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of this kind, unless by chance a demand is to be made on behalf of this church, or his lord, or for a friend, or for a poor man, a foreigner, or any wretched person. Let all advocates beware that they do not themselves, or by means of others, suborn witnesses, or instruct the parties to give false evidence, or to suppress the truth: those who do so shall be, ipso facto, suspended from office and benefice, until they have made proper atonement for the same; and if they are convicted of so doing, they shall be duly punished, all other matters notwithstanding. Judges, too, who are ignorant of the law, should, if any doubtful point arise, from which injury may accrue to either party, ask the advice of some wise person, at the expense of both parties.'

Of committing the acts of courts to writing.

"We, moreover, decree that, as far as they are able, they shall, in observance of a decree of the general council, carefully and faithfully keep in their possession all the original and authentic acts, as well in ordinary as extraordinary trials, or shall cause them to be kept by their writers, that they may be able to make a copy of them for the parties, as they ought; and we order and decree that, after they have all' been copied by these writers, they shall all be published, in order that, if there be any error in the writing, it may be corrected, and the real facts of the case be made apparent."

On giving security.

"The judges, moreover, shall take care that, when they have determined to put any one into possession, owing to the contumacy of the adverse party as to restoring possession, with the produce, if he has received any therefrom, after deducting lawful expenses, if the opposing party return within the year, they shall take sufficient security at the command of him who ought to have been put in possession. We also decree, that any one who presumes by force to hold possession, to obtain which another person has been sent, owing to his contumacy, even if he shall be appointed the true possessor after a year, shall be deprived of whatever right he may have in it."

All these matters having been completed on the third day of the council, the legate commenced chanting the “Te Deum," all present rising from their seats; after which the

anthem "In viam pacis" was sung, followed by the psalm "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel;" he then read some special collects, and bestowed his blessing, on which they all went away not a little delighted.

Letters from the Emperor to Earl Richard, informing him of his victory over the Milanese.

In the same year, just before Christmas, that mighty conqueror of his enemies, the Roman emperor Frederick, sent imperial letters, sealed with gold, as was his custom, to Richard, earl of Cornwall, to inform him, and others through him, of the victory granted to him by Heaven over the Milanese, as mentioned above; the purport of which letter was as follows:

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Frederick, by the grace of God, emperor of the Romans, ever Augustus, king of Jerusalem and Sicily, to Richard, earl of Cornwall, his beloved brother-in-law, health and sincere affection. How audacious and rash have been the proceedings of the Ligurians [Genoese] in rebelling against our royal person, experience and the proximity of the place has informed neighbouring people, and the report of inveterate wickedness has carried the news to people at a distance. And we think that you are not unaware of what the world knows, namely, that our constant system of passing over their offences has continued so long, that, if we were to do so any further, our endurance would lose the name of true patience, and would incur the stigma of vile pusillanimity, instead of the honourable name of virtue. Considering, then, after some little time, that wounds which do not feel any effect from the application of fomentations, ought to be cut with the knife, we of necessity resorted to arms, arousing the sleeping empire from its lethargy; but we could not, either in the past year, or during the present one, induce our rebellious subjects to incur the risk of giving us open battle, that we might at once gain a victory over them. By a fortunate chance, however, it happened that the Milanese with their allies were summoned to garrison Brescia, and thus a river was interposed between us and them, by which they were surrounded, as it were, by a rampart; on this we pitched our camp on the other side of the river Oglio; but here the faithful knights and people of the cities returned home, not being able any longer to endure the tediousness

of the unexpected delay, and the inclemency of the season; we, however, with a chosen body of our army, directed our steps along the banks on the other side of this swift river, to the bridges, by which those returning home were obliged to cross. The Milanese and their allies, not being able to stay any longer in their hiding-places, owing to the scarcity of necessaries, crossed the river Oglio by the fords and bridges, and came into the open plain, thinking to escape from us by a secret flight, and perhaps not imagining that we were so near. When, however, they knew of our proximity, fear and terror fell on them like a clap of thunder from heaven, and at sight of the advanced guard of our imperial army, even before they could see the victorious standards, the imperial eagles, they turned to flight before us in such confusion, that, till they reached their carrochium, which they had sent forward to Nuova Croce, as fast as horses could carry it, not one of our pursuing troops could gain sight of the faces of the fugitives, and, as we believed that it was necessary for us to hasten to the assistance of the auxiliary troops, who had proceeded in advance in a small body, we marched forward after them with all speed with the strength of our army, and when we expected to find them repelled by the attacks of the fighting enemy, we found our progress impeded by the numbers of horses which were running hither and thither without riders, and by the multitude of knights lying wounded or slain; whilst those who were alive were either standing or lying on the earth, having been bound by the esquires of the knights, who followed their lords. At length we discovered their carrochium, near the walls of Nuova Croce, surrounded by trenches, and protected by an immense body of knights, and all their foot soldiers, who fought wonderfully in its defence; we then directed our attention to the attack and capture of this standard, and we saw that some of our troops, after having forced their way over the top of the trenches, had, with commendable bravery, forced their way almost up to the pole of the carrochium. The shades of night, however, coming on, which our men ardently wished for, we desisted from the attack till the following morning early, lying down to rest only with swords drawn, and without taking off our armour, determining to return to gain an undoubted victory, and to get

possession of the carrochium. When day broke, however, we discovered it deserted, and left amidst a crowd of vile waggons entirely undefended and deserted, and from the top of the staff where the sign of the cross had been, the cross had been cut off, but appearing to the fugitives to be too heavy, it had been left half-way. The garrison and inhabitants of the castle of Nuova Croce, under protection of which we thought that they would escape our attacks, all abandoned it; their podesta, the son of the duke of Venice, under whose command they had raised their sorrowful standard, did not escape from our hands. To make a short account of the matter, almost ten thousand men were said to have been taken and slain; amongst whom a great many nobles and chiefs of the Milanese faction fell. Of all these matters we send you word, to give you joy, that you may see how our empire is exalted, by the news which we now tell you. Given at Cremona, this fourth day of December, the eleventh indiction." A credible Italian asserted, that Milan, with its dependencies, raised an army of six thousand armed men with iron-clad horses.

A letter sent to the legate on the state of the Roman church. In the same year, too, about Christmas, the lord cardinal J. de Colonna, a powerful and special councillor of the Roman church, wrote to the legate in England, as follows :- "The brother to his brother, the Levite to the Levite, the beloved one to the beloved one,-Health in Christ.-If this letter which I have written could remain a secret to strangers, and, owing to the distance of places, were not exposed to danger, many things would be committed to writing which the tongue is silent upon, and does not disclose to a friend. However, I ought not to conceal it from your excellency, that the mother has very eagerly, or rather, unadvisedly, immersed herself in the billows, and of her own accord thrown herself into the wolf's jaws, by the plan of two only, though a third gave his concurrence, or rather, to speak more truly, anticipated the plan.* Hence it is, that liberty is thrown away, slavery is begun, the star of the sanctuary is set, the inheritance is reduced to slavery, the

* The Latin text has "et cocis præcedentibus cum tractatu," which I cannot translate.

pride of the high and mighty is exalted, a prison is purchased, honour is despised, confusion is sought after, disquiet is armed, tranquillity is put to flight, no regard is paid to the offence of brothers and strangers, and other lamentable results ensue. It is well for you that you are removed from these troubles, that you have gone to a distant country, so as not to see the sufferings of your people and the saints, to be beaten by daily blows, to be lacerated with frequent prickings. We wished, as we have often tried to do, to reform the condition of the Church, into which a shapeless state of desolation has crept counsel is administered in vain, where the wish is not restrained by the curb of prudence, but, excited by its violence, it rushes forward to a declivity, and cannot be stopped. In addition to the mass of our other sorrows, that noble pillar which used so nobly to support the fabric of the Church, our lord the bishop of Sabina, of cherished memory, has been suddenly taken away from amongst us; at first, he was struck with grief at our trouble, and afterwards attacked by a slow disease, and died to enter into the power of the Lord, leaving a lamentable scene of ruin to his mother. The brothers returned from a country at discord with their chief, but no impressions of the footsteps of peace appeared; for the followers of discord did not obey the labourers of peace. The bishop of Antioch has withdrawn from the community, and is not commended by those who return. Would that my friend were attended by a smaller retinue, so as not to be a burden to others, and to be torn by the teeth of disparagers. And as the billows of offences and sundry storms gain strength, you are become necessary to the mother; therefore, prepare to return. Given at Viterbo, on the feast of St. Lucy."

The Greeks refuse to submit to the Roman church.

By this, then, and other similar indications, it was manifest that the Roman church had incurred the anger of God. For its chief men and rectors sought not to call the people to devotion, but to collect purses full of money; not to gain souls to God, but to seize on revenues and amass money, to oppress religious men, and, by penances, usury, simony, and various other devices, impudently to usurp the property of others to their own use. No regard was paid to justice

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