volume one

24:8 niSTOEX OF THE CRUSADES.
his duchy more than a year. By this delay he lost the
opportunity of ascending the throne of England, to which,
after the death of his brother AYilliam Eufus, his birth, and
the great reno\^'n he had acquired in the crusade, gave him
undoubted right. AYhen at length he returned to Isovmandy,
he was received with transports of admiration and
joy ; but upon resuming the reins of government, he showed
nothing but weakness ; he gave himself up entirely to de-
•bauchery, and surrounded himself by none but dissipated,
greedy courtiers, who drew upon him the hatred of his subjects.
His brother, Henry I., who had succeeded William
liufus, took advantage of the degraded condition of Eobert,
and the contempt into which he was fallen, to take possession
of Xormandy. At the end of a battle this finfortunate
prince was made prisoner by his brother, who led him in
triumph to England, and caused him to be confined in the
castle of Carditf, in the province of Grlamorgan. The remembrance
of his exploits in the Holy Land had no effect in
mitigating his misfortunes. After twenty-eight years of
captivity, he died forgotten by his subjects, his allies, and
the ancient companions of his glor^'.
The return of the Crusaders, and the account of their
conquests, excited great enthusiasm, and renewed the eagerness
for crusades and pilgrimages among the nations of the
West. They were not now affected by the passion for delivering
the holy places, but by that of visiting and defending
them. Europe exhibited a second time the scenes which
had followed the council of Clermont ; new discourses were
heard, and fresh miracles related. Cities, lands, and castles
M'ere again offered for sale. He who preferred repose and
his country to the glory of the holy pilgrimage passed for a
very lukewarm Christian ; whilst all who had quitted the
standard of the crusade were objects of contempt in the
eves of the faithful, and were threatened with the thunders
of the Church,
A general cry was raised against the brother of the king
of France, who could not be pardoned for ha\'ing abandoned
the Christian armv in a cowardly manner, and retuimed to
Europe A^-ithout seeing Jerusalem. Stephen, count of
Chartres and Blois, was not allowed to remain in peace in
his states and family ; his people were astonished at his