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March 4. Acre. Frater Thomas Berardi pauperis militum Templi magister informs Frater Amadeus, domorum Templi in Anglia magnus praeceptor of events in the Holy Land. The Mongols (Tartari), about whom he has written so often, are now knocking at the doors of the Holy Land. They have conquered many nations, including the Armenians and Georgians. They have destroyed Baghdad (Baldach) and have killed the caliph and his family. The have subjugated the county of Edessa (Rochas), and the cities of Hamah (Aman), Homs (la Chamele), Shaizar (Caesarea magna) and the lands of the Old Man of the Mountains, Haran and Hassar. They have invaded the lands of Aleppo. Fearful of the future, the people of Antioch, on the advice of dominus H. their prince, have sent Dominicans, Franciscans, Jacobites, Greeks, and their ballivus and conestabilis as emissaries for aid. The dominus and dux Halan has besieged and taken Aleppo. The sultan of Aleppo and Damascus has marched out past the castle of the Knights Templar called Saphech and approaches Gazara. The people have taken refuge in the cities. On the advice of the king of Armenia, the prince of Antioch-Tripoli has entered into an agreement with the Mongols, covering Tripoli and Antioch and their territories. Holding out are the cities of Acre and Tyre, 7 commanderies (domus, which in the context means castles) of the Knights Templar, 3 castles – 2 of which are in Antioch, together with 1 castle of the Hospital of St Mary of the Germans in Apolitana, 2 castles of the Knights Templar in the province of Jerusalem, together with 2 of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, and 1 that belongs to the Hospital of St Mary of the Germans in Tripoli. In this dire situation the military orders have sent frater Stephanus of the Knights Templar to the Iberian peninsula, a brother of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem to France and a brother of the hospital of St Mary of the Germans to Germany for assistance. Thomas stresses the heavy expenses incurred in the defence of Acre and the Templar castles, while the presence of pestilence and the absence of the Genoese and other merchants mean that is impossible to get money changed. He stresses that mercenaries cannot be employed without rations and stipends, particularly as the Knights Templar have 7 major castles to defend, together with Acre, the chief burden of defence of which, he claims, falls on the Knights Templar. They also have the obligation to furnish their churches. Thomas asks Amadeus to beg the king and queen of England to hand over the 10,000 marcae argenti owed to the Order.