IVliat  was  more  destructive,  the  disturbed  sea  transgressed
it«  usual  bounds,  the  tide  flowing  twice  without  any  ebb,  and
emitted  such  a  frightful  roaring  sound,  that,  even  in  parts
remote  from  it,  it  created  amazement  in  those  who  heard  it ;
even  old  men,  and  indeed  none  of  modem  times,  remembered
ever  to  have  seen  the  like  before.  In  the  darkness  of  the
night  too  the  sea  appeared  to  bum  like  a  fire,  and  the  billows
seemed  to  crowd  together,  as  though  fighting  with  one  an-
other, in  such  fuiy,  that  the  skill  of  sailors  could  not  save
their  sinking  ships,  and  large  and  firmly-built  vessels  were
sunk  and  lost.  Not  to  mention  other  cases,  at  the  port  of
Hertbourne  alone  three  noble  ships  were  swallowed  up  by
^  the  raging  billows,  besides  small  ones  and  others  of  moderate

-^  /  /  size.  At  Winchelsea,  a  port  on  the  eastern  coast,  besides
the  salt-houses,  and  the  abodes  of  fishenmen^tl^e  bridges,  and
mills  which  were  destroyed,  more  than  three  hundred  houses
in  that  village,  with  some  churches,  were  thrown  down  by  the
impetuous  rise  of  the  sea.  Holland  in  England,  .and  Hol-
land on  the  continent  also,  as  well  as  Flanders  and  other
level  countries  adjoining  the  sea,  sustained  irreparable
damage.  The  rivers  falling  into  the  sea  were  forced  back
and  swelled  to  such  a  degree  that  they  overflowed  meadows,
destroyed  mills,  bridges,  and  the  houses  adjacent  to  them,
and,  invading  the  fields,  carried  away  the  com  which  had
not  been  stored  away  in  the  barns ;  that  the  anger  of  God


'•f


►. '  ••


A.D.  1250.]  EXAcrrioN  from  the  pbiobt  of  binham.      393

plainly  appeared  to  mortals  in  the  sea  as  well  as  on  land,  and
the  punishment  of  sinners  appeared  imminent,  according  to
the  prophecy  of  Habakkuk  : ''  Art  thou  angered  in  the  rivers,
oh  Lord,  or  is  thy  indignation  in  the  sea  ?"  And  what  won-
der is  it  ?  for  from  the  Koman  court,  which  ought  to  be  the
fountain  of  all  justice,  there  emanated  immentionable  enor-
mities, one  of  which,  although  unfit  to  be  described,  we  have
thought  proper  to  insert  in  this  work.
