"And we neither command nor advise that the old or feeble, or those incapable of bearing arms, undertake this journey. Nor ought women to set out at all without their husbands, or brothers, or legal guardians. For such are more of a hindrance than aid, more of a burden than an advantage. Let the rich aid the needy; and according to their wealth let them take with them experienced soldiers. The priests and other clerks [clergy], Who should go and who should remain whether secular or regular, are not to go without the consent of their bishop; for this journey would profit them nothing if they went without permission. Also, it is not fitting that laymen should enter upon the pilgrimage without the blessing of their priests.
"Whoever, therefore, shall decide upon this holy pilgrimage, and shall make his vow to God to that effect, and shall offer himself to Him for sacrifice, as a living victim, holy and acceptable to God, shall wear the sign of the cross of the Lord on his forehead or on his breast. When he shall return from his journey, having fulfilled his vow, let him place the cross on his back between his shoulders. Thus shall ye, indeed, by this twofold action, fulfill the precept of the Lord, as He commands in the Gospel, 'He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me'" [Luke, xiv. 27].
52. The Starting of the Crusaders (1096)
The appeals of Pope Urban at Clermont and elsewhere met with ready response, especially among the French, but also to a considerable extent among Italians, Germans, and even English. A great variety of people were attracted by the enterprise, and from an equal variety of motives. Men whose lives had been evil saw in the crusade an opportunity of doing penance; criminals who perhaps cared little for penance but much for their own personal safety saw in it an avenue of escape from justice; merchants discovered in it a chance to open up new and valuable trade; knights hailed it as an invitation to deeds of valor and glory surpassing any Europe had yet known; ordinary malcontents regarded it as a chance to mend their fortunes; and a very large number of people looked upon it as a great spiritual obligation laid upon them and necessary to be performed in order to insure salvation in the world to come. By reason of all these incentives, some of them weighing much more in the mediæval mind than we can understand to-day, the crusade brought together men, women, and children from every part of Christendom. Both of the accounts given below of the assembling and starting of the crusaders are doubtless more or less exaggerated at certain points, yet in substance they represent what must have been pretty nearly the actual facts.
William of Malmesbury was an English monk who lived in the first half of the twelfth century and wrote a very valuable Chronicle of the Kings of England, which reached the opening of the reign of Stephen (1135). He thus had abundant opportunity to learn of the first crusade from people who had actually participated in it. His rather humorous picture of the effects of Pope Urban's call is thus well worth reading. Better than it, however, is the account by the priest Fulcher of Chartres (1058-1124)—better because the writer himself took part in the crusade and so was a personal observer of most of the things he undertook to describe. Fulcher, in 1096, set out upon the crusade in the company of his lord, Etienne, count of Blois and Chartres, who was a man of importance in the army of Robert of Normandy. With the rest of Robert's crusaders he spent the winter in Italy and arrived at Durazzo in the spring of 1097. He had a part in the siege of Nicæa and in the battle of Dorylæum, but not in the siege of Antioch. Before reaching Jerusalem, in 1099, he became chaplain to a brother of Godfrey of Bouillon and was already making progress on his "history of the army of God."
Sources—(a) Guilielmus Monachi Malmesburiensis, De gestis regum Anglorum [William of Malmesbury, "Chronicle of the Kings of England">[, Bk. IV., Chap. 2. Adapted from translation by John Sharpe (London, 1815), p. 416.
(b) Fulcherius Carnotensis, Historia Iherosolimitana: gesta Francorum Iherusalem peregrinantium [Fulcher of Chartres, "History of the Crusade to Jerusalem: the Deeds of the French Journeying Thither">[, Chap. 6. Text in Recueil des Historiens des Croisades: Historiens Occidentaux (Paris, 1866), Vol. III., p. 328.
(a)
Immediately the fame of this great event,[398] being spread through the universe, penetrated the minds of Christians with its mild breath, and wherever it blew there was no nation, however distant and obscure, that did not send some of its people. This zeal animated not only the provinces bordering on the Mediterranean, but all who had ever even heard of the name Christian in the most remote isles, and among barbarous nations. Then the Welshman abandoned his forests and neglected his hunting; the Scotchman deserted the fleas with which he is so Universal interest in the crusade familiar; the Dane ceased to swallow his intoxicating draughts; and the Norwegian turned his back upon his raw fish. The fields were left by the cultivators, and the houses by their inhabitants; all the cities were deserted. People were restrained neither by the ties of blood nor the love of country; they saw nothing but God. All that was in the granaries, or was destined for food, was left under the guardianship of the greedy agriculturist. The journey to Jerusalem was the only thing hoped for or thought of. Joy animated the hearts of all who set out; grief dwelt in the hearts of all who remained. Why do I say "of those who remained"? You might have seen the husband setting forth with his wife, with all his family; you would have laughed to see all the penates[399] put in motion and loaded upon wagons. The road was too narrow for the passengers, and more room was wanted for the travelers, so great and numerous was the crowd.[400]
(b)