cooks), and on the fall of the dead man a cry was raised, at hearing which the legate was astounded, and struck with fear, which can overtake the boldest man, and he betook himself to the tower of the church, clad in his canonical hood, and secured the doors behind him. When the darkness of the night had put an end to the tumult, he put off his canonical dress, quickly mounted his best horse, and, under the guidance of some persons who knew the most private fords, crossed the river at the nearest part to him, although with much danger, for the purpose of flying under the protection of the king's wings as soon as possible; for the clerks, carried away by rage, continued to seek for the legate in the most secret hiding-places, crying out, "Where is that simoniacal usurer, that plunderer of revenues, and thirster for money, who perverts the king, subverts the kingdom, and enriches foreigners with spoil taken from us?" The legate, in his flight, hearing the cries of his pursuers, said within himself— Quum furor in cursu est, currenti cede furori ; [When madness at full speed doth run, and, patiently enduring all these things, he became like a man who did not hear them, and as if he had no power to refute them. Having crossed the river with much trouble (as above mentioned), and with only a few attendants, owing to the difficulty of the passage, the rest remaining concealed in the convent, he came to the king breathless, and in a state of alarm, and, with tears and sighs interrupting his discourse, he explained to the king, as well as his attendants, the series of events which had happened, making a serious complaint in the matter. The king was astonished at his pitiable story, and sympathized much with him, and sent the earl of Warrenne with an armed troop to Oxford, with all haste, to rescue the Romans who were lying concealed there, and to arrest the scholars; amongst the latter, one Master Odo, a lawyer, was roughly seized, and, together with thirty others, was ignominiously consigned to close imprisonment in the castle of Wallingford, near Oxford; whilst the legate, thus liberated from the broken snare, summoned some of the bishops, laid Oxford under an interdict, and excommunicated all the abettors of this enormous offence. The prisoners were then, at the instance of the legate, conveyed in carts, like robbers, to London, and were there committed to close confinement, after being deprived of their incomes, and bound by the anathema. The reconciliation of the university of Oxford with the legate. The legate, who had set out, on a journey towards the north of England, turned rein and returned to London. There he scarcely dared to remain in the regal abode of the bishop of Winchester, where he usually stayed; and the king sent word to the city of London, that the mayor of the city, and the whole community of the citizens, were, with an armed body of men, to keep diligent watch over the said legate, and to guard him as the pupil of their eye. The legate, then, by virtue of the authority which he held, summoned the archbishop of York, and all the bishops of England, to assemble at London, on the 17th of May, there to discuss the condition of the Church, and the perilous condition of the clergy. Having assembled on the pre-appointed day, the bishops debated about the means of saving the whole clerical body, as if it were a second church; the legate, also, condescended to them, saving the honour of the Roman church, lest it might be said in reproach, that he, who had come to reform the clergy and the Church, rather deformed them. At length it was suggested to the legate, by the bishops and the whole of the clergy present, that the dispute took its rise from his own dependants; but at the end of the dispute the clergy got the worst of it, for, by his orders, a great portion of them were committed to prison; the rest of them, in obedience to his orders, were ready humbly to make submission, at a place about three days' journey from Oxford, to whom, on the petition of so many great men, his mind ought to be inclined to mercy. At length it was arranged that the legate would grant this mercy, on condition that all the scholars there assembled should proceed on foot, in company with the bishops, also on foot, from St. Paul's church, which was nearly a mile distant from the abode of the legate, until they reached the abode of the bishop of Carlisle, and from thence should go, without hoods and cloaks, and barefooted, to the abode of the legate, where they would humbly ask pardon, which would be granted them, and they would become reconciled. This was done; and the legate, seeing this humiliation, received them again into his favour, restored the University to its municipal site, mercifully withdrew the interdict with the sentence of excommunication, and granted them letters that, on this account, no stain of disgrace should at any time be thrown on them. Immediately after Easter of this year, the king of England sent a body of troops, under the command of Henry de Trubleville, a most skilful soldier, to assist the emperor against his rebellious subjects in the Italian provinces; and with it he also sent J. Mansel and William Hardel, a clerk and citizen of London, with a sum of money for distribution amongst the mercenaries. Bravely did this army of the king fight for the emperor during the whole summer; for they conquered the citizens of some of the cities that resisted, and restored the cities to the empire. Amongst those who distinguished themselves, was the said J. Mansel. The pope was greatly annoyed at all this; and the king of England, about this time, sending him a letter, begging of him to deal more gently with the emperor, he was more severely vexed, replied to the letter in a manner unbecoming him, and was excited to such a pitch of anger, that for a long time all matters, especially those connected with the English, were suspended. When the bishop of Valentia heard that such an army was about to set out for Italy, he cunningly joined the lord Henry de Trubleville, as their guide, and sailed with him. In the same year, Baldwin, emperor of Constantinople, of whom mention was made above, after having obtained from the king five hundred marks, and a large sum from Earl Richard, returned to his own country. About the same time, too, the bishop elect of Valentia, finding that his stay in England was agreeable to no one, either of his own accord, or against his will, set sail, but with due caution, however, because his horses were laden, and his saddles filled with gold and silver and royal vessels. Death of the most powerful sultan. In the same year, too, the most powerful sultan, who being about to die, liberally bequeathed rich revenues and large sums of money to the sick Christians who remained in the house of the Hospitallers, and had liberated a great. many confined prisoners, and performed many other deeds of charity, breathed forth his spirit, to the grief of many. For he was, although a pagan, a truth-speaking, munificent man, and (as far as the rigour of his faith and the suspicion of his neighbours permitted it) a merciful man to Christians. When the Roman emperor Frederick heard of this, he lamented his death with tears, for a very long time, for he had hoped, as the same sultan had promised, that he would receive baptism, and that Christianity would by him, at some time or other, receive a great increase of prosperity. Simon de Montfort betakes himself to the Roman court from the emperor. In the mean time, Simon de Montfort betook himself, with the good wishes of the emperor, and supplicatory letters from him, to the Roman court, where, by gifts of an endless sum of money, and promises, he obtained a decree from the pope, that, although his vow solemnly made before Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, opposed it, he might enjoy his unlawful marriage, and his holiness wrote to the legate Otto, ordering him to give a special decree in favour of Simon de Montfort. On hearing this, Brother William of Abingdon, of the order of Preachers, and many other learned men, who had the zeal of God before their eyes, loudly blamed this sentence, affirming, with truth, that the pope's holiness was imposed upon; that souls were endangered; and that Christ was roused to jealousy. For although, as the opposing party declared, the woman in question may not have assumed the habit and veil, yet she has taken the ring, with which she has devoted, or rather betrothed herself to Christ, and is, therefore, indissolubly united to Christ her spouse, as witness the authentic writing in the decrees of Master Peter, in his treatise on the "Vow," in the fourth book; in which, after premising the reasons and authority of the saints and canons, he proceeds to say: “From these things it appears, that virgins, or widows, bound by a vow of continence, whether they have taken the veil or not, can in nowise be married. Which is to be understood in the same manner with regard to all who have made a vow of continence; and what was lawful before the vow, will be unlawful after." Perhaps, however, the Roman court had in view something of deeper meaning than we could understand. The Tartars ravage the northern countries. em About this time, special ambassadors were sent by the Saracens, chiefly on behalf of the old man of the mountain, to the French king, telling him that a monstrous and inhuman race of men had burst forth from the northern mountains, and had taken possession of the extensive, rich lands of the East; that they had depopulated Hungary Major, and had sent threatening letters, with dreadful bassies; the chief of whom declared, that he was the messenger of God on high, sent to subdue the nations who rebelled against him. These people have very large heads, by no means proportionate to their bodies, and feed on raw flesh, and even on human beings; they are incomparable archers, and cross over any rivers in portable boats, made of hides; of robust strength, and large in their bodies, impious and inexorable men; and their language is unknown to all within reach of our knowledge. They abound in flocks, herds, and breeds of horses; the horses are very swift, and able to perform a journey of three days in one; the men are well armed in front, but not behind, that they may not take to flight; and their chief is a most ferocious man, named Khan. These people inhabit the northern region, either the Caspian mountains, or the adjacent places, and are called "Tartars," from the river Tar; they are very numerous, and are believed to have been sent as a plague on mankind, and although they had sallied forth on other occasions, they seemed this year to rage more fiercely than usual. The inhabitants of Gothland and Friesland, dreading their attacks, did not, as was their custom, come to Yarmouth, in England, at the time of the herring-fisheries, at which place their ships usually loaded; and, owing to this, herrings in that year were considered of no value, on account of their abundance, and about forty or fifty, although very good, were sold for one piece of silver, even in places at a great distance from the sea. This powerful and noble Saracen messenger, who had come to the French king, was sent on behalf of the whole of the people of the East to tell these things; and he asked assistance from the western nations, the better to be |