The Brut, or The chronicles of England. Edited from Ms. Raw. B171, Bodleian Library, &c., by Friedrich W. D. Brie, with introduction, notes, and glossary ...

How Sir Roger Mortymer bare him so proudely & hie. Capitulo CC xx.

[MS Rawlinson B 171 154b]

ANd now shul ȝe hure How sir Roger þe Mortymer of Wygemore, þat desirede and couetede to bene at an hye state, so þat þe Kyng grantede him to bene callede þe Erl of Marche þrouȝ-out al his Lordeship. ¶ And he bicome þo so prout, þat he wolde lese and forsake þe name þat his Ancestre haden euer bifore; And for þat enchesoun he lete him calle Erl of Marche; And none of þe communes of Engeland derste calle him by none oþer name, for he was callede so, þrouȝ þe Kyngus crie þat men shulde calle him þe Erl of Marche. ¶ And þe Mortymer þo bare him so hauten and so proude, þat wonder hit was to wete; and also disgisede him wiþ wonder ryche cloþes oute of al maner resoun, boþe of shaping and of wering; Wherof

the Englisshe-men hade grete wonder, how and in what maner he might contreue or fynde soche maner pride; and þai saide amonges ham alle communeliche, þat his pride shulde nouȝt longe endure. ¶ And þe same tyme, Sire Geffray þe Mortymer þe ȝonge, þat was þe Mortymers sone, lete him calle Kynge of Folye; and so hit bifelle aftirward indede, ffor he was so ful of pride and of wrecchednesse, þat he helde a rounde table in Walys to alle men þat þider wolde come, and countrefetede þe maner & doyng of Kyng Arthureȝ table; but openly he failede, ffor þe noble Knyȝt Arthure was þe moste worþi lord of renoun þat was in al þe worlde in his tyme, and [MS Rawlinson B 171 155a] ȝitte come neuer non soche after him, for alle þe noble knyȝtes þ[r]ouȝ Cristendome of dede of Armes alosede, du[e]llede wiþ Kyng Arthure, and helde him for her lord; and þat was wel sene, for he conquerede a Romayn þat me callede Frolle, & gete of him þe reaume of France, and quellede him wiþ his owen hande. ¶ And also he fauȝt wiþ a Geaunt þat me callede Dynabus and quellede him, þat hade rauisshede Elyne, þat was Kyng Hoeles nece, Kyng of Litil Britaign; and afterward he quellede in bataile þe Emperour of Rome, þat me callede Lucye, þat had assemblede aȝeyns Kyng Arthur forto feiȝt wiþ him so miche peple of Romayns and of Peiȝtes and of Sarasynus, þat no man couþ ham nombre; and he descomfitede ham alle, as þe story of him more pleynloker telleþ. ¶ And in þe same tyme, commune loos sprong in Engeland, þrouȝ conietting and ordenaunce of þe ffrere Prechoures, þat Sir Edward of Carnaryuan, þat was Kyng Edwardus fader, of whom þe geest telles, saide þat he was alif in the castel of Corf; wherfore alle þe commune[s] almost of Engeland were in sorwe and drede wheþer hit were so or nouȝ; þai wist neuer how þe Mortymer traiterousely hade done him mordre.