A.D. 1249. MARRIAGE 07 THE DAUGHTER OF FREDERIC. 303 for prayer and contemplation, and might die in a state of greater poverty. But the archbishop of York, and the bishops of London and Worcester, were assigned to him as trustees, and some manors (to wit, Hoverdon and Scocton) were assigned to him from the bishopric, that so excellent a man might not be deprived of the rank and dignity of the pontificate. On the feast of the blessed Edward, which is celebrated with reference to the deposition of that same glorious king and confessor, the lord the king, according to his pious custom on such occasions, kept the vigil which precedes that day, which vigil occurs three days before the Epiphany of the Lord, with fasting on bread and water, and diligent watching, and continued prayer, and the-distribution of alms. And on the day of the festival, he ordered the solemnity of the mass to be celebrated in the church of Westminster, in a most glorious manner, by priests arrayed in silk vestments of incalculable value, and with a multitude of wax tapers, and a tuneful singing of the whole chapter, which was wonderfully prepared. He also ordered public proclamation to be made by the voice of the crier, that all other fair-days and market-days should be suspended throughout London, and that a fair should be kept on this day, which should last a fortnight. About the same time, Vercelli, a noble city of Italy, with all the country around it, came over and submitted to the authority of Frederic, in consequence of the sedition of the citizens, who were pursuing one another with domestic hatred. And when the lord the pope heard of this event, he grieved inconsolably, as did the whole court of Rome, and accordingly he solemnly and repeatedly pronounced the sentence of anathema against all those who had stirred up sedition or perpetrated treason in that city, in consequence of whose conduct, the city was cut off from its fidelity to the church, with the intent to deter others from doing the like. And while these events were taking place, Frederic, in order to strengthen his party, which was beset on all sides by the enemy, wisely had recourse to marriage, and laboured to strengthen himself and his son Conrad, who had espoused the daughter of the duke of Bavaria, by matrimonial alliances, and to unite himself by such means to many of the nobles in indissoluble friendship. In pursuance of this truce, he now gave his daughter in marriage to Thomas of Savoy, formerly count of Flanders, and he entrusted him with the defence of Vercelli, and the adjacent