volume one

IIISTOBY OF THE CEUSADES. §5
prevent them, determined to follow tliem as military chiefs,
in order to preserve some portion of their authority. The
greater part of the counts and barons had no hesitation in
quitting Em-ope, which the council had declared to be in a
state of peace, as it no longer aftbrded them an opportunity
of distinguishing themselves by their valour ; they had all
many crimes to expiate; "they were promised," says
Montesquieu, " expiation in the indulgence of their
dominant passion,—they took up, therefore, the cross and
arms."
The clergy themselves set the example. Many of the
bishops, w^ho bore the titles of coimts and barons, and who
were accustomed to make war in defence of the rights of
their bishoprics, thought it their duty to arm for the cause
of Jesus Christ. The priests, to give greater weight to
their exhortations, themselves assumed the cross ; a great
number of pastors resolved to follow their flocks to Jeru-
salem ; not a few of them, as we shall see hereafter, having
in their minds the rich bishoprics of Asia, and allowing
themselves to be led by the hope of some day occupying the
most celebrated sees of the Eastern church.
In the midst of the anarchy and troubles v»^hich had desolated
Europe since the reign of Charlemagne, there had
arisen an association of noble knights, who wandered over
the world in search of adventures ; they had taken an oath
to protect innocence, to fight against infidels, and, by a
singular contrast, called themselves the Champions of God
and of Beauti/, The religion which had consecrated their
institution and blessed their sword, called them to its defence,
and the order of chivahy, which owes a great part of its
splendour and progress to the holy wars, saw its warriors
hasten to range themselves under the banners of the cross.
Ambition was, perhaps, not foreign to the devotion for
the cause of Christ. If religion promised its rewards to
those who were going to fight for it, fortune promised them,
likewise, riches and the thrones of the earth. All who
returned from the East, spoke with enthusiasm of the wonders
they had seen, and of the rich provinces they had traversed.
It was known that two or three himdred Norman pilgrims
had conquered Apulia and Sicily from the Saracens. The
lands occupied by the infidels appeared to be heritages pro-