85 A.D. 1188. LETTER OF KINO HENRY. known that they are deprived of provisions, horses, munitions of war, and defenders. By reason of this mighty anger and indignation of God poured forth upon us from above, with tears we eat our bread, and are alarmed with dreadful apprehensions, lest the Sepulchre of our Lord may be delivered to strange nations, and lest we few, who still remain in this Christian land, may, if succours are tardy in their arrival, and our enemies press on, have to bow our necks to the swords of the smiters. Now as, in prudence, counsel, and riches, you surpass the other kings of the West, your aid we have always looked for ; and we therefore pray that you will hasten to bring your powerful succour to the Holy Land. If you delay so to do, then the Sepulchre of the Lord, with the noble city of Antioch, and the territory adjacent thereto, will exist as an everlasting reproach to foreign nations. Be mindful of your glories and of your name, that so, God, who has raised you to a throne, may through you be exalted ; and if you'are ready to give your assistance to so worthy an object, either coming yourself to us, or sending to us the wished-for succours, then to you, after God, will be imputed the liberation of the Holy Land. We ourselves, with all possible contrition, and smiting our guilty breast, cry unto God that He will give to you both the will and the ability of thus acting to the praise and glory of His name ; wherefore, at this, the last gasp of life, in your clemency lend your aid to the Holy Land and to ourselves. Otherwise, we who, subjected to various perils, have been afflicted with a lingering illness, shall have nothing to expect but immediate death for ourselves, and that after the blood of the Christians has been poured forth, the Sepulchre of our Lord, with the noble city of Antioch, and the country thereto adjacent, will, to the eternal disgrace of foreign nations, be captured. We do further entreat, that you will receive our recommendations of our dearly beloved brethren, the bishops of Gabalus and Valenia, whom on this matter we have despatched to you. Farewell." The Letter of Henry, Icing of JUnghnd, to the Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Antioch, and Raymond, prince of Antioch. " To the venerable fathers in Christ, and his friends, A. and E., the Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem, and to Baymond, prince of Antioch, and to all the Christian people of the Church in the East, Henry, by the same grace, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and earl of Anjou, health and consolation in Christ. Inasmuch as, our sins so requiring it,