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him to send unto the pope to be assoiled of his vow, or else delay it till another time. And the king, seeing the sorrow and lamentation of his people, which wept and wrung their hands, and as people amazed without a defender and keeper, comforted them and granted to abide still with them, and ordained certain bishops for to go to Rome and to ask of our holy father counsel, how he might be assoiled of this avow that he had made to visit S. Peter. And the archbishop of York, and bishop of Winchester, and two abbots, with divers clerks and laymen, went to Rome; and when they came to Rome, the pope had made that time a great congregation of clerks of divers great matters belonging to holy church, and when the pope wist of their coming, he was right glad and sent for them, and the pope bade them tell the cause of their coming. And anon, silence was made, and they exposed the cause of their coming, and recited the avow and the desire of King Edward, the peril of the realm, the trouble, the dread of the people, the breaking of the peace, the clamour of the poor commons, the jeopardy of the king in his absence, and the piteous destruction which the Danes had late made by their cruelty; and also declared the great devotion he had to visit the holy apostles Peter and Paul. Then the pope and the clergy marvelled greatly, and gave laud and praising unto Almighty God that he had sent so devout and virtuous a prince in the angle of the world to maintain by his wisdom the christian faith, and how dreadful he was to offend against the holy church. And when the pope understood how his people loved