ever ; and inasmuch, as, having been aided by the mercies of the blessed confessor, I have been the more duteous to him, as it was more especially my bounden duty to pay him the greatest homage.—And whereas William, bishop of Durham, has brought a letter of pope Gregory the Seventh, from the Apostolic See, to the council of king William sitting at Westminster, and, with the consent of all, has obtained leave to remove the secular clergy from his church and substitute monks therein. Wherefore, greatly rejoicing at all these things, according to the precept of the abovenamed pope, and according to the command of our lord king William, and out of the love I am bound to owe to Saint Cuthbert, with the consent and permission of the chapter of York, and with the confirmation of the whole synod, I have given and granted, and by this present deed confirmed, and have afterwards, with my own hand, presented at the altar unto Saint Cuthbert, the letter underwritten, which is addressed to Saint Cuthbert and his bishop, and all the monks his servants—Know then, all persons, both present and to come, that I, Thomas, archbishop of York, in obedience to the precept of pope Gregory the Seventh, and with the ratification of our lord king William, and with the attestation thereto of the whole council of England, and with the consent of the chapter of York, do give and do grant unto God and Saint Cuthbert, and to all his bishops in succession, and to all the monks who shall be there in time to come, that all churches whatsoever, which at the present time they may happen to possess in my diocese, or which hereafter they shall canonically obtain by royal grant or gift of the faithful, or which they shall build upon their own lands, they shall hold free and entirely acquitted for ever by me and all my successors, of all claims which belong to me or to my successors. Wherefore, I will and command that they shall hold all their churches in their own hands, and possess them without molestation, and freely place in them their own vicars, who shall only consult me and my successors as to the faithful cure of souls, but them as to all other alms-deeds and benefits ;—and further, I do grant, confirm, and command, that they, as well as their vicars, shall be for ever free and acquitted from all synodals,'1 and from all aids, imposi- 71 Payments made to the hishop by his clergy at the time of his visi-tation. 166 ANNALS OF E0GEB BE HOVEDEN. A.D. 1083.