[43] The cross which the faithful wore in this crusade was of cloth, and sometimes even of red-coloured silk. Afterwards they wore crosses of different colours. The cross, a little in relief, was sewed upon the right shoulder of the coat or mantle, or else fastened on the front of the helmet, after having been blessed by the pope or some bishop. The prayers and ceremonies used on this occasion are still to be found in the Romish ritual. On returning from the Holy Land, they removed this mark from the shoulder and placed it on the back, or else wore it at the neck. ’See Le Père Montfaucon, Ducange, Mailly, and Le Père d’Outremant.)
[44] Robert le Frisin, second son of the count of Flanders, not being allowed a share of the wealth of his house, said to his father, “Give me men and vessels, and I will go and conquer a state among the Saracens of Spain.”
[45] The archbishop of Dol could not refrain from showing his surprise by words very remarkable for the time: Excessit tamen medicina modum, quia plus quàm debuit in quibusdàm eundi voluntas surrepsit.—Baldric, Archiep. lib. i.
[46] The Abbé Guibert quotes the example of a monk who made a large incision on his forehead in the form of a cross, and preserved it with prepared juices. He took care to report that an angel had made this incision, which procured for him, during both the voyage and the war, all the help he could desire. He became archbishop of Cæsarea. Foulque, of Chartres, relates that a vessel with Crusaders having been wrecked on the coast of Brundusium, all the shipwrecked bodies appeared with a kind of cross imprinted on their flesh, and on the very part on which it had been worn on their clothes when they were alive.
[47] Erat eo tempore antequàm gentium fieret tanta profectio, maxima ad invicem hostilitatibus totius Francorum regni facta turbatio; crebra ubique latrocinia, viarum obsessio, passim audiebantur, immo fiebant incendia infinita.—Mox ergo et mirâ et incredibili, ob insperabilitatem, animorum immutatione commoti, signum pontificis præceptione indictum, cruces videlicet, ab episcopis et presbyteris sibi precantur imponi, et sicuti rapidissimi venti impetus solet non magnâ pluviæ undâ restringi, ita illicò contigit ad invicem simultates universarum et bella sopiri, per inditam sibi aspirationem, haud dubium quin Christi.—Guibert, Abb. lib. i. ch. 7.
[48] Tristitia remanentibus, gaudium autem euntibus erat.—Fulc. Carnot.
[49] Videres mirum quiddam, ipsos infantulos, dum obviam habent quælibet castella vel urbes, si hæc esset Jerusalem, ad quam tenderent, rogitare.—Guibert, Abb.
[50] William of Tyre tells us that Walter had exchanged his fortune for the name by which he is known. Latin historians designate him sine habere, sine pecuniâ; the old French chronicles call him, senz avehor, senz-aveir; the English writers term him the penniless. Walter was a Burgundian gentleman. Some historians say that an uncle of Walter the Penniless was first named lieutenant to Peter, and that the latter had not the command till after the death of his uncle, who died just as the pilgrims entered the territories of the Bulgarians.
[51] St. Stephen had been king of Hungary before Coloman, who reigned at the time of the first crusade.
[52] Among the small number of knights in the army of Peter, were Renaud de Breïs, Gauthier de Breteuil, Fealcher d’Orléans, and Godfrey Burel d’Etampes.