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Gervase says of the same fire, "combusta est Ecclesia S. Andreæ Roffensis et tota civitas cum officinis Episcopi et monachorum," and of the later one that in it the church, with the offices, was burnt and reduced to a cinder. Lambarde, staunch Protestant as he was, saw in these fires a token of God's disapproval of such monastic institutions.
The three older writers appear to have had before them the LII of William I., the latter the alleged charter found in the "Textus Roffensis;" but as they are almost identical in expression, I treat the latter as a copy of the former, and I do not think it bears out the interpretation sought to be put upon it that it altered either the feudalism of England, or the relation of the vassal to his lord; and it must be borne in mind that not only did William derive his title to the crown from Edward the Confessor, but he preserved the apparent continuity, and re-enacted the laws of his predecessor.
The ancient summary of his laws contained in the Textus Roffensis is entitled "What William, King of the English, with his Princes enacted after the Conquest of England"; and the same form is preserved in the tradition of his confirming the ancient laws reported to him by the representatives of the shires.
As the subject possesses considerable interest for the general reader as well as the learned historian, I think it well to place the two authorities side by side, that the text may be compared: LII. William I., as given by Eadments. "De fide et obsequio erga Regnum. Charter from Textus Roffensis, given by Mr. Stubbs.
Traces of Kentish speech may be detected, however, in the Textus Roffensis, the MS. of the Kentish laws, and Northumbrian dialectical peculiarities are also noticeable on some occasions, while Danish words occur only as technical terms. At the conquest, Latin takes the place of English in the compilations made to meet the demand for Anglo-Saxon law texts as still applied in practice.
He says: "These charters are from 'Textus Roffensis, a manuscript written during the reign of Henry I.; it contains the sum and substance of all the legal enactments made by the Conqueror independent of his confirmation of the earlier laws."
To turn now to manuscripts, disregarding the other classes of printed books, the cathedral possesses a great treasure in the #Textus Roffensis#, which is said to be the work of Bishop Ernulf and dates from early in the twelfth century.
M. Paris, p. 4. Sim. Dun. p. 206. Brompton, p. 962, 980, 1161. Gervase Tilb. lib. i. cap. 16. Textus Roffensis apud Seld. Spicileg. ad Eadm. p. 179. Gul. Pict. p. 206. Ordericus Vitalis, p. 621, 666, 853. Epist. St. Thom. p. 801. Gul. Malmes. p. 52, 57. Knyghton, p. 2354. Eadmer. p. 110. Thom. Rudborne in Ang. Sacra, vol. i. p. 248. Monach. Roff. in Ang Sacra, vol. ii. p. 276. Girald.
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