volume one

340 HISTOET OF THE CETJSADES.
Ms steps, and only owed liis safety to the emperor of Germany,
Avho took him in his arms, and drove back the people,
who were impatient to see and touch him whom they regarded
as the interpreter and messenger of God.
After having set German}^ in a blaze ^vith his preaching,
and revived the zeal of the countries of Italy by his pathetic
letters, St. Bernard returned to Trance, to announce the
success of his mission. His absence had suspended every-
thing, and that multitude of Crusaders, upon whom his eloquence
had acted so powerfully, appeared to have neither
chief, direction, nor rallying-point whilst he was not in the
midst of them. The king of France and the nobles of the
kingdom, assembled at Etampes, had formed no resolution ;
but the return of St. Bernard restored life to the councils
of the princes and the barons, and made them resume with
new ardour the enterprise of the holy war.
When he made, before the lords and prelates, the recital
of his journey, and of the prodigies God had effected by
his hand; when he spoke of the determination he had
induced the emperor of Germany to form, a determination
which he called the miracle of miracles, all hearts expanded
with enthusiasm, and were filled with hope and joy.
At the same time several ambassadors appeared in the
assembly of Etampes, to announce that their princes had
determined to enrol themselves under the banners of the
cross ; and letters were read from distant countries, by
which a great number of foreign lords and barons promised
to join the Erench in their projected expedition against the
Saracens. Erom that period no doubt was entertained of
the happy results of the crusade ; and the zeal which was
displayed by all the nations of Europe was considered as a
manifest expression of the will of Heaven.
Among the ambassadors who were present at the assembly
of Etampes were some from Roger, king of Apulia and
Sicily, who offered the Crusaders vessels and provisions, and
promised to send his son with them to the Holy Land, if
they determined to go by sea. The Sicilian deputies re-
minded the king of France and his barons of the perfidy of
" Tou
the Greeks towards the Franks in the first crusade.
may," said they, "brave the forces of the most powerful
nations, but nothing can secure you against the artifices and