affection for his Cathedral, as he beheld the gradual rising of this _glorious work_, as an old inscription terms it[2]; in his heartfelt joy he used to compare it to the flowers of May that bloom in the sun[3]. To the very end of his life Conrad of Lichtenberg neglected nothing to urge on the progress of his work of predilection; after his death, in 1299, he received in it a sepulchre worthy of him; his statue is still to be seen in saint John's chapel. Yet, during the life of Conrad, the Cathedral was shaken by several earthquakes in 1279, 1289, 1291; that of 1289 was so violent that the columns in the interior of the building threatened for a moment to fall down. But a very favourable circumstance happened in 1292, which was the surrender of the _[OE]uvre-Notre-Dame_ to the magistrate of the city, who was henceforth charged with the management of the revenues allotted to the keeping in repair of the Church and consequently also to the completion of it. A few years after, in 1298, a new misfortune happened to the Cathedral. A fire, caused by the imprudence of a cavalier of Albert I, during the sojourn of that prince at Strasburg, consumed all the timberwork and threatened even the pillars and walls. However the damage was promptly repaired. In 1302 a bloody conflict between two citizens of the town, which took place in the very chancel of the church, required again a new consecration of it. [1] They still preserve in the records of the convent of the _[OE]uvre Notre-Dame_ several old drawings on parchment of the facade and towers; these curious designs belong to different epochs; according to the opinion of the _connaisseurs_, the oldest would most likely be that of Erwin himself. [2] _Anno Domini MCCLXXVII in die beati Urbani hoc gloriosum opus inchoavit magister Erwinus de Steinbach._ This inscription was formerly placed in the vault of the northern portal. [3] In a letter of indulgence. After the death of bishop Conrad of Lichtenberg, who in the year 1299 was killed in a battle near Friburg, his brother and successor, Frederic, showed no less ardour for the continuation of this building; in 1303 he invited the curates throughout Alsacia to exhort those of their faithful parishioners who had horses and carts, to convey stones for the edifice; in 1308 the magistrate of Strasburg, no doubt at the request of bishop John, promised freepasses to all those who would bring stones or wood, and he secured wine and wheat for the workmen.