volume one

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332 HISTOET OF THE CEUSADES.
and the doctrines of the Church. Eugenius had to contend
against the troubles excited by Arnold of Bressia; and
nothing was talked of in the capital of the Christian world
but rebuilding the Capitol, and substituting for the pontifical
authoritv that of the consuls and tribunes of ancient Eome.
In such a state of things, a great event like that of a crusade
was hkelv to turn men's minds from dansrerous novelties,
and make them rallv round the sanctuarv. The sovereiom
pontiif could not avoid seeing in a holy war the double
advantage of defending Jerusalem against the enterprises of
the Saracens, and the Chui'ch and himself against the attacks
of heretics and innovators. Eugenius congratulated the
king of Prance on his pious determination, and bj his
letters again exhorted all Christians to assume the cross
and take up arms, promising them the same privileges and
the same rewards that Urban II. had granted to the warriors
of the first crusade. Detained in Italy, where he was
engaged m appeasmg the troubles of Eome, he regretted
not being able, as Urban had done, to cross the Alps, and
reanimate the zeal of the faitliful by his presence and his
discourses ; but he confided to St. Bernard the honourable
mission of preaching the crusade in France and G-ermany.
After having received the approbation of the Holy See,
Louis convoked a new assembly at Yezelai, a little city of
Burgundy ; and the reputation of St. Bernard and the letters
addressed by the pope to all Christendom, drew to this
assembly a great number of nobles, knights, prelates, and
men of all conditions. On the Palm-Sunday, after having
invoked the Holy Grhost, all who had come to hear the abbot
of Clairvaux repaired to the side of a hill just without the
gates of the city. A large tribune was erected, in which
the king in his royal robes, and St. Bernard in the humble
costume of a cenobite, were saluted bv the acclamations of
an immense multitude. The orator of the crusade first read •
the letters of the sovereign pontift', and then spoke to his
auditors of the taking of Edessa by the Saracens, and of the
desolation of the holy places. He showed them the universe
plunged in terror on learning that God had begun to desert
his beloved land ;* he represented to them the city of Sion as
* Commota est quidem et contremuit terra, quia coepit Deus coeli perdere
terram suam. St. Bernard, epist, cccxxii.