fore, to those who with a contrite heart and humble spirit shall undertake the labour of this expedition, and shall die in repentance for their sins and in the true faith, we do promise plenary indulgence for their offences, and eternal life. And whether they shall survive or whether die, they are to know that they will have, by the mercy of Almighty God and of the authority of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and of ourselves, remission of penance imposed for all sins of which they shall have made due confession. The property also of such persons, from the time that they shall have assumed the cross, together with their families, are to be under the protection of the Holy Church of Rome, and of the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates of the Church of God, and no person is to make any claim against the property of which, on assuming the cross, they were in quiet possession, until it is known for certain as to their return or death, but their property is to remain in the meantime untouched, and in their quiet possession; they are also not to pay interest to any person, if they have so bound themselves; nor yet are they to go in costly apparel, or with dogs or hawks, which seem rather to minister to ostentation and luxury than to our necessities; but they ought to be seen with plain apparel and equipments, by which they may appear rather to be acting in penitence than affecting an empty pomp. Given at Ferrara, on the fourth day before the calends of November, in the sixth year of the indiction."

The Letter of pope Gregory the Eighth to all the faithful, upon the same subject.

66

Gregory, the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the faithful in Christ, to whom these presents shall come, health and the Apostolic benediction. Never is the wrath of the Supreme Judge more successfully appeased, than when, at His command, carnal desires are extinguished within us. Wherefore, inasmuch as we do not doubt that the disasters of the land of Jerusalem, which have lately happened through the irruption of the Saracens, have been expressly caused by the sins of the inhabitants of the land and of the whole people of Christendom, we, by the common consent of our brethren, and with the approval of many of the bishops, have enacted that all persons shall, for the next five years, on every sixth day of the week, at the very least, fast upon Lenten fare, and that, wherever mass is performed, it shall be chaunted at the ninth

:

hour and this we order to be observed from the Advent of our Lord until the Nativity of our Lord. Also, on the fourth day of the week, and on Saturdays, all persons without distinction, who are in good health are, to abstain from eating flesh. We and our brethren do also forbid to ourselves and to our households the use of flesh on the second day of the week as well, unless it shall so happen that illness or some great calamity or other evident cause shall seem to prevent the same; trusting that by so doing God will pardon us and leave His blessing behind Him. This therefore we do enact to be observed, and whosoever shall be guilty of transgressing the same, is to be considered as a breaker of the fast in Lent. Given at Ferrara, on the fourth day before the calends of November."

72

Upon this, the princes of the earth, hearing the mandates and exhortations of the Supreme Pontiff, exerted themselves with all their might for the liberation of the land of Jerusalem; and accordingly, Frederic, the emperor of the Romans, and the archbishops, bishops, dukes, earls, and barons of his empire, assumed the sign of the cross. In like manner, after their example, great numbers of the chief men of all the nations of Christendom prepared to succour the land of Jerusalem.

There was a certain clerk named master Berther, a native of Orleans, who aroused the spirits of many to assume the cross by repeating the following lines: 73 "In the strains of Jeremiah the ways of Sion mourn indeed, that no longer is there one upon the solemn day to visit the Holy Sepulchre, or to recall the fulfilment of that prophecy; the prophecy in which the poet writes that from Sion the law shall go forth. Never shall the law perish there or have an avenger, 74 where Christ drank of the cup of passion. The wood of the cross, the banner Probably the real presence in the Eucharist is re

72 Sic in original.

ferred to.

73 This Leonine dirge begins as follows:

"Juxta threnos Jeremiæ

Vere Sion lugent viæ;

Quod solemni non sit die

Qui sepulchrum visitet,
Vel casum resuscitet

Hujus prophetiæ."

The enthusiasm of the composer seems to have considered a meaning

as comparatively unnecessary in his lines.

74 The meaning of these lines is involved in obscurity.

of the chieftain, the army follows, which has never given way, but has gone before in the strength of the Holy Spirit. To bear the burden of Tyre it is now the duty of valiant men to try their strength, and daily to contend; spontaneously to be graced with the glories of the warfare. But as to the persons who are about to engage in this conflict, there is need of hardy champions, not effeminate epicures. For it is not those who pamper their flesh with many luxuries who purchase God with their prayers. The wood of the cross, &c. [as before.]75 Fresh Philistines once more, the cross captured of Him who was condemned, have taken the ark of God, the ark of the New Testament, the substance of the ancient type, in succession the type of the substance. But as it is clear that these are the forerunners of Antichrist, to whom Christ would have resistance made, what answer at the coming of Christ is he to make who shall not have resisted them? The wood of the cross, &c. The despiser of the cross is trampling on the cross, whence overwhelmed the faith sends forth groans. Who for vengeance does not shout aloud? At the same value which each man sets upon the faith let him ransom the cross, if by the cross any one has been ransomed. Those who have but little silver, if found to be faithful, with pure faith let them be content. Sufficient provision for the journey is the body of the Lord for him who defends the cross. The wood of the cross, &c. Christ, on delivering himself to the torturer, has made a loan to the sinner; if then, sinner, thou wilt not die for Him who died for thee, thou dost but poorly pay the debt to thy Creator. Well may he be indignant to whom thou dost refuse to bend, while, tortured in the wine-press of the cross as a victim for thee, to thee he extends his arms, and thou wilt not receive his embrace. The wood of the cross, &c. When thou hast listened to what is my request, take up thy cross and make thy vow and say, 'To Him do I commend myself, who gave His body and His life, as a victim to die for me.' wood of the cross, &c."

The

A Letter of the same pope to the prelates of churches. "Gregory, the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all prelates of churches to whom these presents shall come, health and the Apostolic benediction. Inasmuch as it is especially the duty of bishops to aid the afflicted and distressed, and God, 75 This is the refrain of the composition.

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 to us. 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.