[497] Thirty-first Report of Deputy Keeper, p. 2.
[498] He held a council at Northampton on his way south in Easter week, 1138.
[499] William of Malmesbury writes: "In ipsis Paschalibus feriis regem quædam (ut aiunt) dura meditantem gravis incommodum morbi apud Northamptunam detinuit, adeo ut in tota propemodum Angliâ sicut mortuus conclamaretur" (p. 763). There is a discrepancy of date between this statement and that of John of Hexham, who states that Stephen did not reach York till "post Pascha." William's chronology seems the more probable.
[500] "Præventus vero infirmitate copias militum quas contraxerat remisit ad propria" (Sym. Dun., ii. 312).
[501] Supra, p. 158.
[502] "Dirigitur enim in Ely a rege Stephano cum militari manu in armis strenuus Comes Gaufridus de Mannavillâ, associante ei Comite Gileberto, ut homines episcopi, qui tunc latenter affugerent, inde abigeret, aut gladiis truncaret" (Anglia Sacra, i. 621). Earl Gilbert was uncle to Earl Geoffrey's wife.
[503] "Qui festinus adveniens, hostilem turbam fugavit; milites vero teneri jussit; et equis impositos pedes eorum sub equis ligatos spectante populo usque in Ely perduxit" (ibid.).
[504] See Appendix Z: "Bishop Nigel at Rome."