to us.

albeit our merits are but deficient, has willed that we should be one of them, we are bound and are willing to use all due care, that no person through fortuitous circumstances, in consequence of a visit to the Church of Rome, should be deprived of the due results of the labour which he has expended in coming Wherefore, it has come to pass, that we, wishing to have due regard for the expense which many have incurred, and to alleviate their labours, have, in conformity with the customary clemency of the Apostolic See, thought fit to enact that the letters of our predecessor pope Urban, sent at any time previous to three months before his decease, for the purpose of pronouncing judgment and putting an end to litigation, (supposing always that they do not contain anything to the manifest prejudice of any person, or any breach of equity), shall have the same effect in the time of our administration, which they would have had if he had been still living. Wherefore, waiving all exceptions as to the death of him who so directs, do what he has directed to be done, and let no one for an excuse of this sort, be compelled to have recourse to us in his disappointment, after having placed full confidence in obtaining justice by these means. Given at Ferrara, on the sixth day before the calends of September."

In the same year died pope Gregory the Eighth, in the month of December, after having held the papacy hardly two months, and was buried at Pisa. He was succeeded by Paulinus, bishop of Palestrina, who was called pope Clement the Third. In the same year, nearly the whole of the city of Chichester was burnt, together with the cathedral of the see, and the houses of the bishop and canons.

In the same year, Saladin laid siege to Jerusalem, and offered the people of that city a truce till the middle of the month of May, if they would permit him to plant his standard in the Tower of David, and remain there eight days. This being accordingly done, many of the Christians who had before stoutly resisted the Saracens, surrendered their castles and houses to Saladin. In the same year died Gilbert, bishop of London.

In the same year, cardinal Jacinto, at this time legate of the whole of Spain, degraded many abbats, either because they deserved it, or prompted by his own determination. But on his attempting to degrade the bishop of Coimbra, Alphonso, king of Portugal, would not allow that bishop to be degraded, but im

mediately ordered the before-named cardinal to leave his kingdom, or else he would cut off his foot. On hearing this, the legate departed on his return to Rome, and the bishop of Coimbra remained in peace in his see.

It is also worthy to be known, that the before-named Alphonso, king of Portugal, took from the Pagans by force, and with mighty prowess, six cities, namely, Lisbon, Coimbra, the city of Ferenza, and a most excellent castle, which is called Santa Herena," with many other castles besides. But while he was besieging the city of Silves, and had gained possession of it as far as the fortresses of the city, the Pagans who were in the fortresses made an arrangement with him, that if they should not have succours within six days, they would surrender the forts to him. In the meantime, on the third day, having given his army leave to make a sally into the adjacent parts of the province, while he was asleep in his tent as being in perfect security, Ferdinand, king of Saint Jago, (who had married the daughter of the said king of Portugal) came in one direction with a large army, while the Saracens came in the other. At the approach of these, the king of Portugal, awaking from his sleep, fled on a swift horse, but, when going through the gate of the city, broke his thigh against the bar of the gate, and then, having passed right through the enemy, who pursued him twenty-five miles, and could not overtake him, he and his horse fell into a deep pit. Some shepherds, seeing this, dragged him out, and gave him up to king Ferdinand, to whom he gave for his ransom twenty-five towns which he had taken from him, besides fifteen sumpter horses laden with gold, and twenty chargers; to other persons, also, who gave assistance to that king, that he might be the more speedily liberated, he made numerous presents.

In the year of grace 1188, being the thirty-fourth year of the reign of king Henry, son of the empress Matilda, the said king was at Caen in Normandy, on the day of the Nativity of our Lord; going from which place, he went to Harfleur, with the intention of crossing over to England. On hearing of this, Philip, king of France, levied a great army, shamelessly boasting that he would lay waste Normandy and the other lands of the king of England beyond sea, unless he should surrender to him Gisors with its appurtenances, or make his son Richard, earl of Poitou, marry his sister Alice.

77 Now Santarem.

The king of England, on hearing of this, returned into Normandy, and a conference being held between him and the king of France, between Gisors and Trie, on the twelfth day before the calends of February, being the day of Saint Agnes the Virgin and Martyr, they met there, together with the archbishops, bishops, earls and barons of their kingdoms. At this interview, the archbishop of Trie was present, who, filled with the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, in a wonderful manner preached the word of God before the kings and princes, and turned their hearts to assuming the cross; and those who before were enemies, at his preaching, with the aid of God, were made friends on that same day, and from his hands received the cross; while at the same hour there appeared the sign of the cross above them in the heavens; on beholding which miracle multitudes of persons rushed in whole troops to assume the cross.

The kings before-named, on assuming the cross, for the purpose of recognizing their various nations, adopted distinguishing signs for themselves and their people. For the king of France and his people wore red crosses; the king of England with his people white crosses; while Philip, earl of Flanders, with his people, wore green crosses. After this, they departed, each to his own country, for the purpose of providing all necessaries for themselves and the expedition. Accordingly, Henry king of England, after he had thus assumed the cross, came to Le Mans, where, on his arrival, he gave orders that every one should give a tenth part of his revenues in the present year, and of his chattels, by way of alms, as a subsidy to the land of Jerusalem, the following articles being excepted therefrom: the arms, horses, and garments of men-at-arms, and the horses, books, clothes, vestments, and all kinds of sacred vessels belonging to the clergy, as also all precious stones belonging to either the clergy or laity; excommunication having been first pronounced by the archbishops, bishops, and rural deans,78 in each parish against every one who should not lawfully pay his before-mentioned tithe in the presence and at the assessment of those whose duty it was to be present thereat.

Further, the said money was to be collected in each parish in the presence of the priest of the parish, the rural dean, one Templar, one Hospitaller, one member of the household of our

78 It is not improbable that at this period these were the persons called Archipresbyteri." At an earlier time, they were the bishop's deputies in the performance of the cathedral duties.

lord the king, a clerk of the king, and a yeoman of the baron's household, his clerk, and the clerk of the bishop; and if any one should give less, according to their conscientious assessment, than he ought, four or six lawful men of the parish were to be chosen, who, on oath, were to state the amount that he ought to have stated, on which he would be bound to add the amount by which it was deficient. Clerks, however, and knights who should assume the cross, were not to pay any such tithes; but the revenues from their demesnes, and whatever their vassals should owe as their due, were to be collected by the abovenamed persons, and to be remitted to them untouched.

The bishops, also, were by their letters in each parish of their respective dioceses, to cause notice to be given on the day of the Nativity, of Saint Stephen, and of Saint John, that each person was to collect the before-mentioned tithe due from him by the day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, and, on the day after the same, was lawfully to pay it to those present of the persons named, at such place as should be appointed.

In addition to this, it was decreed by our lord the pope, that whatever clerk or layman should assume the cross, he should, on the authority of God and of the holy Apostles, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, be free and absolved from all sins as to which he should have repented and made confession. It was also enacted by the kings, archbishops, bishops, and other princes of the land, that all those persons, both clerks and laymen, who should not go on this expedition, should pay tithes of their revenues and moveables for the present year, and of all their chattels, both in gold and silver, and of all other things, with the exception of the garments, books, and vestments of the clerks and priests, and with the exception of the horses, arms, and clothing of men at arms, pertaining to the use of their own persons. It was also enacted that all clerks, knights, and yeomen who should undertake the said expedition, should have the tenths of their lands and of their vassals, and should pay nothing for themselves. Burgesses, however, and villeins, who, without the permission of their superior lords, should assume the cross, were still to pay tithes.

It was also enacted that no one should swear profanely, and that no one should play at games of chance or at dice; and no one was after the ensuing Easter to wear beaver, or gris, 79 or sable, or scarlet; and all were to be content with two 79 Grey fur; the word is used by Chaucer.

dishes.8 80 No one was to take any woman with him on the pilgrimage, unless, perhaps, some laundress to accompany him on foot, about whom no suspicion could be entertained; and no person was to have his clothes in rags or torn. It was also enacted that whatever clerk or layman should, before assuming the cross, have mortgaged his revenues, he was to have the income of the present year in full, and after the expiration of the year the creditor was again to have the revenues thereof, upon the understanding, however, that the revenues which he should then receive should be reckoned towards payment of the debt, and that the debt, from the period of the debtor assuming the cross, should not bear interest, so long as the debtor should be absent on the pilgrimage.

It was also enacted that all clerks and laymen who should set out on the said pilgrimage, should be at liberty legally to mortgage their incomes, whether ecclesiastical, or lay, or otherwise, from the Easter, when they should set out, for a period of three years, upon the understanding that the creditors should, in whatever case they should be due to the creditors, take in full, for three years from the Easter beforementioned, all the profits of the revenues which they should so hold in mortgage. It was also enacted that whoever should die on the pilgrimage, should leave his money which he must have taken with him on the pilgrimage, to be divided for the maintenance of his servants, for the assistance of the land of Jerusalem, and for the sustenance of the poor, according to the judgment of certain discreet men, who were to be appointed for the performance of that duty.

All the above-mentioned statutes were framed and enacted at Le Mans, by Henry, king of England, in presence of his son Richard, earl of Poitou, William, archbishop of Tours, Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, Walter, archbishop of Rouen, and in presence of John, bishop of Evreux, Ralph, bishop of Anjou, R., bishop of Le Mans, and M., bishop of Nantes, as also in presence of Hugh de Nunant, bishop of Chester elect, Lisardus, bishop of Seez elect, and in presence of the barons of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine.

These matters being accordingly arranged beforehand, the king of England appointed servants of his, clerks and laymen, to collect the before-mentioned tithes throughout all his terri80 66 Exempto," "except," follows this word: the passage appears to be mutilated.

VOL. II.

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