ame to the throne the Chronicle was
still being written in the English tongue by the monks of Worcester,
and for some years after his death was still carried on at
Peterborough. The best historical compositions were, however, in
Latin, the language understood by the clergy over all Western Europe.
Amongst the authors of these Latin works, the foremost was William of
Malmesbury.

9. =The Cistercians.=--Useful as the Benedictines were, there were
some monks who complained that the extreme self-denial of their
founder, St. Benedict, was no longer to be met with, and the
complainants had lately originated a new order, called the Cistercian,
from Citeaux, in Burgundy, the site of their first abbey. The
Cistercians made their appearance in England in =1128=. Their
buildings and churches were simpler than those of the Benedictines,
and their life more austere. They refused to receive gifts of tithes
lest they should impoverish the parish clergy. They loved to make
their homes in solitary places far from the haunts of men, and some of
the most beautiful of the abbeys which remain in ruins--those, for
instance, of Fountains and Tintern--were Cistercian abbeys. They are
beautiful, not because the Cistercians loved pleasant places, but
because they loved solitude, whilst the Benedictines had either
planted themselves in towns or had allowed towns to grow up round
their monasteries.

[Illustration: Part of the nave of Durham Cathedral. Built about
1130.]

10. =The White Ship.=--Henry, in consequence of the possession of
Normandy, had been frequently involved in war with France. Robert's
son, William Clito, claimed Normandy, and his claim was supported by
Louis VI. the Fat, who was styled king of France, though the territory
which he actually ruled was no larger than Normandy. In these wars
Henry was usually successful, and at last, in =1127=, William was
killed, and Henry freed from danger. His own son, also named William,
had already been drowned on the voyage between Normandy and England in
=1120=. The ship in which he sailed ran upon a rock, and the young man
was placed in a boat, and might have escaped if he had not returned to
save his half-sister, the Countess of Perche, who was still on board.
As soon as he approached the sailors and passengers crowded into the
boat and swamped it. Only one man, a butcher, was saved, by clinging
to the mast of the ship when it sank. The captain, who was with him
on the mast, threw himse