Α..I). 727.] KING INE VISITS SOME. ' 137 How king Ine went to Rome. In the year of grace 727, the fortunate and powerful king Ine left his kingdom to his kinsman Athelhard, and went to Rome, that he might exchange a temporal for an eternal kingdom. On his arrival, with the consent and approbation of pope Gregory, he built a house in the citj, which he called " the English School ;" to the end that, when the kings of England and the royal family, with the bishops, presbyters, and clergy, came hither to be instructed in the catholic faith and doctrine, nothing heterodox, or contrary to catholic unity, might be taught in the English church, and that so they might return home confirmed in the faith. For the doctrine and schools of the English had been forbidden by the Roman pontiffs from the time of St. Augustine, on account of the constant heresies which had sprung up on the arrival of the English in Britain, whilst pagans mingled with Christians had corrupted the grace and holy conversation ot the Christian faith. He built, moreover, nigh to the aforesaid house, a church in honour of the blessed virgin Mary, wherein the divine mysteries might be celebrated for the English who came to Rome, and in which they might be buried, if any of them chanced to die at Rome. And to give strength and perpetuity to all this, it was ordered by a general decree, throughout the entire kingdom of the West-Saxons, in which the aforesaid Ine reigned, that every year, one penny, which in English is called " Romescot," should be sent from every family for the blessed Peter and the Roman church, that the English who sojourned there might from thence be furnished with necessary subsistence. This church, of which we have just spoken, is recorded in the English Chronicles to have been often burnt and again restored. This is that Ine who built the abbey of Glastonbury, which has lately been destroyed, and enriched it with many possessions, and protected it with numerous privileges. The brother of this king was Ingleis, and his sisters were St. Cuthburga and St. Quenburga; his queen also was named Sexburga. He was succeeded in the kingdom by his kinsman Athelhard, who was sprung from the race of king Cerdic, and who reigned fourteen years after him. The