A.r. 1173.] KOBKRT ELECTED AKCUUISIIOP. count of Maurienne, by bis wife the widow of Henry duke of Saxony, though she was hardly seven years old. The same year, also, Robert abbat of Bee was elected archbishop of Canterbury on the 7th of March at Lambeth, in presence of the suffragan bishops of that province, but the abbat altogether declined to be elected, whether from weakness or from religious motives we are not informed. The same year the young king Henry, walking in the counsels of the wicked, left his father, and withdrew to the court of his father-in-law the king of France; upon which, Richard duke of Aquitaine, and Geoffrey count of Brittany, by the advice as was said of his mother queen Eleanor, chose to follow their brother rather than their father. Thus seditions were engendered on both sides, with rapine and conflagration, whereby, if we believe aright, God, to punish king Henry for his conduct towards St. Thomas, raised up against him his own flesh and blood, namely his sons, who persecuted him to death, as the following history will show. The same year Ralph de Warneville, sacristan of Rouen and treasurer of York, was made chancellor of England. About the same time, at the instance of the cardinals Albert and Theodwine, Henry king of England conceded that the elections to vacant churches should be freely made, and the following appointments took place with the consent of ticking's justiciary—Richard archdeacon of Poictiers to the see of Winchester ; Geoffrey archdeacon of Canterbury to that of Ely; Geoffrey archdeacon of Lincoln to that of Lincoln; Reginald archdeacon of Salisbury to that of Bath ; Robert archdeacon of Oxford to that of Hereford ; and John dean of Chichester to the bishopric of that same church. Of the election of Richard to the archbishopric of Canterbury, and the canonization of St. Tliomas. The same year, on the. 9th of July, the suffragan bishops of the province of Canterbury, with the seniors of the monastery, elected Richard prior of Dover to the archbishopric; and immediately the bishop-elect swore fealty to the king, " saving his order," and no mention was made of observing the customs of the kingdom. This took place at Westminster in the chapel of Saint Catharine, with the consent of the king's justiciary. In the council, also, was read