264 ROGER OF WENPOVEIl. [A.D . 1013. kingdom, nnd to expel yon from it ly force, as an enemy to the Lord and the supreme pontili', and afterwards, by authority of the apostolic sec; to take possession of the. kingdom of England for ever. There are also coining with him all the bishops who have for a long while been banished from England, with the exiled clergy and laity, by bis assistance, to recover by force their episcopal sees and other property, and to fulfil to him for the. future the obedience formerly shown to you and your ancestors. The said king moreover says that he holds papers of fealty and subjection from almost all the nobles of England, on which account he feels secure of bringing the business he has undertaken to a most successful termination. Consult therefore your own advantage, and become penitent as if you were in your last moments, and delay not to appease that God whom you have provoked to a heavy vengeance. If you are willing to give sufficient security that you will submit to the judgment of the church, and to bumble yourself before Ilini who humbled himself for you, you may, through the compassion of the apostolic see, recover the sovereignty, from which yon have been abjudicated at Koine on account of your contumacy. Now therefore reflect, lest your enemies shall have cause to rejoice over yon, and bring not yourself into difficulties, from which, however yon may wish to do so, you will not be able to extricate yourself." ΙΙοη· king John wax aroused to repentance. King John, hearing and seeing the truth of all this, was much annoyed and alarmed, seeing how imminent the danger was on every side. There were four principal reasons, which urged him to repentance and atonement; the first was that he had been now for five years lying under excommunication, and had so olfended (iod and the holy church, that he gave up all hopes of saving his soul ; the second was, that he dreaded the arrival of the French king, who was waiting near the sea-coast with a countless army, and planning his downfall ; the third was, be feared, should he give hattle to his approaching enemies, lest he. should he abandoned to himself in the lield by the nobles of England and his own people, or be given up to his enemies for destruction ; but his fourth reason alarmed him more than all the rest,