plans of the wicked; for after enduring for three days the attacks of the infidels, who harassed them on all sides, when they had begun to fail from being weakened by the enemy's attacks, they beheld a fleet with twelve thousand Danes and Frisians under full sail entering the harbour, which by God's assistance they had reached after a prosperous voyage. Saladin, being alarmed at this sight and other like events, retired in confusion to the lower parts of his country.

Of the great hindrance to the cause of the Holy Land.

At this time there was a great drawback to the cause of the Holy Land in the differences which had lately, even since their taking the sign of the cross, arisen between the king of the French and Richard count of Poictou on the one part, and Henry king of the English on the other; so great indeed was their quarrel, that they took castles from one another, and committed many excesses by slaughter and rapine; at length for the sake of peace they came to a conference in Normandy, but the devil sowed tares amongst the wheat, so that they separated still at enmity.

How John, cardinal of Anagnia, endeavoured to make peace between the kings Philip and Henry.

A.D. 1189. King Henry, whilst staying in the country beyond sea, was grievously harassed by the annoyances which Philip king of the French, and Richard his son count of Poictou, caused him; at Christmas he was at Saumur in Anjou, keeping that festival there, although several of his counts and barons had left him and gone over to the side of Richard his son. After the feast of St. Hilary, the treaties which had existed between the two kings, were broken off, and the French king Philip, and count Richard, entered the territories of the king of England and ravaged them; the Bretons, too, left him and went over to count Richard; but pope Clement, wondering that peace had not as yet been made between the kings, sent John cardinal of Anagnia, with full power to settle the disputes between them. This prelate endeavoured to bring them to terms of amity at one time by reproaches, at another by mild arguments, till at length the kings gave security, and swore to abide by the arbitration of the archbishops of Bourges, Rouen, and Can

terbury; so that if either of them should fail in his compact so as to render the peace between them less firm, or to delay the expedition to Jerusalem, against that one should the sentence of excommunication be promulgated by authority of our lord the pope, as against a subverter of our Lord's cross and of the whole Christian religion; and immediately the cardinal took the opinion of all, priests as well as laymen, to determine who it was that caused the breach between the kings, saving the persons of the said kings.

Letter of the marquis's son concerning the oppression of the Holy Land.

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Conrad, son of the marquis of Mont-Ferrat, to Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury, greeting.-The elements are disturbed, and it is derogatory to the catholic faith that the see of Jerusalem should be separated from the apostolic see. Jerusalem has become extinct, and the inactivity of the Christians is most contemptibly spoken of by the Saracens ; they are polluting our Lord's sepulchre, they are destroying Calvary, they despise the birth-place of Christ, and are utterly destroying the sepulchre of the blessed virgin Mary ; the see of Constantinople shows no reverence for that of Rome. Antioch, too, is known to be in its last extremity. All these things are known to have happened through the idleness of the Christians. But the holy city of Jerusalem is much to be wept for and lamented, since it is deprived of its worshippers, and where once Christ spent daily and nightly hours in prayer, there the name of Mahomet is now worshipped aloud. To your highness, therefore, I put forth my prayers mingled with tears, that you will deign to commiserate the sufferings of the Holy Land, that you will comfort kings, and admonish those of the true faith, that by expelling these dogs from the patrimony of Jesus Christ, they may out of charity assist to free it from bondage, and so deliver from the dominion of the infidels the land which has been trodden by the holy feet of our Saviour. In addition to this mass of iniquity and desolation of Christianity, a friendship is cherished between Saladin and the emperor of Constantinople, to whom the said Saladin has delivered all the churches of the land of promise that sacred rites may be performed in them by his followers after the Greek custom. Moreover Saladin also by consent of that emperor sent

his idol to Constantinople to be publicly worshipped there, but by the grace of God it was captured at sea by the Genoese, and brought, with the ship which carried it, to Tyre. Lately, too, an army was supplied by the emperor before Antioch, and he promised Saladin a hundred galleys; and Saladin has given him the whole land of promise, if he will prevent the march of the French to the assistance of the Holy Land; every one at Constantinople who would take the cross, is immediately taken and thrown into prison. But we have this one consolation, that the brother of Saladin, and also his son, were lately taken prisoners before Antioch, and are handed over to safe custody. Farewell."

Of the causes which led Richard to rebel against his father.

The same year, after Easter, a conference was held between the kings at Ferté-Bernard, and at last they met in Whitsun-week and the French king demanded that his daughter Alice, whom Henry had under his charge, should be given in marriage to count Richard, together with a guarantee of the crown of England after his own death; also that his son John should embrace the crusade, for Richard would not go without him: but the king of England would not give his consent to these proposals, and the two kings parted in anger. In this conference the cardinal aforesaid positively threatened, if the king of France and count Richard would not make peace with the king of England, to lay their dominions under an interdict. The king of France replied that he had no fear of so unjust a sentence; that it was not in the power of the church of Rome to pass judgment on the king or kingdom of France, for taking arms to punish rebellious subjects; that the cardinal had smelt the king of England's pounds sterling, and that he suspected his judgment had been perverted thereby. On the other hand, the archbishops and the nobles advised the king of England to agree to his son's demands, saying that it was right to give so noble a son and brave knight some security of obtaining the kingdom after his father's death: but the king refused to do so in the existing state of things, lest he should be said to have done so by constraint and not of his own free will. Count Richard, having heard this reply, did homage to the French king, before them all, for the whole territory of his

father which belonged to the crown of France, saving the tenure to his father as long as he lived, and saving the allegiance due to his father. Thus the conference ended, and

the kings and all the people separated.

How the king of France took four castles from the king of England, and drove away the king himself from the city of Mans.

The French king, departing from the conference in company with count Richard, took Ferté-Bernard, Montfort, and Baalverque, fortresses belonging to the king of England, and after taking them, remained there four days. Thence proceeding to Maine, and pretending to go to Tours, on the following Monday, whilst the king of England and his men thought themselves in safety there, he disposed his forces to make an attack on the city of Mans; and Stephen de Turnham, the king of England's seneschal of Anjou, set fire to the suburbs, but the flames passing the walls, reduced almost all the city to ashes. The French upon this proceeded to a stone bridge, where Geoffrey de Biurlun and many others with him from the king of England met them, and endeavoured to break down the bridge: a severe conflict took place, and many fell on both sides. Geoffrey, after having received a wound in the neck, was taken with many others: the rest essaying to escape into the city, the French entered with them, and the king of England, despairing of resistance, fled with seven hundred horsemen. The French king and count Richard pursued him for three miles, and if the stream, which they forded, had not been wide and deep, all the knights of the king of England's household would have been taken prisoners. Many Welshmen fell in that battle. The king of England, at the head of a small party, took refuge in the castle of Tours, and the rest of his men in the tower of Mans. The king of France immediately besieged the tower, and partly by his engines and partly by his miners, reduced the garrison, consisting of thirty knights, and sixty men-at-arms, to surrender. Marching thence he reduced Mont-Double, Trou, de Rocher, Montoire, Carciere, Chateaudu-Loir, Chaumont, Amboise, Roche-corbon, and Beaumont.

The city of Seville is captured.

The same year many ships passing through the British

seas, entered into an agreement with the pilgrims of England, and, by common consent, leaving Dartmouth on the 18th of May thirty-seven vessels, deeply laden, put to sea, and after various adventures arrived at Lisbon. The king of Portugal, seeing that they carried arms and soldiers well equipped for battle, entreated them to assist him in reducing the city of Seville, promising to lend them thirty-seven galleys and many other ships: he also entered into a treaty with them on oath that they should keep all the gold, silver, and other spoil, which they should find in the city, when they had taken it, and give up to him only the city itself. They therefore left Lisbon with a favourable wind, and soon reached the port of Seville, where they brought their ships to land, pitched their camp, and laid siege straightway to the city. The number of their men fit for battle was three thousand five hundred. On the third day they made a fierce assault on the walls and forced their way into the suburbs, where there was a fountain surrounded by a double wall, and having a barbican defended by nine towers, from which the inhabitants of the city got water. This fountain they filled with dung and stones. The gentiles were now alarmed at being cut off from their supply of water; and Alchad the prince of the city, going to the king of Portugal, surrendered the city to him without the knowledge of the Christians. Thus the crusaders took the city in this wonderful manner, and found in it sixty thousand people, all of whom, except only thirteen thousand of both sexes, were put to the sword. By the mercy of God, this victory was obtained without loss to the Christians, and when the city had been cleansed from its impurities, the king of Portugal dedicated the great mosque to the honour of the mother of God, and made bishop of it one of the pilgrims who had come thither from Flanders.

How king Henry was compelled to make peace with Richard his son. The same year, on the day after the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, Philip count of Flanders, William archbishop of Rheims, and Hugh duke of Burgundy, came to Saumur for the purpose of making peace between the French king and count Richard of Poictou. Now court Richard had joined the Bretons to the men of Poictou, and they had obtained letters patent from the king of France, to the effect that he would