460 MATTHEW OF WESTMUTSTEB. A.D. 912. virtue, died. And after his death, his wife, Elfleda, the daughter of king Alfred, kept under her government the whole province of Mercia, with the exception of the city of London and the city of Oxford, which king Edward, her brother, retained as his own, and ruled them in perfect tranquillity for a long time. The same year, king Edward caused the borough of Hertford to be founded between three rivers, namely, the Maran, the Benefuthe, and the Lea ; and in Essex he founded a borough which is called Witham, about the time of the feast of Saint Martin. The same year, Bollo, duke of Normandy, being extravagantly elated m his mind, marched in a hostile manner towards the city of Paris, collecting booty on all sides as he advanced, and then determined to besiege the city itself. But, at last, when he found that the city, both from its situation and the strength of its walls, was quite impregnable, he turned aside to the city of Bayeux. And finding that city destitute of all defenders, he took it, and divided its spoils among his soldiers, after he had slain all the inhabitants. In this city he carried off a certain damsel of noble birth, by name Popa, the daughter of duke Berengarius, a most illustrious man, and not long afterwards he made her his wife by marriage. And by her he had a son named Wilhelm, and a daughter named Gerloc, a damsel of great beauty. After this, he took the cities of Paris and Evreux, and slew the citizens, and carried off great booty. And proceeding in this way to harass the French, he burnt the churches of Christ, and slew the people, and carried away the women as prisoners. Then the French, being weighed down by these calamities, went with their mournful complaints before king Charles, unanimously complaining that the Christian people was being destroyed by the attacks of the pagans, owing to his inactivity. And the king, being greatly'affected by their complaints, sent Franco, archbishop of Rouen, to Bollo, promising him that, if he would become a Christian, he would give him all the sea-coast from the river Epte to the frontiers of Brittany, and also, that he would give him his daughter Gilla for a wife. The archbishop having undertaken this embassy, delivered the whole of his messages regularly to the pagan duke, and, by the advice of his council, Bollo received the proposition favourably, and, accordingly, on an appointed day, he met the king of the French and duke Robert, in a sacred assembly, on the other