XXXVII

summoned to our presence a Jewish woman, by name Rebecca, daughter of Isaac of York ⁠—a woman infamous for sortileges and for witcheries; whereby she hath maddened the blood, and besotted the brain, not of a churl, but of a Knight⁠—not of a secular Knight, but of one devoted to the service of the Holy Temple⁠—not of a Knight Companion, but of a Preceptor of our Order, first in honour as in place. Our brother, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, is well known to ourselves, and to all degrees who now hear me, as a true and zealous champion of the Cross, by whose arm many deeds of valour have been wrought in the Holy Land, and the holy places purified from pollution by the blood of those infidels who defiled them. Neither have our brother’s sagacity and prudence been less in repute among his brethren than his valour and discipline; in so much, that knights, both in eastern and western lands, have named De Bois-Guilbert as one who may well be put in nomination as successor to this batoon, when it shall please Heaven to release us from the toil of bearing it. If we were told that such a man, so honoured, and so honourable, suddenly casting away regard for his character, his vows, his brethren, and his prospects, had associated to himself a Jewish damsel, wandered in this lewd company, through solitary places, defended her person in preference to his own, and, finally, was so utterly blinded and besotted by his folly, as to bring her even to one of our own Preceptories, what should we say but that the noble knight was possessed by some evil demon, or influenced by some wicked spell?⁠—If we could suppose it otherwise, think not rank, valour, high repute, or any earthly consideration, should prevent us from visiting him with punishment, that the evil thing might be removed, even according to the text, Auferte malum ex vobis . For various and heinous are the acts of transgression against the rule of our blessed Order in this lamentable history.⁠—1st, He hath walked according to his proper will, contrary to capital 33, Quod nullus juxta propriam voluntatem incedat .⁠—2nd, He hath held communication with an excommunicated person, capital 57, Ut fratres non participent cum excommunicatis , and therefore hath a portion in