a.d. 1237. THE pope summons the eabl op ββγτταντ. 181 cordingly, on these conditions, a thirtieth part of the moveables of the kingdom was cheerfully granted to him for the restoration of his exhausted treasury, each man being allowed first to reserve his gold and silver plate, and his horse and arms, to be used in the cause of the commonwealth, if need should be. This year, Leoline, prince of North Wales, was struck with palsy, and became very ill. Therefore, before the news of this circumstance got abroad, he sent the bishops of Hereford and Chester to the king of England, earnestly entreating, for the Lord* s sake, that he might be reconciled to the kins in all sincerity of heart, from that time forward, and be allied to him in all indissoluble friendship, under some certain agreement. For he considered the weakness of his principality, and also of his own person, and the unpopularity of his sons, Griffin and David, and calculated that if he were dead their counsels would be disordered, and then the principality, being divided against itself, according to the saying in the Gospel, would be exposed to great desolation. But many of the nobles of Wales would not admit this, and embittered the heart of Leoline to his own misery, till he became weary of his life. About the same time, Richard, the heir of the earl of Gloucester, secretly married Margaret, the daughter of Hubert de Burgh, earl of Kent, by the management of that same earl and his wife Margaret, on which account the wrath of the king became exceedingly hot against the earl, and he laboured with all his might to procure a divorce between them, as he proposed to marry the said Richard to another wife. The same year, the lord Frederic, the emperor, with a view to quelling the seditious disturbances which frequently arise in the court of Rome, caused another senator to be created. About the same time, the lord the pope summoned the earl of Brittany to his council, knowing that he was a warlike man, and one of great experience in the stratagems of war, and very able. But when this earl had replenished his empty coffers with the pope's treasures, he sought for excuses, asserting that he cud not dare attack the brave and powerful emperor, lest he might find himself overwhelmed with his mighty power. But that, if the lord the pope chose to send him to subdue the enemies of the cross, as he ought rather to desire, in that case he was prepared to obey the commands