A .D. 1299. THE ΜΓΝΟΕ BBOTHEB8 ACT ILLEGALLY. '531 thousand cavalry, invoked the aid of Christ, and fought a battle against the Saracens. And there were slain of the Saracens, the enemies of the cross of Christ, at Alapia, Alachemala, Gazara, and Damascus, more than two hundred and forty thousand men, in revenge for the slaughter of the Christians, which had taken place at Acre and Tripoli, and other holy places. And as it was said the cause of the conversion o f these Tartars was a miraculous one, Paganus, brother of the great Cassanus, king of the Tartars, loved the daughter of the king of Armenia, who was a Christian ; accordingly, he begged her father that the damsel might be given to him in marriage ; but the king of Armenia would not grant his request unless he laid aside the errors of heathenesse, and became a Christian. But the Tartars, being superior in might, riches, and power, threatened him with war. So the king of Armenia, taking advice, and considering that a marriage was better than a battle, granted his request, provided that his daughter consented ; and so he asked' her consent ; but she, wishing to spare the people, offering herself up like a second Esther, for the safety of her nation, and trusting in the Lord, voluntarily consented. Afterwards, when they had a child born of the male sex, he was found to be hairy and shaggy like a bear. And when he was brought to his father, he said that he was not his, and immediately ordered him to be burned in the fire. But his mother resisted and contradicted this order, begging that the infant might be given to her. And when she had received him, she rejoiced, and ordered him to be baptized, and immediately, as soon as he had been thrice immersed in the sacred font, all the hairiness fell from the child, and he appeared smooth and the most beautiful of infants. And when his father saw this, he believed, and all his house. 1 This year, John, count of Holland, son-in-law of the king of England, having taken some poison, which was wickedly administered to him by his friends and relations, died ; and his widow, when her dowry was refused her, returned to her father's house. This year, also, the brethren who are called the Minors, as is widely asserted, and proved to their great shame, being, though explorers of all learning, nevertheless aspirera to what is illegal by their law, offered the supreme pontiff four hundred thousand golden florins, and a great sum of money, to "Μ--Μ υ.