146 ANNALS 0Γ EOGEB DE HOVEDEN. A.D. 1190. home absolved therefrom. After this became known to our lord the king, he exacted from him, by the hands of the Templars and Hospitallers, a thousand marks for excusing him. In the meantime, the fleet of the king of England, which was commanded by the archbishop of Auxienne, the bishop of Bayonne, Robert de Sabul, Richard de Camville, and William de Forts, set out immediately after Easter on its way for Jerusalem from the various ports of England, Normandy, Brittany, and Poitou. One part of this fleet assembled at the port of Dartmouth, and, after staying there some days, the said ships, ten- in number, set sail for Lisbon, and after passing a certain headland which projects into the sea, called Godestert,69 passed Brittany, having Saint Matthew of Finisterre, or de Fin Posteme, on the left hand side of the fleet, and the Great Sea along which is the route to Ireland on the right, and left Poitou, Gascony, and Biscay on the left hand side of the fleet. When they had now passed through the British Sea and the Sea of Poitou, and had come into the Spanish Sea, on the holy Day of the Ascension of our Lord, at the third hour of the day, a mighty and dreadful tempest overtook them, and in the twinkling of an eye they were separated from each other. While the storm was raging, and all in their affliction were calling upon the Lord, the blessed Thomas, the. archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr, appeared at three different times to three different persons, who were on board a London ship, in which was William Fitz-Osbert, and Geoffrey, the goldsmith, saying to them, " Be not afraid, for I, Thomas, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the blessed Edmund the Martyr, and the blessed Nicholas, the Confessor, have been appointed by the Lord guardians of this fleet of the king of England ; and if the men of this fleet will guard themselves against sin, and repent of their former offences, the Lord will grant them a prosperous voyage, and will direct their footsteps in His paths." After having thrice repeated these words, the blessed Thomas vanished from before their eyes, and immediately the tempest ceased, and there was a great calm on the sea. And now the London ship, in which the blessed Martyr Thomas had appeared, had passed by the port of Lisbon and Cape Saint Vincent, and had neared the city of Silva,60 which in those days was the most remote of all the cities of 6 9 Probably " Good start ;" meaning what we now call " Start Point." ο» Now called " Silver."