ntry to "be measured by"
Earl Simon and restored to health. The process of "measuring" was as
simple as it appears to have been effective. It merely consisted in a
cord which had previously been placed round the relics being made to
meet round the body of the invalid whether man or animal.

The first "miracle" we hear of concerns a dumb boy who fell asleep at
the shrine of Saint Robert at Lincoln, whither he had been taken to be
cured, and in this state he remained from the Saturday preceding the
battle until the Monday, when, suddenly awaking, gifted with the power
not only of speech but prophecy, he informed those who stood around
that Saint Robert had gone to Evesham to aid Earl Simon who would be
slain in the battle there on the morrow! The monkish manuscript goes
on to relate cures of various diseases performed on man and beast,
personal apparitions, "judgements" falling on scoffers, accounts of
the dead restored to life and many other marvels credible or
incredible according to the inclination of the reader. One of the
"judgements" may be given as an example, showing, by the way, the
manners of some of the clergy of that date.

A certain chaplain named Philip had been openly abusing the Earl, and
by way of an oath exclaimed, "If he is a saint, as reported, I wish
the devil may break my neck, or some miracle may befall me before I
reach home." As he returned homewards, being on horseback, and a
servant with him, he saw a hare on the road, and spurring onward in
chase fell headlong from his horse. His manservant who had likewise
abused Earl Simon "was seized by the devil" and remained insane "from
the Feast of St. John the Baptist to the translation of St. Benedict."

In 1279 it is reported how, at Whitsuntide a man wheeled his wife,
whose life was despaired of, from the parish of Saint Bride's in Fleet
Street, London, all the way to Evesham in a wheelbarrow, to visit
"Saint Simon's" relics.

For this brief account of the de Montfort miracles I am indebted to a
paper by Mr. Oswald G. Knapp, and from the same source I transcribe
the following translation of a hymn written in honour of the reputed
"saint and martyr" which concludes the ancient chronicle:--

"Hail, de Montfort, martyr glorious!
Noblest flower of chivalry!
O'er the pains of death victorious,
England's saviour, praise to thee.
More than all the saints in story,
Ere they gained their rest in glory,
Thou of c