volume one

HISTOET OF THE CKUSADES. 69
in tlie cainp of the Crusaders, no longer as enemies, but as
brothers. By dint of protestations and caresses, they persuaded
them to allow themselves to be disarmed. The
Germans, slaves of the most brutal passions, but simple and
credulous, yielded to the promises of a Christian people, and
abandoned themselves to a blind confidence, of which they
very shortly became the victims. vScarcely had they laid
down their arms when the chief of the Hungarians gave the
signal for the carnage. The prayers, the tears of the Cru-
saders, the sacred sign which they bore upon their breasts,
could not divert the blows of a perfidious and barbarous
enemy. Their fate was worthy of pity, and history might
have shed tears over it if they had themselves respected the
laws of humanity.
We are doubtless the less astonished at the excesses of
the first Crusaders, when we reflect that they belonged to
the lowest class of the people, always blind, and always
ready to abuse names and things the most holy, Avhen not
restrained by laws or leaders. The ci\dl wars, which had so
long disturbed Europe, had greatly increased the number of
vagabonds and adventurers. Grermany, more troubled than
the other coimtries of the West, was filled with men trained
in brigandage, and became the scourge of society. They
almost all enrolled themselves under the banners of the
cross, and carried with them into a new expedition the spirit
of license and revolt wdth which they were animated.
There assembled on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle
a new troop of Crusaders, more seditious, more undisciplined,
even, than those of Peter and Grotschalk. They had been told
that the crusade procured the forgiveness of all sins ; and
in this persuasion they committed the greatest crimes with
security. Animated by a fanatical pride, they believed
themselves entitled to despise and ill-treat all who did not
join in the holy expedition. The war they were about to
wage appeared to them so agreeable to God, and they thought
by it to render such a signal service to the Church, that all
the wealtli of the earth would be scarcely sufficient to pay
them for their devotion. Everything which fell into their
hands appeared a conquest over the infidels, and became the
just reward of their labours.
No captain durst place himself at the head of this fero-