"I have to inform you that they have lent me a considerable sum of money, which must be repaid to them quickly, that their house may not suffer, and that I may keep my word...."[37] Among the English nobility who enlisted in the second crusade were the two renowned warriors, Roger de Mowbray and William de Warrenne.[38] Roger de Mowbray was one of the most powerful and warlike of the barons of England, and was one of the victorious leaders at the famous battle of the standard: he marched with King Louis to Palestine; fought under the banners of the Temple against the infidels, and, smitten with admiration of the piety and valour of the holy warriors of the order, he gave them, on his return to England, many valuable estates and possessions. Among these were the manors of Kileby and Witheley, divers lands in the isle of Axholme, the town of Balshall in the county of Warwick, and various places in Yorkshire; and so munificent were his donations, that the Templars conceded to him and to his heirs this special privilege, that as often as the said Roger or his heirs should find any brother of the order of the Temple exposed to public penance, according to the rule and custom of the religion of the Templars, it should be lawful for the said Roger and his heirs to release such brother from the punishment of his public penance, without the interference or contradiction of any brother of the order.[39] [Sidenote: A. D. 1149.] About the same period, Stephen, king of England, for the health of his own soul and that of Queen Matilda his wife, and for the good of the souls of King Henry, his grandfather, and Eustace, his son, and all his other children, granted and confirmed to God and the blessed Virgin Mary, and to the brethren of the knighthood of the Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem, all the manor of Cressynge, with the advowson of the church of the same manor, and also the manors of Egle and Witham.[40] Queen Matilda, likewise, for the good of the souls of Earl Eustace, her father, the Lord Stephen, king of England, her husband, and of all her other children, granted "to the brethren of the Temple at Jerusalem" the manor of Covele or Cowley in Oxfordshire, two mills in the same county, common of pasture in Shotover forest, and the church of Stretton in Rutland.[41] Ralph de Hastings and William de Hastings also gave to the Templars, in the same reign, (A. D. 1152,) lands at Hurst and Wyxham in Yorkshire, afterwards formed into the preceptory of Temple Hurst. William Asheby granted them the estate whereon the house and church of Temple Bruere were afterwards erected;[42] and the order continued rapidly to increase in power and wealth in England and in all parts of Europe, through the charitable donations of pious Christians.