tribute among the Poitevine seven thousand marks every year, for their shadow of homage and useless service. The same year, that is to say, on the day after the feast of Saint Michael, the conventual church of Waltham was dedicated by William, bishop of Norwich, with all due solemnity, many of the bishops and prelates assisting. At this time also, a ecutage was exacted, and twenty shillings were granted and collected from each knight's fee for the use of the king in his necessity. But when the king had passed on peaceably as far as Bourdeaux, and as, now that there was a truce made between the king of France and himself, he was spending a great deal of time uselessly there, and going to great expense, some of the English nobles, who were by this time becoming very poor, and greatly involved in debt, asked leave to return to their own country, but could not obtain it. But, at the same time, earl Richard, without having received any distinct permission, did withdraw, and, returning to his own country, suffered many dangers by sea, and was scarcely saved from shipwreck, being driven on a dry island not far from Cornwall, where he vowed a vow to the Lord that he would found a house for religious men, of the Cistercian order, which vow he afterwards faithfully fulfilled. About the same time, that noble man, Richard de Burgh, who had great estates and possessions in Ireland, died. And the same year, Hugo de Lacy, a most celebrated warrior in Ireland, whose wars and conquests would require a special treatise, departed this life. About this time, too, Robert, bishop of Lincoln, a man most deeply skilled in the Latin and Greek languages, translated most accurately the testaments of the twelve patriarchs from Greek into Latin, which, through the envy of the Jews, had been for a long time unknown and concealed, and had not come to the knowledge of Jerome, or of any other translator ; for in them were found manifest prophecies of the Saviour. The same year, on the first of December, died Jocelin, bishop of Bath, full of days. And when the feast of Saint Michael was at hand, the abbots of the Cistercian order were not permitted to cross the sea to their general chapter, because in this same year, when entreated by the king, they refused him any assistance from the profits of their exhibition of wool. This year then passed by, sufficiently fruitful and productive, and peaceful to England itself, but full of war and injury to the countries beyond the sea belonging to the kingdom of