volume one

436 msTOEY OF the cetjsades.
v\-ere not the less prepared for a new cnisade by tliera, and
all Europe was soon roused by the voice of Gregory YIII,,
who exhorted the faithful to assume the cross and take up
arms. The first care of the sovereign pontiff was to re-
establish peace among Christian nations ;
and with that view
he repaired to Pisa, to endeavour to terminate the angry
disputes that had arisen between the Pisans and the
Grenoese. Gresrorv died without finishinsr the work he had
begun, and left the direction of the crusade to his successor,
Clement III., who, immediately after his accession to the
pontifical throne, ordered prayers for the peace of the AVest
and the deliverance of the land of the pilgrims.
"William.* archbishop of Tvre, had quitted the East to
come into Europe to solicit the assistance of the Christian
princes, and was charged by the pope to preach the holy war.
AYilliam was more able and more eloquent than Heraclius,
who had preceded him in this mission, and, further, more
worthy by his virtues of being the interpreter of the Chris-
tians, and to speak in the name of Christ. After ha^'ing
awakened the zeal of the nations of Italy, he repaired to
Prance, and \\a.s present at an assembly convoked near
Gisors, by Henry II. of Eno;land, and Philip Augustus of
Prance. On the arrival of William, these two kings, who
were at war for the country of Yexin, laid down their arms.
The bravest warriors of France and England, tinited by the
dangers of their brothers of the East, came to the assembly
whose object was the deliverance of the holy places. William
was received with enthusiasm, and read with a loud
* Marin, in Lis History of Saladin, and several others after him, have
pretended that the William who came into Europe to preach the crusade,
was not the author of the Hiatory of Jerusalem. This assertion is founded
on an obscure passage of Hugh de Plagon, and is not at all confirmed by
the testimony of contemporary hi-torians. Matthew Paris, and all the
other authors of the time, give the name of \Villiam to the archbishop of
Tyre who came into Europe ; if this William had not been the same as
the historian of this name, would it not have been remarked by contemporary
chronicles .' AH these chronicles give us some details of the birth
and life of William, author of the History of Jerusalem ; and if another
William, archbi.-hop of Tyre, came into the West, why have not the
historians of the time made him known, and said something of him .' His
mission was sufficiently important, the see in which he was placed attracted
attention enough, fjr the second to be mentioned as well as the first, if
tliere was one.