424 HOG ΕΚ OF WENDOVER. [A.D. 1219. breasts of their mothers were rolling over the bodies of the dead ; the pampered rioh died of hunger though surrounded with heaps of corn. From the commencement of the siege eighty thousand persons had died in that city, except those whom the crusaders found there healthy and sick, who amounted to three thousand and more; of these three hundred of the higher ranks were kept by the Christians alive to exchange for their countrymen who were prisoners of the infidels, except those who had believed in Christ and were baptized. This city was first besieged by the Greeks, who failed in capturing it; it was next besieged by the Latins under Almeric king of Jerusalem, but they did not succeed; on this, the third time, the King of kings and Lord of lords delivered it to his servants, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who livelli and reignetb for ever and ever. (if the costly spoils of Oamietta. The crusaders found in the city great quantities of gold and silver, silk, cloth, costly garments, with worldly ornaments, and various kinds of goods in great abundance They all swore in common that the spoil should be carried away, and given up to be equally divided amongst the conquerors. This had been ordered by the legate under pain of excommunication, but the greediness of the eyes made many thieves. They took for the general use a great portion of the wealth of Egypt in gold and silver, pearls, fruit, amber, gold thread, phylacteries, and costly cloths, which were distributed amongst the army of the Lord, together with the corn found in the city. The bishop of Acre baptized all the children wdio were found alive in the city, thereby giving to God the first fruits of souls. The legate also, out of the great mosque in the city, constructed a church in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary and all the apostles, to the glory and exaltation of the faith of the Trinity. The city of Dainietta, besides the natural position of the place by which it is defended, is surrounded by three walls, having a low wall outside to protect the outer ditch, a second higher than the first, and the third higher than the second. The middle wall had twenty-eight principal towers, with double and treble breastworks, which all remained uninjured, except one, which had been somewhat battered by the. frequent