A.D. 1015.1 JOHN ItKTlllKS TO THE ISLE OV WIGHT. 32Ó {law kitty Joint retired clandestinely to the /ale of Wight and laid /dam agttinut the barons. After the barons, as has been stated, had gone from the conference, the king was left with scarcely seven knights out of his proper body of attendants. Whilst lying sleepless that night in Windsor castle, his thoughts alarmed him much, and before daylight he tied by stealth to the Isle of Wight, and there in great agony of mind devised plans to be revenged oii the barons. At length, after divers meditations, he determined, with the assistance of the apostle Peter, to seek nor permît, or cause our agents to hinder the electors in each and alt of the churches and monasteries when the prelacies are vacant from appointiugnny pastor they may choose for themselves, hut permisMon to do so must be previously asked of us and our heirs, which we will not refuse or put off. And if it should happen that we should refuse or delay to give permission, the electors shall proceed to make a canonical election. And likewise after the election has been made, our consent to it shall be asked, which we will not refuse, unless we set forth and legitimately prove a reason why wc ought r.ct to consent to it. Wherefore it is our will and strict order that no one, in vacant churches or monasteries, shall dare in any way to contravene this our grant'and decree; and if any one shall at any time eon ira vene it be will incur the malediction of the omnipotent God and of us. As witness these, I'etcr bishop of Winchester, W . Marshal carl of Pembroke, William earl Warrcnne, K. earl of Chester, S. earl of Winchester, G. de Mande ville earl of Gloucester and Essex, W . earl Ferrers, G. Briwcrc, W . Fitzgerald, W , do Cantwulf, H . de Neville, Robert de Ivor, and W . Huntingtield. Given under the hand of master Robert Marsh our chancellor, at the New Temide at London, this fifteenth day of January, in the sixteenth year of our reign.'' Let no man therefore presume to infringe or rashly to oppose this our letter of continuation, lint if any one presumes to attempt sudi a thing, let him be assured that be will incur the anger oi the omnipotent God, and his blessed apostles lYter and Paul. Given at tlx* Lateran, this thirtieth day uf March, in the eighteenth year of our pontificate. ' When tins was completed and approved of by both parties, they all exulted in the belief that God had compassionately touched the king's heart, had taken away his heart of stone and given him one of flesh, and that a change for the best was made in him by the hand of the Almighty ; and all and every one hoped that England, being by the grace of God freed in their time from, as it were, the Egyptian bondage, by which it had been for a long time prcviousjy oppressed, would enjoy peace and liberty, not only by the protection of the I Ionian church, under whose wings tiny thought they were sheltered, and thus us it were under the divine shield, to serve which is to reign, hut also on account of the wished-for humiliation ot the king, who they hoped was happily inclined to all gentleness mid peace. But far otherwise was il —oh shame!—oh sorrow! and tar d.tierently from what was expected, did event* happen. Fortune was belie.ed