fangen, forthi thæt hi wenden | accepted [received as duke]
thæt he sculde ben alsuic alse | because that they weened
the eom wæs, and for he | that he should be just as his
hadde get his tresor; ac he | uncle was, and because he
todeld it and scatered sotlice. | had got his treasure: but he
Micel hadde Henri king | to-dealt [distributed] and
gadered gold and sylver, and | scattered it sot-like [foolishly].
na god ne dide men for his | Muckle had King
saule tharof. Tha the King | Henry gathered of gold and
Stephan to Englaland com, | silver; and man did no good
tha macod he his gadering | for his soul thereof. When
æt Oxeneford, and thar he | that King Stephan was come
nam the biscop Roger of | to England, then maked he
Sereberi, and Alexander | his gathering at Oxford, and
biscop of Lincoln, and the | there he took the bishop
Canceler Roger, hise neves, | Roger of Salisbury, and Alexander,
and dide ælle in prisun, til | bishop of Lincoln, and
hi iafen up hire castles. | the Chancellor Roger, his
| nephew, and did them all in
| prison [put them in prison]
| till they gave up their castles.

The following passage from Ælfric's Life of King Oswold, in the best
period of early English prose, may perhaps be intelligible to modern
readers by the aid of a few explanatory notes only. _Mid_ means _with_;
while _with_ itself still bears only the meaning of _against_:–

"Æfter tham the Augustinus to Englalande becom, wæs sum æthele cyning,
Oswold ge-haten [_hight_ or _called_], on North-hymbra-lande, ge-lyfed
swithe on God. Se ferde [went] on his iugothe [youth] fram his freondum