An exchange was effected, by which Richilda and the Frison regained their liberty. The countess immediately set about raising fresh troops to avenge the death of her boy. The contending armies met again; this time at Broqueroi, near Mons, where the troops of Richilda were routed with so terrible a slaughter that the scene of the conflict was afterwards known under the name of "the Hedges of Death." All hope now fled the breast of Richilda. Escaping from the field, she took refuge in a convent, where the rest of her days were passed under the severest penances—to atone, as folks said, for her past dealings with the Prince of Darkness.
VI.
The Crusades—French, German, and Genoese Amazons—Eleonora of Aquitaine—Matilda of Boulogne—Empress Maud—Aldrude, Countess of Bertinoro—Empress Constantia—Nichola de Camville (Barons' Wars)—Blanche of Castille, Queen-Regent of France—Women of Culm—Blanche de Rossi—Black Agnes, Countess of March—Countess de Montfort—Julia du Guesclin—Jane de Belleville, Lady of Clisson—Marzia—Margaret, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, the Semiramis of the North—Fair Maiden Lilliard (Chevy Chase)—Lady Pelham—Philippa, Queen of Denmark.
IT would be difficult at the present day to appreciate the wild enthusiasm spread throughout Europe by the preaching of Peter the Hermit. Thousands from all classes—kings, princes, nobles, priests, peasants, beggars, all alike impelled by the same blind impulse, many amongst them scarcely knowing where they were going or for what they went to fight,—hastened to take up arms against the Infidel. The enthusiasm was not, as it would probably in our days, confined to one, nor even to three or four nations. "There were men," says Robert of Gloucester:—
"Of Normandy, of Denmark, of Norway, of Bretagne,
Of Wales, and of Ireland, of Gascony, of Spain,
Of Provence, of Saxony, and of Allemayne,
Of Scotland, and of Greece, of Rome and Aquitaine."