And thus his whole preparation for resistance vanished away like a cloud before the face of the sun when it shines. But I have thought it well to give an account of these transactions, unprofitable though they were, that all men may understand the divisions caused in the kingdom by vacillation, and the wavering hearts of the English nobles, and the womanly fickleness of the king. And that one general pestilence might agitate the whole world, the kingdom of France was afflicted and wounded by a similar evil, so that many of the nobles began to think of standing together to resist the pope, as the subsequent history will more fully show. About the same time, the countess of Albemarle, the sister of the countess of Winchester, was removed from the affairs of this world ; in consequence of which, Great Galewera came under the power of Roger, earl of Winchester. About the same time, also, Isabella, mother of the lord the king of England, died, who had formerly been queen of England, and now for a long time countess of La Marche. And the same year, while the laborious seasons of July and autumn were occupying the farmers, an unprecedented and destructive storm of thunder and lightning, which lasted an entire day and night, terrified the whole length and breadth of England, and many men and much cattle were killed by the lightning. About the same time, Richard, earl of Cornwall, founded, in a very sufficient manner, a certain house for the Cistercian order, in a favourable situation, not far from Winchcombe, in fulfilment of a vow which he had made when he was in danger at sea. And he also caused another church, of which his father, king John, had laid the foundation, and which is called Beaulive, to be solemnly dedicated under the sanction and authority of the lord the king. The same year, and about the same time, died John de Neville, the chief forester of England, a man who deserved not to be accounted the last among the nobles of England ; and about the same time, the bishop of Carlisle, on the day of the Apostles Peter and Paul, changed his habit, and entered the order of the Preaching Brothers. The same year, a certain very powerful man of Apulia, by name Theobald Frank, taking to himself certain accomplices, proposed to kill by treachery the Frederic, whom the lord the pope had lately condemned; and deposed from the imperial dignity. But before he could accomplish the wickedness which he intended, Frederic, having been fortunately