volume one

niSTORT OF THE CRUSADES. 29
pilgrims, he cried three times, " Glory to thee, oh God P^*
and died suddenly in the sight of his companions, who
envied him his fate, and believed themselves witnesses of a
miracle.
The inclination to acquire holiness by the journey to
Jerusalem became at length so general, that the troops of
pilgrims alarmed by their numbers the countries through
which they passed, and although they came not as soldiers,
they were designated " the armies of the Lordr In the
year 1054, Litbert, bishop of Cambrai, set out for the Holy
Land, followed by more than three thousand pilgrims from
the provinces of Picardy and Flanders.f When he began
his march, the people and the clergy accompanied him three
leagues from the city, and mth eyes bathed in tears, implored
of Grod the happy return of their bishop and their
brethren. The pilgrims traversed Germany without encountering
any enemies, but on reaching Bulgaria, they
found none but men who inhabited the forests and subsisted
upon plunder. Many were massacred by these barbarous
people, and some perished with hunger in the midst of the
deserts. Litbert arrived with much difficulty at Laodicea,
embarked with those who followed him, and was cast upon
the coast of Cj^rus by a tempest. He had seen the greater
part of his companions perish, and the remainder were
nearly sinking under their various miseries. Eeturned to
Laodicea, they learnt that still greater dangers awaited
them on the route to Jerusalem. The bishop of Cambrai
felt his courage abandon him, and believed that Grod himself
was opposed to his pilgrimage. He returned through a
thousand dangers to his diocese, where he built a church in
honour of the holy sepulchre, which he had never seen.
Ten years after the voyage of Litbert, seven thousand
Christians, among whom were the archbishop of Mayence,
and the bishops of Spires, Cologne, Bamberg, and Utrecht,
set out together from the banks of the Ehine, to repair
* Raoul Glaber bestows great praise on this pilgrim, named Lethal,
" who," says he, " was not one of those who go to Jerusalem to court
admiration,—ut solummodo mirabiles habeantur.^^
t This pilgrimage of Litbert, or Liebert, is described in his life, written
by Raoul (Radulfus), his contemporary. See vol. iv. month of June,
pp. 595—605, of the BoUandists.