(21 ) 



very near until day, and then appeared full and brightly 

 shining. It was on this same day a fortnight old. All 

 the night the air was very clear, and the stars over all 

 the heaven were brightly shining, and the tree fruits on 

 that night were sorely nipt (A. S. C.). 



Through tempests the earth fruits were greatly injured, 

 and the tree fruits over all this land almost all perished 

 (A. S. C.). 



The river Trent, at Nottingham, dry from morning till 

 3 p.m. a mile in length, so that it could be passed with 

 dry feet (Stow ; Roger de Hoveden). 



1111 Very long winter and vehement and inclement time, 

 so that the fruits of the earth were much marred, and 

 greatest death of cattle that any man remembered ( Wul- 

 stari). 



There was a most severe winter, a dreadful famine, a 

 plague among men, and a murrain among animals, both 

 wild and domestic. There was also a very great mor- 

 tality among birds (Roger de Hoveden). 



April 2, a terrible mortality of animals began, and 

 likewise a great famine in Normandy (M. of W.}. 



1112 This was a very good year, and very abundant in 

 wood and in field ; but it was a very sad and sorrowful 

 one, through a most destructive pestilence (A. S. C.). 



There was a great mortality of men (M. of W.). 



1113 In the month of May a great comet appeared, and a 

 . little afterwards there was an earthquake. 



1114 October 15. The sea so decreased and shrank from 

 the old accustomed watermarks and coasts of the land 

 here in this realm that a man might have passed on foot 

 over the sands and washes for the space of a whole day 

 together. The river Thames was so low for the space of 

 a day and a night, that horses, men, and children, passed 

 over it betwixt London Bridge and the Tower, and also 

 under the Bridge, the water not reaching above their 

 knees. Moreover in the month of December the air 



