Heroines of the Crusades Part 7

"Courage, my good brother," said Adela, with enthusiasm. "Thou shalt wander no more. Count Stephen will put thee in the way to mend thy fortunes; and, perchance, thou wilt one day inherit the proud fiefs of both thy brothers. See! yonder gleams the spires of Blois. But what knightly train proceeds up the broad avenue of the castle. Listen! The warder sounds his bugle blast, and the drawbridge is lowered. Put thy horse to his mettle; these laggards may follow at their leisure." So saying the countess and her brother dashed forward, and entered the court-yard just as the retinue of the Duke of Normandy wound up the staircase, leading to the great hall.

At sight of Robert, Henry's eye flashed, and with an indignant gesture he turned to depart, but Adela, with a determined air, laid her hand upon his arm. "Remain," said she, "that portcullis bars all egress from the castle, and yon proud duke shall not escape till he has done thee ample justice."

Earl Stephen gave a cordial welcome to Robert, and greeted his countess with much affection, but the entrance of Henry threw him into evident perturbation, nor did it relieve his embarra.s.sment to see his wife, with characteristic heroism, advance between the rival brothers, and fix her flashing eyes upon Robert.

The n.o.ble conduct of the repentant duke happily averted the gathering storm.

"Spare thy reproaches, sweet sister," said he, "and thou, my brother, forgive the grievous injuries thou hast suffered, and accept the only reparation that lieth in my power. I restore unto thee Cotenten, and would but for my poverty indemnify thee for thy losses. I have determined on a visit to the Holy Land; and I would dispose my worldly affairs, so that should I never return, man shall not accuse me before the throne of G.o.d."

The frankness of his confession, and the seriousness of his manner, allayed the resentment of Henry, and effected an apparent reconciliation.

Harmony being thus restored, Robert proceeded at proper intervals to unfold the desires and purposes that had brought him once again to counsel with Adela.

Since the treaty which confirmed William in the sovereignty of England, not only, but secured to him several strong fortresses in Normandy, the duke had resigned himself to listlessness and luxury. In his aimless expeditions his attention had been frequently attracted by the appearance of a monk, who embodied in himself the spirit of a hermit, a pilgrim, and a soldier. His head was bare, his feet naked. His diminutive figure, attenuated by frequent abstinence, was wrapped in a coa.r.s.e garment. His prayers were long and fervent, and the enthusiasm that gleamed in his eyes kindled the fires of holy zeal, in every town, village, and hamlet through which he pa.s.sed. As he rode along, every street and highway was thronged with people, who worshipped the weighty crucifix he bore aloft, and listened with sighs and tears, while he depicted the sufferings of the Christians of Palestine, and with loud and frequent appeals to Christ and the holy mother, challenged the warriors of the age to defend their brethren, and rescue the tomb of the Saviour from the dominion of Infidels.

Robert's curiosity was excited. He joined the eager crowds that followed the steps of the monk, and listened to the thrilling words till the latent desire of pilgrimage that had long slumbered in his mind awoke to life and activity, and he became a convert to the preachings of Peter the Hermit.

But while he hesitated at the palmer's gown and staff, the united voices of chivalry and religion, bade him don his armor and draw his sword.

In the general council of the church, at Placentia, the amba.s.sadors of the Greek Emperor Alexius Comnenus had portrayed the distress of their sovereign, and the danger of Constantinople, from the victorious Turks.

The sad tales of the misery and perils of the eastern brethren, drew tears from the a.s.sembly, and several champions declared their readiness to march to the East.

The Greeks were dismissed with a.s.surances of speedy and powerful succor.

Pope Urban had given his sanction to the scheme, and summoned a second council to meet in Clermont the following November, to confer upon measures for sending armed forces into Asia.

It was to secure the concurrence of Adela, and the co-operation of Stephen, that Robert now came to Blois.

The representations of her brother, and the subject of his discourse renewed, in the memory of Adela, the fancy sketches of her childhood, and called up the half-formed purposes of her early youth. With the clear-sightedness peculiar to her character, she scanned the wide field thus opened to ambition, balanced the possible with the impracticable, determined for her brother the only course that would give free scope to his knightly abilities, and coveting for her husband a share in the glorious enterprise, persuaded him to embrace the scheme, and thus rendered herself really the "_Heroine of the First Crusade_."

CHAPTER X.

"Onward they came, a dark continuous cloud Of congregated myriads numberless."

"To dispose of his worldly affairs so that man might not accuse him before the throne of G.o.d," was a more serious and protracted work than the Duke of Normandy had antic.i.p.ated. The patience of Stephen was in consequence nearly exhausted, in waiting his preparations, and it was not till the council of Clermont had been several days in session, that the n.o.bles entered the district of Auvergne. As they approached the place of meeting, the highways were thronged by the eager crowds that flocked towards the city; and all the plains as far as the eye could reach, were dotted with tents and booths, that afforded temporary shelter for the thousands that could not find accommodation in the town.

On the morning of the eighth day, at an early hour, the reverend clergy, with the pope at their head, ascended a wooden pulpit, erected in the midst of the concourse, and declared to them the decrees of the synod, concerning the various matters at that time agitating the church. But ecclesiastical decisions and local interests were lost in the absorbing theme that occupied every heart. The blessing of Heaven was invoked upon their deliberations; and a stillness fell upon the waiting mult.i.tudes, like the hush of winds before the mighty storm, while the Monk of Amiens in a voice of persuasive eloquence and power, told them how terrible were the sufferings of their brethren in the East, and how burdensome was the tribute exacted by the inhuman Mussulmans. He stated that lodging in the house of Simon, the patriarch of Jerusalem, he had become an eye-witness of these enormities, and had been commissioned to invite all the princes of the West, to contribute towards their remedy; that on a certain day filled with grief, he had entered the church of the Resurrection, and given himself to prayer, till at length sinking upon the cold stone pavement, there had breathed upon his senses,--first a soft strain like a shepherd's flute, swelling into a heavenly harmony, such as the advent angels sung, and then, triumphant anthems deepening into the trumpet's thunder tone, and the discordant clash of armor; that like Elijah of old he had afterwards heard a still small voice, saying, "Arise, Peter, make haste and fulfil without fear, what I have enjoined upon thee; for I will be with thee. It is time for the holy places to be purified, and for my servants to be succored in their distress;" that immediately after the seraphic vision had beamed upon his sight, the brightness of the light awoke him; when he beheld lying upon the altar a letter containing the words of the Saviour; and his own pilgrim's staff transformed into a sword.

The Hermit ceased; and held up the miraculous scroll before the eyes of all the people. A wailing swept over the vast throng, and the whole mult.i.tude bowed, as the forest bends before the first rush of the tempest.

Seizing upon the favorable moment, the pontiff arose and addressed the a.s.sembly. "My brethren and dearest children, whether kings, princes, marquises, counts, barons, or knights, all you who have been redeemed by the bodily pa.s.sion, and shedding of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, hear the complaints of G.o.d himself, which are addressed to you concerning the wrongs and unlooked-for injuries, which have been done to him in Asia, where sprang the first germs of our faith, where the Apostles suffered martyrdom, and where at the present day, the persecuted christians with stifled sighs, long for a partic.i.p.ation in your liberties. Have compa.s.sion upon your brethren that dwell in Jerusalem, and in the coasts thereof,--check the insolence of the barbarians, and you will be extolled throughout all ages--let your zeal in the expedition atone for the rapine, theft, homicide, licentiousness, and deeds of incendiarism, by which you have provoked the Lord to anger,--turn against the enemies of Christ those weapons, which you have hitherto stained with blood, in battles and tournaments against yourselves. To those present, I command this; to those absent, I enjoin it. For ourselves we will trust in the mercy of the Almighty G.o.d, and in virtue of the power He has given us, and by the authority of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, we absolve all who engage in this holy war, from all the offences which they shall repent in their hearts, and with their lips confess, and in the retribution of the just we promise to the same an increased portion of eternal salvation. And this forgiveness shall extend also to those who contribute by their substance or counsel to its success. Go then, brave soldiers, and secure to yourselves fame throughout the world. G.o.d will accompany you on your march--the season of the year be propitious, both by the abundance of fruits, and by the serenity of the elements. Those who shall die, will sit down in the Heavenly guest-chamber, and those who survive will set their eyes on the Saviour's sepulchre. Happy are they who are called to this expedition, that they may see the holy places in which our Lord conversed with man, and where to save them he was born, crucified, died;--was buried and rose again. Take then the road before you in expiation of your sins, and go a.s.sured that after the honors of this world have pa.s.sed away, imperishable glory shall await you, even in the kingdom of Heaven."

Loud shouts of 'G.o.d wills it,' 'G.o.d wills it,' p.r.o.nounced simultaneously in all the different dialects, and languages, spoken by the nations of which the mult.i.tude was composed, for a moment interrupted the prelate.

Commanding silence by a motion of the hand, he resumed.

"Dear brethren, to-day is shown forth in you, that which the Lord has said by his evangelist, 'When two or three shall be a.s.sembled in my name, there shall I be in the midst of them.' For if the Lord G.o.d had not been in your souls you would not all have p.r.o.nounced the same words, or rather G.o.d himself p.r.o.nounced them by your lips, for it was He who put them in your hearts. Be they then your war-cry in the combat, for those words came forth from G.o.d. Let the army of the Lord when it rushes upon his enemies, shout but that one cry, 'Deus vult,' 'Deus vult.' Oh brave knights!

remember the virtues of your ancestors; and if you feel held back from the course before you, by the soft ties of wives, of children, of parents, call to mind the words of our Lord himself, 'Whosoever loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whosoever shall abandon for my name's sake, his house, or his brethren, or his sisters, or his father, or his mother, or his wife, or his children, or his lands, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit eternal life.' Gird yourselves then, my brave warriors, for the battle, and let him who is ready to march, bear the holy cross of the Lord upon his shoulders, in memory of that precept of the Saviour, 'He who does not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me.'"

The agony of conflicting emotions that shook the a.s.sembled throngs, burst forth in a storm of sighs, groans, and tears, and as the trees of the forest fall prostrate in the blast, the agitated mult.i.tudes sank upon their knees, smote their b.r.e.a.s.t.s in sorrow, poured forth their confessions, and consecrated their persons and their property to the Holy Crusade.

CHAPTER IX.

"There the wild Crusaders form, There a.s.sembled Europe stands, Heaven they deem awakes the storm, h.e.l.l the paynims' blood demands."

CARLYLE.

The results of the council of Clermont were speedily felt throughout Europe. No nation was so remote, no people so retired, but, gaining the intelligence by common rumor, or miraculous revelation, commenced preparations for the mighty enterprise.

The Welshman forsook his hunting,--the Scot his native mountains,--the Dane forgot his wa.s.sail-bowl,--the Norwegian left his fishing-tackle on the sand. Whatever was stored in granaries or h.o.a.rded in chambers, to answer the hopes of the avaricious husbandman, or the covetousness of the miser, all was deserted, or bartered for military equipments.

"Zeal and sympathy, and indignation and chivalrous feeling, and the thirst for glory, and the pa.s.sion for enterprise, and a thousand vague, but great and n.o.ble aspirations, mingled in the complicated motive of the Crusade.

It increased by contagion--it grew by communion--it spread from house to house--and from bosom to bosom--it became a universal desire--an enthusiasm--a pa.s.sion--a madness."

Princes labored like peasants at the forge or in the armory. High-born dames abandoned their embroidery, and employed their delicate fingers in fabricating garments for the retainers of their lords.

The Countess of Blois laid aside the famous Bayeux tapestry, which her mother had left for her completion, and accompanied her husband from castle to castle, through all their wide domains, presiding over the labors of her maidens, while with pious zeal they st.i.tched the red cross upon the surcoats of the warriors.

Robert pledged his ducal domains to the grasping Rufus, for a sum of money scarcely sufficient to meet the expenses of the expedition; and Edgar Atheling bestowing his orphan nieces in the nunnery of Wilton, joined the train of his friend.

G.o.dfrey, Duke of Lorraine, a prince of the royal house of France, a.s.sembled his followers, from the banks of the Rhine to the Elbe; Raimond of Toulouse, and Adhemar, bishop of Puy, called the Moses and Aaron of the host, collected the Goths and Gascons, and all the mingled people between the Pyrenees and the Alps; Bohemond of Apulia commanded the tribes from the Tuscan sea to the Adriatic, while volunteers from all parts of Europe flocked to the standards of these n.o.ble leaders, or joined the band of the Hermit himself.

The long-looked-for time was now at hand, when the h.o.a.ry garb of winter being laid aside, the world clad in vernal bloom, invited the pilgrims to the confines of the East. And in the beginning of March, 1097, the ma.s.ses of European population began to roll. The first band that swept on through Germany into Hungary consisted of twenty thousand footmen, marshalled under Walter the Penniless. Then followed Peter the Hermit, with forty thousand men, women and children. Next a German priest headed fifteen thousand enthusiasts, and another band of two hundred thousand unarmed and disorderly people hurried on by the same path; and ere these desperate adventurers had reached the borders of the Grecian Empire, Europe glittered with mustering hosts of warriors arrayed in all the pomp and splendor of chivalry, and led by the greatest warriors of the age.

Few chieftains brought so many soldiers to the standard of the cross as Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres. But notwithstanding the precipitate zeal of Robert, and the prompt and politic measures of Adela, the summer was wasted in idle delays; and it was not till the autumnal equinox that these distinguished n.o.bles joined the forces of Hugh, Count of Vermandois, and crossed the Alps, intending to proceed by sea to the Holy Land. They found Pope Urban at Lucca, and received from him the standard of St.

Peter. The autumn was pa.s.sed in the gaiety and dissipation of Italy, where the earls disposed their troops for winter-quarters. Count Stephen returned once more to Blois, already dissatisfied with the prospects of the expedition. In the ensuing spring, one year after the time designated by the pope, with Robert and Hugh, and their united forces, the husband of Adela embarked for Palestine. In the meantime numbers, disaffected by the first encountering of difficulties, returned to claim subsistence from the bounty of the Countess of Blois.

"Methinks, my beneficent sister," said Henry, observing her charity towards the miserable wretches, "if thou hadst seen yon beggars sell their flocks and herds for a few shillings, thou wouldst be better inclined to laugh at their folly than relieve their poverty."

"Adela counts it not folly for a man to sell all he hath for the kingdom of Heaven's sake."

"I fancy," said Henry, laughing, "that those self-sacrificers have an eye to the 'manifold more in this life,' rather than to the heavenly inheritance; and _some_, I trow, understand by the kingdom of heaven, a princ.i.p.ality in Palestine."

"And were not the establishment of Christian powers in Asia a worthy purpose?" returned Adela, little pleased at her brother's insinuations.

"Certes, my beloved sister. But wherefore didst thou detain thy unworthy Beauclerk, is there not kingdom or duchy for him?"

"Nay! I scarcely claim the merit of detaining thee," said Adela, "since I suspect that a stronger tie than compa.s.sion for my lone estate has withheld thee."

"That a tender interest in the declining health of the Red King somewhat influenced my decision I cannot deny," replied Henry, evasively.

"And had the superlative beauty of the Red King's ward no influence?" said Adela, pressing her advantage.

"Nay, sister, since thou divinest my secret," said Henry, frankly, "I will e'en tell thee all. Perceiving that thy crusades would draw from the Norman power its military strength, I deemed it wise, in case of my brother's death, to entrench myself in the affections of the English people, by uniting my personal interest with the Saxon race. Accordingly, when Robert sent me to England to negotiate the mortgage of his duchy with Rufus, I visited the nunnery of Wilton, with Edgar Atheling."

"And thou sawest there the fair novice, Matilda," interrupted Adela.

"Call her not novice, she scorns the name, and hath a spirit like a queen.

In presence of her uncle the Atheling, she tore the hateful veil from her head, and trampled it under her feet."

"And did the spirited damsel smile upon thy suit?"