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THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF

[BOOK I.

and its destination to these parts. And I hope thatsimilar, or rather far more magnificent donations,may shortly follow from my Norman brethren, andfrom others also; for vast sums are necessary to sovast an undertaking—urgent and simultaneous.I will announce it to Baldwin; but a favourableomen and a merciful Providence is this delay andmeeting of so many of the Norman and otherprinces of the crusade, which permits your speak-ing to them at once in person. And my desire is,that their donations, though quick, be not exactlyhere; for it would grieve me any should attributethem rather to love for me, than to the in con-testible merits of the institution itself. Not onlythe antedate 1100, but also the months for a yearfrom the taking.” Yet, as this is the first gift tothe order, it will be fair to give a union of the threecopies; two in Italian, and one in old French—allthree in the appendix, in substance the same, buteach with many errors of the pen, or otherwise.

“ In name of the holy and undivided Trinity, I,Godfrey de Bullion, by the grace of God Duke ofLorraine, make it known to all present and future,that for the remission of my sins, having adornedmy heart and shoulders with the sign of the crossof the Saviour crucified for us, I at length reachedthe spot where our most high Lord, Jesus Christ,