never make peace with king Henry without comprehending them also in the treaty. Meanwhile the king of France and Richard count of Poictou laid siege to Tours, and on the next Monday after the festival aforesaid, they applied their scaling ladders to the walls on the side of the Loire, which contained very little water, and took the city, with its garrison of sixtynine knights and a hundred men-at-arms. Then the king of England was compelled to make a discreditable peace, on the following terms :- "The king of England places himself wholly under the counsel of the king of France, so that whatsoever the latter shall think proper to be done, the king of England will fulfil without gainsaying." The king of England then did homage to the king of France as he had formerly done in the beginning of the war. It was also provided that Alice the French king's sister should be given into the charge of count Richard until his return from the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and that she should then become his wife. It was also provided that count Richard should receive the homage of all his father's subjects on both sides of the sea, and that none of the barons or knights, who in this war had adhered to count Richard, should return to England, except in the last month before the departure of the kings towards the Holy Land, the term of which will be in the middle of Lent. Moreover that he should pay the king of France twenty thousand marks of silver for his services in assisting count Richard; and that the king of France and count Richard should hold the cities of Mans and Tours, with Chateau du Loir and Trou, until all the aforesaid conditions should be fulfilled. By this transaction the prophecy of Merlin seems to have been fulfilled that a bit fabricated in the coasts of Armorica should be put into his jaws: for a bit was now put into the jaws of the king of England, by reason that the dominions, which his predecessors had acquired in Auvergne, had become the property of another, for he now was obliged to give up to his son Richard, whether he would or no, those who had deserted from him, namely Geoffry de Meduan, Guy du Val, Ralph de Fulcher, all residing within the coasts of Armorica, i. e. Brittany, through which is a peaceable passage between Britain and France, without trespassing on the coasts of Normandy. Of the Roman emperor's departure on pilgrimage. About this time, on the feast of St. George, Frederic the Roman emperor set out on pilgrimage from Remesburg, intending to march through Hungary and Bulgaria. Of the death of king Henry. King Henry returned to Chinon from the conference much dejected, and cursed the day on which he was born: three days after, he was no more. He died on the octaves of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, after a reign of thirty-four years, seven months, and five days. On the morrow, as they were carrying him to be buried, arrayed in his royal robes, his crown, gloves, shoes, ring, sceptre, and sword, he lay with his face uncovered; and when Richard, hearing the news of his death, came to meet the convoy, blood flowed from the nostrils of the deceased, as if he was indignant at the presence of one who was believed to have caused his death. Count Richard, seeing this, shed tears bitterly, and followed his father's corpse in much tribulation to Font-Evraud, where he caused it to be buried with honours by the archbishops of Tours and Treves. And whereas the deceased monarch had often said that the whole world ought not to suffice for the ambition of one king, there was an inscription put upon his tomb of the following import : : "Here lies King Henry, I, who many realms Did erst subdue, and was both count and king. And look on me as what all men must come to." I would also add in this place the laws which king Henry made for the good of his kingdom, if I did not fear to weary the patience of my readers. About the same time died Matilda, Henry's daughter and wife of Henry duke of Saxony. How earl Richard obtained the duchy of Normandy. When king Henry therefore was dead, his son Richard immediately laid hands on Stephen de Turnham,* the seneschal of Anjou, and committing him to custody required him * More properly of Tours. to deliver up the castles and treasures which were in his hands belonging to his father. He next honourably retained with him all those who had served his father and on whose fidelity he could reckon, and recompensed each according to his deserts for the long services which he had rendered to his father. Moreover, when John his brother came to see him, Jonn he received him with due honour. He then proceeded to Rouen in Normandy, and on the 13th before the kalends of August,* in presence of the bishops, earls, barons and knights, he took the sword of the duchy of Normandy, by the ministry of the archbishop, from the altar of the blessed virgin Mary: and having received the allegiance both of the clergy and the people, he abundantly confirmed to his brother John all the lands which his father had given him in England, namely, an estate of 4000 marks, and the whole county of Mortaigne. He also granted to his brother Geoffrey, formerly bishop elect of Lincoln, the archbishopric of York; and Geoffrey, immediately sending his clerks with the duke's letters, took the archbishopric into his own hands, having expelled the guards of the king and of Hubert Walter, dean of that same church, who had also been elected bishop by some of the canons. On the third day of his reign the duke had an interview with the French king between Chaumont and Trie, wherein the king of the French demanded the castle of Gisors and all the neighbouring province; but because the duke was about to take the king's sister Alice in marriage, he forbode to press his demand for a time, and the duke on his part promised to pay 4000 marks more than the sum which his father had promised. How king Richard released his mother from her long confinement. Meanwhile his mother queen Eleanor, who for sixteen years had been removed from his father's bed, and kept in close confinement, received her son's permission to manage matters in the kingdom according to her own pleasure, and the nobles were instructed to obey her in every respect. The queen, with these powers, released all those who were in prison throughout all England, knowing from her own experience how painful to mankind is imprisonment. In these days was fulfilled the prophecy of Merlin, which says, * July 20. "The eagle of the broken treaty shall rejoice in her third nestling." The queen is meant by the eagle, because she stretches out her two wings over two kingdoms, France and England. She was separated from the king of the French by divorce on account of consanguinity, and from the king of the English by suspicion and imprisonment; and so she was on both sides the eagle of a broken treaty. The next part of the sentence, "shall rejoice in her third nestling," may be understood in this way:-The queen's first-born son, named William, died when he was a boy; Henry her second son, was raised to the rank of king, and paid the debt of nature, after he had engaged in hostilities with his father; and Richard his third son, who is denoted by the "third nestling," was a source of joy to his mother, and released her, as I have said, from the misery of confinement. King Richard comes to England to be crowned. When all these things were arranged, duke Richard, administering due justice to all his subjects, arrived at Barbefleuve, where he took ships and landed at Portsmouth on the ides of August [Aug. 13]. His arrival was soon blazoned through England, and caused much joy to both clergy and people; for although some grieved for the death of his father, yet they took consolation from those words of the poet :"Wonders I sing: the sun withdrew his light, And yet no darkness followed." Immediately therefore after his arrival, the duke proceeded to Winchester, where he caused all his father's treasures to be weighed and an inventory of them to be made; there were found to be nine hundred thousand pounds in gold and silver, besides precious stones. From thence he proceeded to Salisbury, and thence from one place to another granting to all the objects of their petitions, and bestowing lands on many who before had none. Moreover he gave to his brother John the daughter of Robert earl of Gloucester, together with that earldom and the castles of Marlborough, Lutegareshale, Bolsover, Nottingham, and Lancaster, with the honours belonging to it, and the honour of William Peverel. All these possessions he confirmed to his brother John, who afterwards espoused the aforesaid earl's daughter, contrary to the prohibition of Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury, because their parents were in the third degree of consanguinity. About the same time certain of the canons of York elected Geoffrey the duke's brother, and, having sung a hymn, solemnly confirmed the election by affixing their seals; but master Bartholomew, the official of Hubert Walter dean of that church, unwilling that this should take place in the absence of the bishop of Durham and of Hubert Walter the dean, both of whom had a right to be present at the election, appealed to our lord the pope against it. Geoffrey of Ely dies intestate. At the same time, Geoffrey bishop of Ely died intestate on the 12th before the kalends of September (Aug. 21.); wherefore out of what he left behind him, three thousand marks of silver and two thousand marks of gold were confiscated to the king; and the quantity of his furniture and stuff in rings, gold and silver plate, corn, rich garments, and other things, was im mense. Of the coronation of king Richard the first. Duke Richard, when all the preparations for his coronation were complete, came to London, where were assembled the archbishops of Canterbury, Rouen, and Treves, by whom he had been absolved for having carried arms against his father after he had taken the cross. The archbishop of Dublin was also there, with all the bishops, earls, barons, and nobles of the kingdom. When all were assembled, he received the crown of the kingdom in the order following:-First came the archbishops, bishops, abbats, and clerks, wearing their caps, preceded by the cross, the holy water, and the censers, as far as the door of the inner chamber, where they received the duke, and conducted him to the church of Westminster, as far as the high altar, in a solemn procession. In the midst of the bishops and clerks went four barons carrying candlesticks with wax candles, after whom came two earls, the first of whom carried the royal sceptre, having on its top a golden cross; the other carried the royal sceptre, having a dove on its top. Next to these came two earls with a third between them, carrying three swords with golden sheaths, taken out of the king's treasury. Behind these came six earls and barons carrying a chequer, over which were |