I should by no means have ventured to do this for such great and reverend men unless I were very certain about the evidence of those who saw these signs with their own eyes, and gave a detailed account of the event in our presence, and in the presence of many, with their truth-telling mouths. It happened, then, that a lay-brother of our order, a placid man, sober, chaste, and filled with the true faith,¹ was travelling on St Ambrose the Bishop’s day, on the day after Palm Sunday, 4 April, on the 13^th day of the lunar month, when dusk was turning to night; and behold, as this lay-brother looked back, he saw the moon full and round; but immediately, at that very moment, something like a cord, black and somewhat dull, cut the moon into two parts. The blackness of the cord was also spilling itself out into that half of the moon that was facing north, and made that part of the moon blacker and duller than the other half; and then, in the twinkling of an eye, the duller part seemed to ⊗ cut itself away from the other part and to be shattered, and to be removed at a distance of one furlong; and it seemed as though that duller part had been torn away with such violence from the other part of the moon that it sent out sparks like a dragon flying through the air. At last, after a little while, the duller part of the moon gradually, and rather painstakingly, approached the other part: at one moment, as though by timidly being drawn back to itself, at other times, as though being driven there by force. In the end, however, just as the parts of the moon were going to meet each other, a cloud covered each part, and the vision disappeared. Then, with a gust of wind, the cloud passed across, and the moon came out again from beneath the cloud; and now it appeared to have grown to the size of three moons; and steadily, the changing shape, as it grew and spread itself through the heavens, transformed into a beautiful castle. The towers and walls of this castle, suitably fortified with battlements, stood out. At this sight, as strange as it was astounding, fear and trembling entered both the lay-brother and his servant, and the servant said to the lay-brother, ‘Master, what do you think these things mean: can it be, do you think, that the day of judgement has arrived?’ He said, ‘By no means, my son, they are rather the wonders of God Almighty, who according to his will works signs, portents, omens and wonders.’² The servant declared, ‘I have often heard that, through female soothsayers,³ witches and enchantresses, it is common for the moon to have its shape changed in this way.’ But he replied, ‘It is not so, my son. In truth, we ought rather to believe that they foreshadow something marvellous and fearful for the human race.’ But meanwhile the moon had put off the form of a castle, and was shaped into a very large ship, built with the most elegant workmanship. But there also appeared on the ship just one man, as though a sailor on that ship, whose stature was very large. This ship, then, its sails extended and very quickly unfurled, was seen to set sail towards Ireland on a course that passed by the Isle of Man. After these things, the moon cast off the form of a ship and was transformed again into a great castle, a most fearful sight to those looking on; but this time there appeared on the castle a royal banner of the kind usually carried before armies of kings marching into battle.▬▬▬▬▬▬