volume one

284 HISTOET OF THE CEUSADES.
name of tlie Church, to raise in Europe an army to repair
his misfortimes and avenge the cause of Grod.
Bohemond next went to France, where his adventures and
exploits had made his name familiar to all classes. He presented
himself at the court of Philip I., who received him
with the orreatest honours, and s^ave him his daus^hter Constance
in marriage. Amidst the festi\"ities of the court,
he was by turns the most brilliant of knights and the most
ardent of missionaries ; he attracted general admiration
by his skill in the tournaments, and preached war against
the enemies of the Christians. He easily fired hearts already
glowing "uith a love of military' glory ; and a great number
of knights contended for the honour of accompam*ing him
into the East. He crossed the Pvrenees and raised soldiers
in Spain ; he returned into Italy and met every^vhere with
the same eagerness to follow him. All preparations being
completed, he embarked at Bari, and sailed towards the territories
of the Greek emperor, where his threats and the
fame of his expedition had already spread terror.
The prince of Antioch never ceased to animate by his
speeches the ardour of his numerous companions : to some
he represented the G-reeks as the allies of the ^Mussulmans
and the enemies of Christ ; to others he spoke of the riches
of Alexius, and promised them the spoils of the empire. He
was on the point of realizing his brilliant hopes, when he
was, all at once, abandoned bv that fortune which had
hitherto performed such prodigies in his favour.
The city of Durazzo, of which he had undertaken the
siege, for a long time resisted all his eiforts ; disease, in the
meanwhile, ravaging his army. The warriors who had followed
him in the hopes of pillage, or from a desire to visit
the Holy Land, deserted his standard ; he was forced to make
a disgi'aceful peace with the emperor he had endeavoured to
dethrone, and came back to die in despair in the little principality
of Tarentum, which he had abandoned for the conquest
of the East.
The unfortunate issue of this crusade, which was directed
entirelv as^ainst the Greeks, became fatal to the Christians
estabhshed ia Svria, and deprived them of the succours they
had reason to expect from the West. Tancred, who still
governed Antioch, in the absence and after the death of
^-T^o^iiond, was attacked several times by the Saracens