[556] “Nam quidam illorum credebant, ut asseritur, nullum Deum esse, nihil esse sacramentum altaris, nullam post mortem resurrectionem, sed ut jumentum moritur, ita et hominem finire.” “Historia Anglicana,” vol. ii. p. 12. Langland also complains of the scepticism of the nobles, who question the mysteries, and make these grave matters the subject of light conversation after meals. “Piers Plowman,” Text C, pass. xii. l. 35.
[557] “Les louenges du roy Louys xij.,” by Claude de Seyssel, Paris, 1508.
[558] “A Collection of the Wills of the Kings and Queens of England,” &c., printed by J. Nichols, London, 1780. Will of Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, who died 1361, p. 54.
[559] She died November 4, 1360. Nichols, ibid. p. 29.
[560] From Bethleem, last quarter of the fourth century. Migne, “Patrologiæ Latinæ tomus XXII,” col. 582.
[561] “Epistola XLVI Paulæ et Eustochii (one of her daughters) ad Marcellam, De Sanctis Locis.” Migne, ibid., col. 483 ff. From Bethleem, same period.
[562] From Bethleem, same period. Migne, ibid. To Paulinus col. 580 ff.; to Desiderius, col. 493 ff.
[563] He and numerous companions had received the Cross at the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1316, and the plan seemed for a time so near realization that nobles and villeins sold their lands and houses, to take part in the crusade. A plan thereof and a draft of the contract with the Marseilles shipowners has been published with excellent notes, by A. de Boislisle, “Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de France,” 1872, pp. 230 and 246. The latest date suitable for the start is stated to be the middle of April. Full details are given as to the supplies of every sort, to be provided for the galleys, food and the rest: “panis biscoctus,” i.e. biscuit.
[564] Robert of Avesbury, “Historia Edwardi Tertii,” ed. Hearne, Oxford, 1720, pp. 63, 115.
[565] The single and last attempt on a grand scale was the ill-starred campaign against Sultan Bajazet which ended in the disaster and massacre of Nicopolis, September, 1396; on which and on all those latter-day attempts, see Delaville le Roulx, “La France en Orient au XIVe Siècle,” Paris, 1886, 2 vols.