Prolicionycion [sic]

¶ Capitulum / 10 /

ABoute that tyme dyed odo tharchebisshop of Caunterbury This was of the nacion of danes / but he dyde alweye his wildenes at last / & seruid kyng edward the elder in chiualry And not long after he toke the tōsur of clerk / & was made bisshop of wynchestre / he had made kyng ethelstā his frēde by the coming of the swerde that was loste in the scaubert ageyne / Soo that he was made archebisshop of caunterbury / & for that he wold take that dignite the more holily / for al his predecessours had be mōkes he passed the see & toke monkes wede at floriacio beside aurelian / Treuisa / Odo was lewdly meoued therfor to make him a monk for cryst ne none of al his apostles was neuer monck ne frere / Than it foloweth in the story / Odo come ageyne and was nyghe the kynge / and wente atte last with kynge Edredus in to Nor∣thumberlond / & brouht with hym to Caunterbury the holy axes of saynt wylfryde the bisshop / therof is yet contynuel stryf bitwe¦ne them of york / & of caunterbury whether hath the more wilfri¦des bones / that was buryed in the chirche of rypon / by these for∣said bones owther the bones of the lasse wylfride that was seynt iohns prest & his successour / in the see of york / Also this Odo su∣spended kynge Edwynus of crystendome for he was to feruente in lecherye and oute of al good fame / Therfore Edwynus toke wreche in al the monkes of Englond / For in all englond was no man that hym durst wythstande oute take odo / and dunstan / For as Seneca sayth / a Cok is moost myghty on his own dung hylle / ¶ Also on a tyme Od••es temple was vnheebed And alle that tyme / that the heelynge was in makynge / and the temple in heelynge / he heeled it soo with his bedes / that there fylle noo drop of rayne in alle the place aboute / and yet that tyme was soo grete tempeste / and rayne of water / that is semed

that al the world shuld go to giders / Also on another tyme whan he sacred seynt dūstan bisshop of wyrcetre / he did so thordre of the seruyce as though he had sacred tharchebisshop of caunterbury / & whan his clerkys blamed him therfor / I wote sones said Odo what the holy goost worchith on me / & in the true byfore bodyng lakked no sobre feyth· though elsinus bisshop of wynchestre euer among founded to haue that see / for whan odo was dede / this el∣sinus ordeyned him aduocates / and groped her handes / and gate slyly a maūdement of the kynge / and was put in at caūterbury And the fyrst day that he was in there / he spared not but he caste out of his wodenes that he had long kepte in his hert / & put with his feet on seynt odoes tombe / and despysed his soule and spake / to hym in this manere / thou worste old man / thy soule is a goo late ynow / thou hast made a place to a bett than thou were / what I haue long desired / now I haue maugre thy teth / therfor I can the ful euyl thank at this tyme / but whan that day was a goo / and this blower of wodenes was brought to his bedde / he sawe the shap of seynt odo blame hym and despyse hym / and manace that he shulde dye / But he wende that he had be scorned of a fle∣ynge fantesye / and spared not therfor / But he wente toward ro∣me to receyue the palle of the pope / and passed by the hylles alpes and was fro••en in a cold snowe / and in his hors bowels that we re opened to haue somme hete / he wrapped his feet with whiche he spurned seynt odoes tombe / and dyed soo there / ¶ After hym bryghtlynus bisshop of wynchestre was archebisshop of caunter¦bury / and for he was not suffisaunt to so grete a charge / he went ageyne to wynchestre by comaundemēt of the kyng / & Dunstan bisshop of london & of wyrcetre was made archebisshop of caunter¦bury / and wente to rome / & receyued the palle of the pope Iohan He come ageyne and gate of the kynge. that oswalde that was Odoes broder sonne shold be bisshop of worcetre /

¶ Willelmus de pontificibus libro primo

Dunstan was fyrste abbott of glastenbury / he was alwey full of vertues / and made hym besy to torne kynge edgards hert / to de¦des of sauacion / & to make the kynges lyuynge to be a myrroure and ensample to all his subgettis / And yf the kynge trespassed he studyed hym fast to amende / & soo he made hym doo penaunce seuen yere for vnlawful lyggyng by a menchon / by that ensam∣ple he chastysed the comonte / and made knyghtes doo as they shold / and fered the••es and refreyned hem / Thordre of

monkes was thryfty that tyme / For it hadde relygyous rulers clere of scyence and of clergye / And soo bytwene thacorde of the good lyuyng of the kyng / and of the Archebisshop / clerkes had choys / whether they wolde amen••e her lyf / or byd her benefyce fa¦re wele / and leue wonynge places to better than they were / For soo sholde be noo moore discorde / bytwene the fayrenesse of the hous & the lyuynge of hem that dwellyd theryn / Than the foldes answerde to the tillers of plente of corne / and of fruyte / Euery grone shone with hurton trees / and other trees ful of fruyte / The Elementys were clere and lykynge / vnnethe ther was ony dystemperance of weder / pestylences and enemyes bothe were fer that tyme / ¶Aboute that tyme in Gaskoyne was a woman de∣parted and deuyded from the nauel vpwarde / and hadde twey hedes and twey breestes / soo that somtyme one slepte / owther ete whanne that other dyde nowther / and they lyued soo to gydre longe tyme / and dyed bothe at ones / ¶ After the twellyfthe Iohan the fyfth Benet was pope thre monethes / ¶ Nychoforus kynge of grece was an old man / and drad lest his owne sonnes wold put hym oute of his kyngdome / and demed that his sonnes shuld be ghelded / But the quene coūseylled one Iohan / that he shold slee the kynge and regne / and soo it was done / After Be¦net the eyghtenth leo was pope a yere and four monethes / For the malyce of the Romaynes that made of hem self vnlawfully popes / he ordeyned that no popes sholde be ordeyned without assent of the Emperour / ¶After hym the thyrtenth Iohan was pope as it were eyght yere / Atte laste he was taken of the prefecte of the Cyte and exyled / But the emperour restored him ageyne / and slough his enemyes / After Iohan the sixth Benet was pope one yere and six monethes / ¶ After hym / the eyght Bone face was pope thre yere / he myght not abide at Rome / but he spoil led saynt peters chirche / and went to Constantinople / and come ayene to Rome wyth grete pompe and booste / And whanne he myght not haue his purpoos be toke the Cardynal Iohan / and putte oute bothe his eyen / and dyed sone after / ¶ Willelmus de pont libro secundo / ¶ Whanne Askatyllus Archebisshop of yorke was dede / saynt oswald bisshop of wyrcitre receyued the the archebisshoprych / and gouerned both that / and the bisshoprich of wyrtetre / Besydes the cathedrale chirche of seynt Peter at wir¦cetre / he buylde another chirche of our lady that he myght ther be the more homely with the monkes / and there by he had grete loue

of the people / There clerkes of the nexte chirche whan they sawe that / had leuer be monkes than soo despysed and forsaken / Whanne oswald was stalled at york / he brought lettred men in to countrey / For the countraye shold not be defrauded / and be with∣oute suche goodnesse / withoute the whiche goodnesse / other good¦nesse semeth but a vanyte / ¶ Albo monke of floriacio was one of thylk lettred men / withoute moche f••uyte of clergye / that he brought in to Englond / he descryued and wrote the lyf of saynt Edmunde the kynge and martir / atte prayer of saynt dunstan / This Albo torned home afterward / and was made Abbot / ¶ Than on a tyme in a celle in gascoyne callyd Alereul and longed to his abbay / he wolde haue vsed the streng¦the of Relygyon / but the eruelte of Gascoyns wolde not suffre it and kytte his throte and soo he dyed / and oswald lyued fyue yere after / and kneled downe on a tyme to wessh pore mennes fe¦te / and sayde gloria patri / and dyed ryght soo / ¶ Willelmus de regibus libro secundo / ¶ Kynge Edgar in the twellyfthe yere of his kyngdome was enoynted kynge / and sacred at bathe and sayled aboute north Brytayne / and come a land at legyon that nowe is callyd Chestre / Eyght vnder kynges come ayenste hym / with the whiche kynges he wente in a boote on a day on the Ryuer dee / and toke the helme in his hande / and was steres man and the other kynges were sette to rowe with oores / and soo he co¦me rowynge to seynt Iohans chirche / and come rowynge with a grete pompe and boost to his owne palays / and me sayth / that he sayde thennethat ony of his successours myght be ioyeful and gladde / whanne he had so grete pompe and worship /