volume one

330 HISTOET OF THE CEUSADES.
Clairvaux, and several councils bowed to his decisions. By
the power of his eloquence alone he humbled the anti-pope
Leo, and placed Innocent II. in the chair of St. Peter.
Pope Innocent III. and Abbot Suger were his disciples.
Prelates, princes, and monarchs glorified themselves in following
his counsels, believing that God spoke by his mouth.
"When the ambassadors from the East arrived in Europe,
Louis YII. had just ascended the throne of France. The
reign of this young monarch begau under the most happy
auspices. Most of the great vassals who had revolted
against the roval authority had laid down their arms and
renounced their pretensions. By a marriage with the
dau2:hter of AVilliam IX., Louis had added the duchy of
Aquitaine to his kingdom. France, in her enlarged condition,
had nothing to fear from neighbouring states, and
whilst civil wars were desolating both England and Grermany,
she flourished in peace under the administration of
Suger.
Peace was not for a moment disturbed but by the unjust
pretensions of the pope and bv the intrigues of Thibaut,
count of Champagne, who took advantage of the ascendancy
he had over the clergy to direct the thunders of the Church
against his sovereign. Louis resisted the attempts of the
Holy See ^vith firmness, and was determined to punish a
rebellious and dangerous vassal. Urged on by a spirit of
blind revenge, he carried fire and sword through the states
of Thibaut ; he besieged A'itri ; was himself first in the
assault, and put to the sword every inhabitant to be met
with in the city. A great number of persons of all ages
had taken refuge in a church, hoping to find the altar a
secure asylum against the anger of a Christian prince ; but
Louis set fire to the church, and thirteen hundred people
perished in the flames. An action so barbarous spread terror
among the nation whom Louis was appointed to render
happv ; when he returned from this expedition to his capital,
the people received him in melancholy silence ; his
ministers allowed him to read their regret in the dejection
of their countenances ; and St. Bernard, like another Ambrosius,
boldly compelled him to hear the complaints of
religion and outraged humanity.
In an eloquent letter, he represented to the monarch the