volume one

niSTOEY OF THE CEUSADES. 191
about to quit the world in wliicli tney had known him. A
few hours afterwards, the enemy having made a sortie,
Ansehn flew, sword in hand, to meet them, and was struck
on the forehead by a stone, which, say the historians, sent
him to the beautiful palace in heaven that was prepared
for hiin. This marvellous recital, which was credited by the
Crusaders, is not the only one of the kind that history has
collected. It is useless to remind our readers that extreme
misery always rendered the Crusaders more superstitious
and credulous. Although the siege of Archas had no religious
aim, and even turned the pilgrims aside from the principal
object of the holy war, it was not thence less abundant,
according to Eaymond d'Agiles, in muacles and prodigies of
all sorts. The belief of the people was frequently supported
bv the most enlisfhtened of the leaders, who found it necessary
to warm the imaginations of the soldiers to preserve
their authority. Every day fresh parties were formed in the
Christian army, and the most powerful were always those
who circulated a belief in the greatest number of miracles.
It was during the siege of Archas that doubts arose among
the pilgrims about the discovery of the lance which had had
such an eflect upon the courage of the Crusaders at the
battle of Antioch, and the camp of the besiegers became all
at once divided into two great factions, strongly opposed
to each other. Arnold de Eohes, according to William of
Tyre, a man of dissolute manners, but well versed in history
and letters, M-as the first who dared openly to deny the truth
of the prodigy. This ecclesiastic, who was chaplain to the
duke of Normandy, drew into his party all the JSTormans and
the Crusaders from the north of France ; whilst those of the
south ranged themselves on the side of Barthelemi, who was
attached to the count de St, Gilles. The priest of Marseilles,
a simple man, who himself believed that which he
wished others to believe, had a new revelation, and related
in the camp that he had seen Jesus Christ attached to the
cross, cursing the incredulous, and devoting to the death
and punishment of Judas the impious sceptics who dared to
search into the mysterious ways of Grod. This apparition,
and the menaces of Christ, highly excited the imaginations
of the Proven9als, who had no less faith, according to Kaymond
d'Agiles, in the tales of Barthelemi, than in the