498 ROGER OF WENDOVER. [A.D. l'J'J.3. the joys of the blessed, and with my own eyes have I alsj beheld the great tortures to which I, wretch that I am, am doomed. Woe, woe, is me, why did I employ myself in tournaments and love them so devotedly Ilis brother then asked him, " And will you not be saved r"' To this be replied, " I shall be saved, for I have done one deed in honour of the perpetual virginity of the blessed Mary, by which I shall obtain salvation.'' Ralph then said, " Cannot the torments to which you are doomed, as you tell me, be lessened by good works, masses, and alms ?" To which Roger replied, " They can." '· Then," said Ralph, '· 1 faithfully promise you that I will, for the salvation of us and our ancestors, build a religious house, and. when I have filled it with monks, they shall continually call on the Lord to release your spirit as well as those of our ancestors.'' Roger then said, " I am in great need of what you promise, but I do not want you to promise any thing which you do not mean to fulfil ;" and then, taking leave of his brother and the others who stood by, he again breathed forth his spirit. His brother Ralph then in the same year built a convent in the west of England, and placed in it some monks of the Cistercian order, and endowed the place with estates and large benefits. Of the translation of Richard bishop of Salisbury to Durham. In the same year, the election of master William Scott bishop elect of Durham having been annulled, Richard bishop of Salisbury was elected and translated to that bishopric; and on his promotion the canons of Salisbury ebctcd master Robert Ringebam, their fellow canon, to be their bishop, antl the pastor of their souls. In the same year a dispute between the monks of Coventry and the canons of Lichfield, about the election of a bishop, was decided by a definitive decree of the church of Rome, by which it was arranged that from that time they should elect the bishops alternately, the monks should elect the first, and on his death the canons should elect the next ; on the condition, however, that the prior of Coventry should always have the first vote in the election. This decree seemed very much to lessen the privileges of the monks, who till this time had always elected the bishops without asking the consent of the canons. In this year too the emperor of Constantinople paid the debt of nature, leaving as his heir a young son who was not fit to assume the imperial dign'ty.