volume one

70 HISTOEY OF THE CRUSADES.
cious troop ;* they wandered on in disorder, and obeyed none
but those Avho partook their wild delirium, A priest named
Yolkmar, and a Count Emicio, who thought to expiate the
wildness of his vouth bv the excess of his fanaticism, attracted,
by their declamations, the attention and confidence
of the new Crusaders. These two chiefs were astonished
that people should go so far to make war upon the Mussulmans,
who kept up under their o^ti law the tomb of Jesus
Christ, whilst they left in peace a nation which had crucified
its God, To inflame men's passions still more, they took care
to make heaven speak, and to support their opinions by miraculous
-sisions. The people, for whom the Jews were ever}'where
an object of hatred and hon-or, had already shown
themselves but too ready to persecute them. Commerce,
which they almost alone carried on, had placed in their hands
a great part of the gold then circulating in Europe, The
si2:ht of their wealth necessarilv irritated the Crusaders, who
were, for the most part, reduced to implore charity of
the faithful to procure the means for undertaking their
voyage. It is probable, lilie\\'ise, that the Jews, by their
railleries, insulted the enthusiasm of the Christians for the
crusade.
All these motives, joined to the thirst for pillage, lit up
the fires of persecution. Emicio and Yolkmar gave both
the sisrnal and the example. At their voice a furious multitude
spread themselves through the cities of the Ehine
and the Moselle, massacring pitilessly all the Jews that they
met with in their passage. In their despair, a great number
of these victims preferred being their own destroyers, to
awaiting certain death at the hands of their enemies. Several
shut themselves up in their houses, and perished amidst flames
which they themselves had kindled ; some fastened large
stones to their garments, and precipitated themselves and
their treasures into the Ehine or the Moselle. Mothers
stifled their children at the breast, saying that they preferred
sending: them thus to the bosom of Abraham, to seeino: them
given up to the fury of the Christians, TTomen and
old men implored pity to assist them to die ; all these
* Amongst this confused multitude were Thomas de Feii, Cleremhault
de Vaudeuil, Guillaume Charpentier, Count Herman, &c.