Part 3 (2/2)
[Sidenote: _Further Appeals_]
He appealed to every pa.s.sion by captivating prophecies. ”The wealth of the unbelievers shall be yours. You shall plunder their treasuries. Your commander, Christ, will not permit you to want bread or deny you a just reward. There is no crime which may not be absolved by this act of obedience to G.o.d. I offer absolutions for all sins; absolution without penance to all who for this cause will take up arms.... I promise eternal life to all who die on the battle-field or on the way to it. The crusader shall pa.s.s at once to Paradise. I myself must stand aloof, but, like Moses, I will be fervently and successfully praying while you are slaughtering the Amalekites. I will not seek to dry the tears which images so painful for a Christian and for the father of the faithful draw from you. Let us weep over the sins which have withdrawn the favor of G.o.d from us, but let us also weep over the calamities of the Holy City. But if tears be all, we shall leave the heritage of the Lord in the hands of the wicked. How can we sleep in comfort when the children of Jesus Christ live in torments? Christian warriors, eager for pretexts to unsheath your swords, rejoice that to-day you have found a just cause for war. You mercenaries who have hitherto sold your valor for money, go now and merit an eternal reward.... If you must have blood, bathe your sword in the blood of infidels. Soldiers of h.e.l.l become soldiers of the living G.o.d. Remember that 'he who loves father and mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me.' Thus speaks Christ to you to-day.”
[Sidenote: _Spread of Enthusiasm_]
[Sidenote: _Pardon by Fighting_]
Long before this final sentence, Urban's hearers had been lifted to indescribable enthusiasm. A mighty shout as from a single throat answered him: ”G.o.d wills it. G.o.d wills it. We will join the army of G.o.d!” Urban commands the bishops to rouse their dioceses by preaching the instant duty of war for the Holy Sepulcher. The enthusiasm spread everywhere like an infection under ripe conditions. France took the lead; Germany with slower step; the Italians slowest of all, except the Normans who dwelt among them. England contributed least of all, the Normans being still busy in holding what they had won, and Anglo-Saxons too discouraged over their own defeats. Spain had her own anti-Mohammedan battle to fight. Some n.o.blemen, unable to prevent their va.s.sals from going, joined them and took command that they might not wholly lose their authority over them. Many had fought notwithstanding papal prohibition. So many had sins to expiate that they were happy that they could find forgiveness while indulging their chief pa.s.sion, and could wash away their sins by shedding blood.
Here again contemporary chronicles prove that humanity is seldom governed by other than mixed motives. Bishops who were also barons bore the skill in warfare which they had gained in defending their bishoprics in the Crusades. Some of the priests, whose eyes were upon the rich bishoprics of the East, found hope enlarged by arming for the war.
”Knights of G.o.d and Beauty” found a new field in the march to Jerusalem.
The distresses due to scanty harvests in 1094-95 contributed in some measure to the easy gathering of the hosts of the first crusade. Famine seemed so close at hand that those who left their homes had little to lose and much to gain. Nor were the ma.s.ses unwilling to fly from the oppressions and exactions of rulers who claimed the privilege to do wrong by Divine Right.
[Sidenote: _Normans and Saracens_]
[Sidenote: _Marvels Begin_]
Apulia and Sicily had been wrested from the Saracens by a few hundred Normans. This bred confidence in the final result of the war. One of the most curious of the fanaticisms, which developed from the larger fanaticism, was that of the sign of the cross in the flesh. Women and children imprinted crosses on their limbs. A monk who made a large cross on his forehead kept it from healing and colored the gash with prepared juices. He declared it was a miraculous stigma done by an angel, and his lie served him well in abundant help. It is further related that a company of Crusaders being s.h.i.+pwrecked near Brundusium all the bodies had a cross imprinted on their flesh just under where the cross had been sewed on their clothes. Perhaps they had done what the monk did; perhaps poor dyes soaked through. A miracle was in those days the easiest explanation of all marvels.
[Sidenote: _True Religion in the Movement_]
Yet all this was no more than the earth which clings for awhile to all plants which spring from the soil. The essence of the movement as to the ma.s.ses was truly religious and the duties of religion released the doer of ”the will of G.o.d” from all other obligations. The monk from his cloister and the hermit from his cave declared they had heard G.o.d's call.
[Sidenote: _Sacrifices for the Cause_]
Men do not part with property for what they do not deem a valuable consideration. Many at this time surrendered their castles, their lands, their cottages, to ”leave all and follow Him.” Small sums sufficient to eke out the alms of the pilgrimage, were accepted as pay, and, if not forthcoming, the property was abandoned to him who might remain to use it. It seemed as if all Europe was to emigrate to Palestine.
The Crusaders have been ordered to march on the Feast of the a.s.sumption in the year following the November of the Council. The whole winter was given to preparation.
[Sidenote: _Spring Revives Enthusiasm_]
The warmth of spring rekindled the fires of crusading zeal, if indeed they anywhere burned more slowly during the winter cold. Those who had been at first indifferent to the movement now became in large numbers as enthusiastic as those first influenced. Both cla.s.ses set out to the appointed camping places. On horseback, in carts, and on foot, the mult.i.tudes marched. Sin marched with purity, and indulgence with penitence. Prost.i.tutes in arms appeared with the warrior and dragged down many whom devotion sought to uplift. Secular and warlike music was sometimes overcome by psalms and other religious songs.
[Sidenote: _Crazy Enthusiasm_]
[Sidenote: _Ignorance of the Crusaders_]
More pitiful sights could be occasioned only by a famine or pestilence.
Men who had dependent families were followed by the wives and children who could not afford to be separated from their natural protectors. Old men, helpless as to livelihood, dragged after their strong-armed sons.
There was no joy over staying at home. Happiness seemed to abide only with those who were going to war. A stream starting from a village drew other streams from the villages and towns through which it pa.s.sed until a river of humanity rushed on. They did not know the length of their journey, and could not conceive of the dangers they must approach and pa.s.s. Some had been so steadfast in residence as to have no idea of the size of the world even as it was known to other men. Great lords with hounds in front, and falcon on wrist, went out as if the chief aim was to hunt and fish. All were crazed, and at first no sane mind was left to point out the dangers, or prepare a commissariat, or plan a campaign.
CHAPTER III.
THE MARCH AND THE BATTLE.
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