judges' circuits of the present day, and three judges assigned to each3, with powers to hear and determine most of the causes that had formerly been cognizable only before the kingk.

A.D. 1177. A great council held at Oxford, in May, at which several Welsh chiefs attend, and do homage to the king.

Earl John is declared Lord of Ireland (Hugh Lacy being his deputy), and the whole country is allotted to various knights and nobles, who undertake to achieve its complete conquest1.

A.D. 1178. The kings of England and France are reconciled, and profess an intention to undertake a crusade together.

THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.

THE Christian kingdom in the Holy Land was at this time in imminent danger. Its king (Baldwin IV.) was a leper, unable to conduct the affairs of the state, and the regency was contended for by his sister Sibylla and Raymond of Tripoli, his most powerful vassal; Raymond

Itinerant justices existed even in the time of William II. (see p. 216), but apparently they had no fixed circuits. The regulation of their proceedings, not their institution, is owing to Henry II.

The court styled Aula Regis consisted of the king himself, his justiciary, chancellor, and treasurer, the constable, chamberlain, marshal, and steward of his household; its powers were unlimited, and every kind of cause came under its cognizance. It apparently could only be held at the place where the king had his residence, and hence parties had to travel from England to Normandy and from Normandy to England in search of justice, and were commonly ruined before their suits were decided.

Wales had been similarly partitioned by William Rufus and Henry I. (see pp. 209, 221.)

was unsuccessful, and is generally believed to have allied himself with the infidels, who, with Saladinm at their head, were preparing for the reconquest of the country. The promised crusade of the two kings, however, never took place; the king of France (who had indeed thirty years before served and suffered in Palestine) died shortly after, and Henry, when pressed on the matter, positively refused to leave Europe, but the enterprise was carried out by their sons, Philip Augustus and Richard Cœur de Lion.

A.D. 1179. The eleventh general council (of the Lateran) held at Rome, on matters of discipline, March 5 to 19.

The king of France visits the tomb of Archbishop Becket as a pilgrim, in September.

A.D. 1180. Richard, the king's son, ravages the territory of Geoffrey de Luneville, in Poitou, "scarce regarding the sanctity of the churches."

The king of France dies, Sept. 18, and is succeeded by his son Philip Augustus.

A.D. 1181. The king issues an ordinance commanding every person to provide himself with arms, according to

m Saladin was a Koordish military adventurer, who, after serving in Egypt under the famous Noureddin, on the death of that prince, in 1173, made himself master of the whole country between the Nile and the Tigris. He shortly after attacked the Christians of Palestine, but at first with little success. In 1187 he again made war on them, and overran the whole country; Tyre, however, was held against him by Conrad of Montferrat, Acre and other coast towns were captured by Richard I., and Saladin died shortly after (March 4, 1193); the vast empire that he had acquired was broken up by his death; his brother Saphadin dispossessing his nephews, as Saladin himself had dispossessed the son of his master, Noureddin.

his degree. Complete suits of armour were to be provided for each knight and each freeman of the wealthier class, and lighter equipments for each burgher and poor freeman.

Pope Alexander III. dies, Aug. 30.

A.D. 1182. The king gives a large sum for the service of the Holy Land, “in atonement of the death of the blessed Thomas, the punishment for which he dreaded above all things, for himself and for his posterity."

A.D. 1183. Henry and Geoffrey, the king's sons, make war on their brother Richard. Henry dies, June 11, and the war is brought to an end.

A.D. 1184. Geoffrey and John renew the war against Richard; the king at length commands them to desist, and the brothers are formally reconciled at a great council held at London, Nov. 30.

A.D. 1185. Earl John repairs to Ireland, in March. He greatly offends the native chiefs who come to pay him homage, by his insolent behaviour, and he is recalled by the end of the year.

The patriarch of Jerusalem endeavours in vain to induce the king to proceed on his promised crusade, offering him the kingdom of Jerusalem".

A.D. 1187. The Christians sustain a signal defeat at Tiberias, July 4; Saladin captures Jerusalem, Oct. 2. Richard, the king's son, "the first of all the nobles beyond the sea, devoutly received the cross

mur

The throne was then vacant by the death of Baldwin V., who died in a few months after his accession on the decease of his uncle, Baldwin IV.; the crown was at length bestowed on Guy de Lusignan, who had married Sibylla, Baldwin's mother,

muring at and reproaching his father because he declined to take upon himself the defence of the kingdom which was offered to him."

Conrad of Montferrat successfully defends Tyre against Saladin.

A.D. 1188. The emperor of Germany (Frederic I.) and the kings of France and England assume the cross, and make preparations for the crusade.

A quarrel arises between Henry and the king of France, regarding the lands of Adelais, who is betrothed to Richard.

Richard does homage to the king of France, in his father's presence, Nov. 18.

A.D. 1189. Henry is expelled from Touraine by Philip and Richard, Jan. 14; he soon after agrees to a peace, and pays a large indemnity to Philip.

Guy de Lusignan, the expelled king of Jerusalem, commences the siege of Acre, in July, but is shortly after himself assailed by Saladin, when English, French, and German crusaders hasten to his assistance.

Henry retires to the castle of Chinon, and dies there, July 6, his natural son Geoffrey alone being with him; he is buried with slight ceremony at Fontevraud, "Earl Richard following the corpse in much tribulation."

RICHARD I., CALLED COUR-DE-LION.

RICHARD, the third son of Henry II., was born at Oxford, Sept. 13, 1157. The possession of Aquitaine, his mother's patrimony, seems to have been destined for him from his earliest days; hence his residence was usually on the continent; he was styled count of Poitou, and he acted like an independent prince, making war without scruple on the count of Toulouse and the king of Navarre, when they gave aid to his revolted barons, and pushing his arms to the Pyrenees. His nature seems to have been generous and unsuspicious, and he thus became for a while the confederate of his more crafty brothers, who first induced him to rebel against his father, and then deserted and even made war on him. But his military prowess was far superior to anything that could be brought against him, and he retained Aquitaine, although at the expense of doing homage to the king of France.