[86], 6. Earl Roger Bigot. This Earl was son of Hugh, the rebellious baron. It appears from the text that the Standard of St. Edmund was carried by him into the fight at the battle of Fornham, in October, 1173 (see p. 1).
[86], 18. Robert of Cockfield. References to members of this family of Cockfield, or Cokefield, appear often in the Chronicle. The dispute as to rights which arose on Robert's death is told again in greater detail at the end of the Chronicle, by William of Diss (see pp. 254-6), and the dispute as to the wardship of the daughter of Adam, son of Robert, on pages 187-8. Nothing here arises except Samson's denial of Adam's right of hereditary tenure, in which he was successful.
[87], 16. Eight and a half hundreds. See notes to p. 44, l. 14, and p. 77, l. 23, on the Liberty of St. Edmund (pp. 232, 238).
[88], 16. Haberdon. This is a field (still called by the same name) in the south-east corner of the town, with remains of earthworks. It was held in monastic times of the sacrist by the singular tenure, that the tenant should find a white bull as often as a gentlewoman should visit the shrine of St. Edmund "to make the oblation of the said white bull," with a view to secure a favourable answer to her prayers for offspring. On these occasions the bull was led from his pasture on the Haberdon through the principal streets of the town in procession to the Church of St. Edmund.
CHAPTER VIII.
[101]-105. The whole of this Chapter is obviously an interpolation in the Chronicle by some monk other than Jocelin himself. The story of Henry of Essex is included in the long and elaborate "vita et passio cum miraculis Sancti Edmundi" prepared in the fourteenth century in the monastery at Bury, and now preserved in the Bodleian Library (MS. 240); and at the end of this transcript the compiler adds, "Cuius narracionem Jocelinus audiens, in scriptis redegit" (Nova Legenda Anglie, ed. Horstman, 1901, II. 637). It is apparent from the opening phrase of the text (p. 105) that Jocelin, who most probably went to Reading in the train of the Abbot, commenced to set down the story at the bidding of Samson, but left its completion to some other monk of inferior degree. Perhaps this was William of Diss, who added at the end of the Chronicle (see pages 254-6) a declaration as to the lands of Robert of Cockfield.
[101], 10. precept of Seneca. Mr. Arnold says: "Many things resembling this sentiment occur in the 109th Epistle of Seneca; but probably the passage is somewhere else in his works."
[103], 18. thrown down the standard. Henry of Essex's act of cowardice took place in 1157, during an expedition into Flintshire, when the Welsh made a sudden attack. His dropping the standard brought King Henry II. and the Royal army into great peril (Gervase, i. 165, Rolls ed.).
[104], 1. Roger Earl of Clare. There seems to be an attempt at punning, at this point, by the monk who wrote the original story in Latin: "Rogerus comes Clarensis, clarus genere et militari clarior exercitis, cum suis Clarensibus maturius occurrisset."
[104], 9. trial of battle. This fight between Henry of Essex and Robert de Montfort took place in 1163 (Ralph de Diceto, Ymag. Hist. i. 310, Rolls ed.), on an eyot in the Thames, and is still traditionally remembered at Reading.