In the year 1188 from the incarnation of our Lord, Urban the Third
{11} being the head of the apostolic see; Frederick, emperor of
Germany and king of the Romans; Isaac, emperor of Constantinople;
Philip, the son of Louis, reigning in France; Henry the Second in
England; William in Sicily; Bela in Hungary; and Guy in Palestine:
in that very year, when Saladin, prince of the Egyptians and
Damascenes, by a signal victory gained possession of the kingdom of
Jerusalem; Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, a venerable man,
distinguished for his learning and sanctity, journeying from England
for the service of the holy cross, entered Wales near the borders of
Herefordshire.
The archbishop proceeded to Radnor, {12} on Ash Wednesday (Caput
Jejunii), accompanied by Ranulph de Glanville, privy counsellor and
justiciary of the whole kingdom, and there met Rhys, {13} son of
Gruffydd, prince of South Wales, and many other noble personages of
those parts; where a sermon being preached by the archbishop, upon
the subject of the Crusades, and explained to the Welsh by an
interpreter, the author of this Itinerary, impelled by the urgent
importunity and promises of the king, and the persuasions of the
archbishop and the justiciary, arose the first, and falling down at
the feet of the holy man, devoutly took the sign of the cross. His
example was instantly followed by Peter, bishop of St. David's, {14}
a monk of the abbey of Cluny, and then by Eineon, son of Eineon
Clyd, {15} prince of Elvenia, and many other persons.
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