to Jerusalem; and they allowed every person, after paying a moderate tribute, to visit the holy sepulchre, to perform his religious duties, and return in peace.

But the Turks, a Tartar tribe, who had also embraced Mahometanism, having wrested Syria from the Saracens, about the middle of the eleventh century, and made themselves masters of Jerusalem, pilgrims were exposed to outrages of every kind from these fierce barbarians. And this change coinciding with the panic of the consummation of all things, and the supposed appearance of Christ on Mount Sion, filled Europe with alarm and indignation. Every person who returned from Palestine, related the dangers which he had encountered in visiting the holy city, and described, with exaggeration, the cruelty and vexations of the Turks; who, to use the language of those zealots, not only prophaned the sepulchre of the Lord by their presence, but derided the sacred mysteries in the very place of their completion, and where the Son of God was speedily expected to judge the world.

CHAP. XXII.

Peter the Hermit excites both Princes and Peo

ple to this Expedition.

WHILE the minds of men were thus roused, a fanatical monk, commonly known by the name of Peter the Hermit, a native of

Amiens in Picardy, revived the project of Gregory VII. of leading all the forces of Christendom against the Infidels, and of driving them out of the Holy land. He had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and was so deeply affected with the danger to which that act of piety now exposed Christians, that he ran from province to province on his return, with a crucifix in his hand, exciting princes and people to this holy war; and wherever he came, he kindled the same enthusiastic ardor for it, with which he himself was animated.

Urban II. who had at first been doubtful of the success of such a project, at length entered into Peter's views, and summoned a council at Placentia, which was obliged to be held in the open fields, no hall being sufficient to contain the multitude. It consisted of four thousand ecclesiastics, and thirty thousand seculars, who all declared for the war against the infidels, but none of them heartily engaged in the enterprize. Urban, therefore, found it necessary to call another council the same year at Clermont in Auvergne, where the greatest prelates, nobles, and princes attended; and when the pope and the hermit had concluded their pathetic exhortations, the whole assembly, as if impelled by an immediate inspiration, exclaimed with one voice; "It is the will of God! It is the will of God!" Words which were deemed so memorable, and believed to be so much the result of a divine influence, that they were employed as a motto on the sacred standard, and as the signal of rendezvous and battle, in all the future exploits of the

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champions of the Cross; the symbol chosen by the devoted combatants, as the badge of union, and affixed to their right shoulder. Hence their expedition got the name of a Crusade.

CHAP. XXIII.

Of the Number of Adventurers.

PERSONS of all ranks flew to arms with the utmost ardor; not only the gallant nobles of that age, with martial followers, whom the boldness of a romantic enterprize might have been apt to allure, but men in the more humble and pacific stations of life, ecclesiastics of every order; and even women, concealing their sex beneath the disguise of armor, engaged with emulation in an undertaking, which was deemed so sacred and meritorious. The greatest criminals were forward in a service, which they regarded as a propitiation for all their crimes. If they succeeded, they hoped to make their fortune in this world; and if they died, they were promised a crown of glory in the world to come. Devotion, passion, prejudice, and habit, all contributed to the same end; and the combination of so many causes produced that wonderful emigration, which made the princess Anna Commena say, "that Europe loosened from its foundation, and im pelled by its moving principle, seemed in one united body to precipitate itself upon Asia."

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The number of adventurers soon became so great, that their more experienced leaders, Hugh count of Vermandois, brother to the French king, Robert, duke of Normandy, Raymond, count of Thoulouse, Godfrey of Bouillon, prince of Brabant, and Stephen, count Blois, became apprehensive, lest the greatness of the armament should defeat its purpose; so that they permitted an undisciplined multitude, computed at three hundred thousand men, to go before them, under the command of Peter the Hermit, Walter the Moneyless, and other wild fanatics.

Peter and his army, before which he walked with sandals on his feet, and a rope about his waist, took the road to Constantinople, through Hungary and Bulgaria. Godescald, a German priest, and his banditti, took the same route; and trusting that Heaven by supernatural means, would supply all their necessities, they made no provision for subsistence on their march. But they soon found themselves obliged to obtain by plunder what they had vainly expected from miracles.

Want is ingenious in suggesting pretences for its supply. Their fury first discharged itself upon the jews. As the soldiers of Jesus Christ, they thought themselves authorized to take revenge upon his murderers. Accordingly they fell upon these unhappy people, and put to the sword without mercy such as would not submit to baptism, seizing their effects as a lawful prize.

But jews not being every where to be found, these pious robbers, who had tasted the sweets of plunder, and were under no military

regulations, pillaged without distinction; till the inhabitants of the countries, through which they passed, rose, and cut them almost all off. The Hermit, however, and the remnant of his army, consisting of twenty thousand starving wretches, at length reached Constantinople, where he received a fresh supply of German and Italian vagabonds, who were guilty of the greatest disorders, pillaging even the churches.

Asia, like Europe, was then divided into a number of little states, comprehended under the great ones. The Turkish princes paid an empty homage to the Caliphs, but were in reality their masters; and the Sultans, who were very numerous, weakened still further the empire of Mahomet, by continual wars with each other, the necessary consequence of divided sway. The soldiers of the cross, therefore, who, when mustered on the Banks of the Bosphorus, amounted to the incredible number of one hundred thousand horsemen, and six hundred thousand foot, were sufficient to have conquered all Asia, had they been united under one head, or commanded by leaders who observed any concert in their operations. But they were unhappily conducted by men of the most independent, intractable spirits, unacquainted with discipline, and enemies to civil or military subordination. Their zeal, however, their bravery, and their irresistable force, still carried them forward, and advanced them to the great end of their enterprize, in spite of every obstacle; the scarcity of provisions, the excesses of fatigue, and the influence of unknown climes. After an obstinate siege