A.D. 1218.] THE CIIC SA DEUS AT DAMtKTTA. have lived without .sin amongst men, and to have been a prophet, and more than a prophet ; they also asserted in addition, that he restored sight to the blind, cleansed lepers, and brought the dead to life ; they also believed that the word and spirit of the living God had ascended to heaven. On this account, when during the truce, their wise men went to Jerusalem and demanded to be shown the book of the gospels, they worshipped it, and admired the purity of the law which Christ taught, and especially the gospel of Luke, " The angel of the Lord was sent," which their learned men often discoursed on and repeated. But their law, which, at the instigation of the devil and by the agency of the apostate and heretic monk, Sergius, Mahomet had written in Arabic and delivered and taught to the Saracens, commenced with the sword, was kept by the sword, and is ended by the sword. This Mahomet was an illiterate man, as he himself proves in his Alcoran ; for he himself preached what the above-named heretic dictated, and, being a powerful man and a chief of the Arabs, he by his threats caused that law to be observed. He was moreover a luxurious and warlike man, and so from uncleanness and vanity he gave a law, which his carnal followers observe to the gratification of their own pleasures; and as purity and truth confirm the law of Christ, so worldly and human fear and carnal pleasure support their erroneous doctrine. Of the arrival at Damictta of the legate Pelagius and other pilgrims After the tower of Damietta was subdued as above related, a great number of pilgrims came from various quarters to assist in the crusade then being carried on ; and amongst others came Pelagius bishop of Albano, a legate of the apostolic see, together with master Robert de Courçon, and several Romans. A number of bishops also came with the count of Nevers, who when danger threatened, departed, to the confusion of the Christians. At the same time too there arrived from the kingdom of England the illustrious Ralph earl of Chester, with the earls Sayer of Winchester, and William of Arundel, the barons Robert Fitz-Walter, eJohn, constable of Chester, and William de Ilarcourt, with large retinues, and Oliver, son of the king of England. There came also the earl of March, the earl of Rar with his son, as well as