volume one

78 nisTOEY or the ceusades.
savs tiie Abbe Guibert, were to be seen in beaps in tbe
tents of the principal Crusaders, lUie the most common finiita
in tbe cottages of villagers.
Manv barons, having neither lands nor castles to sell,
implored the charity of the faithful vrho did not take up the
cross, and might hope to participate in the merits of the
holv "war by assisting in the equipment of the Crusaders.
others, like AVilliam, viscount de
Some ruined their vassals ;
]Melun,* pillaged the burghs and villages to place themselves
in a condition to combat the infidels. Godfrev de Bouillon,
guided by a more enlightened piety, was content with
alienating his domains. AVe read in Eobert G-aguin that he
permitted the inhabitants of Metz to redeem their city, of
which he was sttzerain. He sold the principality of Stenai
to the bishop of Verdun, and ceded his rights over the duchy
of Bouillon to the bishop of Liege for the small sum of four
thousand silver marks and a pound of gold, which makes an
historian of the Crusaders sayf that the secular princes
ruined themselves for the cause of Jesus Christ, whilst the
princes of the Chm-ch took advantage of the fervour of the
Chrisrians to enrich themselves.
The duke de Bouillon had gathered under his standard
eio:hts' thousand foot-soldiers and ten thousand horsemen.
He began his march eight months after the council of
Clermont, accompanied by a great number of German and
Trench nobles. He took with him his brother Eustace de
Boulogne, his other brother Baldwin, and his coiLsin Baldwin
de Bourof. These two last, who were destined one dav. hke
Godfrey de Bouillon, to become kings of Jerusalem, held
then the rank of simple knights in the Christian army.
Thev were all less animated bv sincere pietv than bv the
nope of achieving a great iortune in Asia, and quitted without
regret the mean possessions that they held in Europe.
vStill fiuther were to be remarked in the train of the duke
de Lorraine, Baldwin, count de Hainaut ; Garnier, count de
Grai ; Conon de Montaigu, Dudon de Contz, so celebrated
* Abbot Guibert speaks thus of William, viscount de Melun : Cum
Jerosolymitayium esset agressurus, iter direptis contiguomyn sibi pauperum
substantiolis. profanum riaiicum praparavit.—Lib. W. c. 7.
t Le Pere Maimbourg.