"But we (whom the apostle warns lest we should despise the riches of the goodness of God, and whom he exhorts not to receive His grace in vain) with a truthful, albeit an unpolished style, at the command of superior authority and by the exhortation of brotherly love, have undertaken to tell of the glorious miracles of the glorious king and martyr Edmund: since, indeed, it appears impious that we should allow the lantern, which God lighted and placed upon a candlestick, to be obscured through our sloth, or should hide it negligently under the bushel of oblivion. For to this purpose is it placed upon a candlestick, that it may give light to all who are in the house."
In which matter the victorious champion of God, Edmund, illuminating the borders, not only of Britain, but also of foreign lands with the glory of his miracles, gives frequent token of his merit towards God.
"On behalf of whose merits, Omnipotent God, we pray That Thou in Thy clemency wouldst purge our inmost heart, And wouldst infuse the gift which the fostering spirit bestows, Opening the tongues of speechless babes and making them eloquent, That we may be able worthily to tell the praises of the martyr, His famous acts, his virtues and his triumphs."
[_The full titles of the works of reference quoted in the pages of this Appendix as "Arnold," "Battely," "James," "Rokewode," will be found on pages 276 and 277 of Appendix III_].
1, 4. _The year when the Flemings were taken captive._ On the 17th October, 1173, Richard de Lucy, the chief justiciary of King Henry II., defeated at Fornham St. Genevieve, near Bury St. Edmunds, the rebel Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, who had landed from Flanders at Walton in Suffolk on the 29th September, 1173, at the head of a force of Flemings. The chroniclers speak of large numbers of the foreign mercenaries as being killed at the battle of Fornham. The Earl and Countess of Leicester were captured, and imprisoned at Falaise till 1174. For an interesting description of the battle, with many references to the chronicles, see Miss Kate Norgate's _England under the Angevin Kings_, II. 150-1.
1, 10. _Hugh the Abbot._ Hugh, Prior of Westminster, succeeded Ording as 9th Abbot of St. Edmundsbury in 1157. Gervase records his being blessed by Archbishop Theobald at Colchester, and his vowing to him canonical obedience. But a bull obtained at great cost from Pope Alexander III. in 1172 (see p. 7) made the abbey immediately subject to Rome. Some details of the occurrences during his abbacy are given in Battely, pp. 78-82.