very strange to bear, they proposed to detain their army there and to occupy that country for forty days, in order that when they had thus (which God forbid) destroyed the major part of the population, they might the more easily be able to extend their ravages. And the same messenger added, that they place all the foreigners who fly to them, or who are taken prisoners by them, in the front rank of battle ; and when they fight, men as well as women all joining in the combat, they shot behind them as well as they do in front. Nor, said he, will Christendom be able to assist them, unless it is supported by the powerful hand of God as its ally. For as all the Templars and Hospitallers in that country are already nearly all killed, unless speedy succour arise, a terrible destruction will soon visit the world (which may God forbid). And the same news, as it was said, was conveyed to all the princes whose dominions he around the sea of the Greeks, nut on the day after the feast of Saint Botolph, the lord the king of Germany, who had now been staying peaceably in England for about a year and a half, and had reconciled some who were previously hostile to one another, and brought them together under fixed conditions of peace, having been constantly urged by the invitation of the pope, went with all speed towards Borne, to receive the empire ; and embarking on board ship at London, he sailed as far as Gravesend. There his queen met him, and with her and a moderate retinue, he hastened to complete the journey he had undertaken. But when he had departed, then many people felt doubts and perplexity, fearing, since his presence had lately been the prevention of impending war, that the peace which has been mentioned could have no stability if he continued absent. In the summer of this year, great and enormous prodigies were seen in the air, so that some said that the last judgment was close at hand. For it was found written somewhere, and besides, it had been often declared by many astrologers and others, that the same year there would be so great a pestilence, that of six persons scarcely one would escape uninjured ; according to which, there was now an intolerable famine, and such excessive and uninterrupted thunder-storms, that scarcely any one dared to go out of his house, and many people were killed, and the lightning destroyed houses and fields of corn, and woods, and inflicted unheard-of dangers in the country. Also, there were such hailstones, that the stones were not only