volume one

—
f
niSTOET OF THE CllUSADES. 439
land, all took the oath to deliver the Holy Land. The
whole assembly shouted the words " the Cross ! tlie Cross V
and this war-cry soon resounded through all the proA-inces.
The spot on which the Mthful met was afterwards called the
sacredJield, and a church was built upon it to preserve the
remembrance of the pious devotion of the Christian knights.
As money was wanting to carry out the holy enterprise, it
was resolved in the council of the princes and bishops that
all who did not take the cross should pay a tenth part of
their revenues and of the value of their property of all kinds.
The terror which the arms of Saladin had inspired, caused
the name of the Saladin tithe to be given to this tax. Excommunications
were published agamst all such as refused
to pay a debt so sacred. In vain the clergy, of whom Peter
of Blois undertook the defence, alleged the'liberty and independence
of the Church, and pretended they could not be
called on to assist the Crusaders otherwise* than by their
prayers ; the ecclesiastics were told that they ought to set
the example, that the clergy was not the Church, and that
the wealth of the Church iDelonged to Christ. The orders
of the Chartreux, of Citeaux and Fontevi-ault, with the hospital
for lepers, were all that were exempt from a tribute
raised for a cause which was believed to be that of all
Christians.*
In the two first crusades, the greater part of the villagers
who had taken the cross, had done so to emancipate themselves
from slavery. Some disorders naturally resulted from
this ; the country was deserted, the lands were uncultivated
in this crusade means were taken to set bounds to the too
forward zeal of the labourers : all serfs who em-olled them-
selves for the holy war, without the permission of their
lords, were condemned to pay the Saladin tithe, as if they
had not taken the cross.
JN"otwithstanding all this excitement, the peace which had
* For the history of this period, the following authors may be consulted
with advantage: The Acts of Ryraer, the historian Riijord, Roger
of Hoveden, Matthew Paris, William of Newbridge, the Chronicle of
Alberic of Trois Fontaines, Otho of St. Blaise, Brompton, the Chronicle
of Gervais, &c.
t "The noblest monument of a conqueror's fame and of the terror
which he inspired, is the Saladin tenth." Gibbon,—Trans.
—
;