About this time the monks of the church of Canterbury appeared before our lord the Pope, to plead a disgraceful dispute which had arisen between themselves; for a certain part of them, by authenticated letters of the convent, presented Reginald, sub-prior of Canterbury, as they had often done, to be archbishop-elect, and earnestly required the confirmation of his election; the other portion of the same monks had, by letters alike authentic, presented John, bishop of Norwich, showing by many arguments that the election of the sub-prior was null, not only because it had been made by night, and without the usual ceremonies, and without the consent of the King, but also because it had not been made by the older and wiser part of the convent; and thus setting forth these reasons, they asked that that election should be confirmed, which was made before fitting witnesses in open day and by consent, and in the presence of the King. At length, after long arguments on both sides, our lord the Pope, seeing that the parties could not agree in fixing on the same person, and that both elections had been made irregularly, and not according to the decrees of the holy canons, by the advice of his cardinals, annulled both elections, laying the apostolic interdict on the parties, and by definitive judgment ordering, that neither of them should again aspire to the honours of the archbishopric. When at length the letters of our lord the Pope came to the notice of the English King, he was exceedingly enraged, as much at the promotion of Stephen Langton, as at the annulling of the election of the bishop of Norwich, and accused the monks of Canterbury of treachery; for he said that they had, to the prejudice of his rights, elected their sub-prior without his permission, and afterwards, to palliate their fault by giving satisfaction to him, they chose the bishop of Norwich; that they had also received money from the treasury for their expenses in obtaining the confirmation of the said bishop's election from the apostolic see; and to complete their iniquity, they had there elected Stephen Langton, his open enemy, and had obtained his consecration to the archbishopric. On this account the said King, in the fury of his anger and indignation, sent Fulk de Cantelu and Henry de Cornhill, two most cruel and inhuman knights, with armed attendants, to expel the monks of Canterbury, as if they were guilty of a crime against his injured majesty from England, or else to consign them to capital punishment. These knights were not slow to obey the commands of their lord, but set out for Canterbury, and, entering the monastery with drawn swords, in the King's name fiercely ordered the prior and monks to depart immediately from the kingdom of England as traitors to the King's Majesty; and they affirmed with an oath that, if they (the monks) refused to do this, they would themselves set fire to the monastery, and the other offices adjoining it, and would