leaders. Saladin was compelled to Tetreat to Damascus, after he ARWUU nis 1 luRROOK. bad burnt Naplous, and depopulated the whole country around A . D. im. Tiberias. A truce was proposed, (A. r. 1184,) and as the attention of the sultan was then distracted by the intrigues of the Turcoman chieftains in the north of Syria, and he was again engaged in hostilities in Mesopotamia, he agreed to a suspension of the war for four years, in consideration of the payment by the Christians of a large sum of money. Immediate advantage was taken of this truce to secure the safety of the Latiu kingdom. A grand council was called together at Jerusalem, and it was determined that Heraclius, the patriarch of the Holy City, and the Masters of the Temple and Hospital, should forthwith proceed to Europe, to obtain succour from the western princes. The sovereign mostly depended upon for assistance was Henry the Second, king of England,* grandson of Fulk, the late king of Jerusalem, and cousin-gennan to Baldwin, the then reigning sovereign. Henry had received absolution for the murder of Saint Thomas à Beckct, on condition that he should proceed in person at the head of a powerful army to the succour of Palestine, and should, at his own espense, maintain two hundred Templars for the defence of the holy terri tory.t The Patriarch and the two Masters landed in Italy, and after furnishing themselves with the letters of the pope, threatening the English monarch with the judgments of heaven if he did not forthwith perform the penance prescribed him, they set out for England. At Verona, the Master of the Temple fell sick and • TJnde propter causas prœdictas generali procidentia statutum eat, ut Jerosolymit&nns Patriarcha, petendi contra huToanìsaìmum hostem Saladinum auxiiil gratia, ad Christianos priacipoa in Euro pam mittereUir ; Bed maxime ad illustrera Anglorum regem, enjus efficacioretpromptia opera sperabatur.—fìeminoford, cap. 33 ; Itadulph de Diceto, inter ; Hist. AntfL X, script, p. 622. t Concil. Magn. Brit. torn. iv. ρ, 708, 78!).