A.D. 1244.] AN ARCHBISHOP OF RUSSIA PUT TO FLIGHT. 29

beings, and educated in caverns and dens, after expelling lions and serpents therefrom, were, nevertheless, aroused to the allurements of the world. The father and sons, therefore, came forth from their solitudes, armed in their own way, and accompanied by countless hosts of warriors, and laying siege to a city called Ernac, took possession of it, and seized the governor of the city, whom they immediately put to death, and his nephew Cutzeusa, who took to flight, they pursued through several provinces, ravaging the territories of all who harboured him; amongst others, about twentysix years ago, they devastated a great part of Russia; where they became for a long time shepherds over the flocks they had carried off, and, after conquering the neighbouring shepherds, they either slew them or reduced them to subjection to themselves. Thus they multiplied and became more powerful, and, appointing leaders amongst them, they aspired at higher things, and reduced cities to subjection to them, after conquering the inhabitants. Thesir Khan proceeded against the Babylonians; Churi Khan against the Turks; and Bathatar Khan remained at Ernac, and sent his chiefs against Russia, Poland, Hungary, and several other kingdoms; and three, with their numerous armies, are now presumptuously invading the neighbouring provinces of Syria. Twenty-four years, they say, have now elapsed since the time when they first came forth from the desert of Etren. The archbishop, when asked as to their mode of belief, replied, that they believed there was one ruler of the world; and when they sent a messenger to the Muscovites, they commenced it in these words, "God and his Son in heaven, and Chiar Khan on earth.” As to their manner of living, he said, "they eat the flesh of horses, dogs, and other abominable meats, and, in times of necessity, even human flesh, not raw, however, but cooked; they drink blood, water, and milk. They punish crimes severely; and fornication, theft, lying, and murder with death; they do not abominate polygamy, and each man has one or more wives; they do not admit people of other nations to familiar intercourse with them, or to discuss matters of business, or to their secret councils; they pitch their camp apart by themselves, and if any foreigner dares to come to it, he is at once slain." With respect to their rites and superstitions, he

said, "Every morning they raise their hands towards heaven, worshipping their Creator; when they take their meals, they throw the first morsel into the air; and when about to drink, they first pour a portion of the liquor on the ground, in worship of the Creator. They say, also, that they have John the Baptist for a leader, and they rejoice and observe solemnities at the time of the new moon. They are stronger and more nimble than we are, and better able to endure hardships, as also are their horses, and flocks, and herds; the women are warlike, and, above all, are very skilful in the use of bows and arrows; they wear armour made of hides, for their protection, which is scarcely penetrable, and they use poisoned iron weapons of offence. They have a great variety of engines, which hurl missiles with great force, and straight to the mark. They take their rest in the open air, and care nothing for the inclemency of the weather. They have already enticed numbers of all nations and sects to them, and intend to subjugate the whole world; and they say that it has been intimated to them from heaven that they are to ravage the whole world for thirty-nine years; asserting that the Divine vengeance formerly purged the world by a deluge, and now it will be purified by a general depopulation and devastation, which they themselves will put in execution. They think, and even say, that they will have a severe struggle with the Romans, and they call all the Latins Romans; they fear the miracles wrought by the Church, and that sentence of future condemnation may be passed against them. They declare that, if they can conquer them, they will at once become lords over the whole world. They pay proper respect to treaties, in the cases of those who voluntarily give themselves up to them and serve them, selecting the best soldiers from amongst them, whom, when they are fighting, they always station in front of them. In the same way, also, they retain amongst them the various workmen. They show no mercy to those who rebel against them, reject the yoke of their domination, or oppose them in the field. They receive messengers with kindness, expedite their business, and send them back again. The said archbishop was finally asked as to their method of crossing seas and rivers, to which he replied, that they cross rivers

A.D. 1244.]

RECONCILIATION OF WINCHESTER.

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on horseback, or on skins made for that purpose; and that in three places on the sea-coast they build ships. He also said that one of the said Tartars, named Kalaladin, son-inlaw of Chiar Khan, who was discovered to have told a lie, was banished to Russia, his life having been spared by the Tartar chiefs, out of kindness to his wife.

A terrible message from the Tartars.

In the same year, at the decline of summer, the chief king of the Tartars twice sent a message by different messengers to the prince of Antioch, ordering him to obey his wishes in three things, otherwise a bloody sword should wreak his vengeance on him. The first order was, that he was to destroy the walls of his cities and castles; the second, that he was to send him all the revenues in gold and silver proceeding from his principality; and the third, that he was to send him three thousand virgins. When the prince heard this message, he was overcome with grief, and said,-"As God lives, and as his saints live, I will never comply with any one of these demands: I would rather that we fought for our lives, and that this quarrel between us be determined in the sight of God." On this the messenger, after giving vent to threats, returned to their king. A like message was carried by the aforesaid Tartar messengers to the king of Armenia, and some other powerful Saracen sultans; but we do not know what message was sent in reply to their demands.

The church of Winchester becomes reconciled to its bishop.

About this time, the bishop of Winchester took leave of the king of the French, and those who had opened the bosom of compassion to him in his exile, and, after returning thanks to them, being now sure of the king of England's favour, hastened to Winchester, to devote himself to the pastoral care of his desolate church, and to reform its disordered condition. The prior of that place, on hearing of his approach, made a virtue of necessity, although late, and humbled himself to him on his arrival. In the same way also, the others-seculars as well as monks-who, trusting too much to the king's protection, had been the disturbers of peace and disseminators of discord, now made atonement,

and turned their affections towards their bishop. And soon afterwards, on the day of the Decollation of St. John the Baptist, the sentence of interdict pronounced by the bishop on the church and city of Winchester, under which they had long lain, was withdrawn, and the inhabitants were freely absolved by form of law.

The aforesaid prior, John de Cauz, however, though he was together with his colleagues absolved in the same way, was deposed, and some others with him, whom he, the said prior, had daringly installed as his officials and secular agents. The mayor of the city, who had given the greatest offence, was subjected to a heavier atonement and punish

ment.

On the 7th of November, Adam, bishop of Connor, died at Waredon, where he had been sometime abbat. In the octaves of Martinmas, the bishop of Lincoln set sail, in order to have a secret and careful deliberation with the pope, for the purpose of determining the injurious contention between him and his canons; and soon afterwards the dean of that church, attended by some of the canons, set sail, for the purpose of defending his cause against the bishop.

The consecration of Roger to the see of Bath.

On the 11th of September, in this year, Master Roger, precentor of the church of Salisbury, a man of polite manners, and endowed with great knowledge in theological subjects, was, at Reading, consecrated to the see of Bath; on the revenues of which see, whilst vacant, the pope's clerk, Master Martin, relying on his holiness's authority, had laid his greedy hands, for the purpose of bestowing them on some relation of the said pope.

The arrival of the king of France at the chapter of Cistercians.

As Michaelmas drew near, when the abbats of the Cistercian order, from the various provinces, assembled at their general chapter, as was their custom, the French king devoutly went thither to ask the aid of the prayers of all the monks there assembled. He was accompanied by the noble Lady Blanche, his mother, who had obtained from the pope the privilege of being allowed to go into the religious houses of the Cistercian order, attended by twelve other

A.D. 1244.] ARRIVAL OF THE KING OF FRANCE.

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women, to pay her devotions. There were also there with the said king and his mother, and for the same purpose, the king's brothers, the counts of Artois and Poitou, the duke of Burgundy, and six other counts of France besides, and all of them, on approaching the church at Chichester, dismounted from their horses, in reverence for the church, and proceeded in order and devoutly praying, from that spot to the church, the distance of a crossbow-shot. As they approached the church, all the abbats, with the members of their convents, to the number of about five hundred, came in procession to meet them, out of respect to the French king, as it was the first time he had ever come to their monastery. But the pope, having a fore-knowledge of his coming, had sent a letter to the chapter, earnestly beseeching all the abbats and brethren, when the king came amongst them at their chapter, to ask for their prayers, to beg of him on bended knee and with clasped hands to give, as was the old-established custom of France, his powerful assistance and protection to his father, the supreme pastor and chief ruler of the Church-namely, the Roman pontiff, against the insults which he endeavoured to avoid, offered to him by the emperor Frederick, whom, in his letter, he called the son of Satan; and also, if necessity required it, to open the bosom of his affection and kindly to receive him in his kingdom, as he had formerly done to Pope Alexander, of good memory, when an exile fleeing from the persecution of the said emperor Frederick; and as he was known to have done also to the blessed Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, now a glorious martyr, by affording him comfort and a place of refuge when escaping from the anger of Henry, king of England. When, therefore, the said king had arrived, preceded by his mother, and taken his seat in the chapter-house, in the midst of the nobles and abbats, all of the latter, with the brethren of their convents, on bended knees, with clasped hands and gushing tears, humbly made the above request to him. The king, then, on seeing them thus, and on hearing their request, himself bent the knee towards them and granted them the desired favour, declaring that, as far as honour permitted, he would repel from the Church the injuries offered to it by the emperor Frederick, and would, if the opinion of his nobles, which no king of France could reject, were