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 was charged with a mission to the papal court to plead for the consecration of Bishop Reginald; but the mission was frustrated by the opposition of the young king who would not let it proceed. Some two years later we have a charter of K. Henry II [May 1175–June 1176] which records that Thomas archdeacon of Wells had renounced his right, real or supposed, over ten churches belonging to the abbey of Glastonbury, and that henceforward the archdeacons of Wells were to hold the church of South Brent as a prebend in the church of Wells. It is interesting to find him again as Thomas Agnellus archdeacon of Wells, the writer of a eulogistic homily on the death of the young King Henry († 11 June 1183), part of which is printed in the appendix to the Rolls Series edition of Ralph of Coggeshall.

We have still to deal with a mysterious Thomas de Erlegh, who appears now as archdeacon of Wells and now as archdeacon of Bath. We find him (1) attesting William de Malreward's grant of the church of Tiverton to the nuns of Kingston St Michael: the witnesses are Thomas de Erlega archdeacon of Wells, Richard archdeacon of Bath, and Ubert precentor of Wells—an attestation which points to the period 1175-84: (2) attesting Alexander de Pirou's grant to Athelney; witnessed by Reginald bishop of Bath, Thomas de Erleghe archdeacon of Bath, and Master Walter prior of Buckland. Walter was prior of the canons of Buckland who were finally suppressed in 1186. (3) In a Bruton charter Bishop Reginald's confirmation of the church of Perreton is notified by him to his ' very dear kinsman Thomas de Erlega, his archdeacon '. K. Henry's gift of this church is dated by Maxwell-Lyte at the end of 1181 or the