ventry, and was solemnly installed in the church of Evesham, on the day after the feast of the blessed Nicholas. In these days, king Henry the Third, for the salvation of hi» own soul and that of his queen, and that God might crown a happy beginning by a fortunate end, by giving him a fruitful offspring, in a council held at Merton, granted and established some good new laws, and ordered them to be for ever inviolably observed throughout his kingdom. As to what laws or customs in the length of time that had elapsed had fallen into disuse, and what were injurious, a diligent investigation may be fully formed by examining the writing which was drawn upon the subject. About the same time, such a vast inundation of continued rain fell for about three months, as no one recollected having ever seen before. About the same time, a very disastrous quarrel arose between the lord and emperor Frederic, and the men of Italy, who are commonly known to be from ancient times an appurtenance of the emperor. And because the lord the pope undisguisedly favoured the side of the Italians, and especially the Milanese, whose character was abroad for many heresies, and usurious and simoniacal practices, he day by day lost the devotion of many of the faithful. The same year, a dispute arose in the city of Orleans between the clergy and the citizens, and as both sides rushed to arms, a civil and intestine war sprung up between them, and as the citizens got the better, after much bloodshed, a great many of the scholars of noble birth were slain and drowned in the river Loire. But thenrelations took a bitter revenge soon after, and required the blood of the slain at the hands of the citizens. And the whole city was placed under an interdict by the bishop of that city, and the whole kingdom of France was violently disturbed, till, at last, the sedition was checked and quelled by the prudence of some great men. About the same time, there arose a grievous schism between the Roman and the great churches, so that, at the command of the pope, many persons, especially in the kingdom of France, assumed the sign of the cross for the purpose of conquering the Greeks. About this time also, the heretical depravity of those persons who are commonly called Paterines, or Bugarians, prevailed, and especially in the countries beyond the Alps, in such a degree, that they ventured to contaminate with their contagion the purity of the faith in the territories