volume one

HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES. 63
people of tlie Sclaves, liad by turns protected and ravaged
the empire of Constantinople. Their warriors had killed
Nicephorus in battle, and the skull of an emperor, enchased
in gold, served for a long time as a cup for their chiefs in
the orgies of victory. They were afterwards conquered by
Basil, who put out the eyes of fifteen thousand of his
prisoners, and by this act of barbarity roused the whole
nation against Greece. At the time of the crusade, Bul-
garia was under the power of the Greek empire, but it
despised the laws and the power of its masters. The Bidgarian
people spread along the southern banks of the
Danube, in the midst of inaccessible forests, preserved their
savage independence, and only recognized the emperors of
the East when they saw their armies. Although they had
embraced Christianity, the Bulgarians did not consider the
Christians as their brothers ; they neither respected the
laws of nations nor the rights of hospitality, and during the
eleventh centiu-y they were the terror of the pilgrims of the
West who journeyed to Jerusalem.
Such were the people whose territories the Crusaders
Avere about to cross, and among whom want of discipline
must necessarily expose them to the most direful reverses.
"VVhien the vanguard entered Hungary, they were only disturbed
in their march but by a few insults, which Walter
had the prudence not to avenge ;
but the resignation of the
pilgrims could not hold out long against the misery which
every day increased. Want and its attendant e-sols soon
dispersed all the sentiments of moderation to which religion
had for a moment given birth in the hearts of its
defenders. The governor of Bulgaria not having been able
to furnish provisions, they spread themselves about over the
country, carried off the flocks, burnt the houses, and massacred
several of the inhabitants who opposed their violences.
The irritated Bulgarians ran to arms, and fell upon the
soldiers of Walter loaded with their booty. A hundred and
forty Crusaders perished in the midst of flames, in a chi^irch
in which they had taken refuge ; the rest sought safety in
flight. After this defeat, which he did not endeavour to
repair, Walter continued his march through the forests of
Bulgaria, pursued by famine, and dragging along the WTeck
of his army. He presented himself as a supplicant before