great repute in the diocese of
Rouen. Its church had been built during the abbacy of Robert, afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury; and he died and was buried at Jumieges.
Theodwin was present at the Council of London in 1075. He died the same
year.

For upwards of six years the affairs of the monastery were administered
by Godfrey, one of the monks. He was an able and efficient
administrator. In his time the king sent a number of knights and
gentlemen to live at Ely, and he supported them out of the revenues of
the house. The names and armorial bearings of these pensioners are
preserved in a curious painting called the "Tabula Eliensis," now in the
palace. This is a copy, as it is said, of one formerly in the refectory.
It cannot be earlier than the fifteenth century. There are in it forty
compartments, in each of which is represented a knight and a monk, the
names of both being given above, and the arms of the knights being
placed beside their heads. Some of the names are still to be found among
the nobility and gentry of England, and in some instances the very same
armorial bearings are used. This is the case in the families of Lacy,
St. Leger, Montfort, Clare, Touchet, Furnival, Fulke, Newbury, Lucy,
Talbot, Fitzallen, Longchamp. It need hardly be pointed out that no
contemporary Norman painting could have given such shields of arms to
the different knights, heraldry having only established itself as a
science in England in the thirteenth century.

The affairs of the abbey had been in a very unsettled state since the
time when the Camp of Refuge was attacked, so many of the estates of the
church having been granted to Norman followers of the Conqueror. But the
king's resentment at last gave way, and he was induced to sanction an
inquiry into the rights and liberties of the monastery. He appointed his
brother Odo, then Bishop of Bayeux, to summon an assembly of barons,
sheriffs, and others interested in the matter, to consider and determine
the claims of the monks. The meeting was held at Kentford, in Suffolk;
and the report was so favourable that the king directed the church to be
put into possession of all the rights, customs, and privileges which it
enjoyed at the time of King Edward's death.

Godfrey, the administrator, being made Abbot of Malmesbury, an abbot was
at length given to Ely in the person of #Simeon# (1081-1093). He was
prior of Winchester, and brother to Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester. He
was very