Page:Somerset Historical Essays.djvu/140

 will do him justice. Peter began so soon to speak of his old age, that his references to it do not help us much, but here it is so strongly emphasised that we may perhaps put this letter near the end of Walter's tenure of the see, and we may note that in one MS Peter has the title of archdeacon of London.

The evidence which seems at first sight to connect our Peter with Bayeux is to be found in the Customary of that church (ed. Chevalier, p. 314), which records that Bishop Robert (1206-31) ordered that in future six prebends should be held only by priests who could assist in the services: among these was 'prebenda de Mara, quae fuit magistri Petri Blesensis'. The prebend of La Mare was at Douvre (ibid., p. 334): it was worth £140, and had a fine manor at La Mare, and houses to let in Bayeux. We have two letters (Epp. 50, 159), written by Peter to Henry bishop of Bayeux, who held the see for more than forty years; but they do not suggest that he had any connexion with that church. If our Peter held this rich prebend, he was a luckier man than we have had reason to suppose: but we must allow the possibility that it belonged to his namesake the chancellor of Chartres.

Coming back now to England we note that Peter of Blois held a prebend at Ripon, and also the deanery of Wolverhampton. The evidence for Ripon is quite explicit, but so far as it can be exactly dated it belongs exclusively to the closing years of his life. On the occasion of the Interdict (23 March 1208), when the goods of all the clergy were confiscated, certain favoured persons almost immediately obtained restitution. Among these was our Peter: for on 4 April a writ issued from Waverly to Robert de Vieux Pont in these terms: 'Permit Master Peter of Blois, canon of Ripon, to have all his possessions in your baily, which were seized into our hand by occasion of the Interdict, until you shall receive other instruction from us' (Rot. Litt. Claus. i. 108 b). We do not know on what ground Peter was thus favoured: there appears to be no mention of K. John in his writings, and no reference at all to the Interdict. As canon of Ripon Peter attests an undated grant to the church of Ripon (Fowler, Memorials of Ripon, Surtees Society, i. 255). Moreover Leland speaks of a Life of St Wilfrid, the patron saint of Ripon, written by Peter of Blois and dedicated to Geoffrey archbishop of York (Coll. ed. 1770, t. iii [vol. iv], p. 110).

With the neighbouring abbey of Fountains Peter was on friendly terms. Writing to the prior and monks in the absence of the abbot, he excuses his failure to visit them of late, and announces that he is