volume one

HISTOEY OF THE CEUSADES. 177
The first care of the Crusaders after their \*ictory was to
put, if ^^'e may say so, Jesus Christ iu possession of the
countries they had just conquered, by re-establishing his
worship in Antioch. The capital of Syria had all at once a
new religion, and was inhabited by a new people. A considerable
part of the spoils of the Saracens was employed
in repairing and ornamenting the churches which had been
converted into mosques. The Greeks and the Latins mingled
their vows and their hymns, and prayed together to tho
Grod of the Christians to conduct them to Jerusalem. The
leaders of the army then joined in addressing a letter to the
princes and nations of the West, in which they made a
relation of their labours and then" exploits. That they
might not trouble the joy that the news of their victories
must create, they took care to conceal the losses they had
sustained ;* but they must have made thom apparent by calling
new warriors to their aid. They solicited by prayers,
and even by threats, the immediate departure of all who had
assumed the cross, and yet still remained in the "West.
The Crusaders sent at the same time an embassy to Constantinople,
composed of Hugh, count of Yermandois, and
Baldwin, count of Hainault. The object of this embassy
was to remind the emperor Alexius of the promise he had
made to accompany tlie Christians with an army to Jerusalem.
The coimt of Hainault perished, with all his train,
in Asia Minor. The count of Vermandois, who took a
different route, arrived safely at Constantinople ; but could
obtain nothing from Alexius. Hereupon, whether he was
ashamed of having failed in his mission, or whether he
feared to rejoin an army in which he could not maintain
the splendour of his rank, he determined to return to
Europe, where his desertion caused him to be compared to
the raven of the ark.f
Some days after the battle of Antioch, the greater part of
the pilgrims entreated the leaders to conduct them towards
the Holy City, the pruicipal object of their expedition. The
council of the princes and barons being assembled, the
* The leaders of the Crusades declared that the siege and the battle of
Antioch had scarcely cost them tea thousand men.
Corvini generis legatus, postea non rediit. Bald. lib. iv.
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