chap, ii.] ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. 139

regent, St. Louis, accompanied by his wife (whocould not be prevented), set out, having taken thecross nearly three years earlier, and embarking onthe Mediterranean, the twenty-fifth August, 1218,reached Cyprus on the twenty-first September. Adocument, evidently composed with great ^248care, being a contract, intended to stand forages, and to anticipate a remedy in every possible case,is a fresh proof of how brittle are the designs of men;since, within the lifetime of some of its witnesses,a catastrophe was to occur rendering that andevery other document of the sort perfectly nulland invalid. 1 Its contents would imply the grandmaster’s absence, probably in Cyprus withLouis IX. 2There he passed the winter, and exerted his peace-making qualities in various ways, and with moreor less success between the Greek and Latin clergyconcerning missions to Tartars, who at first wereabout becoming Christians, but when they sawSyria yield to Mahometanism, became Mahomet-ans ; 3 mediating with Cyprus, who, by acceptingthe Pope’s offer of the title of King of Jerusalem,fomented discord with Frederick II,, rightful ownerof that vain distinction, and negotiating with the

1 Cod. Dipl. Geros., i. Hum. ecxix.—Appendix, xcvi.

2 Michaud: Hist., iv. 155.

3 Villani.—Bib. Crois., ii. 624.