; he there distributed treasures for his father's soul to
each monastery that was in England; to some ten marks of gold, to
some six, to each upland (111) church sixty pence. And into each
shire were sent a hundred pounds of money to distribute amongst
poor men for his soul. And ere he departed, he bade that they
should release all the men that were in prison under his power.
And the king was on the midwinter in London.

A.D. 1088. In this year was this land much stirred, and filled
with great treachery; so that the richest Frenchmen that were in
this land would betray their lord the king, and would have his
brother Robert king, who was earl in Normandy. In this design
was engaged first Bishop Odo, and Bishop Gosfrith, and William,
Bishop of Durham. So well did the king by the bishop [Odo] that
all England fared according to his counsel, and as he would. And
the bishop thought to do by him as Judas Iscariot did by our
Lord. And Earl Roger was also of this faction; and much people
was with him all Frenchmen. This conspiracy was formed in Lent.
As soon as Easter came, then went they forth, and harrowed, and
burned, and wasted the king's farms; and they despoiled the lands
of all the men that were in the king's service. And they each of
them went to his castle, and manned it, and provisioned it as
well as they could. Bishop Gosfrith, and Robert the peace-breaker,
went to Bristol, and plundered it, and brought the spoil
to the castle. Afterwards they went out of the castle, and
plundered Bath, and all the land thereabout; and all the honor
(112) of Berkeley they laid waste. And the men that eldest were
of Hereford, and all the shire forthwith, and the men of
Shropshire, with much people of Wales, came and plundered and
burned in Worcestershire, until they came to the city itself,
which it was their design to set on fire, and then to rifle the
minster, and win the king's castle to their hands. The worthy
Bishop Wulfstan, seeing these things, was much agitated in his
mind, because to him was betaken the custody of the castle.
Nevertheless his hired men went out of the castle with few
attendants, and, through God's mercy and the bishop's merits,
slew or took five hundred men, and put all the others to flight.
The Bishop of Durham did all the harm that he could over all by
the north. Roger was the name of one of them; (113) who leaped
into the castle at Norwich, and did yet the worst of all over all
that land.