A.D. 1295. AMBASSADORS ABB SENT TO CAMBBAT. 513 On the eye of the feast of Saint Andrew, the clergy, nobles, and laity having been summoned to Westminster, the king again requested that they would grant him a subsidy out of their substance, for the defence of the kingdom. And an eleventh was granted him from those who had paid a tenth the year before ; and those who had paid a sixth that year, were now to contribute a seventh. Moreover, the archbishop of Canterbury having been indulged with permission to confer with his suffragans on this subject, with their unanimous consent offered the king a tenth of all ecclesiastical property ; which having been offered, but not accepted, the bishops returned a seeond time to consider of this matter. Therefore, the king seeing their firmness* sent to them a great man, fifty years of age, namely, the chief justice of the king's bench, and his subordinate officers, who said, " Ο bishop, the king says, I neither accept, nor will I accept your offering, but descend speedily and fulfil his will, granting him at least a fourth part, or a third." But one Elias, the archbishop, did not descend with his clergy from their place ; nor did the oxen who were supporting the ark of the covenant turn aside to the right hand or to the left. In the meantime, the king sent another man of fifty years of age, belonging to his chancery, and his subordinate officers, and they too made the same request that those who had been previously sent had made. But by all these measures the body of the clergy was not moved from their resolution, but as they had previously granted a tenth, they now repeated the offer. Therefore, the king seeing that his demand was beyond the ability of the clergy to grant, not wishing to afflict them, on the day after the feast of the Conception of the blessed Mary, he received their offering as if welcome. And the clergy received this as a good omen, and so Israel returned to their tents. King Edward celebrated the feast of the Nativity at Saint Alban's, having previously, while at Westminster, appointed formal ambassadors to be sent to the town which is called Cambray, and which is situated on the borders of France and Germany, with the object of re-establishing harmony and peace. On the day after the feast of Saint Hilary, a fleet of three hundred and fifty-two ships, with all necessary accom paniments, having been assembled at Plymouth, Edmund, the brother of the lord the king, earl of Leicester, and Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, sailed with a fair wind along the coast νητ,. ir. τ. τ.