13

monial estates of Paris and Orleans. In this narrow compass he was possessed of wealth and jurisdiction; but in the rest of France Hugh and his first descendants were no more than the feudal lords of about sixty dukes and counts, of independent and hereditary power, 12 who disdained the control of laws and legal assemblies, and whose disregard of their sovereign was revenged by the disobedience of their inferior vassals. At Clermont, in the territories of the count of Auvergne, the pope might brave with impunity the resentment of Philip; and the council which he convened in that city was not les numerous or respectable than the synod of Placentia.14 Besides his court and council of Roman cardinals, he was supported by thirteen archbishops and two hundred and twenty-five bishops; the number of initred prelates was computed at four hundred; and the fathers of the church were blessed by the saints and enlightened by the doctors of the age. From the adjacent kingdoms a martial train of lords and knights of power and renown attended the council,15 in high expectation of its resolves; and such was the ardour of zeal and curiosity, that the city was filled, and many thousands, in the month of November, erected their tents or huts in the open field. A session of eight days produced some useful or edifying canons for the reformation of manners; a severe censure was pronounced against the licence of private war; the Truce of God 16 was confirmed, a suspension of hostilities during four days of the week; women and priests were placed under the safeguard of the church; and a protection of three years was extended to husbandmen and merchants, the defenceless victims of military rapine. But a law, however venerable be the sanction, cannot suddenly transform the temper of the times; and the benevolent efforts of Urban deserve the less praise, since he laboured to appease some domestic quarrels that he might spread the flames of war from the Atlantic to the Euphrates. From the synod of Placentia the rumour of his great design had gone forth among

12 In the provinces to the south of the Loire, the first Capetians were scarcely allowed a feudal supremacy. On all sides, Normandy, Bretagne, Aquitain, Burgundy, Lorraine, and Flanders, contracted the name and limits of the proper France. See Hadrian Vales. Notitia Galliarum.

13 These counts, a younger branch of the dukes of Aquitain, were at length despoiled of the greatest part of their country by Philip Augustus. The bishops of Clermont gradually became princes of the city. Mélanges tirés d'une Grande Bibliothèque, tom. xxxvi. p. 288, &c.

See the Acts of the Council of Clermont, Concil. tom. xii. p. 829, &c.

15 Confluxerant ad concilium e multis regionibus, viri potentes, et honorati, innumeri, quamvis cingulo laicalis militiæ superbi (Baldric, an eye-witness, p. 86-88; Robert. Mon. p. 51, 32; Will. Tyr. i. 14, 15, p. 639-641; Guibert, p. 478-480 [1. ii. c. 2-4]; Fulcher. Carnot. p. 382).

16 The Truce of God (Treva, or Treuga Dei) was first invented in Aquitain, a.D. 1032; blamed by some bishops as an occasion of perjury, and rejected by the Nor mans as contrary to their privileges (Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. vi. n 682-685).

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the nations: the clergy on their return had preached in every diocese the merit and glory of the deliverance of the Holy Land; and when the pope ascended a lofty scaffold in the market-place of Clermont, his eloquence was addressed to a well-prepared and impatient audience. His topics were obvious, his exhortation was vehement, his success inevitable. The orator was interrupted by the shout of thousands, who with one voice, and in their rustic idiom, exclaimed aloud, "God "wills it, God wills it!" 17 "It is indeed the will of God," replied the pope; "and let this memorable word, the inspiration surely of the Holy Spirit, be for ever adopted as your cry of battle, to animate "the devotion and courage of the champions of Christ. His cross is "the symbol of your salvation; wear it, a red, a bloody cross, as an "external mark, on your breasts or shoulders, as a pledge of your "sacred and irrevocable engagement." The proposal was joyfully accepted; great numbers, both of the clergy and laity, impressed on their garments the sign of the cross,18 and solicited the pope to march at their head. This dangerous honour was declined by the more prudent successor of Gregory, who alleged the schism of the church, and the duties of his pastoral office, recommending to the faithful, who were disqualified by sex or profession, by age or infirmity, to aid with their prayers and alms the personal service of their robust brethren. The name and powers of his legate he devolved on Adhemar, bishop of Puy, the first who had received the cross at his hands. The foremost of the temporal chiefs was Raymond, count of Toulouse, whose ambassadors in the council excused the absence, and pledged the honour, of their master. After the confession and absolution of their sins, the champions of the cross were dismissed with a superfluous

17 Deus vult, Deus vult! was the pure acclamation of the clergy who understood Latin (Robert. Mon. 1. i. p. 32). By the illiterate laity, who spoke the Provincial or Limousin idiom, it was corrupted to Deus lo volt, or Dies el volt. See Chron. Casinense, 1. iv. c. 11, p. 497, in Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom. iv., and Ducange (Dissertat. xi. p. 207, sur Joinville, and Gloss. Latin. tom. ii. p. 690), who, in his preface, produces a very difficult specimen of the dialect of Rovergue, A.D. 1100, very near, both in time and place, to the Council of Clermont (p. 15, 16).

18 Most commonly on their shoulders, in gold, or silk, or cloth, sewed on their garments. In the first crusade all were red; in the third the French alone preserved that colour, while green crosses were adopted by the Flemings, and white by the English (Ducange, tom. ii. p. 651). Yet in England the red ever appears the favourite, and, as it were, the national colour of our military ensigns and uniforms.

Michaud is of opinion that the speech of Urban II., though reported by the historians in Latin, was delivered in the Romance language. For though Latin was at that period the language of civil life, it was never the popular idiom; and as the pontiff was a Frenchman, it would have been easy for him to employ the common dialect of the south of France. Hist. des Croisades,

vol. i. p. 108, note. It may be added that Robert the Monk does not represent the exclamation to have been confined to the clergy, but to have been general ("ita "omniam qui aderant affectus in unum "conciliavit, ut omnes acclamarent Deus "vult, Deus vult!"). But as he wrote in Latin, he of course gave the exclamation in Latin.-S.

1

admonition to invite their countrymen and friends; and their departure for the Holy Land was fixed to the festival of the Assumption, the fifteenth of August, of the ensuing year.19

Justice of

So fan...iar, and as it were so natural to man, is the practice of violence, that our indulgence allows the slightest provocathe crusades? tion, the most disputable right, as a sufficient ground of national hostility. But the name and nature of an holy war demands a more rigorous scrutiny; nor can we hastily believe that the servants of the Prince of Peace would unsheath the sword of destruction unless she motive were pure, the quarrel legitimate, and the necessity inevitable. The policy of an action may be determined from the tardy lessons of experience; but before we act, our conscience should be satisfied of the justice and propriety of our enterprise. In the age of the crusades, the Christians, both of the East and West, were persuaded of their lawfulness and merit; their arguments are clouded by the perpetual abuse of Scripture and rhetoric; but tney seem to insist on the right of natural and religious defence, their peculiar title to the Holy Land, and the impiety of their Pagan and Mahometan foes.20 I. The right of a just defence may fairly include our civil and spiritual allies: it depends on the existence of danger; and that danger must be estimated by the twofold consideration of the malice and the power of our enemies. A pernicious tenet has been imputed to the Mahometans, the duty of extirpating all other religions by the sword. This charge of ignorance and bigotry is refuted by the Koran, by the history of the Musulman conquerors, and by their

19 Bongarsius, who has published the original writers of the crusades, adopts, with much complacency, the fanatic title of Guibertus, Gesta DEI per Francos; though some critics propose to read Gesta Diaboli per Francos (Hanoviæ, 1611, two vols. in folio). I shall briefly enumerate, as they stand in this collection, the authors whom I have used for the first crusade. I. Gesta Francorum. II. Robertus Monachus. III. Baldricus. IV. Raimundus de Agiles. V. Albertus Aquensis. VI. Fulcherius Carnotensis. VII. Guibertus. VIII. Willielmus Tyriensis. Muratori has given us, IX. Radulphus Cadomensis de Gestis Tancredi (Script. Rer. Ital. tom. v. p. 285333), and, X. Bernardus Thesaurarius de Acquisitione Terræ Sanctæ (tom. vii. p. 664848). The last of these was unknown to a late French historian, who has given a large and critical list of the writers of the crusades (Esprit des Croisades, tom. i. p. 13-141), and most of whose judgments my own experience will allow me to ratify. It was late before I could obtain a sight of the French historians collected by Duchesne. I. Petri Tudebodi Sacerdotis Sivracensis Historia de Hierosolymitano Itinere (tom. iv. p. 773-815) has been transfused into the first anonymous writer of Bongarsius. II. The Metrical History of the First Crusade, in vii books (p. 890-912), is of small value or account.

20If the reader will turn to the first scene of the First Part of Henry the Fourth, he will see in the text of Shakspeare the natural feelings of enthusiasm; and in the notes of Dr. Johnson the workings of a bigoted, though vigorous, mind, greedy of every pretence to hate and persecute those who dissent from his creed,

Several new documents, particularly from the East, have been collected by the

industry of the modern historians of the crusades, M. Michaud and Wilkon.-M

public and legal toleration of the Christian worship. But it canno be denied that the Oriental churches are depressed under their iror. yoke; that, in peace and war, they assert a divine and indefeasible claim of universal empire; and that, in their orthodox creed, the unbelieving nations are continually threatened with the loss of religion or liberty. In the eleventh century the victorious arms of the Turks presented a real and urgent apprehension of these losses. They had subdued in less than thirty years the kingdoms of Asia, as far as Jerusalem and the Hellespont; and the Greek empire tottered on the verge of destruction. Besides an honest sympathy for their brethren, the Latins had a right and interest in the support of Constantinople, the most important barrier of the West; and the privilege of defence must reach to prevent, as well as to repel, an impending assault. But this salutary purpose might have been accomplished by a moderate succour; and our calmer reason must disclaim the innumerable hosts and remote operations which overwhelmed Asia and depopulated Europe. II. Palestine could add nothing to the strength or safety of the Latins; and fanaticism alone could pretend to justify the conquest of that distant and narrow province. The Christians affirmed that their inalienable title to the promised land had been sealed by the blood of their divine Saviour; it was their right and duty to rescue their inheritance from the unjust possessors, who profaned his sepulchre, and oppressed the pilgrimage of his disciples. Vainly would it be alleged that the pre-eminence of Jerusalem and the sanctity of Palestine have been abolished with the Mosaic law; that the God of the Christians is not a local deity, and that the recovery of Bethlehem or Calvary, his cradle or his tomb, will not atone for the violation of the moral precepts of the Gospel. Such arguments glance aside from the leaden shield of superstition; and the religious mind will not easily relinquish its hola on the sacred ground of mystery and miracle. III. But the holy wars which have been waged in every climate of the globe, from Egypt to Livonia, and from Peru to Hindostan, require the support of some more general and flexible tenet. It has been often supposed,

right, though it may be proper to question the wisdom, of overwhelming the enemy with the armed population of a whole continent, and repelling, if possible, the invading conqueror into his native deserts. The crusades are monuments of human folly! but to which of the more regular wars of civilised Europe, waged for personal ambition or national jealousy, will our calmer reason appeal as monuments either of human justice or human wisdom!

The manner in which the war was conducted surely has little relation to the abstract question of the justice or injustice of the war. The most just and necessary war may be conducted with the most prodigal waste of human life, and the wildest fanaticism; the most unjust with the coolest moderation and consummate generalship. The question is, whether the liberties and religion of Europe were in danger from the aggressions of Mahometanisin if so, it is difficult to limit the.

and sometimes affirmed, that a difference of religion is a worthy cause of hostility, that obstinate unbelievers may be slain or subdued by the champions of the cross; and that grace is the sole fountain of dominion as well as of mercy. Above four hundred years before the first crusade, the castern and western provinces of the Roman empire had been acquired about the same time, and in the same manner, by the barbarians of Germany and Arabia. Time and treaties had legitimated the conquests of the Christian Franks; but in the eyes of their subjects and neighbours the Mahometan princes were still tyrants and usurpers, who, by the arms of war or rebellion, might be lawfully driven from their unlawful possession. 21

Spiritual indulgences.

As the manners of the Christians were relaxed, their discipline of penance 22 was enforced; and with the multiplication of sins motives and the remedies were multiplied. In the primitive church a voluntary and open confession prepared the work of atonement. In the middle ages the bishops and priests interrogated the criminal, compelled him to account for his thoughts, words, and actions, and prescribed the terms of his reconciliation with God. But as this discretionary power might alternately be abused by indulgence and tyranny, a rule of discipline was framed to inform and regulate the spiritual judges. This mode of legislation was invented by the Greeks; their penitentials 23 were translated, or imitated, in the Latin church; and in the time of Charlemagne the clergy of every diocese were provided with a code, which they prudently con cealed from the knowledge of the vulgar. In this dangerous estimate of crimes and punishments each case was supposed, each difference was remarked, by the experience or penetration of the monks; some

21 The vith Discourse of Fleury on Ecclesiastical History (p. 223-261) contains an accurate and rational view of the causes and effects of the crusades.

22 The penance, indulgences, &c., of the middle ages are amply discussed by Muratori (Antiquitat. Italiæ medii Evi, tom. v. dissert. lxviii. p. 709-768) and by M. Chais (Lettres sur les Jubilés et les Indulgences, tom. ii. lettres 21 & 22, p. 478–556), with this difference, that the abuses of superstition are mildly, perhaps faintly, exposed by the learned Italian, and peevishly magnified by the Dutch minister.

23 Schmidt (Histoire des Allemands, tom. ii. p. 211-220, 452-462) gives an abstract of the Penitential of Rhegino in the ninth, and of Burchard in the tenth, century. In one year five-and-thirty murders were perpetrated at Worms.

"God," says the abbot Guibert, "in"vented the crusades as a new way for "the laity to atone for their sins and to "merit salvation." This extraordinary and characteristic passage must be given entire. "Deus nostro tempore prælia "sancta instituit, ut ordo equestris et "vulgus oberrans qui vetustæ Paganitatis "exemplo in mutuas versabantur cædes, "novun reperirent salutis promerendæ genus, ut nec funditus electâ, ut fieri

"

"assolet, monasticâ conversatione, seu "religiosâ quamlibet professione sæculum "relinquere cogerentur; sed sub consuetâ "licentiâ et habitu ex suo ipsorum officio "Dei aliquatenus gratiam consequerentur." Guib. Abbas, p. 471 [1. i. c. 1]. See Wilken, vol. i. p. 63.-M.

William of Tyre paints in the blackest colours the mammers of Europe at this period (lib. i.).-S.