and on this matter our lord the pope appointed the bishops of Lincoln and London judges. On the letters being given to the clerks of our lord the archbishop of Rouen, they came to our lord the pope, and said to him, alluding to the chancellor, "Behold how he loved him!" 93

In the same year, our lord the pope sent two cardinals as legates a laterè, namely, Octavianus, bishop of Ostia, and Jordan de Fossa Nova, to put an end to the dissensions that existed between the chancellor and the archbishop of Rouen. On their arrival at Gisors, in Normandy, the gate was shut against them, and they could not obtain admittance. When they ascertained that this was done by William FitzRalph, seneschal of Normandy, they excommunicated him and all his accomplices and coadjutors, advisers and abettors in the said piece of presumption, and laid the whole of Normandy under interdict. On this being told in England, queen Eleanor and the archbishop of Rouen sent to them Hugh, bishop of Durham, that they might revoke the sentence they had pronounced against the seneschal of Normandy and Normandy itself. At first the bishop of Durham found them at Paris, after which he followed them to Vezelay, but they would by no means remit the sentence until they had been received in Normandy. However, our lord the pope revoked the interdict placed upon Normandy, and caused it to be revoked by the legates; but still they did not enter Normandy.

In the same year, while the seneschal of Gascony lay ill, the count de Perigord and the viscount de Marke and nearly all the barons of Gascony, began to ravage the territories of the king of England; and in the meantime, the seneschal could neither obtain peace nor truce, although he frequently, and more than frequently, requested it. Having at length recovered, he attacked the castles and fortresses of the said count, and besieged and took them all, fortifying some on behalf of the king, and levelling others with the ground. In like manner, he took all the castles of the said viscount, and reduced the whole of that county to final subjection to the king. Shortly after, the son of the king of Navarre came to his assistance with eight hundred knights; on which, they together entered the territory of the count of Toulouse, and took many castles in the vicinity of

93 St. John xi. 36. This they spitefully and ironically said, in allusion to the impression entertained by the pope relative to the affection of the king for the bishop of Ely.

Toulouse, and, after taking them, fortified them in the king's behalf, and levelled many other fortresses with the ground, after which they proceeded as far as the gates of Toulouse, and passed the night almost under its very walls.

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In the same year, many pilgrims who had come away with the king of England from the land of Sulia, returned before the Nativity of our Lord to England, hoping there to find the king; and, on being asked about the king, where he was, they made answer, We know not, but his ship on board of which he embarked, we saw nearing the shore at Brindisi, in Apulia.” In the meantime, Leopold, duke of Austria, who had taken the king of England, delivered him into the hands of Henry, emperor of the Romans; in consequence of which, the said emperor wrote to Philip, king of the Franks, to the following effect:

The Letter of Henry, emperor of the Romans, to Philip, king of France, in reference to the confinement of Richard, king of England.

'Henry, by the grace of God, emperor of the Romans and ever august, to his beloved and especial friend Philip, the illus. trious king of the Franks, health and sincere love and affection. Inasmuch as our imperial highness does not doubt that your royal mightiness will be delighted at all things in which the omnipotence of the Creator has honored and exalted ourselves and the Roman empire, we have thought proper to inform your nobleness by means of these presents, that while the enemy of our empire and the disturber of your kingdom, Richard, king of England, was crossing the sea for the purpose of returning to his dominions, it so happened that the winds brought him, the ship being wrecked on board of which he was, to the region of Istria, at a place which lies between Aquileia and Venice, where, by the sanction of God, the king, having suffered shipwreck, escaped, together with a few others. A faithful subject of ours, the count Maynard of Gortze, and the people of that district, hearing that he was in their territory, and calling to mind the treason and treachery and accumulated mischief he had been guilty of in the Land of Promise, pursued him with the intention of making him prisoner. However, the king taking to flight, they captured eight knights of his retinue. Shortly after, the king proceeded to a borough in the archbishopric of Saltzburg, which is called Frisi, where Frederic de Botesowe took six of his knights, the king hastening on by

night, with only three attendants, in the direction of Austria. The roads, however, being watched, and guards being set on every side, our dearly-beloved cousin Leopold, duke of Austria, captured the king so often mentioned, in an humble house in a village in the vicinity of Vienna. Inasmuch as he is now in our power, and has always done his utmost for your annoyance and disturbance, what we have above stated we have thought proper to notify to your nobleness, knowing that the same is well pleasing to your kindly affection for us, and will afford most abundant joy to your own feelings. Given at Creutz," on the fifth day before the calends of January."

On these rumours being spread through England as to the capture of the king of England, Walter, archbishop of Rouen wrote to Hugh, bishop of Durham, to the following effect:

The Letter of the archbishop of Rouen to the bishop of Durham, relative to the captivity of Richard, king of England.

"To his venerable brother in Christ and his most dearlybeloved friend Hugh, by the grace of God, bishop of Durham, Walter, by the same grace, archbishop of Rouen, health in all that is truly healthful. Various rumours having been spread abroad relative to the arrival of the king, at length, as the truth could no longer be concealed, everything relative thereto has become known to us. But, whether in adversity or in prosperity, it behoves us to display equanimity, as we cannot avert the will of God; and inasmuch as His judgments are secret, we commend the fortuitous results of things to His mercy and providence. With grief of mind are we compelled to confess that it has befallen the lord our king otherwise than would have been expedient for his realm and all his faithful subjects; and if we look more fully into his meritorious deeds, this misfortune is in no way the due of his actions. For he, who, for the sake of God exhausted all his patrimony, and indifferently entrusted the blood of himself and of his subjects to the fortune of war, deserved in all his wanderings to have received the protection of God. But this adversity, which is so opposed to our good wishes, is a test of his virtues, and not a mark of censure. And why are we obliged to say more than we could have wished? We have thought proper to transmit to you a copy of a letter of the em

94 This place in Sclavonia may possibly be meant by "Rithiencie," as a misprint for "Riscensis."

peror of Germany which he has sent to the king of the Franks, relative to the capture of our lord the king of England, folded within this present page. Now, there is need not of your tears but of your promptness, as we must not meet the attacks of fortune with lamentations, but, concealing our sorrow, must endeavour to make trial of our prowess; perhaps Weeping may endure for a night, but joy will come to us in the morning.'95 And inasmuch as, next to the mercy of God, the greatest portion of our hope is reposed in your bosom, with a breast bedewed with tears, and with our entire heart, we do suppliantly, devotedly, and as being most dear to you, entreat you that in this trouble which, thus momentous beyond all conception, has befallen our lord the king, you will with all your energies act the part of diligence and of circumspection, and that, through no consideration of difficulty, no prospect of adversity, no pretext, no consideration of temporal benefits or of your own welfare, you will refuse to us and to our lord, or rather to yourself, your counsel, which with all our bowels we are longing to receive. And whereas the mind is more fully opened to one present than to a person when absent, and in the presence of persons counsel under present difficulties will shine forth with greater effulgence, and the Lord will bestow on the same a more healthful effect, we do consequently beg of you, tearfully and with all the affection before expressed, all excuse as to difficulties laid aside, to meet us and other faithful servants of our lord the king at Oxford, on the Lord's day before Latare Jerusalem' 96 is sung. For the present matter requires that degree of prompt attention, that all excuses whatsoever should be laid aside; and it is our belief that the love which is due to our lord the king, should, in the case of which we speak, be fully made proof of. You must also know that the lord bishop of Bath has already had several interviews with our lord the emperor, on the subject of setting our king at liberty; for he is using every labour and exertion to show him all due obedience, and to pay that homage which is due from his respect for the crown, acceptable to the king's honor, and as advantageous under present circumstances, as it has also been on other occasions; this we have learned from those persons who were present at the interview which the lord bishop of Bath had with 95 Psalm xxx. 5.

96 The introit for the fourth Sunday in Lent, which begins Jerusalem, and meet together, all you who love her."

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Rejoice,

our lord the prince respecting the liberation of our master. And whereas, under all circumstances, the Divine aid of God ought to be implored, we beg that throughout the whole of your diocese you will cause prayers to be put up for him to the Most High. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,'97 and the importunate woman in the Gospel was deemed deserving to be heard, and, as it is there said, Christ raised her son, because for him many tears were shed. Farewell."

Accordingly, upon hearing of the confinement of the king, Walter, archbishop of Rouen, and the other justiciaries of our lord the king, sent the abbat of Boxley and the abbat of Pont Robert to Germany, to seek the king of England. After having passed through the whole of Germany, and not finding the king, they entered Bavaria, and met the king at a town, the name of which is Oxefer, where he was brought before the emperor, to hold a conference with him, on Palm Sunday. On hearing that the before-named abbats had come from England, the king showed himself courteous and affable to them; making enquiries about the state of his kingdom and the fidelity of his subjects, and the health and prosperity of the king of Scotland, in whose fidelity he placed a very strong reliance on which they testified to what they had heard and seen. A conference accordingly taking place between them, the king made complaint of the treachery of his brother, John, earl of Mortaigne, on whom he had conferred so many favours and boundless honors, and who had thrown himself into the hands of the king of France against him, and, having broken the ties of brotherhood, had made a league with death and a compact with hell. The king, though greatly afflicted upon this subject, suddenly broke forth into these words of consolation, saying, "My brother John is not the man to subjugate a country, if there is a person able to make the slightest resistance to his attempts."

During his journey of three days, while on the road to meet the emperor, it was the admiration of all, how boldly, how courteously, and how becomingly he behaved himself, and they judged him worthy of the imperial elevation who so thoroughly understood the arts of command, and how, with uniform selfpossession, to rise superior to the two-faced events of fortune. On a day named, after he had held a conference by messengers with the emperor, they were unable on that day to have an

97 James v. 16.