volume one

HISTORY OF THE CKUSADES. 345
their offerings, tlie enterprise of tbe crusade. According to
the devotion of the times, the greater part of the rich who
died without having seen Jerusalem, left by their will a sum
for the promotion of pilgrimages to the East. All these
pious gifts were, no doubt, considerable, but they could not
suffice for the support of a large army. To porcure the
necessary money Louis YII. had recourse to loans, and levied
imposts, which were regulated and approved of by the
sovereign pontiff. St. Bernard and Peter the Venerable
had exerted themselves with much courage against the persecution
of the Jews ; but the abbot of Cluny thought they
ought to be punished in that which they held dearest, their
wealth, amassed hy usury, and even hy sacrilege. He advised
the king of France to take from the Jews the money necessary
for the war against the Saracens. It is probable that
the advice of Peter the Venerable was not disdained, and
that the Jews furnished a considerable part of the expenses
of the crusade. The clergy also, who had so much enriched
themselves by the first crusade, w-ere obliged to advance
considerable sums for tliis expedition. The monastery of
Pleury alone paid three hundred silver marks and a large
sum in gold. In many other abbeys the vases and church
ornaments were sold to purchase arms, and to pay the
expenses of a war undertaken for the glory of Christ.
The lords and barons followed the example of the king of
Prance. Some pledged or sold their lands, but the greater
part made their vassals furnish means for their pilgrimage.
The hea"sy taxes laid upon the people, and particularly the
spoliation of the churches, excited many complaints, and
began to cool the ardour for the crusade. " There was,"*
says an ancient historian, " neither state, condition, age, nor
sex, Avhich was not forced to contribute to the equipment of
the king and the princes going with him ; whence followed
the discontent of every one, and innumerable maledictions,
as well directed against the king as the troops."
* We quote here the words of Belle Forest, which we should not use
if they were not translations from contemporary chronicles. We will only
repeat a single passage, which is taken from the chronicle of Raoul :
De dicette : Per totam Galliam fit descriptio generalis ; non sexus, non
ordo, non dignitas quempiam excusavit, quin auxilium regi conferret ; cujus
iter multis imprecationibus persequebatur.
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