FRENCH

Prophecy had been fulfiUcd, and Jérusalem had been destroyed by the Roman Emperors. But thc Christians still held the town in great vénération, and thc piety of Constantine, himself a Christian, increased their zeal. In his reign a church was built enclosing the Holy Scpiilchre. About 300 years after his death the town was taken by thc Arabs, and later by the Turks, who, more jealous and more violent than their predecessors, imposed many burdens on the pilgrims. From the earliest times Christians wcnt there to visit the home of the faith which they had recenlly embraccd. Thèse pilgrims on tlicir return to Europe rclatcd their sufTerings ; and their talcs, passing from moulh to mouth, bcgan to stir the zcal of thc Christians in ail thc countries of Europe for the deliverance of thc Holy Land from the hands of the infidels.

One of thèse poor pilgrims, by namc Peter the Hcrmit, a monk of Picardy, of obscure origin, but with a strong imagination, powerful éloquence, and the fer\our of an apostlc, raisod thc signal of the Crusadcs, and stirrcd the whole of Christcndom to fling itsclf upon Asia. On his

return from Palestine, with the commands of heaven still ringing in his ears, Peter began at once to preach both in the churches and on the highways, and filled with enthusiasm ail those who heard him. Soon afterwards the Pope, Urban IL, assembled a Council at Clermont, and there Peter narrated the misérable fate of Jérusalem, and, recalling the horrible outrages of which he had been a v.itness, described how he had seen Christians loaded with fetters, and harnessed to the yoke like beasts of burden. Thèse stories so excited the assembly that ail — princes, knights, and peasants — swore to fight together against the enemies of the Christian faith.

While the princes were busy making préparations for this war, Peter, yielding to the prayers of the disorderly mob who had followed him throughout his preaching, anticipated the rest of the Crusaders, and found himself on the road to the East at the head of 100,000 men. Thèse first soldiers of the Cross, goaded by a blind fury, but without any true courage, dragging in their train women, children, old men, and sick people, relied wholly on the miraculous promises of their leader. But Peter, misled by the extravagance of his own zeal, had none of the requisite qualities of a commander, and lacked the coolncss and détermination necessary to control such a multitude. His soldiers, reduccd to a déplorable state Ijy the sword of the Bulgarians, whose towns thcy had plundered, and destitute of ail .provisions, after a painful mardi arri\ed under the walls of Constantinople. Alexius, the Emperor, conveyed them to the other side of the Bosphorus, and soon after the Turks attacked them near Nicaea, and slcw ail but 3000 fugitives in one day.

Far différent from the disorderly troop of Peter the Hermit was the army of tried and disciplined soldiers which

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Godfrcy, Duke of Lorraine, took wiili liim eiglit months aftcr thc Council of Clermont. History and poetr>- alike must set this hero at the head of ail llic cliicfs of the Cliristian army. Distin<,niislied in war froni liis carlicst years, lie possesscd great skill in battle, and an extraordinary bodily strength, which won for him the admiration of his troops. In the mid^t of thcir divisions and their qiiarrels, the othcr princes would oftcn enlreat the advicc of C.odfrey, and would obey him implicitly. Travcrsing tlie sanie country wliere thc first champions of the Cross had committcd so niany plunderinys, Codfrey re-establishcd the honour of thc Crusaders, and receivcd from the Kinj^ of Hungary nothing but friendliness and succour. Among the other French chiefs was Robert, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, who had let slip his opportunity of ascending the English thronc upon his father's dcath.

A désire to share in the glory of this Eastem expédition was excited also among thc peoples of Italy. The first to throw in his lot with the French Crusaders was Bohemond of Tarentum. Trained in the school of hardy Norman warriors, and possessing ail thcir physical quaUties, he resolved to take the Cross, rathcr with the idea of winning for himself a kingdom in the land of his old cncmy Alcxius, than of helping in the deliverance of the Holy Land. His companion, Tancred, had no less courage and bravery, and further descrves our respect, because he was moved by a gcnuine passion to fight against the intïdels.

Among the rest, it is necessar\- to mention two chiefs who madc themselves conspicuous in this war, Adhemar, Bishop of l'uy, and Raymond, Count of Toulouse, the one contributing grcatly to the maintenance of order and discipline by his advice and his cxample, the other by his violence and obsiinacy incurring the halred even of his comrades-in-arms.

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Such was the multitude, innumerable, so contemporary chroniclers tell us, as the sand on the seashore, which was now advancing tovvards Constantinople, in answer to the appeal of the Greek Emperor.

But Alexius, frightened by their number, repented having asked their help ; and, forgetting that the banners of the Turks were still floating near his capital, only thought how lie could place himself in safety from the advance of the crusading chiefs. Accordingly, he kept as a hostage the Count of Vermandois, shipwrecked by chance on the coast of Epirus, and hoped thus to make the other princes submit to him. But Godfrey, when he heard of the count' s captivity, at once sought réparation by force of arms, and treated the fruitful fields of Thrace as a hostile country. Then Alexius, finding his policy useless, sought to win over the crusading chiefs by the richness of his présents. In this he was more successful, and, had it not been for the wisdom of Godfrey and the firmness of Tancred, the Latin warriors would hâve preferred to stay in Constaninople for the sake of the spoil.

Godfrey was the first to cmbark and cross the Bosphorus, and later he was followed by the rest of the pilgrims, who reunitcd at Chalcedon to march upon Nicaea. Scarcely had the Crusaders pitched their tents before the - town, and commenced to attack its garrison, when ail at once an army of 60,000 Turks appeared in the valley to succour the besieged. A fierce battle ensued, which raged from morning to night. The Christian army was completely victorious, but their victory was bought at the price of 2000 lives. After this they were able to rencw the siège more \igorously, and, by the aid of a wooden gallery, to approach quite close to the cnemy's walls. When, at last, the fortress of Nicaea tottered and fell with a crash, and the Crusaders were making

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ready for thc last assault, ihcy saw to their surprise and indignation the impérial standard lloating on the walls. Alexis had sent a small detachinent of his soldiers with the crusading arniy, and, by their negotiations, had succecded in depriving the Christian chiefs of their conquest. The wrath of the Crusaders was only appeased by the Emperor's gifts, and it wanted but a slight pretext to kindle war between the two armies.

After his defeat at Nicaea, the Sultan had gathered together new forces, firmly resolved to make the Christians pay dearly for their conquest of his capital. The Crusaders stayed two days at Lefké, where the abundance of water and pasture attracted them, and then, as they were about to enter a barren country, thought it best to divide into two troops. The lesser troop, commanded by Bohemond, arrived on the morning of July the ist, 1097, in the valley of Gorgoni, and found an enormous host of Mussulmans threatening them in front. This host adopted a manncr of tighting which was quite strange to the Crusaders ; for sometimes they would hurl themselves from the mountain heights upon the Christian ranks, uttering loud cries, sometimes they would shower down their arrows from a distance, and disperse, as if in flight, only to reunite farther off. Against thèse tactics the warriors of the Cross showed admirable courage, but their efforts would hâve been of no avail, if the blare of tnimpets had not ail at once resounded in the distance, and Godfrey, at the head of the second body of Christians, appearcd on the field of battlc, to restore the spirit of Bohemond's exhausted troop. Swooping down on the Turks like an eagle on its prey, the soldiers of the Cross completely destroyed the Sultan's army.

Whcn the Crusaders resumed their march, they had to journey over a naked soil, in the midst of great

difficulties, and exposed to the dangers of excessive heat and famine ; for the Turks had preceded them, ravaging the land as they went, sacking churches, and burning houses. At length, after some days' marching, they crossed the Taurus, and their zeal was rewarded by the sight of the towers and walls of the Syrian capitaL This town, which had for centuries attracted the notice of foreigners, and been the meeting-place of the faithful, was now invested by the Christian army from three sides. But the weahh of the harvest and the vintage, and the number of herds feeding in the rich pastures near the town, bhnded the eyes of the pilgrims, and made them forget the end and aim of their journey, so that they gave themseh-es over to luxurious hving, and roamed about in disorder and without any précaution. In this way seven months passed ; the Christian camp was being thinned by famine and désertion, and the town seemed able to resist assault for a long time to come. It was now that Bohemond, by the aid and treachery of a certain Phirous, got his soldiers admitted into the town, and took the besieged by surprise. In the midst of the terrible carnage which ensued, Bohemond planted his red banner on one of the highest towers of the town.

In the fuU enjoyment of the riches which they had won from the enemy, and whoUy abandoned to the intoxicating influences of victory, the Crusaders were slow to see a new and formidable enemy, who was now advancing towards the city. The Persian Sultan was upon them, and they were now in lurn themselvcs besieged in Anlioch, where they seemed to bc doomed to suffer the direst hardships. Every day the famine grew more terrible, and one could hâve seen princes and lords, as well as soldiers and paupers, begging from door to door for anything which could prolong their life for a single hour.

However, from the very excess of their despair came their salvation — the discovery of the Holy Lance renewed

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their lifc, energ>', and vigour. Under promise of heavenly succour and reward, the Christian army, led by the vénérable priest Adhemar, hurled itself upon the infidels. The battle had scarcely lastcd an hour when Bohemond's troop began to give way ; but the présence of Godfrey, Tancred, and some other chiefs soon lurned the fortune of the fight, and from ail points the Mussulmans fled in a disorderly and headlong rout.

The same spirit of credulous enthusiasm which had stirred the people of the West to foUow in crowds on the hcels of Peter the Hermit, when he was travelling from town to town barefooted and bareheaded, with a thick cord for a girdle and a long cloak of the coarsest stuft" for a covering, was destined also to deliver them successfully from their dread distress at Antioch.

Every day some new miracle was reported in the Christian camp ; a Lombard priest had seen the Saviour Himself, attended by His Virgin Mother, and had received a promise of deliverance for the Christians, if only they would repent. By way of putting a finishing touch to such révélations, a priest of Marseilles came forward and announced that in his dreams he had seen St. Andrew, who had told him where to find the steel head of the spear which had pierced the side of the Redeemcr. The soldiers strongly believed in thèse visions, and their impatience to find this mystic weapon daily increased. After two days of prayer and fasting a search was begun, and on the third day, under cover of night, the priest of Marseilles discovered it, and showed it in triumph to the army.

New was the moment for the Christians to march upon Jérusalem, without leaving the encmy time to recover his strength. But in the council of chiefs there was a différence of opinion, and it was finally decided to stay in Antioch till

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the autumn. Hère again the Crusaders were the victims of a ravaging plague, and in the gênerai distress died Adhemar, the one man who had kept unity and concord in their ranks. When at length Raymond, Tancred, and the Duke of Normandy started from Antioch, their journey in its first stage was more like a triumphal march, for everywhere along their passage they received suppHes and tribute from Christian and Mussulman alike. Godfrey remained in the city of Bohemond some time longer, and, at the last, only set out in response to the keen protests of the pilgrims, who began to déplore their inactivity. The 50,000 men who now marchod along the seacoast to Jérusalem were no longer a useless and cumbersome mob, but soldiers who had stood ail the tests of war, and who were buoyed up by the memory of their exploits. Before them the infidels fied, laying waste the country and plundering houses.