Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/141

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He leaves England for ever. not the stirrer up of all evil go away unharmed. The perjured murderer, whose craft and cruelty have taken away the lives of thousands of men, ought not to live any longer."[1] Cries like these, mingled with every form of cursing and reviling, with every threat which could rise to the lips of an oppressed people in their day of vengeance, sounded in the ears of Odo and his comrades.[2] But the King's word had been passed, and the thirst for vengeance of the wrathful English had to be baulked. Odo and those who had shared with him in the defence of Rochester went away unhurt; but they had to leave England, and to lose all their English lands and honours, at least for a season. But Odo left England and all that he had in England for ever.[3] The career of the Earl of Kent was over; of the later career of the Bishop of Bayeux we shall hear again.

End of the rebellion. The rebellion was now at an end in southern England. Revolt had been crushed at Worcester, at Pevensey, and at Rochester, and we hear nothing more of those movements of which Bishop Geoffrey had made Bristol the centre, and which had met with such a reverse at the hands of the gallant defenders of Ilchester.

  1. Ord. Vit. 669 A. "Multitudo Anglorum quæ regi adhærebat cunctis audientibus, vociferabatur, et dicebat; Torques, torques afferte, traditorem episcopum cum suis complicibus patibulis suspendite. Magne rex Anglorum, cur sospitem pateris abire incentorem malorum? Non debet vivere perjurus homicida, qui dolis et crudelitatibus peremit hominum multa milia."
  2. Ib. "Hæc et alia probra mœstus antistes cum suis audivit."
  3. Chron. Petrib. 1088. "Se bisceop Odo mid þam mannum þe innan þam castele wæron ofer sæ ferdon, and se bisceop swa forlet þone wurðscipe þe he on þis land hæfde." Orderic (669 A)—in his character of "Angligena"—moralizes; "Sic irreligiosus præsul de Anglia expulsus est, et amplissimis possessionibus spoliatus est. Tunc maximos quæstus, quos cum facinore obtinuit, justo Dei judicio cum ingenti dedecore perdidit, et confusus Baiocas rediit, nec in Angliam postmodum repedavit."