He then gives a particular instance:  “A certain monk of good repute and still better life, who belonged to the Abbey of St Peter at Gloucester, related that he had a dream in the visions of the night to this effect:  ‘I saw,’ he said, ’the Lord Jesus seated on a lofty throne, and the glorious host of heaven, with the company of the saints, standing round.  But while, in my ecstasy, I was lost in wonder, and my attention deeply fixed on such an extraordinary spectacle, I beheld a virgin resplendent with light cast herself at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and humbly address to Him this petition, “O Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, for which Thou didst shed Thy precious blood when hanging on the Cross, look with an eye of compassion on Thy people, which now groan under the yoke of William.  Thou avenger of wickedness, and most just judge of all men, take vengeance I beseech Thee on my behalf of this William and deliver me out of his hands, for as far as lies in his power he hath polluted and grievously afflicted me.”  The Lord replied, “Be patient and wait awhile, and soon thou wilt be fully avenged of him.”  I trembled at hearing this and doubt not that the divine anger presently threatens the King; for I understood that the cries of the holy virgin, our mother the Church, had reached the ears of the Almighty by reason of the robberies, the foul adulteries and the heinous crimes of all sorts which the King and his courtiers cease not daily of committing against the divine law.’”

On being informed of this, the venerable Abbot Serle wrote letters which he despatched in a friendly spirit from Gloucester informing the King very distinctly of all the monk had seen in his vision.

William of Malmesbury also records that the King himself the day before he died, dreamed that he was let blood by a surgeon, and that the stream, reaching to heaven, clouded the light and intercepted the day.  Calling on St Mary for protection he suddenly awoke, commanded a light to be brought and forbade his attendants to leave him.  They then watched with him several hours until daylight.  Shortly after, just as the day began to dawn, a certain foreign monk told Robert Fitz Haman one of the principal nobility that he had that night dreamed a strange and fearful dream about the King:  “That he had come into a certain church, with menacing and insolent gesture as was his custom, looking contemptuously on the standers by.  Then violently seizing the Crucifix he gnawed the arms and almost tore away the legs; that the image endured this for a long time, but at length struck the King with its foot, in such a manner that he fell backwards; from his mouth as he lay prostrate issued so copious a flame that the volumes of smoke touched the very stars.  Robert, thinking that this dream ought not to be neglected as he was intimate with him, immediately related it to the King.  William, repeatedly laughing, exclaimed, ’He is a monk and dreams for money like a monk; give him a hundred shillings.’”