For, on the emperor accusing the King of many things, and charging him with many misdeeds, both with his betrayal of the land of Sulia, and with the death of the Marquis of Montferrat, as also with reference to certain covenants made between them and not observed by him, the King made answer with such frankness, such self-possession and such intrepidity, that the emperor thought him worthy, not only of his favour and pardon, but even of his praise. For he raised the King when bending before him, and received him with the kiss of peace, and made a treaty of friendship with him, and, loading him with honors and succour (the people standing round and bursting into tears for very joy), made a promise that he would reconcile the King of England with the King of France. After this, with the mediation of the duke of Austria, the King of England promised that he would pay to the Emperor for his liberation, by way of ransom, one hundred thousand marks. The emperor also promised that, if by his means the King of England and the King of France could not be reconciled, he would send the King of England home without exacting the money. ENGLAND UNDER THE CHANCELLORS (1191-3). +Source.+--_Roger de Hoveden_, Vol. II., p. 231 _seqq_. Bohn's Libraries. G. Bell & Sons. William, bishop of Ely, the King's Chancellor, was a great man among all the people of the west, and, as though gifted with a two-fold right hand, wielded the power of the kingdom, and the authority of the Apostolic See, and was in possession of the King's seal over all lands, so as to be enabled to govern according to his own will, and of his own power to bring all things to completion; even in the same degree of estimation as both king and priest together was he held; nor was there any person to be found to dare to offer resistance to his will. For he said, and the thing was done, he commanded, and all means were discovered. In his hands were the royal treasures, the whole of the King's riches, and the entire exchequer, so much so that all property whatsoever that swam beneath our skies was no longer said to belong to the King, but to him. And really if it had been the time of the Cæsars, he would with Tiberius have had himself styled the living God. But when the King had given him certain earls as his associates, in order that at least the more weighty concerns of the realm might be managed by their counsels in common, he could not at all endure to have any partner therein, as he thought that the greater part of his glory would be thrown into the shade, if he should stand in need of the advice of any mortal being. Therefore he ruled alone, therefore he reigned alone, and from sea to sea was he dreaded as though a God; and were I to say still more, I should not be telling a falsehood, because God is long-suffering and merciful; while he, ruling every thing according to his own impulses, was neither able to observe justice when acting, nor to endure delay in waiting the proper time.