volume one

38 mSTOEY OF THE CEVSADES.
noble fhoughts. Among the nations of tlie "West, as they
were vet unacquainted with the di^puted dogmas of Christianity,
it had more empii'e over their minds, it disposed
their hearts more to enthusiasm, and formed amongst them,
at once, both saints and heroes.
Although rehgion might not always preach its doctrines
with success, and its influence was subject to abuse, it
had a tendency to soften the manners of the barbarous
people that had invaded Europe ; it afforded a holy authority
to the weak ; it inspii^ed a salutary fear in the
strong, and frequently corrected the injustice of human
laws.
In the midst of the darkness which covered Europe, the
Christian rehgion alone preserved the memory of times past,
and kept up some degree of emulation among men. It
presented, also, for happier days, the language of the royal
people, the only one capable of expressing the grand and
noble ideas of moral virtue, in which the genius of legis-
lation had elevated its most splendid monuments. "V^hilst
despotism and anarchy pervaded the cities and the kingdoms
of the ~W"est, the people invoked religion against t}Tanny,
and the princes called in its aid against license and revolt.
Often, mid the troubles of states, the title of Christian
inspired more respect, and awakened more enthusiasm than
did the name of citizen in ancient Eome. As the Christian
religion had preceded all the then existing institutions, it naturallv
remamed for a lone: time surrounded bv the veneration
and love of the people. Under more than one relation the
nations appeared to recognise no other legislators than the
lathers of the councils, no other code than that of the gospel
and the holy Scriptui'es. Europe might be considered as a
religious society, wherein the preservation of the faith was
the principal interest, and in which men belonged more to
the church than to the countiw. In such a state of thincrs
it was easy to inflame the minds of the people, by showing
them that the cause of religion and of Christians stood in
need of defence.
Ten years before the invasion of Asia Minor bv the Turks,
Michael Ducas, the successor of Eomanus-Diogenes, had implored
the assistance of the pope and the princes of the
West. He had promised to remove all the barriers which