court at Durham, as well as all others of the laity ami clergy of that province, whom they believed to be cognizant of this matter. When they had all appeared at a fixed time and place before these agents, the letters of the pope were read in the hearing of all of them for the (dear and distinct information of every one; and after they had been read and were understood, the clerks of the bishop of Durham rose up and set forth some frivolous and fallacious excuses in reply to the said agents, and, that they might not proceed in the said inquisition, they appealed to the presence of the pope: and having made this appeal, the bishop departed with his clerks after appointing a day for his accusers to appear against him in the presence of the pope. Having thus interposed his appeal, the aforesaid bishop went to the court of 1! mie, after sending his clerks before him to procure favour for him with the pope against his arrival ; so that, before the monks of Durham arrived at Rome, the aforesaid clerks had greatly weakened their cause; therefore after much altercation on either side in the pope's presence, the bishop as well as the monks, after spending a great deal of money, were sent back to England to the aforesaid agents, for them to determine definitely what was right. This disagreement, having once arisen amongst them, continued for a length of time, until the death of the bishop put an end to the strife, as he had himself declared. Of the huitiiinn of α iteie castle at Montgomery. In the same year, about the nativity of St. Mary, Llewellvn king of Wales, with a large army, laid siege to a castle called lluet (lini 1th ); Reginald de lìrause, whose tow η it was, earnestly besought assistance from the king that by his means the siege might be raised, as he was not able to effect this by bis own means. The king, therefore, as he ought not to desert his nobles, marched thither with a large army, and raised the siege, the Welsh, as was their custom, taking to flight. The king then marched towards .Montgomery with his army, ordering all the property of the Welsh which they met with, and their cattle, to be collected for the support of his followers who were with him. On their arrival at Montgomery, after roving through the country there, the commanders of the army thought that it was a fit place to build a castle as the