MATTHEW OF WESTKTjrSTEB. A.D. 1254. bones oat of the church, to the disgrace of me myself and the church of Lincoln? Whence did such rashness enter your head? The Lord will not stall permit yon to have any power whatever over me. I wrote to you in the spirit of humility that you should correct your errors, but you despised my salutary warnings. Alas for you who despise, shall you not also be despised ?" And so departing, he left the pope pierced through as it were with a lance, sighing and groaning heavily. On the twenty-eighth of March, the bishop elect of Lincoln, namely, Henry de Lexinton, formerly dean of the said church, was confirmed by Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury. And the same month, namely, on the thirteenth of May, Silvester, bishop of Carlisle, died of falling from his horse on his head, and having broken many bones, he so expired. About the same time, that is to say, on the twenty-fourth of March, William, son of William, and count of Ferrara, died, a man of great prudence and skill in the laws of the kingdom. He used to be carried about in a carriage or litter, and as one day his carriage was overturned and thrown down on a certain bridge, namely, at Saint Neots, he himself had some limbs broken, and so went speedily to death. The same year, a confirmation was held in die church of Saint Alban's, by Richard, the venerable bishop of Bangor. About this time, a most bloody battle was fought on the confines of Flanders and Brabant, between the French and the Flemings on the one side, and the countess of Flanders and her allies, namely, William of Holland, king of Germany, and many other nobles of Brabant and Germany, on the other side, on behalf of the two sons of the aforesaid countess by her two husbands; in which battle many gallant warriors perished lamentably, so that ten thousand men were slain of one city in Flanders. At last, the victory declared for the king before mentioned, William of Holland, and the Germans ; and the French were defeated and wounded, and for the most part slain, and so got the worst of it. The French, therefore, being precipitated into the abyss of despair and desolation, gave notice to the lord the king of France, who was still remaining in foreign countries after his release from captivity, that he ought to hasten to return to his own country with all possible speed ; adding, how the crown of France was tottering m consequence of the pride of a woman, namely, the countess of Flanders, who, relying on her two sons and her two husbands, filled the whole kingdom of France with embarrassment.