In the one thousand two hundred and twenty-third year after the Incarnation of Christ, there took place at London a wrestling-match between the household of the Abbot of Westminster and certain of the younger citizens of London; but their joy was turned to mourning. For though the household of the abbot had prevailed overnight, several being wounded on either side, on the following morning the Londoners chose to themselves a new Mayor, assembled armed mercenaries under the city standard, and having appointed a commander, set out against the church of Westminster. But some wise man's counsel turned them from this aim, and instead they attacked the houses belonging to the abbot's seneschal, alike within the city and without. And they carried off his possessions--both animals and other chattels. Some days thereafter, while Philip Daubeny, one of the household of our lord the King, was residing in London, the Abbot of Westminster visited him bearing a complaint of the violence to which he had been subjected; and the Londoners, learning this, surrounded the house like bees, seized twelve horses belonging to the abbot, and having beaten his servants and ill-treated the knights who were in his company, attempted to take the abbot himself. But while Philip strove in vain to stay the tumult, the abbot secretly departed by the back of the house and entered a vessel on the Thames; while the boatman rowed it away from the bank, stones were cast after them by the citizens, but the abbot succeeded with difficulty in escaping. When the news of these great disturbances reached the ears of the Justiciar, he summoned the Mayor and chief men of the city, and inquired who were the principal ringleaders in the riot. After the inquiry Constantine Fitz-Athulf and two of his nephews, of noble birth, were hung, because, when accused, they answered with insolence. Thereafter the lord King, because the citizens murmured at this, took from them sixty hostages, whom he sent to be kept in custody in different castles; further, he deposed the Mayor of the city, and appointed in his stead his own keeper. He also ordered a great gibbet to be prepared; finally, the citizens, after severe reprimands from the King and frequent consultations with the Barons, were reconciled with the King, by paying a fine of many thousand marks. THE COMING OF THE FRIARS (1224). +Source.+--_Monumenta Franciscana_, vol. i., pp. 5 _et seqq._ (Rolls Series.)