promised the celestial rewards of martyrdom to those who should fall in the contest. Cries of "Deus vult !-Deus lo vult!-Dieu el volt!" interrupted the pontiff. "Let these words," said he, "be your cry of war." He then distributed crosses among them, to be affixed to the shoulder as badges of their pious undertaking. The Western nations now turned from intestine discord to foreign war; from dull superstition to furious zeal. Visions, dreams, and prodigies, were called in to heighten the enthusiasm and persons of every age, rank, and degree, including women, monks, and anchorets, assumed the cross. "A stamp of virtue was fixed upon every one who embraced the cause, and many were urged to the semblance of religion by shame, reproach, and fashion. The numerous cases of hypocricy attested the commanding influence of the general religious principle. They who had been visited by criminal justice, were permitted to expiate, in the service of God, their sins against the world. The pretence of debtors was admitted that the calls of heaven were of greater obligation than any claims of man. Murderers, adulterers, robbers, and pirates, quitted their iniquitous pursuits, and declared that they would wash away their sins in the blood of the infidels. In short thousands and millions of armed saints and sinners ranged themselves to fight the battles of the Lord. All nations were enveloped in the whirlwind of superstition. It was people, and not merely armies, countries, and not only their military representatives, that thought they had received the divine command to unsheath the sword of the Almighty, and redeem the sepulchre of Christ." The first body of the champions of the cross, consisting of twenty thousand foot and only eight horsemen, led by Walter the Pennyless, a poor Burgundian gentleman, marched from France to the confines of Hungary. Ignorant of the geography of the countries they were to pass through, they were almost entirely at the mercy of the natives. The Hungarians allowed them to pro ceed, with some partial molestation; but the Bulgarians refused to supply them with provisions, and being consequently attacked, destroyed nearly the whole of this crazy multitude. Walter, however, with a few survivors reached Constantinople. A second division consisting of forty thousand men, women, and children, of various nations, followed the route of the former, under the direction of Peter himself. These revenged most ferociously the injuries which their precursors had experienced from the Hungarians, and sustained several conflicts with the people of Bulgaria. In these battles the Hermit lost about ten thousand of his people, and arrived with the rest at Constantinople, where they united with the remnant of Walter's division, and with an undisciplined herd of Italians. The Grecian emperor Alexius, seeing their unfitness for war, commanded them to remain in Greece till the arrival of the regular armies, and supplied them with quarters, money, and provisions; but as soon as they recovered their strength, they repaid his generosity by the most flagitious excesses, plundering houses, palaces, and churches, and committing the most enormous crimes. Disregarding the authority of their leader, they com menced hostilities in Bithynia without waiting for the arrival of the European armies, and were speedily destroyed by the Turks. Of their bones the conquerors erected a lofty bill on the plains of Nice, which long remained a dreadful warning to succeeding bands of crusaders. About three thousand only of these wretches escaped with Peter back to Constantinople. Godeschal, a priest, conducted another fanatical band of fifteen thousand enthusiasts from Lorraine, the east of France, and Bavaria. These committed horrible outrages in Hungary, and being disarmed by a stratagem were cut to pieces on the plains of Belgrade. A fourth herd of wild and desperate savages now issued from England, France, Flanders, and Lorrain. They are charged with the horrible superstition of adoring a goat and a goose which they believed to be filled with the divine spirit. After murdering the Jews of Cologne, Mayence, and Treves, ves, this infernal multitude, to the number of two hundred thousand, entered Hungary. Their passage was opposed, and after several conflicts they were routed near Mersbourg. The Hungarians pursued them with such slaughter, that the waters of the Danube were for days red with their blood. But few of the rabble survived. Thus perished about 275,000, of the first Crusaders, while the feudal princes were collecting their tenants and retainers, and arraying them for war. Among these chiefs, the first in personal merit was Godfrey VI., Lord of Bouillon, a brave, devout, and accomplished prince. The forces of Godfrey proceeded without impediment into Thrace, and reposed at Philippopoli. Hugh, the great earl, Count of Vermandois, and brother of the French king, led the armed pilgrims of Flanders, England, and the middle and north of France. enemies, and compelled the treacherous Alexius to sue for peace. The Count of Vermandois, who during his captivity had become the friend and liegeman of Alexius, was sent to negotiate on his part, and not only obtained peace, but induced all the other leaders to follow his example in taking the oath of fidelity to the Greek empe ror, whose assistance, he convinced them, was indispensably necessary to their success. The Crusaders who next arrived were commanded by Bohemond, Prince of Tarentum, and his relation Tancred. The ferocious valour of the former was combined with craft and rapacity. Tancred, on the contrary, was equally brave, generous, and modest. Bohemond was induced by magnificent gifts to become the feudatory of the emperor, but Tancred steadily refused to form a similar engagement.-The next array of mighty men at arms that joined the assembled troops, was commanded by Raymond, Duke of Narbonne. Their march was disastrous: they were harrassed by the peasantry and by the Greek soldiers, although the emperor, and his governors affected friendship towards them. At length tranquillity was restored, and all the Crusading armies united their forces. But the politics of Constantinople had changed during the preparations of the Crusaders; the Turkish power was diminished; the Greeks no longer dreaded the immediate fall of their empire, but entertained great apprehensions of their Western allies: and the Count of Vermandois having an- "The holy legions overspread the nounced his approach in an arrogant plains of Nice, and, if early writers can letter to the Emperor Alexius, the lat- be credited, seven hundred thousand ter seized that occasion of offence, or- was the number of soldiers and of pildered a blockade of the Italian ports, grims. It is impossible to describe and actually made the count a prisoner with perfect precision the nature of on his landing at Durazzo. Godfrey the military array: but we can discera in vain demanded satisfaction; he that there were one hundred thousand therefore ravaged the province of Thrace, horsemen clad in mail. Agreeably to which hostile step produced the libera- the customs of chivalry, such of these tion of the count. Alexius next endea- warriors as were knights, were attended voured to secure the person of God- by their squires, who carried their lanfrey, and to starve the Latin armies by ces, their golden and ornamented shields, prohibiting his subjects from trafficking and led the fiery steeds on which the with them; but these measures only cavaliers rode during the battle. Nor produced additional devastations of his was the equipment complete, unless territories. At length he resorted to each equestrian soldier was accompanarms, and his troops suddenly attacked ied and supported by some men at arms, the camp, but were repulsed after great and infantry, who bore the standard, loss on both sides. The Latins retalia- and were accoutred lighter than their ted most dreadfully on their insidious chief. The offensive weapons of the cavalry were iron maces, lances, and swords. The bow was the principal weapon of the foot soldiers, who, agreeably to the tactics of the day, formed the first line of the army, and discharged flights of shafts and quarrels until the heavily armed troops engaged." The siege of Nice, the capital of Rhoum, was the first exploit of the Crusaders. This city was defended by double walls of immense height and solidity, and by more than three bundred and fifty towers, and its numerous forces were assisted by Kilidge Arslan, Sultan of Rhoum, who with a powerful army descended from the neighbouring mountains, and attacked the Christians while engaged in the siege. But the persevering valour of the Crusaders proved triumphant, and they were on the point of entering the city sword in band, when the emperor, by a secret negotiation, admitted the Turks to a capitulation, and the besiegers were astonished and disappointed at seeing the banners of Alexius hung over the walls of the city, which they were only suffered to view as visitors, instead of possessing as conquerors. The though the coat of mail defended the men,the horses were completely exposed. A brother of Tancred, and Robert of Paris, severally attempted to charge the Turks, and to press them to close combat. But they constantly evaded the onset, and their pointed weapons checked their furious foe. Both the gallant Italian and the haughty Frenchman were slain; and the remains of their forces were compelled to retreat. Tancred himself fought as a soldier rather than as a general; but the prudent Bohemond drew him from increasing dangers. The Turks pursued their success, and pressed forwards to the camp of the Crusaders, where, laying aside their bows, they used their swords with equal execution. Mothers and their children were killed; and neither priests nor old men were spared. cries of the dying reached the ears of Bohemond, who, leaving the command to Robert of Normandy, rushed towards the tents, and scattered the enemy. The Christians, weary, thirsty, and oppressed with labour and heat, would have sunk into despair, if the women of the camp had not revived their courage, and brought them water from the stream. The combat was renewed with tenfold vigour. The Norman chieftain fought with all the valour which ennobled his family. He rallied the alarmed troops by his vociferations of those words of courage Deus id vult, "The Christians were reposing on and with his standard in his hand, he the banks of a river in the valley of darted into the midst of the Moslems. Gorgon, when the alarming rumour When he was joined by Bohemond, reached them of the rapid approach of all the Christians returned to their duty; the foe. Bohemond gave his camp to despair gave birth to fierceness, and the charge of the infantry, and, with death was preferred to flight. his cavalry, prepared himself for the im- their fate was averted by the consequenpetuous shock of the Moslem savages. ces of the early prudence of Bohemond. The sultan left about one half of his Immediately on the appearance of the army in the mountains; with the other Turks he had sent messengers to Godhe descended into the plain; and his frey and the other leaders, who, at the soldiers made the air ring with such head of forty thousand soldiers, hastenshouts and yells, that the enemy, unused to assist their brethren. The Duke ed to clamour, were filled with aston- of Lorraine and the Count of Vermanishment and alarm. The heroes of Asia discharged their feathered artillery before the Christians could fight with their swords and lances. Few of the Turkish arrows fell without effect; for But the sultan, Kilidge Arslan, was not dispirited. He collected an army of upwards of two hundred thousand men, and watching the march of the Latins attacked the division of Bohemond when separated from the rest of the army. But dois were the first that reached the field of battle; and Adhemar and Raymond soon increased the force. The Turks were panic-struck at this unexpected event. In the breasts of the holy warriors revenge and emulation inflamed the ardour of conquest; and the holy flame burnt with double violence, when, by the exhortations of the clergy, their minds were recalled to the nature of the cause for which they were in arms. Amidst the animating shouts of prayers and benedictions, the standard of the cross was unfurled, and every soldier swore to tell his devotion with revengeful deeds on the helmets of his foes. The heavy charge of the Latins was ir resistible. The quivers of the Turks were exhausted; and in close combat the long and pointed swords of the Franks were more deadly than the Turkish sabres. The Moslems fled on every side, and abandoned their camp in the mountains to the enemy. The Christians pursued them for three miles, and then, as devout as joyful, returned to their old positions, singing hymns to God. Four thousand of the lower orders of the Franks, and three thousand commanders of the Turks, fell in this first great action between holy and infidel warriors. The Turkish spoils amply repaid the fatigues of the day." The advance of the army through the Phrygian mountains and deserts, towards Jerusalem, was attended with the unforeseen afflictions of famine, thirst, and disease. The Turks preceded the wretched Crusaders, destroying the provisions on their route: multitudes of the Christians perished in this march. The city of Tarsus was taken by Tancred, but Baldwin, the brother of Godfrey, arriving with a more numerous division, demanded its surrender to him. The refusal of Tancred led to a battle between the forces of these rival chiefs. Baldwin, enraged at these circumstances, quitted the army, and ravaged Mesopotamia. The inhabitants of the Greek city of Edessa compelled their impotent duke, Thoros, to solicit the aid of Baldwin in releasing them from the oppression of the Turks. He undertook their defence, and was adopted by the duke, who soon afterwards perished in a popular commotion, when Baldwin was crowned in his stead. In the meantime the main army ad vanced to Antioch, after defeating the forces opposed to them by Baghasian, the governor of that city, and taking the fortified town of Artesia. They forced the passage of the Orontes; and, on the 21st of Nov. 1097, invested Antioch. The siege was tedious and disastrous. Famine soon depopulated the Christian camp. Horses, and even carrion, were generally eaten, and many devoured the flesh of the slain. Pestilence also afflicted the army Desertion became frequent. The Greek general, Taticius, with his forces, quitted the siege; and even Peter the Hermit attempted to escape from the misery in which he had involved so many thousands. The caliph of Egypt sent an embassy, proposing to guarantee the safety of unarmed pilgrims to Jerusalem, if the Crusaders would renounce their project. The proposal was haughtily refused. Succours from Pisa and Genoa arrived in the sixth month of the siege, which was now vigorously pressed. At length a traitor admitted the Christian army into the city by night, and the victors massacred nearly all the Mahometan inhabitants. The Emperor of Persia now sent a numerous host against the Crusaders, under the command of his minister Kerboga, Emir of Mosul. This army was joined by the forces of Kilidge Arslan, and their united numbers exceeded two hundred thousand. After wasting some time in fruitless attacks upon Baldwin at Edessa, these infidel allies blockaded the Latins in Antioch. A famine, more dreadful than the former, thinned the Christian ranks. Deserters fled to Alexandretta, and their frightful accounts induced the Count of Blois to commence his retreat to Europe. The emperor Alexius was advancing with his army, consisting partly of fresh bands from Europe, to the aid of the Crusaders, but the reports of the fugitives induced him also basely to abandon the cause, with all those who followed him. The intelligence of these treacherous and cowardly proceedings threw the Crusaders into a state of despair, from which they were only relieved by some sanctified frauds. Several priests swore to supernatural apparitions promising triumph to the Christians. But the chief artifice was that of Raymond of Tholouse, who was, by the kindness of St. Andrew, entrusted with the identical lance which had pierced the side of Christ. Fanaticism now inspired every heart with courage and hope. But the leaders were yet willing to get rid of the Persians, if possible, without exerting the virtues of the lance. For this purpose Peter the Hermit was sent to the Persian commander, and arrogantly required that his forces should be withdrawn and become Christians. The astonishment of the Persian soon gave way to rage, and the ambassador was glad to effect a speedy retreat. The Crusaders now prepared for bat tle, and after many hymns and processions formed in array upon the plain before Antioch, preceded by their priests bearing crucifixes. Every endeavour was used to preserve the enthusiasm of the warriors. The Bishop of Puy, clad in armour, and bearing the sacred lance, exhorted them to fight bravely, and promised them the assistance of legions of saints. The conflict began, but the valour and fanaticism of the Christians were nearly overpowered, when a new miracle revived their failing hopes, and inspired them with fresh ardour. Some figures in white armour riding on white horses appeared on the neighbouring hills, and were recognised as the martyrs St. George, St. Maurice, and St. Theodore. The energy infused into the superstitious army by this trick bore down all opposition; the enemy were totally routed, and those who escaped the sword fled, abandoning the camp to spoliation and the women and children to merciless slaughter. After this success, the Count of Vermandois, and Baldwin, Count of Hainault, were despatched to Constantinople to remonstrate with the Emperor. Baldwin fell into Turkish snares by the way, and the arguments and menaces of Hugh were derided by Alexius. The ambassador shrunk from the dangers of repassing Asia Minor, and departed for France. In the mean time discord, pestilence, and famine continued to di minish the numbers of the champions of the cross. At the siege of Marra they broke open the tombs of the Muselmans; ripped up the bellies of the dead in search of gold, and then dressed and eat the fragments of flesh. Raymond was accused of receiving bribes from the Turks, and of imposture in the affair of the holy lance. Peter Barthelemy, the priest in whose pretended visions the discovery originated, attempted to prove the identity of the sacred weapon by the fiery ordeal, but was unluckily consumed. In revenge for the base conduct of Alexius, Bohemond was elected Prince of Antioch, to the great mortification of the emperor. The army resumed its march for Jerusalem, chastised the resistance of Tripoli by a heavy imposition, took the wealthy city of Ramula deserted by the Saracens, and at length arrived at the town of Emmaus or Nicopolis. "The holy city was then in view; every heart glowed with rapture; every eye was bathed in tears. The word Jerusalem was repeated in tumultuous wonder by a thousand tongues; and those who first beheld the blessed spot, called their friends to witness the glorious sight. All past pains were forgotten; a moment's happiness outweighed years of sorrow. In their warm imaginations the sepulchre was redeemed, and the cross triumphed over the crescent. But with that rapidity of thought which distinguishes minds when strongly agitated by passion, the joy of the stranger, and the fierceness af the warrior, were changed in a moment for religious ideas and feelings. Jerusalem was the scene of the resurrection of Christ; and, therefore, the subject of holy rejoicing; but it was the place of his sufferings also; and true devotion, full of self-abasement and gratitude, is as strongly affected by the causes and circumstances as the consequences of the Great Sacrifice. The soldier became in an instant the simple pilgrim; his lance and sword were thrown aside; he wept over the ground which, he said, his Saviour had wept over; and it was only with naked feet that he could worthily approach the seat of man's redemption. "Of the millions of fanatics who had |