[64] Mon. Angl. i. 245. “Non est enim omnium hominum episcopos judicare, et ego vobis secundum ordinem meum omnem justitiam offero; et si ad præsens vultis habere servitium meum vel hominum meorum, illud idem secundum placere vestrum vobis offero.”
[65] Ib. “Rex acceptis et auditis istis litteris episcopi, dedit baronibus suis terras episcopi, vidente legato quem sibi miserat episcopus.” I suppose that these barons are no other than the Counts Alan and Odo, of whose share in the matter we shall hear much more as we go on.
[66] See Ellis, i. 464. It is there remarked that Ralph’s lands in Devonshire had largely been Merleswegen’s. This is equally true in Yorkshire. He must have succeeded Hugh the son of Baldric as sheriff. See N. C. vol. iv. p. 801.
[67] See the foundation charter in the Monasticon, iv. 682; though it is hard to understand how Pope Alexander could have confirmed anything in 1089. According to the charter, the church had once been held by a body of canons, which had come to nothing. Ralph now restored it as a Benedictine monastery, a cell to Marmoutiers.
[68] “Præcepit omnibus regis fidelibus de parte regis ut malum facerent episcopo ubicumque et quomodo cumque possent. Cumque episcopus per se vel per legatos suos regem non posset requirere, et terras suas destrui et vastari absque ulla ultione per vii. septimanas et amplius sustineret,” etc.
[69] Their absence from the assembly comes from Florence; “Execrabile hoc factum clam tractaverunt in quadragesima, quod cito in palam prorumpi posset post pascha; nam a regali se subtrahentes curia, munierunt castella, ferrum, flammam, prædas, necem, excitaverunt in patriam.” Cf. Orderic, 666 C; “Munitiones suas fossis et hominibus, atque alimentis hominum et equorum, abundanter instruebant.”
[70] On Count Robert, see N. C. vol. ii. p. 296; iv. pp. 78, 168, 170. His name does not now occur in the Chronicles, nor in Orderic, who does not mention the siege of his castle of Pevensey. But his action comes out strongly in Florence, who classes him with Odo as a leader, though in his narrative he appears merely as his tool. The Hyde writer (297) also dwells fully on his share in the work, but he has no special facts or legends.
[71] See N. C. vol. iii. pp. 117, 672; iv. pp. 39, 562, 825.
[72] In Orderic, 667 B, he appears as “Rogerius Merciorum comes.”
[73] Flor. Wig. 1088. “Rogerius de Laceio, qui jam super regem invaserat Herefordam.” He appears in Domesday in Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, but most largely in Herefordshire. See Ellis, i. 442.