He was succeeded by =Arwinus= (1055-1057), a monk of the house, but he resigned the government in two years.  Next came =Leofric= (1057-1066), a very eminent man, said to have been of royal descent.  He was nephew to Leofric, Earl of Coventry.  In the time of this abbot, William of Normandy invaded England, and Leofric was for some time with the English army.  But in consequence of ill health he was obliged to leave it and return to his monastery, where he died the same year.  He is highly praised in the Chronicle as “pulcherrimus Monachorum, flos et decus Abbatum.”

=Brando= (1066-1069), succeeded, and greatly offended King William by applying to Edgar Atheling for confirmation of his appointment.  He was uncle to Hereward, the Saxon patriot, and created him knight.  At his death a Norman was appointed, =Turold=, of Fescamp (1069-1098); but “he neither loved his monastery, nor his convent him.”  During the interval between Brando’s death and Turold’s arrival, a partial destruction of the monastery took place.  This has been already described.  Some account for Hereward’s share in the attack and in the carrying off of the treasures by supposing that he meant to restore them when the rule of the Norman Abbot came to an end.  When Turold arrived at Peterborough he brought with him a force of 160 well-armed Normans.  Joining the forces of Ivo Taillebois he attacked the Camp of Refuge near Ely.  The attacking party was repulsed by Hereward, and Turold taken prisoner, and only liberated upon paying a heavy ransom.  Soon afterwards the Abbot is said to have received into the monastery two monks from beyond sea, “who secretly stole away, and carried many of the Church Goods with them.”  At length he was made Bishop in France, and the monastery trusted they had seen the last of him.  But he was ignominiously expelled in four days, and was permitted, upon paying a large sum of money to the king, to resume his abbacy.

[Illustration:  Rose Windows and Details of West Front.]

Another uncle of Hereward’s, =Godric= (1099-1103), brother of Brando, became the next abbot.  The monks had purchased from the king the right to elect their own abbot; and Godric, being considered by this transaction to have committed simony, was (with the neighbouring abbots of Ely and Ramsey) deposed by a council held under the presidency of Archbishop Anselm.

=Matthias= (1103-1105), was brother of Geoffrey, the Chief Justice, who was drowned at the foundering of The White Ship, when Prince William, the King’s son, was lost.  After the death of Matthias there was a vacancy of three years, until =Ernulf= (1107-1114), Prior of Canterbury came.  He became Bishop of Rochester, and died in 1124.

=John de Sais= (1114-1125), probably came from Sees, in Normandy; though he is sometimes called John of Salisbury.  In 1116 nearly the whole town was consumed by a fire that lasted nine days.  It began in the bakehouse of the monastery and completely destroyed the church and most of the abbey buildings, the Chapter House, Refectory and Dormitory alone escaping.  In March 1118 (or, as then written, 1117), the commencement was made of the building that now exists.  Abbot John died in 1125; and again the King kept the abbey in his own hands for more than two years.