112 ROGEK OF WEXDOVER. [A.D . HOI. solemn form, with lighted candles, excommunicated all those who had advised, aided, or commanded the abduction from the church, and the unworthy treatment and imprisonment of the archbishop of York, especially naming Albert de Marines, and Alexander l'uintil. On the Monday following, the before mentioned earl, knowing that the chancellor feared an attack from him, proposed to him, in order to lull all suspicion, to come to a conference at a safe place near Windsor Castle, as the chancellor had requested, and gave him a guarantee for his safety by the bishop of London ; the chancellor, however, not satisfied with this security, fled immediately, and took refuge in the tower of London- The ear) on learning the flight of the chancellor, came himself to Iyondon, but as he was about to enter the city, he was met by a body of the chancellor's knights, who with drawn swords made a fierce attack on him and his followers, and slew a nobleman called Roger de Planes. On the following day. Tuesday, the said earl with the archbishops, bishops, knights and barons, assembled in the chapter-house of St. Paul's, and in the chancellor's presence, after a long discussion, swore, fealty to king Richard; earl John first took the oath, and was followed by the two archbishops, and all the bishops, and the knights and barons assembled. On the Thursday following this meeting, another conference, at which the before mentioned nobles were present, was held in the eastern part of the Tower of London, at which it was definitively determined, by unanimous consent, that the kingdom of England should not again be under the rule of a man. by whose conduct the church was degraded, and the people reduced to want ; for this same chancellor and his satellites had so exhausted all the wealth of the kingdom, that they did not even leave a man a silver belt, a woman her necklace, or a nobleman a ring, or money, or any thing of value to a Jew; they had likewise so emptied the king's treasury, that, after the lapse of two years, nothing could be found in his coffers except keys and empty vessels. It was also provided, that all the fortresses, which the chancellor had at will entrusted to the charge of his followers, should be given up. and in the first place the Tower of I»ndon ; and these resolutions the chancellor swore he would comply with. In pursuance of this, on the following Tuesday he left the Tower