A.D. 1189.] OrritESSION OP THE HOLY LAND. 71 tcrbury ; so that if either of them should fail in his compact so as to render the peace between them less firm, or to delay the expedition to Jerusalem, against that one should the sentence of excommunication be promulgated by authority of our lord the pope, as against a subverter of our Lord's cross and of the whole Christian religion ; and immediately the cardinal took the opinion of all, priests as well as laymen, to determine who it was that caused the breach between the kings, saving the persons of the said kings. Letter of the marquis's son concerning the oppression of the Holy Land. " Conrad, son of the marquis of Mont-Ferrat, to Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury, greeting.—The elements are disturbed, and it is derogatory to the catholic faith that the see of Jerusalem should be separated from tin; apostolic sec. Jerusalem has become extinct, and the inactivity of the Christians is most contemptibly spoken of by the Saracens : they are polluting our Lord's sepulchre, they are destroying Calvary, they despise the birth-place of Christ, and are utterly destroying the sepulchre of the blessed virgin Mary ; the see of Constantinople shows no reverence for that of Borne. Antioch, too, is known to be in its last extremity. All these things are known to have happened through the idleness of the Christians. But the holy city of Jerusalem is much to be wept for and lamented, since it is deprived of its worshippers, and where once Christ spent dnily and nightly hours in prayer, there the name of Mahomet is now worshipped aloud. To your highness, therefore, 1 put forth my prayers mingled with tears, that you will deign to commiserate the sufferings of the Holy Land, that you will comfort kings, and admonish those of the true faith, that by expelling these dogs from the patrimony of Jesus Christ, they may out of charity assist to free it from bondage, anil so deliver from the dominion of the infidels the land which has been trodden by the holy feet of our Saviour. In addition to this mass of iniquity and desolation of Christianity, a friendship is cherished between Saladin and the emperor of Constantinople, to whom the said Saladin has delivered all the churches of the lami of promise that sacred rites may be performed in them by his followers after the Creek custom. Moreover Saladin also by consent of that emperor scut