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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

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Peter the Hermit

A STORY OF ENTHUSIASM

By
Daniel A. Goodsell
A Bishop of the Methodist Epis
copal Church

CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GRAHAM
NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS

COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY
JENNINGS AND GRAHAM

PREFACE
Original material for a biography of Peter the
Hermit either does not exist in this country, or, if
here, does not yield itself readily to knowledge
and use. The "Life of Peter the Hermit," by
D'Outremant, and another by Andre Thevet, on
which Michaud draws heavily, seem beyond reach,
as are also the histories of the Crusades, by von
Raumer and Maunbourg.
On examining a number of English and Amer
ican "Histories of the Crusades," I found them to
be largely abridgments or paraphrases of
Michaud 's monumental work.
It is, then, from Michaud and Milman chiefly
that the writer has drawn the facts herein recorded,
having often found it necessary to chasten the too
pronounced Roman sympathies of Michaud by the
equally pronounced Protestantism of Milman. To
these authors I am so much indebted as to call for
3

4 Preface.
the fullest acknowledgment. The Rev. Dr. J. A.
Faulkner, Professor in Drew Theological Seminary,
has put me under great obligations by permitting
me to use Hagenmeyer's "Life of Peter," especially
valuable to the early and late parts of Peter's life.
Brookune, June, 1906.

CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. Peter the Hermit, - 7
II. The Man and His Message, - - 25
III. The March and the Battle, 44
IV. The Capture of Jerusalem, - - 82
5

Peter the Hermit
CHAPTER I.
PETER THE HERMIT.
The Foreground.
Th_ great movements called the Crusades fol
lowed the leading of universal religious instincts.
Wherever a great leader has been born, has
taught, has suffered, died, or been buried, the feet
of his followers have been glad to stand. At such The Cause
spots religious emotions are revived, holy influences "I ' srtm~
ages
are believed to be absorbed, and a sense of nearness
to the prophets of God acquired. Whatever the
teacher wore, used, or even looked upon, became
a treasure through its relation to him. In India
pilgrimages to holy shrines, rivers, and cities have Belong (g
been works of merit, even from prehistoric times. a e 's~
ions
The same is true of China as to temples, tombs,
springs, and mountain summits. Devotees of later
7

8 Peter the Hermit.
religions, like that of Mahomet, have their Meccas,
as the Roman Church has her Loretto and her
Lourdes. The murder of Thomas a. Becket was
followed by the Canterbury pilgrimages, immor
talized by Chaucer. "From the lowest Fetichism
up to Christianity itself this general and uncon
querable propensity has either been sanctioned by
religion or sprung up out of it."1 Humanity leans
The Im- more readily on the Incarnate Savior than on Him
pulse o/wh0 was "before the world was." To-day the de-
To-day. vout Christian feels the impulse to walk where the
Master walked, to behold the sea which He stilled,
to sit by the well where He preached, to pray in
the garden of His agony, and to stand on the sum-
Pilgrim- mit above which He shone. And if his faith can
ages and be assured as to the site of Calvary, the great
Historic J &
Memory tragedy loses all historical dimness and is made
real, visible, and present, though its story be read
through penitent tears. The place suggests the
man ; the man suggests the Divine Man ; He seems
nearer when we worship where an apostle said, "My
Lord and my God."
The East has always been the fountain of relig
ions to the European mind. To the westward
flowed the stream of doctrines which sprang up in
1 Milman, Hist. Latin Christianity, Book VII, p. 16.

Peter the Hermit. 9
the Orient. We are beginning to see that Greece
came to many of her gods through instruction from The East
the Asiatic continent, and that her originality in' e """'
& J tain of Re-
religion lay chiefly in her refinement of nature wor- Ugkns
ship and in the beautiful marble forms in which
Greek genius enshrined her divinities. From
Greece the stream reached Italy in Magna Grsecia, influence
and later by the adoption through Roman assimi- °f Ma£na
lation of the gods of the Greek Pantheon. The
worship of Isis and Osiris came from Egypt to
Rome, and became an influential cult there, as wit
ness the abounding symbols of that worship still
preserved in the Capitoline Museum.
To the Christian no land could be so full of re
ligious suggestions, remembrances, and associations The Charm
as Judea. France, Spain, Italy, Britain were no "' " ea "
sooner Christianized in any degree than pilgrims
began to set out for the Jordan, for Bethlehem, for
Jerusalem with its Gethsemane, its Calvary, and
its Holy Sepulcher. Those who were taught that
blessing came "by the work wrought," especially
when the years prophesied a brief space of life left,
eagerly sought to wash sin away in Jordan or to
die near the hill of the atonement.
When Christianity became imperial by alliance
with the State, and corrupt by the ascendency of

io Peter the Hermit.
Constantine in its Councils, the number of pilgrims
Greater greatly increased. Ambitions as well as devotions
Number of Airew men to paiestine. Constantine had evoked
Pilgrims Jerusalem again as a name and as a city from the
ruins of the preceding three centuries. The lib-
Buildings by erality of Constantine and Helena had identified
Constantine the hol laces sufficiently for the credulous faith
and Helena of the time, and has decorated them with churches
and colonnades. Michaud says : "An obscure cav
ern had become a marble temple paved with pre
cious stones. To the east of the Holy Sepulcher
appeared the Church of the Resurrection, where
the riches of Asia mingled with the arts of Greece
and Rome."2
The attraction of such buildings, however, was
not so great a stimulus to pilgrimages as the se-
Security in curity which the pilgrim might have, both on his
ignmages journey an(j after his arrival, through the extended
and effective authority of the Roman emperor. The
pilgrim could now journey without fighting his
way, could be housed without secrecy after his ar
rival, and could worship without stripes at any one
of the many shrines which attracted his piety.
It is doubtful if any pilgrims traveled so far at
first in such numbers through unsympathetic and
unfriendly people as those who went as palmers
2 Hist. Crusades, Vol. I, p. ,.

Peter the Hermit. ii
before the settlement of the roads by Constantine
or just before the Crusades. During the stay oi Dangers of
St. Jerome at Bethlehem, in the fourth century, theEarlier
Journeys
the pilgrims were so numerous that he speaks of
them as coming in crowds, and says that the praises
of God could be heard there in many languages.
Some of the great leaders of the Church,
Jerome himself with varying note, were wise
enough to point out the evils of these pilgrimages,
and to remind the faithful that the Christ might Early
be honored by good deeds at home. Gregory of a , "7" .
Nyssa wrote : "The Lord has not said, 'Go to the Cautions
Orient and seek justice.' Travel even to the west ^
and you shall receive pardon." St. Augustine said in
the first sermon on the words of the Apostle Peter :
"I am unwilling to consider a long journey. Where
you believe, there you arrive."3 Jerome from Beth
lehem itself writes, "Heaven is equally open to Warnings of
Britain and Jerusalem." He could not have ad- "
vised against pilgrimages more strenuously if he
had wished to keep Bethlehem for himself and for
the Roman ladies drawn thither by his example.
For several centuries the passion for the pil
grimage increased steadily. Roads were indicated,
resting places pointed out, and wealth sought to

8 Cf. Milman, Book VII, p. 17.

12 f ' Peter the Hermit.
*}_»
buy salvation ty building hospitals and providing
Good Roads for doles of bread and wine to those who made the
and Tram- sacre(j journey. Charlemagne made their case a
elers' Homes tax on his subjects through whose bounds they
passed. "Even in our entire kingdom neither rich
nor poor shall dare to deny hospitality to the pil
grims. . . . On account of the love of God
and the salvation of our souls, no one shall deny
them shelter, fire, or water."
Shelters in In Jerusalem vast caravanseries were built for
Jerusalem them> Qregory the Qreat building there one of the
largest of all shelters.
The signs of the pilgrim — the staff, the wallet,
and the scallop-shell — were blessed by priest or
bishop before departure, and took on added sanctity,
and even miracle-working power, if they had
reached actual use in the Holy Land. It was not
*£, long before an indulgent Church guaranteed that
Washingbathing in Jordan should wash away all sin. And,
_>a)>as ^g Holy Land must be rich in the bones of
martyrs and in the relics of Christ and His apostles,
it was within the ambition of the pilgrims to possess
a hair of the Virgin, a thread from the seamless coat,
a nail which had pierced His hand, a splinter from
the cross, or a thorn which had torn His brow. All
these were believed to possess powers of healing,

Peter the Hermit. 13
and their possession permanently increased the dig
nity of families and the wealth of Churches.
The demand for such relics from the Christian
world was great and the supply was greater. Traf
fic in these was enriched by the purchase of the Relics and
silks, spices, and other treasures of the East, and Miracles
commercial greed came to move men under the
cover of the cross.
The stream of pilgrimage was full until the
reign of Heraclius. Then the Persian king, Chos-
roes, carried his arms through Syria and Palestine chosroes
to Egypt. The fire-worshipers defiled the holv Con1^"
n\ " Syr*a
city by their authority and their worship. They
tainted and robbed the churches, and carried off
what was believed to be the cross of the crucifixion,
which had been guarded by the Church of the
Resurrection. The wailing of the Christian world over this
loss strengthened the courage of Heraclius through
ten years of reverses, and aided in the late but full
victory which not only brought back to Jerusalem Return of
the enslaved Christians but the Cross of Calvary, as the Cr°"
the most glorious of trophies. The-emperor himself
bore this barefooted to the summit of Calvary, and
at Constantinople received the congratulations of
the Christian world.

14 Peter the Hermit.
Jerusalem was soon, however, to feel the weight
of a new and heavy hand.
In Arabia a religion arose with a singular power
of advance, which it retains to this day. The union
of the spiritual with the material, of the sensual
Rise e/with a fatalistic theology, made the followers of
Mahomet Mahomet eager for heaven by way of the battle
field. The Jews had now no unity ; Christianity had
become divided into sects cursing each other; the
Persian Empire had exhausted itself; the Greek
Empire was wasted with its own corruptions. The
Greek way was open for the stern, sober, and, in all re-
EmPtre spects but one, self-denying followers of Mahomet.
Corrupt r J fa
Until they learned to navigate they swept the east
ern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean. They
early overwhelmed Palestine. Becoming masters
of maritime peoples, they conquered even to Spain ;
were held at bay for a while by Constantinople;
came even under the walls of Vienna, and were at
length beaten back by Charles Martel.
Jerusalem was almost as sacred a city to the
Jerusalem Mohammedans as to the Christians. Their prophet
Moham- had visited *> and had journeyed to heaven from
medans it. Attacked by the soldiers of Omar shortly after
the death of the prophet, the Christians endured the
horrors of a siege for four months, resisting armies

Peter the Hermit. 15
which claimed the city as theirs by the promises of
God. Omar came to receive the keys of the ex
hausted city, and Christians cried out in agony as Jerusalem
the chief infidel defiled by his presence the Holy Taken by
Sepulcher. They were permitted to worship, but
not openly to exhibit their crosses and sacred books.
Their conqueror erected a mosque on the site of
the temple. This was more than the breaking heart
of the Christian patriarch could bear. He died be
wailing the sorrows and desolation of the city of the
Great King.
While Omar lived the hand of persecution was
in good measure stayed, but worked in full vigor
as soon as he was dead. Christians were certain Omar
neither of their homes nor of their churches. Their chec*s
Persecution
taxes were increased to the point of exhaustion.
They could not mount a horse nor bear a weapon. A
leather girdle must always show their subjection.
No Arabic word must fall from their lips, nor could
they speak the name of their own Patriarch with
out permission.
These hardships awakened the sympathy of the Hardships
Christian world, and stimulated many to go to the
J ° Pilgrimages
Holy Land that they then might be "accounted
worthy to suffer with Christ."
Arculphus and Antoninus, of Plaisance,

16 Peter the Hermit.
reached sainthood by making this journey and cer
tifying to the Western Churches the persecutions
of the Christians in the Holy Land.
Yet truth compels the statement that the Mo
hammedans were not always unjust or unkind. In
tervals of peace came to cheer those who wept, and
Haroun al the reign of Haroun al Raschid offered them the
Raschid iargest hope. The great Charles was now great
enough, even in Eastern eyes, to secure liberty and
peace to Christians in far-off Palestine, and was
treated as an equal through embassies and pres
ents by the great Caliph.
Never could a monarch have received a more
welcome present than did Charlemagne when the
Caliph sent him the keys of the Holy Sepulcher.
It is also to be remembered that prophecy had
been interpreted to mean that in the year iooo A. D.
Christ Christ would appear and set up His millennial king-
naaA~%) dom- ^-^s _reatly stimulated the pilgrimages to the
Holy Land, as it did all other phases of devotion.
Thousands felt that it would be well to be at the
scene of the cross and of the resurrection when
Christ came with His angels. It were well they
should be near where He ascended, whether they
were living or dead when He came.
Persecutions followed the death of the great

Peter the Hermit. 17
Caliph, particularly in the sultanate of Egypt. The
Church of the Holy Sepulcher was destroyed.
Other Christian buildings shared the same fate. Haroun
Then, as now, the Jews had to suffer from suspi- Dead
, . Persecution
cions created by their voluntary segregation as well f0hovjs
as by their forced isolation. The Christians in
France heard that the French Jews had sent word
to the Sultan Hakim that a great Christian inva
sion of the Holy Land was intended. This led to a
revenge, the justice of which in any degree remains
unsettled to this day.
Unexpected calm came to Palestine through the
development of the maritime powers of Italy, which
could fall on Hakim's dominions at will. The larg
est annoyance of the pilgrims for awhile was the
enforced payment of a toll for entering Jerusalem, Toll for
established near this time by the Mohammedan Entering
Jerusalem
powers. In the cooler blood of historical inquiry
to-day, we can not wonder at a tax which failed at
its greatest height to meet the increased cost of
government when thousands of pilgrims were added
to the population of Jerusalem and its environs.
But it was often gladly paid by those who could,
and the gates of Jerusalem were opened by the
richer pilgrims for those to whom it was an impos
sible or severe burden.

1 8 Peter the Hermit.
Christianity had now attained a history of a
thousand years. It had climbed to stately thrones
and to cathedrals. Princes of great names, like
Christian- Robert of Normandy, and bishops who were also
'J* n°™ secular princes, made the pilgrimage and returned
to speak with authority on the attractions of the
holy places and on the shame of the infidel's domi
nation. In the shrewd management of the Church at this
time, pilgrimages were substituted for penances,
Pilgrimage and "troublesome sinners were sent out of their coun-
Guarantee tr„ Qn a pjous mission which promised forgiveness
if it could not pledge reform. It at least secured a
period of quiet to their families and of security to
the neighborhoods from which they came.
The Bollandist manuscripts afford many details
of the pilgrim life at Jerusalem which had, how
ever, to be enjoyed by permission of the infidel, al
ways a bitter portion in the pilgrim's cup.
On arrival they prepared themselves by fasting
and prayer. Then, covered by a mourning robe.
Round of they visited the Church of the Sepulcher. The robe
^^thus attained such sanctity that it was preserved
until death and enshrouded the owner at burial.
They then visited, in turn, the sacred spots in and
adjacent to the city. This accomplished, they

Peter the Hermit. 19
sought the holy mountains of the Sermon, the
Transfiguration, and Ascension. Then they washed
their sins away in Jordan, and tore off palm-leaves
near Jericho to attest on their homeward journey
that the holy pilgrimage was complete.
The tenth and eleventh centuries thus kept by
the thousands of pilgrims yearly, all Christian
F,urope became informed of the conditions which
obtained in the land where Christ suffered for the
sins of men.
Slowly there grew up a devotion which was
nearly equal to a secondary religion. Service ren
dered to a pilgrim was almost the same as being a Services
pilgrim. Nor did the pilgrims fail to profit by the '" Fllsnms
reverence they inspired. Some of them paid their
way by their prayers. There is record of one who
paid his fare for a voyage from Alexandria to Pal
estine with a copy of the Evangelists.
On the St. Bernard, on Mt. Cenis, on the fron
tiers of Hungary, in Asia Minor, as well as in Pal
estine, hospitals and hostelries were built by the
faithful as works of salvation.
No pious movement has ever long existed with
out drawing to itself some of impure and selfish impure
motive. The rich had no surer way of advertising Accretl0ns
their generosity than by making the journey and

20 Peter the Hermit.
aiding in the comfort of their poorer brethren.
Some made the pilgrimage as many times as planet
pilgrims now visit Europe. Yet to the credit of the
pilgrim it must be said that no act of violence is
recorded against any one who really made the whole
journey. It is recorded of a Mussulman governor
that he said of such, "They are not away from home
with bad intent, but to keep their law."
Confusing to the moral sense as we possess it,
and destructive of true morality as we must hold it
Confusion to be, we must further admit with astonishment that
of ora piip-rimagre was held to be a cure for the most dread-
Sense ful sin.
A Brittany lord who murdered his brother and
his uncle was ordered to make the journey twice
with humiliating conditions, and returned, after
three years on Mount Sinai, to be received as a saint
and to dignify a monastery by his narrations and
his residence.
One journey was enough to free from further
penalty a Roman prefect who had dragged a pope
_ Journey f rom his altar. Foulque-Nerra, Count of Anjou,
Condones pursued ty the gh0sts of those he had murdered,
Murder sought to quiet them through three unavailing
journeys. For such reasons and for many others, some of

Peter the Hermit. 21
which can hardly be brought within religious mo
tives, thousands made the journey. Three thou
sand, beginning with the Bishop of Cambrai, were Bloody
nearly all starved or murdered in Bulgaria, and ^eUome in
J Bulgaria
the few who went on as far as Laodicea turned
back or died there, while their leader went back to
his diocese.
One more band, or army rather, of ten thousand
started ten years later with the Archbishop of May-
ence and the Bishops of Spires, Cologne, Bamberg,
and Utrecht. They were almost in sight of Jerusa
lem when the Bedouins besieged and captured them.
Saved from death by a neighboring Emir, they fol- Three
lowed the news of their tribulations to Jerusalem, „.,. .
where they were received with joy. They lost dur
ing the whole journey three thousand of their num
ber, and went back to fire Europe with accounts of
their impressions, their perils, and their undeserved
dangers. As the tolerance of the earlier caliphs was suc
ceeded by the fanaticism of the Turks, the Chris
tians of Jerusalem ceased to be treated with any Rejoicing
other consideration than that accorded to despised '"dam
slaves. Pilgrims were no longer guests, but in
truders. No persecution, however, stopped the flow
of pilgrims. The harder the way, the greater the

22 Peter the Hermit.
cost, the greater the merit. The pilgrim might, un
der these later conditions, easily become a martyr.
Fanaticism The martyr's crown was sure, by the faith of the
of Turks t jmeS; to become a heavenly crown. Few now sur
vived the journey. These often came back starved,
cut, and mutilated. Their appearance and the great
gaps in the ranks of those who returned, kindled a
smoldering fire under all Europe. Such had been
the pre-eminence of Constantinople and the Greek
Empire that if the Greeks had retained their former
Degenerate quality, the Turks might have been driven back by
Greeks ^bose who sat on that famous throne. But when the
corruption of decay was attacked by the vigor of an
almost savage state, there could be but one result.
Among the Greeks the lowest qualities and the
basest acts found justification under the name of
policy. Courage in battle was supplanted by the
shield and mechanism of bodily safety. They
killed the men who tried to rouse them. They had
Greeks wasted all their inheritance but great memories, and
Truculent jia(j aCqUirecj a truculent and factious spirit. While
they were nearing the utter decay of their influence
the infant West was found to have grown until all
that was noble in character and all that was true in
Christianity, all which could respond in courage and
self-sacrifice to the call of Jerusalem for deliverance,

Peter the Hermit. 23
was to be found among those whom the Greeks
had held to be Barbarians.
The Roman Curia, from its first date of political
influence, had never ceased to enhance its authority
by the use of the secular arm when it had none of Papal
its own, or by its own secular arm when it could m ttwn
command one. The disturbed conditions in the
East, together with the decay of Greek influence and
the cowardice and helplessness of the Byzantine
emperors, had led Michael Ducas to appeal to Pope
Gregory for help. The prize offered Gregory was
the submission of the Greek to the Roman Church
and the removal of all barriers. From the stand
point of ability, Gregory well deserves the title
"Great." He seems as great in statecraft as in ex
ecutive ability. The hope of being a universal pope Greatness
led him to promise aid. He urged the faithful \,Q«f Gregory
take up arms against the Mussulmans, and prom
ised to lead them himself. His letters were full of
the loftiest ideas. Fifty thousand agreed to fol
low his lead. But he found the management of
Europe more to his taste and perhaps to his need.
The decay of Byzantine power was wisely used
for the development of pontifical authority and
the spread of the Latin Church. And, again, the
Eternal City through its popes, and particularly

24 Peter the Hermit.
through Gregory, became the ruler of the world.
Gregory summoned all monarchs to derive their
authority and their enthronement from him, and en
deavored to make laws for every country in which
his Church had place. Resisted by some monarchs,
his influence widened nevertheless, and while he
forgot his pledge to deliver Jerusalem, he prepared
the way for a final unity of action which he could
not secure in his own lifetime.
In the pontificate of his successor, mingled re
ligious and commercial motives led to a movement
against the Saracens, which, while never numbered
among the Crusades, almost deserved that name.
The acquisition of maritime power by the Saracens
had led to interference with Italian commerce.
Promising remission of sins to all who fought,
Victor besought Christians to take up arms. Chris-
' Christian" tians crossed to Africa and professed to have slain
Butchery a hundred thousand Saracens ; certainly did deco
rate Italian churches with the spoils of victory, and
made a Moorish king pay tribute to the pope.
What kings, emperors, and popes could not do,
a pilgrim accomplished. We pass from the Fore
ground to the Figure.

CHAPTER II.
THE MAN AND HIS MESSAGE.
The study of the Foreground of the Crusades
exhibits the preparation for the man who was to
be the great leader and, one might say, originator Preparation
of these astonishing movements. Whatever part for Peter
others played, or whatever the measure of the aid
given, to Peter the Hermit is to be given the credit
of the effective inspiration and active leadership.
The leadership here claimed for Peter is chal
lenged, it is only fair to say, by Von Sybil whose
views are, in the main, accepted by Hagenmeyer.
Von Sybil gives credit to the Pope alone for in
spiration and direction. It seems more probable,
however, that the Pope utilized and magnified the
enthusiasm and influence of Peter; and directed it
into channels more likely to permit the movement
of the Roman Church Eastward and the growth
of Pontifical supremacy. This is the view con
tained in these pages.
We know where Peter came from. Born in
Picardy, the historians are not agreed whether of
25

26 Peter the Hermit.
obscure or noble family. It makes little difference,
since if this were known all their dignity and life
Peter's in history would proceed from Peter. He was
irt called Peter the Hermit because he was a hermit,
and not, as some have maintained, because it was
his surname. The weight of opinion favors his
descent from humble parents.
All are agreed that he was of very ordinary ap
pearance ; one says "ignoble and vulgar." The sum
of the statements of contemporaries as to his per
sonality, is that he was of sharp understanding,
energetic, decided ; coarse and sometimes brutal ;
enthusiastic; of great imaginative power. If a
Picard, then a Frank, and if a Frank, then a fighter,
and very ready to fight for religion. His nationality,
therefore, gave him access by speech to a most rest
less, gallant, and adventurous people. Born with
courage, moral intensity, restlessness, and activity,
he experimented for satisfaction in every direction.
It seems that neither celibacy nor marriage,
study nor warfare, long attracted him. The condi
tions about him seemed beyond his remedy, and,
Chooses like many others, he retired from a sinful world to
erm*t' the harshnesses and austerity of a hermit's life.
Fasting did for him what it seems to do for all
when excess is reached either by self-will or neces-

The Man and His Message. 27
sity. He became truly a "visionary." "He saw
visions and dreamed dreams." His temperament
and his religious exercises made him feel that, bet
ter than others he knew the will of God and that
he was chosen to execute it. In this stage a man
becomes capable of great things in a poor cause. Effect of
The world is always impressed by the confident and eJ'con'
J r J fidence
the courageous. No great movement, however
wrong in doctrine, defective in morals, or disastrous
in results, has been without such leadership.
Like all orators of the Latin race, his fervor
showed itself, not only in his tones, but in his ges
ticulation and his postures. He was a master of
pantomime. If any were beyond his voice, they
were not beyond his meaning. If he had lived in
our time he would have been counted among the Generosity
most "magnetic" of preachers. The reputation of e. f~sac~
his sanctity showered him with gifts. He kept
nothing for himself. All went to the poor, and
evil women were dowried by him that they might
cease from evil in honorable marriage.
Peter was not stirred alone by the relations of
returning pilgrims as to the ignominies heaped alike
on the sacred places and on the religious by the
Turks. He followed in the wake of the devotees
who traversed the long road to the Holy City. That

28 Peter the Hermit.
Peter actually- made this journey is sufficiently at
tested by his contemporary, Anna Conmena. She
probably met him while tarrying in Constantinople,
and could easily know of his presence at the palace
of her father, Alexius. From her we learn that he
had to flee before the Turks and Saracens, and
her narration makes it doubtful if he reached Jeru
salem oh his first attempt. By so much as he was
more enthusiastic than others by nature, by so
much was he fired with indignation, which to him
was but the just expression of his zeal and his piety.
He stood with agony on Calvary. He adored
with tears the tomb of Christ. Then he sought
Emotions in speech with the Patriarch of Jerusalem. His name
Jerusalem was Simeon, and like another, waited for "the sal
vation of God." Who is responsible for the report
of this interview we do not know, but one more
probable and pathetic is not on record outside the
Bible. Simeon had suffered much for his faith as well
as for his leadership. The impatient enthusiasm of
Patriarch Peter was moved to tears by the patient enthusiasm
Simeon Qi Sime0I. «Is there no remedy?" cried Peter,
weeping. And Simeon answered: "Is it not evi
dent that our sins have shut us away from the mercy
of the Lord ? All Asia is in the power of the Mus-

The Man and His Message. 29
sulmans; all the East is enslaved; no power on
earth can help us." Peter asked, "May not the
warriors of the West come to your help?" "Yes,"
said Simeon, "when our cup is full, God will soften
the princes of the West, and will send them to the
help of the Holy City." This was Peter's thought, Simeon's
and, weeping with joy over a great hope, the <na-andPeUr>s Hope
triarch and the pilgrim embraced. The patriarch
pledged himself to appeal to Europe by letter and
Peter by word of mouth.
The plan of Peter was strengthened by his fur
ther devotions at the Holy Sepulcher. There are
two ways in which men of strong will become sure
that their will is the will of God.
One is to make a plan, and then submit it to God
in prayer. The other, and the truer, is to ask God's
help in the making of the plan as in its execution.
The first, as was probable from Peter's intellectual
and moral constitution, seems to have been the way Peter's
in which he came to certainty as to his life mission. Ment^l
... Consti-
There is no reason to doubt that in his exiled tution
state, moved at once by piety and peril, he saw the
vision, though inwardly, which inspired his return.
At the Sepulcher he thought he heard the voice of
Christ commanding him to proclaim the sorrows of
Christ's land and of Christ's people. The best ac-

30 Peter the Hermit.
count of this vision and commission is that of the
Historia Belli Sacri: "One evening as Peter went
to rest the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a
vision, saying, 'Peter, stand up. Go back quickly
into the West. Betake thyself to Pope Urban with
this commission from Me that he get all My
brothers as quickly as possible to hasten to Jeru
salem, in order to purge the city of unbelievers.
All who do this from love to Me, to them stand
open the doors of the kingdom of heaven.' " This
became to him a daily commission from on high.
Bearing letters from Simeon, he went to Italy by
sea, and sought the presence and aid of Urban II,
then pope.
Pope Urban felt that this call, recognized by his pred-
Urban ecessors, was more fully and loudly given to him.
The refusal of Hagenmeyer to credit this vision
and its influence on Pope Urban seems to be the
result of an ultra critical spirit. When a pope
speaks, after argument and urging, he is not likely
to think it consonant with his dignity to give credit
in allocution or bull to those who urged him.
Holding that all men are properly servants of the
Holy See, he speaks as if he was the original
source of knowledge and impulse. Urban does not,
in his famous speech at the Council of Clermont,

The Man and His Message. 31
give Peter's vision or Peter's urgency as a ground
for his utterance or action. But he followed Peter
on that occasion, and it may well be that if Peter
mentioned his vision as the inspiration of his mis
sion, the pope would not speak of its influence on
himself. The Roman pontiffs, whatever their own ability
or lack of it, have always been distinguished for the
wise use of enthusiasm. If not able to make the
wise direction of it themselves, some one of the
Curia has always been at their service to value the
force and direct it into channels of wider influence
for the Church. There can be little doubt that
Urban was moved by a true and generous feeling. Urban's
It would have been almost impossible for any one Emotu>ns
to have simulated the grief he manifested at the
Council of Clermont.
But there can be as little doubt that, as the pro
posed movement must inevitably aggrandize Roman
Catholicity and make her the leader of the Chris
tian world, Urban was happier and stronger by the
coincidence and collaboration of both forces. There
was a rival pope, and there were sovereigns who Mixed
were his enemies. What a God-given opportunity ott'ves
to humble the Antipope and bring the unfriendly
kings to his feet !

32 Peter the Hermit.
The pope gave Peter his commission and sent
him forth with his blessing. Mounting a mule,
which soon attained in the thought of the people
something of its master's sanctity, he passed through
Italy, crossed the Alps, was in every part of France,
and stirred the larger part of Europe. With a
crucifix in his hand, his body girdled with a rope,
clothed in a long cassock of the coarsest stuff, and a
hermit's hood, he could not have had, from the
Peter's standpoint of public attention, a better appearance.
He kept himself free from monkish evils in habits
and conduct, and as he preached the loftiest moral
ity by word as by life, the people honored holiness
in him. Like all who have been great reformers, he was
indifferent as to where he preached so that he could
get a hearing. When the pulpits were open and
Ready to could reach the multitude, he was glad to preach
Preach j„ ^ sacred inclosures ; when his mission could
Anywhere reach more minds on the high roads and public
squares, he as gladly preached there. He knew
how to use apostrophes and personifications, and
made the holy places themselves clamor for help.
He sometimes showed a letter which he said had
fallen from heaven wherein God called upon all
Christendom to drive the heathens out of Jerusa-

The Man and His Message. 33
lem and possess it forever. His favorite prophecy
was "Jerusalem shall be destroyed till the time of
the heathen shall be fulfilled." The agonies en
dured by the Christians of Palestine he described
with such accuracy of language and appropriate
ness of gesture, that his hearers seemed to see them
writhe under the lash and to hear them groan in
their wounds.
When he had exhausted his vocabulary and was
exhausted by his emotions, he would wave the Waving his
image of Christ suffering on the cross before his Crucifix
sobbing and wailing hearers.
The news of such preaching and of such scenes
travels fast and far. Whereyer the Hermit went
he was received as a saint, and if the people could
not obtain a thread of his garment they contented
themselves with a hair from the tail of his mule!
Whatever the modern mind may see of credu
lity among the people or of fanaticism in Peter, con
temporary annals show that his preaching was fol- Effect
lowed by the results promised to the Gospel, j ts
Michaud says : "Differences in families were recon
ciled, the poor were comforted, the debauched
blushed at their errors. His discourses were re
peated by those who heard to those who did not.
His austerities and his miracles were widely known

34 Peter the Hermit.
and credited. When Peter found those who had
been in Palestine, or confessed to have been there,
he used them as living examples, and made their
rags speak of the barbarities they had suffered, of
claimed to have suffered, at Turkish hands.
Additional strength was given to the cry for re
lief from Palestine by the perils of Constantinople.
Constan- This city, under nominally Christian emperors, had
. '„ f. become a museum of sacred relics. Alexius Com-
in Peril nena threatened by the same warriors who had sub
jected the Holy City, offered his sacred treasures
and his secular riches to the leaders who would
rescue his capital. The poor esteem in which the
haughty but, when in danger, servile Greek held
the Franks, as to everything but warlike power,
is indicated by his promising the Frank warriors
the beauty of the Greek women. As if these war
riors were of the same tastes as the Turks! To
pass under the Mussulman yoke was infinitely more
degrading than to hand his scepter to the Latins.
Urban now found it a suitable time to attempt to
concentrate opinion and prepare for action by sum-
Urban Con- moning a Council at Plaisance. There was a great
ce"trates response to the papal summons. Two hundred
Opinion bishops and archbishops, four thousand ecclesiastics,
thirty thousand of the laity came to the Council

The Man and His Message. 35
which had to meet, on account of its size, outside
the city wall.
The tone of the Eastern emperors had long been
so haughty that the presence of their ambassadors
at a Latin Council was a sufficient proof of their Ambassa-
humiliation. The pope seconded their requests and dors _°f
Alexius
prayers with all the force of speech and authority ; Humble
yet the Council concluded nothing. It seems prob
able that the astute pope passed the word that no
conclusion should be formulated, as he was not yet
ready to indicate all that was in his mind. It may
well be that the danger to Constantinople was not
yet so evident to Alexius and to all as to indicate
the hour for absolute submission to the Roman au
thority. It is more probable, however, that Urban could
not yet command Italian aid and unity. Commerce
had so developed that religion, where it interfered Italy not
with it, could not command undivided allegiance.^'
The Italians, too, were near enough to know the
limitations of Urban's power, his failures and dis
graces, and could not be summoned to action as suc
cessfully as those who were farther away from
knowledge of the weakness of the papal grip. So
the second Council met at Clermont in Auvergne,
and was equally weighty in the numbers attending

36 Peter the Hermit.
and the authority represented. "The cities and vil-
Opening o/lages of the neighborhood were so filled that tents
the Council &^ pavilions were erected in the meadows, al
though the weather was very cold."1
Various matters of Church and social discipline
were first considered and determined. The pur
posed delay in reaching the real object of the'
Council seemed to whet the appetites for the con
sideration of the wrongs of the East. Enthusiasm
grew to fanaticism, and a grand and universal im
patience of other topics finally brought the greater
matter before the body.
The opening of the subject was had in the great
square before the cathedral. A throne had been
Artful prepared there for the pope, who approached it
Delay followed by his cardinals and accompanied by Peter
the Hermit in the garb now known to the Christian
world everywhere.
Peter was put forward to speak first. His coun
tenance was cast down with humiliation, and his
voice expressed his inward agony as he told what
he had seen of the sufferings of Christians at the
Describes scene of the world's redemption. He told how they
bufferings j_a£j been chained, beaten, harnessed like brutes ;
of Chrts- tianshow their bread had been taken away; how they
had been compelled to pay from the poverty of the

1 Aubert's History of the Conquest of Jerusalem, quoted by Michaud.

The Man and His Message. 37
pilgrim's wallet for approach to the sacred shrines ;
how Christian ministers had, like their Lord, known
the rod, and met their death.
It is not needful to suppose that the growth of
Peter's emotion, as he told this tale of horrors, was
simulated. In the cooler blood of to-day the narra
tive stirs a sluggish heart. He ceased to speak be
cause choked with sobs.
The speech of Urban, who followed Peter, was
one of the greatest ever spoken in its effect on the
history of the world. Delivered undoubtedly in
French, it survives only in ecclesiastical Latin. He Urban's
was in France. He wished to stir the French. He Great
Speech
could not have moved them through an interpreter
as he moved them in his own tongue and theirs. He
began in the language of compliment.
"Nation beloved of God, it is in your courage
that the Christian world has placed its hope. Be
cause I am well acquainted with your piety and Urban
your bravery, I have crossed the Alps to preach Compliments
to you. . . . You have not forgotten that but
for the exploits of Charles Martel and Charlemagne
France would have been under the rule of Ma
homet. . . . Your fathers saved the West from
slavery. More noble triumphs await you. Under
the guidance of the God of Armies you will de-

38 Peter the Hermit.
liver Europe and Asia, you will rescue the City
of Jesus Christ from whence the Lord has come
Describes to _is. Whose soul does not melt ? Whose bowels
Desecra- are not: stjrre(j vv ith shame and sorrow ? The holy
tion of '
Palestine place has become not only a den of thieves, but the
dwelling place of devils. Even the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher has become a stable for cattle. Men
have been massacred and women ravished within
those blessed walls. European Christians are war
ring on each other when they ought to be rescuing
their brethren from the yoke, and from the unbe
liever's sword."
He appealed to every passion by captivating
prophecies. "The wealth of the unbelievers shall
Offers Re- be yours. You shall plunder their treasuries. Your
war s for commander, Christ, will not permit you to want
Crusading ' \ f J
bread or deny you a just reward. There is no crime
which may not be absolved by this act of obedience
to God. I offer absolutions for all sins ; absolution
without penance to all who for this cause will take
up arms. ... I promise eternal life to all who
die on the battle-field or on the way to it. The
Pathetic crusader shall pass at once to Paradise. I myself
clBSingmvLst stand aloof, but, like Moses, I will be fer
vently and successfully praying while you are
slaughtering the Amalekites. I will not seek to dry

The Man and His Message. 39
the tears which images so painful for a Christian
and for the father of the faithful draw from you.
Let us weep over the sins which have withdrawn
the favor of God from us, but let us also weep over
the calamities of the Holy City. But if tears be
all, we shall leave the heritage of the Lord in the
hands of the wicked. How can we sleep in com
fort when the children of Jesus Christ live in tor
ments? Christian warriors, eager for pretexts to
unsheath your swords, rejoice that to-day you have
found a just cause for war. You mercenaries who
have hitherto sold your valor for money, go now
and merit an eternal reward. ... If you must
have blood, bathe your sword in the blood of in- Further
fidels. Soldiers of Hell become soldiers of the liv- A*t eals
ing God. Remember that 'he who loves father and
mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me.' Thus
speaks Christ to you to-day."
Long before this final sentence, Urban's hearers
had been lifted to indescribable enthusiasm. A
mighty shout as from a single throat answered him :
"God wills it. God wills it. We will join the army
of God!" Urban commands the bishops to rouse
their dioceses by preaching the instant duty of war
for the Holy Sepulcher. The enthusiasm spread
everywhere like an infection under ripe conditions.

4b Peter the Hermit.
France took the lead; Germany with slower step;
Spread of the Italians slowest of all, except the Normans who
Enthusiasm dwelt among them. England contributed least of
all, the Normans being still busy in holding what
they had won, and Anglo-Saxons too discouraged
over their own defeats. Spain had her own anti-
Mohammedan battle to fight. Some noblemen, un
able to prevent their vassals from going, joined
them and took command that they might not wholly
lose their authority over them. Many had fought
notwithstanding papal prohibition. So many had
Pardon by sins to expiate that they were happy that they
's ms could find forgiveness while indulging their chief
passion, and could wash away their sins by shed
ding blood.
Here again contemporary chronicles prove that
humanity is seldom governed by other than mixed
motives. Bishops who were also barons bore the
skill in warfare which they had gained in defend
ing their bishoprics in the Crusades. Some of the
priests, whose eyes were upon the rich bishoprics of
the East, found hope enlarged by arming for the
war. "Knights of God and Beauty" found a new
field in the march to Jerusalem.
The distresses due to scanty harvests in 1094-
95 contributed in some measure to the easy gath-

The Man and His Message. 41
ering of the hosts of the first crusade. Famine
seemed so close at hand that those who left their
homes had little to lose and much to gain. Nor
were the masses unwilling to fly from the oppres
sions and exactions of rulers who claimed the
privilege to do wrong by Divine Right.
Apulia and Sicily had been wrested from the
Saracens by a few hundred Normans. This bred
confidence in the final result of the war. One of Normans
the most curious of the fanaticisms, which devel- Sara
cens
oped from the larger fanaticism, was that of the
sign of the cross in the flesh. Women and children
imprinted crosses on their limbs. A monk who
made a large cross on his forehead kept it from
healing and colored the gash with prepared juices.
He declared it was a miraculous stigma done by an Marvels
angel, and his lie served him well in abundant help. s'n
It is further related that a company of Crusaders
being shipwrecked near Brundusium all the bodies
had a cross imprinted on their flesh just under
where the cross had been sewed on their clothes.
Perhaps they had done what the monk did ; perhaps
poor dyes soaked through. A miracle was in those
days the easiest explanation of all marvels.
Yet all this was no more than the earth which
clings for awhile to all plants which spring from

42 Peter the Hermit.
the soil. The essence of the movement as to the
True Re- masses was truly religious and the duties of relig-
lighn in the ion released the doer of «the will of God" from
Movement all other obligations. The monk from his cloister
and the hermit from his cave declared they had
heard God's call.
Men do not part with property for what they
do not deem a valuable consideration. Many at this
time surrendered their castles, their lands, their cot
tages, to "leave all and follow Him." Small sums
Sacrifices sufficient to eke out the alms of the pilgrimage,
J0^ ' ie were accepted as pay, and, if not forthcoming, the
Cause property was abandoned to him who might remain
to use it. It seemed as if all Europe was to emi
grate to Palestine.
The Crusaders have been ordered to march on
the Feast of the Assumption in the year following
the November of the Council. The whole winter
was given to preparation.
The warmth of spring rekindled the fires of cru
sading zeal, if indeed they anywhere burned more
Spring slowly during the winter cold. Those who had
Re™ "" e$ been at first indifferent to the movement now be-
Enthusiasm came in large numbers as enthusiastic as those
first influenced. Both classes set out to the ap
pointed camping places. On horseback, in carts,
and on foot, the multitudes marched. Sin marched

The Man and His Message. 43
with purity, and indulgence with penitence. Prosti
tutes in arms appeared with the warrior and
dragged down many whom devotion sought to up
lift. Secular and warlike music was sometimes
overcome by psalms and other religious songs.
More pitiful sights could be occasioned only by
a famine or pestilence. Men who had dependent
families were followed by the wives and children Crazy
who could not afford to be separated from their Enthusiasm
natural protectors. Old men, helpless as to liveli
hood, dragged after their strong-armed sons. There
was no joy over staying at home. Happiness
seemed to abide only with those who were going to
war. A stream starting from a village drew other
streams from the villages and towns through which
it passed until a river of humanity rushed on. They
did not know the length of their journey, and could
not conceive of the dangers they must approach and
pass. Some had been so steadfast in residence as Ignorance
to have no idea of the size of the world even as it °a^Js
was known to other men. Great lords with hounds
in front, and falcon on wrist, went out as if the
chief aim was to hunt and fish. All were crazed,
and at first no" sane mind was left to point out the
dangers, or prepare a commissariat, or plan a cam
paign.

CHAPTER III.
THE MARCH AND THE BATTLE.
There seems, at first, just one trace of common
sense, one semblance of a plan for the movement of
Trace of the hordes and mobs toward the Holy Land. Some
Common ^Q ka(j jiad a taste „£ war agreed that, as the
Sense numbers were great enough for several armies,
they should not start at the same time nor traverse
the same route, and that the rallying-place should
be Constantinople. Those who had followed Peter from place to
place, eager to be the first to start, chose the Her
mit for their general. It would seem as if Peter
Peter had seen enough of war to know that his undisci-
Chosen p]med mob could meet but one fate. It is verv
General probable that he had become a monomaniac before
he began to preach the Crusade, and that, for the
greater part of his career, he had lost whatever bal
ance of judgment he had had. It is sometimes very
hard to distinguish between the unbalanced and the
enthusiast, between the enthusiast and the fanatic,
and between the fanatic and the monomaniac. Men
44

The March and the Battle. 45
can certainly be sane on every point but one. Peter
in accepting the military command, passed the
bounds of reason. A monk might well think him
self called to preach on a great theme, to arouse
the nations to a great duty. He might easily and _ Mono-
properly feel himself competent to be the prophet mamac
of God in denouncing the sluggish and the time
serving. But to accept military command without
experience of war except as an observer, and to
lead an untrained and unprepared mob from West
ern Europe to Palestine through difficulties of
which, as a pilgrim, he had had experience, connotes
insanity, or, at the best, "zeal without knowledge."
He did not assume a new uniform. He wore
his old one. It was still his coarse woolen cassock,
his hood, his sandals, and his rope, and he rode the Wore Old
same old mule with which his wanderings began. assoc
His army was not less than eighty thousand strong.
But the camp followers were almost as many,
made up of old men, women, and children. Peter's
crazy faith promised food to all. They had joined
him from Northern France, and as he approached
Germany great numbers from Southern and Cen
tral France swelled his ranks. A gleam of sense
appears in the division of his rabble into two bands,
one to be led by himself; the other by Walter the

46 Peter the Hermit.
Penniless, who appears, from some points of view,
like a twin of Peter. Historians have little to say
Walter the of Walter's origin. Some say he was of gentle
Penniless b;rth and had exchanged his all for his title of
"Penniless;" others that Walter was not put in
command until his uncle died. The only certain
thing seems to be that his poverty and enthusiasm
were equal to those of his followers.
All goes well while the Crusaders march through
loyal and liberal France. Help was literally poured
France into their laps ; nor did the Germans, from the
ePs earliest historic days easily touched by noble senti-
Crusaders ments, fail to respond both to the plea for the Holy
Land and for practical sympathy. The Rhine peo
ple smoothed trie pilgrims' way. They were, how
ever, to meet trouble on the banks of the Danube.
The expectation that the end of the world was
to come about the year iooo was, for a century be-
fore that date, well-nigh universal and dominant.
As that year approached the condition apparently
confirmed the prophetic warnings of the New Tes-
Western tament. Western Christendom seemed to be hope-
nsten- ]ess]_ disordered. It was at this time that a worse
aom jjis-
ordered invasion than that of the Turks threatened Europe.
The Magyars, or Huns, were barbarous, irrespon
sible, undrilled, and rapacious; less responsible to
authority and less moved by pity than the Turks

The March and the BattlE. 47
had ever been. In their love for indiscriminate
massacre they seem to have been the wild Indians
of Europe. They came, nobody anticipating them,
nobody knowing from whence. Their ranks were
filled up and increased, nobody knew how. Rumors Rumors of
of cannibalism preceded them, and they were be- Cannibalism
lieved to be less than human in form and mind. A
Finn might have partly understood their talk, but,
to the people they attacked, their speech was gib
berish. The weakness and divisions of Christendom in
vited their approach and palsied resistance. At al
most the same date Bremen on the Baltic and Con
stance on the lake, felt their power. They swarmed
over the Alps. They menaced Southern France,
and peered from the Pyrenees at Spain. Italy felt
their heaviest hand, and Rome saw their devastat
ing flames almost under its walls. For fifty years Huns in
Christendom quaked and fell before them; andEurote
halted them for the first time in A. D. 936 by the
hands of Henry the Fowler. Gradually they were
restrained to the limits of modern Hungary, and
in the eleventh century they were Christianized and
the worst enemies of Christianity became guides
and caterers to the Crusaders, while not sharing
largely in their enthusiasms.

48 Peter the Hermit.
It was very different with the Bulgarians south
of the Danube over whose great plain of Sophia a
The "Bui- smoother path would be found if the Crusaders
ganans couid reach it. Sometimes protecting, sometimes
robbing Constantinople, their chiefs drank from the
gold-banded skull of a Byzantine emperor. Basil
conquered them only to show himself more bar
barous by putting out the eyes of fifteen thousand
Bulgarian captives.
At the beginning of the Crusades Bulgaria was
nominally subject to the Greek Empire, but held
'Bulgarian that authority in contempt. Heavy forests then
es'ance grew to the southern edge of the Danube where
now there are bare hills. This mingling of forest
and hill gave to the Bulgarians a security in self-
rule which was only, in general, ineffectively inter
rupted by the army of the empire. The Bulgarian
type of Christianity did not extend the idea of
brotherhood beyond its own borders. They could
Queer cheerfully make themselves, without the least
Christianity troubie 0f conscience, the terror of their Christian
brethren who were making their way to Jerusalem.
The march, which began in piety and was con
ducted for a time with due consideration for the
rights of others, soon, almost of necessity, became
a raid on the property of the people through whose

The March and the Battle. 49
lands they passed. Bulgarian authority not being
able to supply provisions to Walter's army, they
foraged along their lines of march, and, when re
sisted, burned houses and slew their inmates. The
Bulgars answered in kind ; attacked the Crusaders Bulgars
when loaded down with booty ; penned some scores Attack Crusaders
of them m a church to which fire was promptly put,
and one hundred and forty were cremated. Walter
did not stop to attempt to revenge, but dragged after
him a starving and diminishing army.
The Governor of Nissa, moved by their condi
tion, refreshed them with food, warmed them with
clothing, and strengthened them with arms. Taught Crusaders
by the Bulgarian lesson, they passed through Learn .
^ . . Something
Thrace without thieving, and came at last, worn and
miserable, to the walls of Constantinople, where
Alexius permitted them to await the arrival of
Peter and his army.
Peter and his army passed safely through Ger
many, but behaved worse and fared worse than
Walter and his following. The frontiers of Hun- Peter's
_arv were decorated with the bodies of Crusaders Brave
s } . Follies
hanging at the gates of Semlin. Immediately Peter
ordered war. The people of the city fled to a hill,
with the Danube on one side and a forest on the
other. They were driven into the river, four thou-
4

50 Peter the Hermit.
sand being put to the sword. Belgrade first knew
of the battle by the corpses floating past her walls.
Naturally, on penetrating further into Bulgaria, the
A De- Crusaders found only abandoned cities, food car-
v°ftaU ried away, and, as much as was possible, the road
bereft of support of any kind. At Nissa they found
a well-fortified city, where Bulgarians looked down
from the walls on the Crusaders, and these last did
not dare to try their strength on such an obstacle.
At Nissa they seemed to have obtained supplies
and marched on. Some Germans paid off real or
fancied scores by burning some mills on the Nissava
A Great River. The Nissans fell on Peter's rear guard,
oss killed all who fought, captured two thousand car
riages and many prisoners. Peter turned back im
mediately, and flamed with wrath as he saw the
dead who lay near Nissa.
Peter cooled down enough to send messengers
to the city and ask, on the ground of a common
Christianity, for the restoration of the prisoners and
spoil taken from the Crusaders. The governor of
A Tart the city tartly reminded the messengers that Chris-
Ansvier j.;a„ Conduct alone proved men to be Christians, and
that the Crusaders having made the first attack, he
could only count them as enemies.
This answer fired the Crusaders to fight. Peter,

The March and the Battle. 51
apparently growing in wisdom by experience, tried
to hold the warriors back and begged them to ne
gotiate. To wrath opposition is always treason, and
Peter found himself regarded as a coward and
placarded as a traitor.
While Peter was parleying with the Governor of
Nissa, two thousand Crusaders tried to scale the
city walls and carry the city by assault. The Bul
garians drove them back. A general fight began Fighting
even while the two chiefs were negotiating. Peter a"d. NeS°-
tiations
proved his courage by waving his crucifix between
the combatants and demanding that the fighting
should cease. The uproar of battle gave no heed
to his voice. His army was utterly routed and cut
to pieces. They had fought without command, and
were beaten into death and disorder. The Bulga
rians captured horses, equipages, the chest which
held the offerings of the faithful, and the women
and children. The greater skill and strength of
the Bulgars won the fight which the unreasoning
fury of Peter's followers had provoked.
On the top of a hill near by Peter bemoaned his
losses and, it is said, his foolhardiness. At that mo- Peter's
ment but five hundred men answered his call. The FlveHundred
next day seven thousand who had been put to flight
rejoined him at the call of his trumpet. They

52 Peter the Hermit.
came in day by day until thirty thousand were mus
tered. The rest had perished.
The survivors had small stomach or ability for
fighting. They made their way toward Thrace in
Penitent a humble and peaceable frame, and seemed to feel
Rebels ^e mistake of rebellion against authority. Pity
came to their relief. Their thin bodies, their stag
gering gait, their rags, and their tears brought
them the aid denied to their arms. None seemed
to have turned back. The combatants who were not
killed still kept their faces toward the Holy City.
There seems good evidence that the Greeks
would have met them differently had they been less
A Greek helpless. The aversion of the Greeks to the Latins
come had grown now for centuries. The Latins were
tolerable to the Greeks only when the Greeks needed
their aid. The Latins had arrived. For the present
they could do no harm. The emperor, Alexius, in
tending to complain, sent messengers to Peter.
These returned with tales of weakness and suffer
ing. They were permitted to journey on, and,
with palms waving, came at last to Constantinople.
Peter, an object of universal curiosity, if not of
admiration, had audience with the emperor, capti
vated the monarch as he captivated all, and went
forth loaded with help for his army and some good

The March and the Battle. 53
advice. This last was to the effect that Peter had
better await the arrival of the military princes and
generals who had pledged themselves to the Cru- Peter
sade. But these, perhaps with calculated delay, lin- Captivates
Alexius
gered at home while other bodies of Crusaders as
ill prepared, as troublesome, and as ill-fated as
those which had followed the lead of Peter,
marched away.
Two notable instances may be given. Gott-
schalk, a German priest, had gathered fifteen thou
sand Crusaders, who made him their leader. His
army arrived in Hungary near the end of summer. Roving
Here they gave themselves up to every kind of Crusaders
wrong-doing. They left behind them daily a trail
of outraged women, robbery, and arson. The
Germans were good fighters and checked the puni
tive expeditions of the Hungarian ruler. What
was not possible to valor was accomplished by trick
ery. The Crusaders admitted the Hungarian chiefs
to their camps and fraternized with them. They
yielded to promises and allowed themselves to be
disarmed. Promptly they were attacked and
slaughtered. Incidentally the Jews suffered from the Cru
sading craze. One band of rascally and ungov
ernable Germans, who had many sins to be washed

54 Peter the Hermit.
away and who- availed themselves of the hope for
absolution in the promise of the pope to those who
Crusaders fought for the Holy Tomb, thought it ridiculous to
Practice attack tbe Unitarian Mussulman so far away, when
on Jews the Unitarian Jew who had slain the Lord was
close at hand. Then, as now, the commerce of the
world was in Jewish hands, and it was felt that so
Commerce much wealth ought not to be in such hands. That
in Jewish eiement which still exists in the Jewish character
Hands of being purse-proud and offensively familiar in
prosperity, is reported to have twitted the Chris
tians with the worship of a Jewish prophet as a
God. Whatever was the proportion of motive, it is
certain that this mob fell on the Jews and robbed
and killed all they found in the cities of the Rhine
Slaughter and the Moselle. It is said that many perished by
of Jews kindling flames they felt to be more merciful than
their Christian persecutors. Others, with stones
tied to their necks, drowned themselves and their
treasures in the adjacent rivers. Let us be thank
ful that there was pity somewhere and that the
Bishops of Worms, Treves, Mayence, and Spires
gave asylum to the persecuted race and denounced
the marauding bands as beyond the pale of the
Church. This band set out for Jerusalem in pious rap-

The March and the Battle. 55
ture that the soldiers of God had been given vic
tory and had been supplied by the God of Battles
with money for the journey ! Blinded with super- A Goose
stition, they measure themselves to us by what they f01" "
. , . Leader
did. Albert of Aix tells us that they found a goose
"filled with the Holy Ghost," which they made
leader in equal authority with a goat not less filled
with the same Spirit (et capellam non minus eodem
repletam) ! Fear of such maniacs closed the gates Fear
of Hungarian cities. The city now known among °Jr sac.
° j a Maniacs
Germans as Ungarish-Altenburg, situated in the
marshy embouchure of the Leytha, was attacked by
them by means of a causeway made of the trunks
of trees. Ladders were built, and walls, defended
by darts, arrows, and boiling oil, were almost scaled
and won, when the breaking of ladders caused a
panic and the plain was soon covered by fugitives
who had, like all panicky soldiers, thrown away
their arms. Multitudes of these were butchered
without resistance while others died hopelessly
mired in the marshes.
Surely these are enough to show the horrors of
such marches in the name of Christ. A sentence Horrors
may express the fate of those who survived. The °f ' e
Bulgarians almost finished what the Huns began.
The Greeks received the news with joy.

56 Peter the Hermit.
At length Peter and Walter, between them,
could muster an army of one hundred thousand
Forget men, when the re-enforcements from Italian cities
Their were counted. Still under the walls of Constant^
Lessons nople it was not long before they forgot the lessons
of their defeats and began again to rob and murder.
Alexius soon found it expedient to ferry them
across the Bosporus. The subjects of Alexius suf
fered worse than the Turks at first. Anna Com-
nena, perhaps prejudiced, yet quoted by Michaud,
declares that the Normans in Peter's army when
near Nicea, chopped children to pieces, stuck others
Cruel- on spits, and harried old people. The Germans,
ties of stung by Norman gibes, took a fort in the moun-
Crusaders tain near Nicea, killed the garrison and there met
the attack of the Turks only to be slain by the
sword. Their commander purchased his life by
apostasy and a treasonable oath.
Once again the army sets forward, against the
protest of the Penniless Walter, but by his forced
consent. Once again they meet the reward of ig
norance and undisciplined courage.
The ruler of Nicea, concealing a part of his
army in the woods, waited for the Crusaders at
the foot of a hill. The Turks pretended flight, but
suddenly turned, surrounded the Crusaders on all

The March and the Battle. 57
sides, routed them, and slew them with dreadful
carnage. Walter died of seven arrow wounds. Walter
The whole army found refuge in a castle close to Kllledat Nicea
the sea. The Chronicler says, "Their monument
was a heap of bones piled upon the plain of Nicea."
The two results in the East were intense preju- Turkish
dice among the Greeks against the whole move- Contempt
for Cru-
ment and contempt of the Turks for Christian war- saders
riors. But where was Peter? Losing all authority
among the Crusaders he went back, before the bat
tle of Nicea, to Constantinople and turned the bat
teries of his abusive eloquence on those he had lately
commanded. He called them robbers and brigands,
and said that their sins shut them out of the Holy
Land. In this he follows the sad habit of all, or
almost all, of those who lead their followers into Peter
trouble. It is probable that he had at this moment Befabors
* His Foi
led three hundred thousand to death. It may be lowers
that his conscience troubled him a little, though in
general the fanatic is superior to such pangs. At any
rate Peter calmed himself by the consideration that
his army was chiefly a rascally crowd. This was the
final proof that he was not of the stuff of which
leaders are made. The verdict of the historian is
just: "He had neither the prudence, the coolness,

58 Peter the Hermit.
nor the firmness of the commander." He could
Peter's rouse but not control. He could preach, but could
Failure as not conserve tbe results of his preaching. Here-
Leader after we shall see him as a preacher chiefly or in
kindred work. Others supply true leadership.
Those who lingered at home, when the armies
of Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless
started for Jerusalem, may have been of the wiser
___r sort, and certainly seemed to have profited by the
Leadership caiamities of their brethren, both in the matter of
Wiser preparation and in the treatment of the nations
through which they passed. The first army was led
by enthusiasm almost wholly. The second had
true military leadership.
It is interesting to observe how the two great
dominant forces, Christianity and the military spirit,
Christianity co-operated, and even coalesced, yet allowed neither
"c." to govern in its proper sphere. The early Cru-
Military saders had piety enough to hold them to the march,
Spirit notwithstanding the awful trail of death. They
did not have enough to prevent their behaving on
the way more like devils than Christians. They
had sufficient military spirit to make them willing
to fight, but not enough to make adequate prepara
tion. The Christianity of that time had devotional
but not humanizing power. It carried along faith,

The March and the Battle. 59
obedience to ceremonial, abundant prayers, personal
humility ; but it had little restraint for passion Defects of
whether corporal or revengeful. Its hand was CrusadingChristianity
powerless to restrain fury or prevent or relieve mis
ery. "The knight before the battle was as devout
as the bishop ; the bishop in the battle as ferocious
as the knight."1 Little better fate availed the women
when Christians prevailed than when Turks won Europe
the day. Whatever mourning there was for indi- Callous as
to Losses
viduals, the failure to win the Holy City appears to
have given more sorrow to Europe than the death
of three hundred thousand men.
One might gather up at this point the remain
ing appearances of Peter, and call his work done.
But while he ceased to be a military leader, his work
continued, his spiritual influence remained. We Peter
shall see him at one time arguing with Turks, and Ceases to
be General
at another praying for victory over them. His
strength and his weakness can only be brought out
by briefly sketching some of the men who took up
leadership after his failure, and with whose vic
tories he was identified as priest, prophet, and par
ticipant. The noblest, greatest of the leaders was God
frey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine. Born
1 Milman.

60 Peter the Hermit.
in Brabant, the blood of Charlemagne was in his
veins through his mother. He had fought for the
Godfrey of antipope, and was the first to enter Rome when cap-
Bouillon tured by the army 0£ Henry. His sentiments
changed until he was ready to expiate his sacrilege
by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and as a warrior for
her deliverance. A giant in strength, a hero in
bravery, his simplicity was that of a hermit. He
was wise enough not to be reckless, and courageous
enough never to shrink from the supreme moment
of danger. The common soldier was his friend.
A Great His word to all was his bond. Men felt braver and
tarac er safer under his lead. Others might seem by name
to be weightier than he in leadership, but in fact he
composed quarrels and compelled unity by his wis
dom, and, in moments of peril, what he thought pre
vailed. When his leadership was known, France and
the Rhine country gave him of their best in treasure,
Accessions of men, arms, and money. Women denied their
r i° .."amiable vanities that their jewels might furnish
Leadership J °
outfit for husbands and sons. The Abbe Guibert2
declares that what avarice and war had hidden, now
came leaping in marvelous abundance into the
hands of the chiefs of the army. Heaps of gold
2 See Michaud,

The March and the Battle. 6i
were visible in their tents, as if fruits had been
carried there instead of untold wealth. Yet some
robbed their vassals that they might be ready. God
frey sold his dominions chiefly to the bishops so
that it was well said that the secular princes stripped
themselves for the Crusaders while the bishops en
riched themselves by the enthusiasm of the laity.
Yet here again we must see mixed motives. To
regain Jerusalem was also to be enriched by Sara
cenic spoils. To give up a petty government or Mixed
heritage in Europe might lead to dominion in Asia. Mot'yes
These things were promised by the authority of
pope and general. Many great names acceded to
Godfrey's roster, and aided in leading a fairly dis
ciplined and restrained army toward Palestine. The
Huns and Bulgars who had slain the hosts of Peter
welcomed the army of Godfrey, and sped them on
their way with food and prayers. He sent to the
East more than eighty thousand men. Their ad- Godfrey
vance made it easier for the pope to put the domin- Welcome
ion of unfriendly kings in peril by excommunica
tions and other ecclesiastical penalties. He trimmed
the talons of princes while their defenders were ab
sent. Papal authority rose as secular authority
went down. It gave the people peace at home at
the expense of national independence.

62 Peter the Hermit.
How much science has done for humanity in
relieving it of evil signs and omens we may know
Fear of b> this, that the reddened moon under eclipse and
c ipse tjie wav{ng streamers of the Aurora combined to
persuade the people that the war was of God. The
indifferent were stirred by these prodigies, and
joined the Crusade, and Italy was moved as never
before. More princes, knights, and bishops than
can be recorded joined in the march. Alexius, the
craven emperor, who had invited Latin help,
trembled with good reason at the hundreds of thou
sands now headed toward his capital. He was a
true Greek in sending ambassadors to greet them
and in hiding his troops where they could harass
them. No one can untangle the tracks of the many
bands as described by the annalists of each expedi-
Confused tion. Some went the ruggedest way; some the
Tracks smoothest. Alexius made a prisoner of a ship
wrecked count, only to have Godfrey shake him
into frenzies of fear by attacking one of his prov
inces. He purchased allegiance from his prisoner
only to make himself and his prisoner objects of
A Mean contempt. He tried to starve Godfrey's army by
m*eror refusing provisions, only to have that army bring
the fear of famine to his capital through the energy

The March and the Battle. 63
with which it helped itself. The approach of Christ
mas was used as a basis of peace. The foraging
ceased, and Alexius provided food.
The spectacle of disagreement and of growing
contempt for each other is painful to any who this
day bear the Christian name. The Greeks had the
same contempt for the Latins which the Chinese
have for the foreign devil. Unable to resist their Christians
arms, they took refuge in the futilities of philosophy Qu<"-reling
as their proof of superiority, and in the trickery
which, at some periods, had helped them well. But
nothing could meet or restrain the skill, courage,
and discipline of the forces pledged to the cross,
and no complacency was proof against the con
tempt of the Latins for the Greeks, who, calling
themselves Christians, were indifferent to the cry
of the oppressed city of the Savior's passion.
Alexius did succeed in blinding Godfrey, and
possibly Bohemond, who was coming toward Con
stantinople through Macedonia. He obtained Alexius
pledges from both for the integrity of his empire, Df"l'ves
and apparent submission. Alexius used money be
cause he could not use force, to create dissensions
and to win over the venial. His temporary success
would be astonishing were it not almost always the
case that the craft of an old civilization at first be-

64 Peter the Hermit.
fools the inexperience of more youthful, more
rugged, and more trusting nations. Alexius finally
got all to the other side of the Bosporus, but failed
to wheedle all who came near his throne.
At this point, as the army marched through
Bulgaria, traces of Peter and his army begin to
On the appear. Refugees who had hidden in the woods
Track af came t0 the camps in rags and emaciation. The
Peter castle where Rinaldo sought refuge was pointed
out to the new comers as the tomb of all his com
panions. The mountain at the foot of which Wal
ter's army had died was indicated with tears. The
site of the camp where Walter had left the women
and the sick, and which was captured by the Turks
at the supreme moment of the mass, only that the
venerable might be slain and the women and children
carried into slavery, roused the indignation of the
The Crusaders beyond any other spot. It had one good
rusa ers efject jn bringing on a much needed unity, it
Discipline . .
brought also a discipline enforced by the calamities
whose evident cause was the lack of it.
The spring brought the opportunity of battle to
the Crusaders, and a strong foe met them in the
person of the Turk David and his army. He had
fortified Nicea, a city famous for two Councils and
now the capital of David's kingdom. Nature de-

The March and the Battle. 65
fended it by high mountains and a lake, and art by
walls, towers, and flooded ditches. Garrisoned by
the best of David's troops, one hundred thousand Arrive at
more waited near by to their help. Five hundred cea
thousand foot-soldiers and one hundred thousand
horsemen came at length in sight of the city for the
first real battle of their Crusade against the infidel.
These, in camping before the city, divided their al
lotments by walls piled from the bones of the Cru
saders who had fallen on that field. Nineteen lan
guages were heard in the camp, and each nation
fought as it would. Clash and clang soon came,
and the Turks, routed, fled to the hills, only to re
turn the next day and to be beaten a second time.
Three thousand Turkish heads were hurled by cata
pults into the city by way of information.
The records paint an awful picture of the siege.
Whatever of mechanism or method was known to
Greeks or Romans was employed by besiegers and Awful
besieged. Stones, fireballs, bunches of arrows, cenes
heavy beams were fired into the city by ballista and
catapult, and were fired back with equal skill and
abundance. The battering-rams breached the wall
and found new walls rising just within. The be
sieged fished with iron hooks from the top of the
walls, and hauled the captured Crusaders alive to
5

66 Peter the Hermit.
their death at the summit. Stripped, they were
used as stones for catapults, and stark naked were
Bodies fired back into the Christian camp. A Goliath
Hurled amon~ tbe Saracens being killed, the Crusaders
into City s . .
were greatly heartened, and, having gained some
advantages, redoubled their attack. The enemy's
supplies by way of the lake were cut off, and their
resistance grew feebler. A tower was undermined,
and the thunder of its fall in the night alarmed both
Christians and Turks.
After a siege of seven weeks, and when the city
was ready to fall, Alexius succeeded in putting his
The emissary into the city, who persuaded the Turks
"c .to surrender to him, and the besiegers found the
Alexius standard of Alexius floating from the walls. The
indignation of some was stayed by presents, and
craft brought Tancred to a slow oath of allegiance.
But the mass understood the treachery, and hence
forth good feeling between Latin and Greek was
impossible. Resting awhile near Nicea, the Crusaders in two
bodies at length resumed their march through Asia
Resumes Minor. One was led by Godfrey, the other by
March Bohemond and Tancred. Both were equally ig
norant of the perils of the mountains and of the
arid plains which were in their way. Bohemond 's

The March and the Battle. 67
army was surprised near a river by which they were
encamped. Wave after wave of Turks rolled over
them and were driven back. Their women were
captured by the Turks, when they did not first pre
fer death at their own hands.
The different leaders — Bohemond, Robert the
Duke of Normandy, Tancred, Richard of Salermo,
Stephen, Count of Blois — threw themselves into Bravery
the fight, drove the Turks back, but yielded ground, °J ,
Leaders
through exhaustion, to fresh Turkish re-enforce
ments. All seemed lost when Raymond and God
frey appeared with the other division of the Chris
tian army. These chased the Turks into the moun
tains, flanked them on both sides, got into their rear,
and met them as they fled down the mountain. The
wearied ranks which had despaired had joined in
the charge. The Turks were routed ; twenty thou- Rout of
sand fell on the field, and the enemy's camp fell the Turks
into Crusading hands. Returning to bury their
four thousand dead, they stripped off the Saracen
robes and swords and seem little less than barba
rians in their orgies of joy.
The Turks now gave up direct battle, and de
vastated the country through which the Christians
must pass. Determined to separate no more, the
Crusaders became by their numbers more exposed

68 Peter the Hermit.
to the dangers of pestilence and famine. Almost
all the horses perished in the desolated country. The
knights laden with armor found it impossible to
Pestilence march, and some rode asses and oxen when they
a"d could be found. The lowliest animals, even hogs,
Famine were made burden-bearers until these, too, perished
and left their loads to be wasted on the road. After
unmentionable horrors of birth and death, the army
was rescued by the finding of water by the dogs,
who, however, exposed by their finding it many in
cautious drinkers to death from too quickly filling
themselves with water. The fair and fertile Pisidia
reached, the Crusaders were in comfort, plenty, and
peace. The news of their victories preceding them
opened the timid cities to their entrance, and
Victory brought them abundant supplies. Brought into de-
ten$, spair by the apparent death of Raymond of Tou
louse and the serious wounding of Godfrey by a
bear, they rejoiced in the recovery of both as a
miracle in the camp.
How childish these and other giants in war
fare were, appeared by the breaking out of rivalries
and quarrels even in the face of the enemy.
These details multiplied as they passed on until
Baldwin forgot the cross entirely, and became king

The March and the Battle. 69
in Edessa, which served as a city of help and refuge Baldwin
to later Crusaders. Forgets the Cross
A dreadful mountain passage where men must
march in single file, and where pack-horses were
crowded off precipices, introduces them at length
to Syria, within whose bounds the Palestine of their
desire was included. Antioch lay in their way, and
was besieged with many difficulties and dangers;
some from the presumption of a foolish faith;
others from the thoroughness with which supplies
had been destroyed by the Turks. Famine came Famine
on through the lack of foresight, and pestilence *"
quickly followed. The winter rains inundated the Again
camps, and the dead in the general distress were
left unburied. The foraging parties could repulse
the Turks and even capture their camps, but could
not find within practicable range food enough for
the army. Their communications were cut off by-
sea through the withdrawal of the Italian and Flem
ish fleets, and the army settled down to abject mis
ery, despair, and death, as they heard that Swerro, Bad News
King of Denmark, with his promised bride and fif- " .
0 Desertions
teen hundred warriors, had been slain by the Turks
while marching to join the main army. Almost for
the first time soldiers began to desert, hopeless of
capturing Antioch or of reaching the Holy Land.

70 Peter the Hermit.
Peter the Hermit, who appears to have marched
silently with the army, now, of all men, shrinking
under the criticisms of the army, flees secretly from
the camp. They had lost the Duke of Normandy,
Tatius, William of Melun, by temporary or perma
nent desertion, but the flight of Peter made the
Peter most noise and caused the greatest scandal. He
eappears wag pUrsued by Tancred and brought back in dis
grace, and was compelled to swear on the Bible that
he would never run away again.
Perhaps he ran from the awful wickedness of
the camp as well as from the famine and pestilence.
The soldiers, expecting soon to die, gave them
selves up to gambling, every phase of lust, and to
drunkenness, when the means thereof could be ob
tained. A good element of the clergy, notably the
Bishop of Puy, by word and example sought to
A stay the full flood of wickedness. It happened
*f e then, as in every age, that a sign, something seen
Camp of the eye, had more power than words addressed
to the conscience. An Aurora, a rare phenomenon
to most, was claimed by the preachers to be a warn
ing from God. Processions of penitents began to
march about the camp. Penalties for drunkenness
were devised, the hair being cut off in drunken
sleep. Blasphemers were branded. Turks and

The March and the Battle. 71
Syrians were spitted and roasted by Bohemond, who
thus rid the camp of unfriendly mouths and dan
gerous spies. The good bishop who preached
against sin wrought practical godliness by compell
ing the soldiers to plant the fields about Antioch. Remedy
This provided food and persuaded the Turks of the '°J. wr LL KttXHCSS
indomitable spirit of the Crusaders. Provisions
began to come in greater abundance, and pestilence
was stayed by the opening of spring.
It is a curious fact that at this time an alliance,
wisely rejected for the most part, was sought by the
Egyptians with the Christians as against the Turks.
This condition would have put the Christians wholly Egyptians
in the hands of the Caliph of Egypt the moment sfe Re~.
liance with
the allied armies had possessed Jerusalem. The Crusaders
spirits of the Crusaders were greatly raised by a
victory over twenty thousand Turks who came to
the relief of Antioch. Two thousand men and one
thousand horses were killed. The "gentleness" of
the Crusaders' conception of Christianity was shown
by loading two hundred Turkish heads on four
camels and sending them as a present to the de
parting Egyptian envoys, and two hundred more
Turkish heads were thrown into the city of An
tioch, while many more were stuck on pikes around
the walls.

72 Peter the Hermit.
But they met disaster as well, because nothing
seemed to make them see the importance of disci
pline and of precaution against surprise. Going
Carlessness unarmed in great numbers to St. Simeon to bring
Brings provisions from the Italian fleets, they were dis-
Attack ^persed by the Turks. Godfrey, whose great figure
is always seen when disaster is to be retrieved, fol
lows the Turks, heavy with their plunder, routs
them, and, having made wise disposition of troops,
prevents the retreating army from re-enforcing An
tioch. The besieged in Antioch witnessed the awful
Slaughter battle from their walls, and the river Orontes
"' l f drowned two thousand who. escaped from the Cru-
Turks c
saders' swords. A great picture of personal valor
is seen when, in hand-to-hand battle with a Sara
cen leader, Robert of Normandy salutes him with
the words, "I devote thy impure soul to the powers
of hell," and splits his skull to the shoulders with a
single blow. Even a greater tale of ferocious
strength is told of Godfrey, who, when his shield
had been broken by a great Saracen, raised him
self on his stirrups and cut with such appalling
strength that one part of the Saracen remained on
the horse and the other fell to the ground. The
Mohammedans having buried most of their mini-

The March and The Battle. 73
ber who died near their walls in their arms and
robes, camp followers of Christian name dug them
up, stripped off all valuables, and paraded through Details
the Christian camps two thousand Turkish heads, °f Valor
which were thrown, when the procession was over,
into the Orontes.
These details are surely enough to show the dia
bolical cruelty with which the siege of Antioch was
carried on by both sides. The wily governor of
Antioch decrees a truce, and breaks it as soon as he
has provisioned the city. What would possibly
have been refused to arms was given, after seven
months' siege to policy and stratagem. Bohemond
found an Armenian, a renegade Christian, among
the commanders of the army of Antioch, managed
to meet him, and baited him with great promises.
The project to buy the way into the city was re
jected by the noble minds, but Bohemond took ad- An
vantage of the approach of a great Turkish army, ArmemanScroundrel
then only seven days' distant, to fill the camp with
dread of surrender and of safety only in talk. Phir-
ous, the Armenian, had been well trained by Bohe
mond, and offered to surrender his corner of the
city only to Bohemond. Fear of destruction brought
all the leaders to Bohemond's idea except Raymond.
The defenders of Antioch suspected treason through

74 Peter the Hermit.
Phirous, and almost defeated the plans of that
scoundrel. But the renegade, keeping an inscruta
ble face under question, and being dismissed with
praises, stabbed his own brother to the heart when
Antioch he refused to aid the traitorous plan, and in the
a en y blackness of a night storm admitted one and an-
Treachery other by means of a leather ladder until there were
enough to take the city and put the surprised and
awakened Mussulmans to the sword. The morn
ing light showed the flag of Bohemond waving over
Antioch, but at the expense of six thousand de
fenders dead.
Phirous received great wealth for his treachery ;
followed the Crusaders to Jerusalem; remained
Christian for two years ; then turned Mohammedan
again, and died detested and abhorred by Moham
medan and Christian alike.
The fall of Antioch was quickly followed by
new dangers for the Christians. The army whose
Attacked approach brought them to acquiesce in the treachery
by Egyp- 0f Phirous was soon at hand, and the Christians
tian Army ..,..¦
were soon besieged m front of and within the city
they had just won. Famine once more was on them.
Horses were eaten first, and then hogs and dogs ;
finally the leather of their boots and the corpses of
Saracens. The usual desertions followed, and star-

The March and the Battle. 75
vation brought all the horrors of frenzy and blas
phemy from those who believed God ought to cor
rect human follies by miraculous power. Alexius, Famine
who had begun a march to the relief of Antioch, nce
° More
stopped when deserters told him the situation of the
Latins. Perhaps he was not ill-pleased over the
news. The historians of the time say that the courage
of the Crusaders was revived through their super
stitions. At the moment of the greatest despair and
when the infidel general had refused their terms of
surrender, prodigies and visions came for their en
couragement. St. Ambrose, the Virgin, Jesus Him
self, were seen by some in the churches. The lead
ers bound themselves anew by oath not to desert Encour-
the cause, and the army finally followed the ex- p8',- y-
ample of their captains. New wonders were re
ported to confirm their resolve. A priest in his
sleep saw St. Andrew three times, who told him to
dig near the principal altar of St. Peter's church,
and he would find the head of the spear which
pierced the Redeemer's side. This should lead them
to victory. After three days of prayer twelve of the
clergy and knights dug in silence, and had gone
down twelve feet without avail. At night, when
the twelve witnesses were at prayers, Barthelmi

76 Peter the Hermit.
jumped into the hole and climbed out with the iron
in his hands !
Whether the Christian leaders felt that they
could better spare Peter than a general we do not
know, but we do know that, with the great revival
Peter of courage, challenge was sent to the Saracens for
Delivers generai engagement or single combat, and Peter the
Challenge ...
Hermit was the messenger. He was m his element
when he could talk. Though treated contemptu
ously by his audience, he spoke as if he was the
greatest ruler of the earth. It is a wonder that
they did not promptly kill him for his insolence.
He told them that Asia Minor properly belonged
to Christians, that God had permitted it to fall into
Turkish hands on account of Christian sins, but
God was now arisen to fight on the Christian side.
Peter's "Now," he says, "leave and go to your own coun-
Boldness try_ We will not bumble you. We will pray for
your conversion to the true faith. If you will not
go, and will not become Christians, let us decide all
matters by battle by a few knights, or by one, or by
a general fight."
The perilous situation of the Christians was
known to Kerbogha, the Mohammedan general,
and he was enraged at the impudence of Peter. "You
are as good as conquered and come to me to die-

The March and the Battle. 77
tate terms. Go back and tell them they must re
ceive conditions, and not make them. If you will
acknowledge Mohammed, I will feed and clothe
you, and may leave Antioch in your hands. If not, Embassy
we shall see what the sword will do !" Peter and DnvenAway
his escort were driven off, and were several times
in danger of death on the way back. Battle was
ordered for the next day by the Christian captains.
During the night a hidden supply of provisions
was found. The Crusaders strengthened them
selves by a meal and the offices of religion, and day
coming, the Christian army, representing the twelve
apostles, marched out in twelve divisions.
Raymond D'Agiles carried the lance-head and
fixed their attention on it. Some of the priests
chanted a warlike psalm in the front rank, while Carrying
others blessed the outgoing army from the walls. *** Lance-
Head
The walls and the hills echoed the cry, "God wills
it! God wills it!" The appearance of the army
was such as to fill the Mussulmans with contempt.
Ragged, thin, and weak, mounted on asses and
camels, on anything which could carry them, they
deployed to meet the fifteen masses of Saracens.
The Crusaders soon cut to pieces the two thousand
who guarded the bridge of Antioch, and ranged
themselves where the mountain protected them from

78 Peter the Hermit.
surprise. The great names commanded the wings
and the center, with Bohemond in reserve. The
Disposition early hours were friendly to the Christians. Later
for att e ^gy were sorely hurt by a surprise from a body of
Saracens who had passed around the mountain and
had attacked their rear. The grass was fired in
front of the Christians by the sultan of Nicea, a fact
which was near ruining the prospects of the Chris
tians. Once again a prodigy is reported. A squadron
descends fiom the mountains, led by three white
Prodigy of horsemen. A bishop, perhaps himself the inventor
orsemen Q£ ^jg pious fraud, cries out to the wavering Cru
saders: "Behold, heavenly succor has come!" In
stantly the Christians revive and renew the attack,
and the Saracens were put to rout. Failing even to
rally on the other side of the river, they left behind
them their arms and their baggage. Their general
had only a small body-guard as he fled toward the
Euphrates. With horses captured on the field, the
Hundred Christians kept up the pursuit. A hundred thou ¦
Thousand sand of the inndeIs died, and four thousand Chris-
Turks
Killed tians won the martyr's crown. The battle enriched
the Crusaders beyond any hope or experience, and
Antioch was filled with the captured booty. The
historian declares, "Horrors had made the Chris
tians invincible. This was the only miracle."

The March and the Battle. 79
With this astounding victory the march of the
Crusaders almost ceased to meet armed resistance.
The mass of the army clamored to march on to
Jerusalem. The leaders were divided. Some said, Disputes
"Let us march before the enemy recovers from the F ollo'w
Victory
terror of our arms." The majority of the leaders
forgot the Holy City in the pleasures, securities,
and conquests of Syria. This gave strength to
their arguments to wait for the re-enforcements of
men and horses for which they asked the home au
thorities. Pestilence was the penalty ,of delay, and fifty
thousand old and new warriors died in and near
Antioch. Yet in such times Christians could quar
rel, and Bohemond was denied by the Count of
Toulouse the full possession of Antioch. They Fifty Thou-
were ready to fight. Others followed their exam- sand Chris
tians die of
pie, and all important time was wasted by quarrels pestnence
and recriminations. At the very foot of the altar
some of the leaders lied and quarreled to gain
power. Bands roamed over Syria wherever there
was a chance to loot; fighting over it when taken, ,
and dying of starvation and thirst whenever they
met unexpected resistance.
The world has never seen a greater mixture of
piety and villainy than among these Crusaders.

80 Peter the Hermit.
They could rape, rob, and murder with a good con
science, yet must be numbered among the most
Piety and heroic of men. They endured uncomplainingly long
Villainy marches in heat and cold, in hunger, thirst, and
pestilence. They fought superior numbers with
amazing courage. The one supreme virtue was
valor against man and beast.
The long wait for orders to march to Jerusalem
sent some leaders out to take cities over which they
Excursions might rule, and others to visit the Christian leaders
While wno bad already won thrones. But most remained
Waiting . 
in a demoralizing inactivity until a prodigy of elec
trical balls of light, or possibly a meteoric shower,
started, by various interpretations, the mass into se
curing their rear by the capture and subjugation
of several Syrian cities. In one of these sieges the
Saracens threw something like Greek fire down on
the besiegers, and followed this with hives of bees.
Careless Always the Crusaders seemed to be without a
Again proper preparation for food, and before more than
one city the Christian soldiers cooked and ate the
bodies of their enemies ; and it is even reported that
human flesh was sold in the shambles of their camp,
as the flesh of dogs certainly was.
In all this horror the spirits of the Crusaders
were fortified by the outrages of the Saracens on

The March and the Battle. 8i
the symbol of Christianity. They erected crosses
on their walls, covered them with filth, and reviled
the worshipers. It was poor policy for the besieged.
It infuriated the natural passions and inflamed the
religious zeal of the besiegers. Constructing en- Saracens
gines which shattered the walls, the Crusaders made ** e t e
Cross
themselves masters of the fortifications. In the
dusk they did not dare to enter the city. In the
morning it appeared to be deserted, but the inhabi
tants were discovered in subterranean refuges.
They were soon smoked out, and were slaughtered
without regard to age or sex. Thus fell the city of
Maarah, of which no stone was left. Awful as this
was for men wearing the cross of Christ, it spread
such terror that life may have been saved thereby,
since other cities willingly opened their gates.
The common soldiers refused longer to interest
themselves in the quarrels of their leaders, and,
hearing that the Egyptians had taken Jerusalem, Soldiers
demanded to be led on, and threatened to choose Destre
Attack
new leaders unless their old ones showed the way
to Jerusalem. Raymond finding that he must lead
or be left behind, forsook his ambition, led in a
procession of penitence, and gave the signal for de
parture. 6

CHAPTER IV.
THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM.
During the six months after the capture of An
tioch most of the leaders seemed to have contem
plated no forward step.
But the orders of Raymond to march filled many
with enthusiasm, and, under the lead of Raymond,
Raymond Tancred, and the Duke of Normandy, the army
Orders traversed the territories of Syrian Csesarea, Ha-
March „
math, and Edessa. They were welcomed by Mos
lem and Christian alike. Fear pleaded foY this with
the first, and sympathy with the last. Protection
was sought at the hands of the invaders, and pres
ents and food were abundantly provided. They
were surprised and delighted by the return of Chris
tian prisoners believed to have perished on the bat
tle-field. A portion of the army reached Laodicea,
Re-enforce- and welcomed there re-enforcements from England.
mfen s But the main object was still postponed, and the
England army under separate leaders attacked neighboring
cities. Raymond sat down before Archas, and was
firmly resisted. Godfrey went to lay siege to Gibel,
82

The Capture of Jerusalem. 83
and Raymond of Turenne to Tortosa. This period
of delay and of excursions for the sake of loot, was
chiefly occupied by those who remained in camp, Quarrels
with disgraceful quarrels when not engaged in in- ani
" " Miracles
venting miracles, and noising them abroad. The
first seem to have been largely checked by the ap
pearance of an ambassador from the Emperor Alex
ius of Constantinople, who proved himself, while
professing friendship, about the worst enemy the
Crusaders had. Just now he reproached them with
gentleness, being afraid of them, for not putting
the cities they had captured under his dominion.
He promised to follow them with an army into
Jerusalem if the Crusaders would give him time
to prepare. Sick of his treacheries, and feeling Alexius
only contempt for him personally, his new com-
plaints and promises served only to cement and
unify them and make them the more ready to march
on. As to the miracles, they ceased when, in the
ordeal by fire, Barthelemi, the author of the Holy
Lance, came through the flames mortally injured.
The Caliph of Cairo, with whom it was believed
Alexius was in league, had already possessed him
self of Jerusalem, and, fearing for his authority
there, sent ambassadors to treat with the Christian
army. Rich presents were brought to the leaders

84 Peter the Hermit.
sufficient to tempt the avarice which had grown by-
conquest. The announcement by the ambassadors
Egyptian that the gates of Jerusalem would be opened only
" es to unarmed Christians — a proposition which the
leaders had rejected when in the miseries of the
siege of Antioch — enraged those in authority.
The answer of the Christian leaders was an or
der to prepare to march and a threat to carry the
The war into Egypt itself. The Emir of Tripoli at-
Crusaders' tacked tbem w;tn fearful loss, and was mulcted
Answer heavily in tribute and provisions. All headed'
toward Jerusalem with the way cleared by fear of
Christian arms, except Raymond, who was finally
compelled to march also by the threatened rebellion
of his soldiers. Late May found the Crusading
army in the field. They passed through a rich
country, whose harvests were finished and whose
orchards bore abundantly oranges, pomegranates,
and olives.
Yet as they marched they were mindful that
battle and pestilence had reduced their numbers by
A Rich two hundred thousand. Some had returned home,
oun ry unabie j-0 endure the hardships, and many had re
mained in the conquered cities through which they
had passed. The army numbered scarcely fifty
thousand real soldiers. Yet much that was gone

The Capture oe Jerusalem. 85
was a relief to their camp-chests and their com
missary. One historian thinks this fifty thousand
to have been really stronger than the horde which
besieged Nicea.
The line of march was along the seacoasts that
the sea might furnish them provisions through the
Flemish and Italian fleets. They reach Accon, the Along
modern Acre, to find the Emir promising every- tfie
.... ,. Sea Coasts
thing but immediate surrender, and that also when
Jerusalem was occupied. A wounded pigeon,
picked up by the Bishop of Apt, had under its wing
a letter from the Emir of Accon to the Emir of
Csesarea which said, "The accursed Christians have
just passed through my territories, and will soon
be in yours. Let the Mussulman rulers be warned,
and let our enemies be crushed !" The Crusaders
naturally believed this a providence of great assur
ance and value, and presently moved inland and
took possession of Lydda and Ramla.
They were now but sixteen miles from Jerusa
lem. A stronger desire to march on Egypt led
some to counsel delay. But agreement to march to Near
Jerusalem was had, and, with temporary desertions Jerusalem
and cautious advances and the marking houses and
towns as private possessions, they came at last near
Emmaus. Terrified by a lunar eclipse, some are

86 Peter the Hermit.
panic-stricken, but the phenomenon is well ex
plained and held to be a sign of victory.
Now, those who slept that night could hope,
could know that, with the climbing of a hill, day-
Jerusalem light would reveal Jerusalem. On the ioth of June,
from the T099, the first who reached the summit at break of
Hill day, cried out, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem," and the
crowd rushing after cried, "God wills it!" as they
looked upon the Mount of Olives and the Holy
City. Riders climbed down from their horses and
marched on foot ; many knelt, and multitudes kissed
the ground. The sense of the sin for whose for
giveness Christ had died, brought many to tears of
honest penitence and some to conscious pardon. As
they looked on the height where His profaned tomb
must be, they wept bitter tears and vowed again to
deliver the city.
Before the Christians could invest the city its
*• ruler took care to ravage the adjacent territory,
Country poison the wells, and thus belted the walls with a
Laid desert. He provisioned the city against a siege,
Waste .
and fashioned all known engines of war. The gar
rison of forty thousand was increased by twenty
thousand arm-bearing citizens.
On the day after arrival, the various leaders dis
tributed the territory and laid siege to the city.

The Capture oe Jerusalem. 87
Ingress from the city was possible only through the
valley of Gihon and the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Christians from the city, driven out for fear of Plan for
treason and to burden the resources of the besiegers, Attack
quickened the ardor of the Christian army by an
account of the wrongs they had suffered at Mussul
man hands. Churches had been robbed for the
benefit of infidel soldiers, and the most sacred build
ings were threatened with destruction by the unbe
lievers. All these conditions led to a determina
tion of an early assault. They had made no ade
quate provision for scaling walls or battering gates,
but expected Divine intervention in their favor.
The assault was repulsed, and their losses brought
the victory of reason.
Finding some large beams, they demolished
churches and houses to obtain other material. The
drought of summer came on ; the cisterns had been Construct-
filled up or poisoned ; Kedron ran dry, and thirst mg Ensmes
. . of War
added its horrors. The intermitting fountain of
Siloam was insufficient. The soldiers were reduced
to licking the dew from the stones. Animals died
in great numbers. The loot of great cities was ex
changed for a few draughts of foul water. Fear
alone prevented the sortie from the city which
would have nearly extinguished the Christian army.

88 Peter the Hermit.
Some fled. The wonder is that so many remained
and saw that the only remedy for their evils lay in
the capture of the city.
As if a sudden- gift from God, a German fleet
reached Jaffa. It was well unloaded before capture
Aided by by a Saracen fleet, and the detachment sent from
German ^ besiegers to open communication, searched
Jaffa, and the provisions and instruments and mate
rial for war were carried to the Crusaders' camp.
Desiring yet more, a native led the Duke of Nor
mandy to a forest thirty miles from the city, and
this timber was dragged to the city. Regular expe
ditions to find water were successfully organized,
and lines of women and children quickly passed it
to the camp. Bunches of faggots were rapidly ac-
Scarcity cumulated and machines of war grew each day, and
of Water were planted for the next attack. They made three
towers higher than the walls of the city, with a
draw-bridge, over which the besiegers might reach
the top of the walls.
All being ready, they fortified their courage by
religious exercises, and with the clergy leading,
marched around the city. From the valley which
faces Calvary, the Crusaders set out, passing by the
reputed tomb of Mary, the Garden of Gethsemane,
and the Mount of Olives. They halted on the

The Capture oe Jerusalem. 89
Mount of the Ascension to reconcile all differences
and seal pardon with mutual prayer. The Sara
cens raised crosses on the walls, and defiled them in
every way which could be devised by a foul imag- Religious
ination. After a long silence, Peter the Hermit Proces"°ns
once more finds voice : "You hear them ! You hear
their threats and blasphemies ! Christ dies again on
Calvary for your sins. Swear, swear to defend
them. The army of infidels will soon disappear.
The mosques shall be temples of the true God."
And much more did Peter say after his old eloquent
fashion, and with results which were wholly like
those which followed his early preaching. The
soldiers fell on each other's necks, praised God, and Peter's
pledged themselves to finish the holy work they had Address
begun. They passed the night after their return to
camp in prayer and in the reception of the holy
sacrament. The Mohammedans spent their time also in ex
ercises of their religion, and thus both sides were
animated by the extreme of devout zeal.
The Christian leaders resolved to make the at
tack before the courage of their army could dimin
ish by longer contemplation of the difficulties and
dangers of the assault. The Saracens had built up
their machines opposite those of the Christians, and

90 Peter the Hermit.
to the last determined, as their mechanism seemed
more movable, to change their locality and attack at
Saracen a less prepared spot. During the night Godfrey
Machines moved his quarters to the gate of Kedar. With
the greatest difficulty the tower on wheels and other
machines were moved. Tancred got his machines
ready between the gate of Damascus and the an
gular tower known later as the Tower of Tancred.
A ravine which needed to be filled delayed Ray
mond, who succeeded, by paying a small sum to
Filling a every one who would throw three stones, in build-
"' ing, in three days, a good path across the ravine.
This done, the signal was given for a general at
tack. The camp of the Christians was summoned to
arms by the trumpets on the 14th of July, 1099.
Men and machines began their awful task. The
air was full of flints hurled to the walls by ballistas
and mangonels. Under large shields and covered
galleries, the battering-rams approached the walls.
The A cloud of arrows swept the ramparts, and the lad-
' . ders were erected at the most promising points.
Northeast and south the rolling towers were pushed
to the walls, and Godfrey set the example of being
first to open the battle from their tops. The resist
ance was as vigorous as the attack. Arrows, spears,

The Capture oe Jerusalem. 91
boiling oil, Greek fire, and the missiles from the be
sieged machines repulsed the attack. Through a
hole made by the besiegers the besieged attacked the
machines of the Christians, hoping to burn them.
Night came on after a twelve hours' fight without
victory to either side.
The next day, after a night spent in repairing
the attacking machines on the one hand and the
guardian walls on the other, the order to attack Battle of
was early given after heartening speeches by the Second Day
Christian leaders and tent-to-tent visitations by the
clergy. An Egyptian army was reported as ap
proaching and the report greatly encouraged the
besieged. The besiegers were infuriated by a dam
aging resistance, whose strength and energy they
had underrated. The battle opened with a fierce
ness unparalleled. Javelins, stones, and beams were
hurled in such numbers that some met in the air
and both fell on the besiegers. Flaming torches and Saracens
firepots were hurled from the walls. The Chris- AttemPlto Burn
tian towers did their work in the midst of flames, Towers
particularly the Tower of Godfrey, on whose root
a golden cross shone. The leaders fought amidst
piles of their dead and seemed to be invulnerable
themselves. Breaches were made in the walls be
hind which stood a living barricade of Saracens.

92 Peter the Hermit.
An Egyptian emissary was caught, his message to
the besieged squeezed from him, and his body was
Body then hurled from a catapult into the city. The
r e wooden machines of the Christians began to burn,
From
Catapult as well as the battering-rams and their roofs, while
their guards and operators were crushed and
buried under their ruins. The attacking force was
fought to a standstill, and was reviled for their wor
ship of a helpless God.
A vision of a knight waving his buckler above
the Mount of Olives, and signaling that the Chris
tians should advance, renewed the attack. It is said
women and children defied all dangers, brought
food and helped push the towers against the walls.
Inspiring Godfrey's Tower got near enough to lower its
mon gangway on the walls. Fire now came to the aid
of the Crusaders, being carried by a favoring wind
to the bags of hay, straw, and wool which made
the last inner defense. Godfrey, preceded by two
and followed by many, pursued the smoke-driven
enemy and entered the city. They killed as they
went. Tancred, encouraged by another apparition,
Crusaders entered the city from another point ; some through
",ra breach; others by ladders; others from the top
Litty of the towers. The enemy at length fled, and the
cry heard first under Peter's preaching, "God wills

The Capture of Jerusalem. 93
it!" was echoed in the streets of the Holy City.
While these were in the city, Raymond still met with
resistance which led them to abandon their tower
and machines, and to attack with the sword. They
scaled the walls by ladders, and were soon the vic
tors. The Saracens made a brave rally and charged
the Christians, "who had already begun to pillage.
These were, however, soon led to victory by Ever
ard de Puysaie, and the infidels were finally routed.
Where prodigies are so constantly related and
truth sacrificed to marvels, we can not be certain
that the statement is true that the Christians en- Christians
tered Jerusalem on a Friday at three, at the same Possess tfie
hour at which Christ died for all men. The Cru- Friday
saders forgot the teaching of the hour ; remembered
only their wounds, losses, and sufferings, and put
to death without mercy all who came in their way
and all they could ferret out.
Death by jumping from the walls seemed more
desirable to many than appeal to Christian mercy.
Their last resort was to the mosques, and particu- christians
larly the Mosque of Omar. Into this the Chris- Murder
J Saracens
tians rode on horseback and trampled the heaps of
dead and dying laid low by "Christian" swords.
An eyewitness, Raymond d'Agiles, says that in the

94 Peter the Hermit.
porch of this mosque blood rose to the knees and
bridles of the horses! Ten thousand were slain
there. The authority cited above declares that
bodies floated in the blood, and arms and hands
were tossed by sanguine waves. An Arabian au
thor says, "Seventy thousand were killed in the
Mosque of Omar." God alone knows the truth.
Only once before in human history can be found a
record of such slaughter, and that was when Titus
conquered the city centuries before.
The fame of Peter the Hermit was such that the
Peter Christians of the city coming from their hiding-
]ect places to greet their deliverers had no eyes for any-
Interest body but the eloquent monk, nor praises for any
other. He was the sole cause of their deliverance
as he was the prophet of their cause.
The nobility of Godfrey appears in this, that,
refraining from revenge, as soon as the battle was
Godfrey over he laid aside his weapons, bared his feet, and
G°H T went to pray at the Holy Sepulcher. This was the
Sepulcher signal for the cessation of bloodshed as soon as
known. The bloody garments were thrown aside,
and, barefooted and bareheaded, the Crusaders
marched to the Church of the Resurrection.
In this sudden change from fiends to the peni
tence and devoutness of Christians, we note a con-

The Capture of Jerusalem. 95
stantly recurring fact. These changes of mood
are characteristic of fanaticism, which is always
possessed by its ideas, and never rules over them.
Elijah stepped down from the exaltation of the
God-accepted prophet on Carmel to be the mur
derer of the prophets of Baal, and was left to
cowardice, to melancholy, and to wandering in the
desert until taught by the fire, the wind, and the
earthquake that he was not to bring human passion
into God's work.
The Crusaders seem to have learned no perma
nent lesson of pity. They soon returned to the
sword. Fearing the care of too many prisoners ; Crusaders
dreading that, if released, they would have to fight A&ain
...... Butcher
them again, and feelmg that they must make ready Saracens
to meet an Egyptian army whose arrival was daily
expected, they decreed the death of all the unbe
lievers who remained in the city. Passion energized
policy. They compelled the Saracens to leap from
the walls or into flames, and heaped up their corpses
as altars on which others were sacrificed. The city
was everywhere strewn with corpses, even, as one
remarks, "the very place where Christ forgave His
enemies." The habit of killing was now so invet
erate that such sights distressed none except as the
odors and dangers of pestilence. A few Mussul-

96 Peter the Hermit.
mans, saved chiefly from the fortress of David,
were compelled to remove for burial the bodies of
Heaps of their kindred and people beyond the walls. The
Corpses soidiers of Raymond aided them, not from motives
of humanity, but because being the last to enter
the city, they hoped to secure what they had missed
in pillage by robbing the bodies of the dead.
The city was soon cleaned, and, as all respected
the marks of private ownership upon which the
Crusaders had agreed, they were enriched and soon
contributed to the life of a most orderly city.
It will be recalled that when Heraclius con
quered Chosroes he claimed to have brought back
Exhibition the true cross to Jerusalem. During the Saracenic
ru^ occupation the Christians had concealed it and now
Cross brought it forth for the adoration of the faithful.
With triumph they bore it to the Church of the
Resurrection. The question of government was settled, after
debate, fasting, some ceremony and prayer, by a
Godfrey special Council of Ten. Godfrey of Bouillon was
Refuses ch0sen king with acclamation, all but universal, yet
Crown he refused to receive a diadem because his Savior
had in that city worn a crown of thorns, and would
receive no other title beyond "Defender of the Holy
Sepulcher." The effort to organize the Church admittedly

The Capture of Jerusalem. 97
was less successful in putting wise and holy men in
high places than the attempt to elect a suitable king.
The bishops of the Latin Church, then as now, took Arrogance
high ground, claimed to be above the civil power, "' .
Latin
and demanded that the bulk of the captured wealth Bishops
be put into their hands. The Greek priests had the
right of possession, but were sacrificed. Simeon,
who had invited the Crusaders, and who from
Cypress had repeatedly sent the Latins succor, died
while a Latin bishop was claiming his patriarchate.
Arnold, believed by most to be tainted, was made
pastor of Jerusalem.
The Saracens, much as they had suffered, were
not ready to abandon the field. Such as were left
joined the Caliph of Cairo who was advancing to
attack Jerusalem. Godfrey, deserted by some of his
colleagues, went out to meet him ; the deserters fol
lowing after when the peril became more visible A New
and imminent. Peter led the clergy and prayed m
for a final success. They numbered not more than
twenty thousand, yet they won a great victory,
some of their enemies being driven to the mountains,
others perishing in the sea. They dropped their
arms in terror, and were literally mowed down.
Thus ended the battle of Askalon, and it was the
last victory of the first Crusade.
7

98 Peter the Hermit.
Peter returned to Europe, resumed a quiet life
in a monastery, which was built at Huy on the right
bank of the Meuse, in pursuance of a vow made
Peter when in danger at sea by Peter's fellow voyager,
and H« tne Count de Montaigne. It was dedicated in 1130.
End Peter died there at a great age, and was buried at
his request outside the church on the ground of
humility. One hundred and thirty years later the
abbot removed (in 1242) his bones to a shrine be
fore the Altar of the Apostles in the Abbey Church.
His life was ended, "but his works followed him."
The church where he was buried was wasted
and wrecked during the French Revolution and
Peter's coffin destroyed. His gravestone still ex
ists. Other Crusades followed, of which mere men
tion must suffice. Their results, however, in part
remain to this day, and deserve to be here recorded.
As we have seen, the first Crusade had in the ,
minds of its originators, as at least a secondary ob-
Greek ject, the reconciliation of the Greek and Latin
and Church. But the result was directly opposite.
Latin .
Church Their relations were submitted, and the gap is as
wide open to-day as then. The Saracens were less
dangerous to the Eastern Church and empire than
the Latins proved to be. The Latins conquered

The Capture of Jerusalem. 99
for themselves. It must be admitted that the treach
ery of Alexius gave large justification if not full
warrant. The strength and wealth of the papacy were
greatly increased. It attached all who went to its
authority by its dispensation, not only from purga
torial pains but from the penalty of sin here and
hereafter. It made freemen of all who wore the Power of
sign of the cross, and absolved from all allegiance aPacy
except to itself. By persuading departing lords to
make over their sovereignty to him, the pope be
came the arbiter and consecrator of all sovereignty,
and at length obtained the right to release from al
legiance the subjects of two independent sovereigns.
No pope led an army. The shock of defeat to a
"Vicar of Christ" would have been very great. So
legates were sent and upheld in his name the su
premacy of the Church.
The vow to crusade was irrevocable, and sover
eigns took it to obtain pardon, to secure glory, and Reasons
propitiate favor. The pope alone could release the J or Jre '
votary, and he took good care to make the price v <?„
heavy in the acknowledgment of his authority.
By sending legates to every country to preach
the Crusades, the authority of the pope was also
greatly advertised and augmented. Through these

ioo Peter the Hermit.
the pope acquired a right to tax for his purposes
within the domain of independent States.
The clergy and the Church grew rich because
unable to alienate their own estates, they bought in
the property and domains of princes, dukes, and
counts, who sold all to enter upon the Holy War.
How For two centuries this went on among the most
ergy fruitful of the many methods by which the Church
Rick added to her temporal substance. The Church, by
the Crusade, established the principle that religious
wars were just, and for five centuries the principle
was indorsed with blood. Incidentally the hurling
back of the Mohammedan advance occurred, 'but
the hunger for papal dominion spurred on the popes
Papal to bless those who fought. Called defensive at first,
ro 07"they quickly became aggressive, and many a Cru
sading band hacked at the Jews before carving a
path through to Mohammedans.
Chivalry took on a more religious tone through
the Crusades, if indeed it was not in some coun
tries directly born of the wars of the cross.
Most of the principles of chivalry were Chris
tian in the quality of conduct, if not always of mo-
PWn-tive. To be just, generous, brave, the defender of
"^""'weakness, and to be pure in life were certainly-
Christian duties. The Crusades gave a great field

The Capture of Jerusalem. ioi
for such virtues. But, alas ! it was only to Chris
tians that these virtues were obligatory. The
knight often became a devil ranging over lands
wrested from Saracen control.
But respect for women, undoubtedly enhanced
by chivalry, took high ground in the reverence for
the Virgin, and, while it did not secure chastity,
gave some check to the master passion of the human
race. And, finally, the Crusade, introduced the nota- Debt to
tion, the science, the manufactures, and the medical Arabtc_
Learning
skill of the Arabs into Europe, — all of which aided
the coming of the light to the Dark Ages.
Of all these results, Peter the Hermit was the
unconscious forerunner and prophet.

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