[652] "Castellum quoddam fecerat apud Waltone" (Chron. Ram., p. 332).
[653] "Inde recessum habuit per Ely quiete: Fordham quoque contra hostes sibi cum valida manu firmare usurpavit" (Historia Eliensis, p. 623).
[654] "Similiter apud Benewik in transitu aquarum" (ibid.).
[655] "Omnia adversus regiæ partis consentaneos abripere et consumere, nudare et destruere" (Gesta, p. 105). "Maneria, villas, ceteraque proprietatem regiam contingentia primitus invasit, igni combussit, prædasque cum rapinis non minimis inde sublatas commilitonibus suis larga manu distribuit" (Monasticon, iv. 142).
[656] Cont. Flor. Wig., ii. 119, 128. Compare the Peterborough Chronicle: "Ræuedan hi & brendon alle the tunes" (Ang. Sax. Chron., i. 382).
[657] Gesta.
[658] "Talique ferocitate in omnem circumquaque provinciam, in omnibus etiam, quascunque obviam habebat, ecclesiis immiseranter desæviit; possessiones cœnobiorum, distractis rebus, depopulatis omnibus in solitudinem redegit; sanctuaria eorum, vel quæcumque in ærariis concredita reponebantur sine metu vel pietate ferox abripuit" (ibid.).
[659] "Locis sacris vel ipsis de ecclesiis nullam deferendo exhibuit reverentiam" (Monasticon, iv. 142).
[660] "Facti enim amentes cantitabat unusquisque Anglice," etc. The "Anglice" reads oddly. Strange that the sufferings of the people should be bewailed and made merry over in the same tongue!
[661] Stephen himself behaved no better, to judge from the story in the Chronicle of Abingdon (ii. 292), where it is alleged that the king, being informed of a large sum of money stored in the treasury of the abbey, sent his satellite, William d'Ypres, who, gaining admission on the plea of prayer, broke open the chest with an axe, and carried off the treasure.