A.D. 1194. ΚΠΓΟ BICHABD 18 RELEASED. 85 the English. The king of France invaded Normandy, and stormed the castles of that province, and occupied them himself. Gieors he got possession of by treachery. About the same time, the king of France espoused the daughter of the king of Denmark, and soon after divorced her. The emperor and the duke are admonished by the pope to release king Richard, but in vain. A.D . 1193. The fame of king Richard was sufficiently cleared from all the false accusations which had been brought against him, by the reading of the letter which the Old Man of thè Mountain had by this time transmitted to the emperor and the duke of Austria. And, accordingly, both the duke and the emperor were admonished by the lord the pope to suffer king Richard to depart in peace. But they were altogether unwilling to let so rich a prey escape them. About the same time, Saladin died, and was buried in hell, and his brother, Sofadin, succeeded him. The king of France continued to prosecute the war in France with great vigour. But the friends of the king, and the faithful subjects of the kingdom, seeing that delay brought danger with it, hastened to pay his ransom; the king being also in great distress of mind, for whom they felt deep sympathy. For the count John was usurping his kingdom, the king of France was endeavouring to make himself master of Normandy, and dangers were threatening him on all sides. The king of France repudiated his wife, and committed her, as it were, to custody in prison. All transactions respecting things to be sold, were, by command of king Richard, ordained to be regulated by one standard of weight and measure throughout the whole realm of England. King Richard is released. Having paid his ransom, he arrives in England. He visits Saint Thomas. A.D . 1194. King Richard, having now paid the greater portion of his ransom, and given hostages for the remainder, was, on the day of the purification of the blessed Mary, released from all custody on the part of the emperor, to whom the duke of Austria had sold him, and allowed to return to his own country. But the king, when he had arrived in England, went to the tomb of the blessed Thomas to pay his adoration, and afterwards to that of Saint Edmund, and after that to that of Saint Alban, the proto-martyr of England ; and advancing from thence to Nottingham, he put down all those whom his