. #Balduin de Reduers#, Balduinus de Radvariis; in France, Baudouin de Réviers (near Caen). An _e_ for Fr. _ie_ is characteristic of Anglo-Norman. He was created Earl of Devon sometime before June, 1141. The order of events is here confused. The settlement with David of Scotland by which Stephen granted the earldoms of Carlisle, Huntingdon and Doncaster to David’s son, Henry, was made before Easter, 1136; Hugh Bigod seized Norwich castle in May; Stephen laid siege to Bampton in June and took Exeter in September; Milo of Beauchamp held Bedford castle against the king early in 1138. Stephen was much blamed for his clemency to the rebels at Exeter; see Round, 24. 31. #Execestre# is the spelling of Domesday Book; OE. #Exanceaster#. Similarly gloucestre 9/133, OE. #Glowecester#; Wincestre 9/140 (contrast wincæstre 1/13), and Rouecestre 10/149 (contrast rofecæstre 1/14): all show the Anglo-Norman [ts]. In the two last words the English sound has prevailed. 35. #forstode#: comp. 10/155. Morris translates availed, as in ‘hu micel forstent · and hu mære is · seo soþe hreow,’ Be Domes Dæge, 4/55; but the ME. dictionaries and NED have only hinder, which would answer here. 37. #underfangen#, &c., accepted as ruler, for they thought he would be exactly like his uncle, and he had still something to give away. Elsewhere 6/27, 11/187, 197, 207 used of ceremonious welcome.