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ROGER OF WENDOVER Flowers of history. The history of England from the descent of the saxons to A.D. 1235. vol.1
page 478
A.D. 1123.] MARRIAGE OP KING HENRY. 473
How many of king Henry's household were drowned in the sea.
A.D. 1120. King Henry, having subdued all his enemies in France and pacified everything in Normandy, crossed in triumph to England ; but his sons William and Richard, his daughter and niece, with Richard earl of Chester, his butlers, stewards, bakers, and many nobles, all of whom were said to be corrupted by the sin of sodomy, were shipwrecked at sea. All perished miserably, for they never had Christian burial : sudden death swallowed them with all their impurities, though the sea was tranquil at the time.
How king Henry took a wife.
A.D. 1121. King Henry married Alice, daughter of the dukeof Louvain, for her graceand beauty. Shewas consecrated queen by Ralph archbishop of Canterbury, in London, at Whitsuntide, and sat in state at table with her crown on, and in the king's company. After this was ended, the king marched with a large army into Wales ; but the people of Wales met him suppliantly, and submitted to his royal pleasure. The same year, pope Calixtus took one Maurice, whom Henry the emperor had made antipope, and ordained him to be a monk.
Of the death of Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury.
A.D. 1122. Ralph archbishop of Canterbury and John bishop of Bath paid the debt of nature, and at the same time Balac the admiral took Joceline count of Edessa and his brother Galeran.
How a certain chancellor of the king miserably perished.
A.D. 1123. King Henry spent Christmas at Dunstable, and after the festival proceeded from thence to Berkhampstead. In his company was a certain chancellor named Ralph, who had for twenty years been afflicted with a severe complaint, but was active enough for all kinds of crimes, for he oppressed the innocent and plundered the lands of many ; thus, though feeble in body, he gratified the fierce passions of his mind. As he was conducting the king to his house, when they arrived on the top of a hill from which the king's castle could be seen, he was so elated in spirits that he fell from his horse, and a monk of St. Alban's, whose lands he had unjustly seized on, involuntarily galloped over him,
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