[1] In the National Library at Paris.

[2] Gregory of Tours.

[3] The historical works of William of Malmesbury consist of seven books containing a record of the acts of the English kings, from the arrival of the English to the time of the author's death, in the year 1143.

[4] The Rev. J. C. Bruce, "The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated."

[5] A "man of nothing," in Anglo-Saxon "nithing," a term of abuse and contempt.

[6] Ordericus Vitalis.

[7] Holinshed.

[8] William of Malmesbury.

[9] Holinshed.

[10] Matthew Paris.

[11] Westminster Hall was founded by William Rufus in 1097.

[12] "Morte d'Arthur" was a French romance, translated by Sir Thomas Mallory, Knight, and printed by Caxton in 1481.

[13] Old chroniclers speak of pilgrims returning from the Holy Land with their staves wreathed with palm, and from this custom arose the word "palmer," which signified a holy traveller from Jerusalem.

[14] The word Paynim, or Pagan, was commonly used in the Middle Ages to include all Mahometans.

[15] William of Malmesbury.

[16] Manuel I., Comnenus.

[17] The traveller here seems to be describing some confused recollection of the column of Arcadius.

[18] Having a regard to the value of money at that period, there can be no doubt that this account is exaggerated.

[19] Speaking of the Peloponnesus, a province, or theme, of the Byzantine monarchy, Gibbon says that the embroidery there produced was raised either in silk or gold; and the more simple ornament of stripes or circles was surpassed by the nicer imitation of flowers. The vestments that were fashioned for the palace or the altar often glittered with precious stones, and the figures were delineated in strings of Oriental pearls. Until the twelfth century, Greece alone, of all the countries of Christendom, possessed the silkworm.—Decline and Fall, chap. liii.

[20] Now called At-Meidan, or horse market.

[21] It is possible that Benjamin was a witness of the festivals celebrated at Constantinople on the marriage of the Emperor Manuel with Mary, daughter of the Prince of Antioch, on Christmas Day, 1161.

[22] The ceremony of the "adoption of honour," as it was styled, was a curious custom of the time.

[23] The nature of the chemical preparation known as "Greek fire" has not been ascertained with certainty, but it is probable that naphtha was one of the principal ingredients.

[24] Eadmer.

[25] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Sir James Mackintosh.

[28] The White Ship.

[29] Torture-chamber.

[30] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

[31] The scutage, or escutcheon-tax, was so called because it was due from all persons who possessed a knight's fee, or an estate which would maintain a man-at-arms, provided he failed to present himself at the stated time with his Écu, escutcheon, or shield (Latin, scutum) upon his arm.

[32] On being told that he must die, Becket replied, "I resign myself to death; but I forbid you, in the name of the Almighty God, to injure any of those round me, whether monk or layman, great or small."

[33] Gerald de Barry, commonly known as Giraldus Cambrensis (or Gerald the Welshman), was the grandson of a Norman and a Welshwoman, and was born in Wales. He was present in Ireland during the time of many of the events about to be related.

[34] His words are: "King Edward the Confessor commanded the church at Westminster to be dedicated on Innocents' Day. He was buried on the day of the Epiphany, in the said church, which he first in England had erected after that kind of style, which almost all attempt to rival, at enormous expense."

[35] See Hudson Turner's "Domestic Architecture."

[36] It was a common belief among the people of this superstitious age that the Jews were guilty of the practice of sorcery.

[37] The accounts of different writers vary considerably, but one of the lowest estimates states that nearly 200,000 men, among whom were six archbishops, and many bishops and nobles of high rank, perished before the walls of Acre.

[38] Roger of Hoveden states that 5,000 infidels were thus destroyed. Other accounts give even a larger number.

[39] "El Gootz," or "The Blessed City," is the Arab name of Jerusalem to this day.

[40] The Arabic word "Sheikh," translated by the Crusaders "Old Man," means also the chief of a tribe.

[41] "Of a very agreeable appearance."

[42]