Peter the Hermit Part 5

Two notable instances may be given. Gottschalk, a German priest, had gathered fifteen thousand Crusaders, who made him their leader. His army arrived in Hungary near the end of summer. Here they gave themselves up to every kind of wrong-doing. They left behind them daily a trail of outraged women, robbery, and arson. The Germans were good fighters and checked the punitive expeditions of the Hungarian ruler. What was not possible to valor was accomplished by trickery. The Crusaders admitted the Hungarian chiefs to their camps and fraternized with them. They yielded to promises and allowed themselves to be disarmed. Promptly they were attacked and slaughtered.

[Sidenote: _Crusaders Practice on Jews_]

[Sidenote: _Commerce in Jewish Hands_]

Incidentally the Jews suffered from the Crusading craze. One band of rascally and ungovernable Germans, who had many sins to be washed away and who availed themselves of the hope for absolution in the promise of the pope to those who fought for the Holy Tomb, thought it ridiculous to attack the Unitarian Mussulman so far away, when the Unitarian Jew who had slain the Lord was close at hand. Then, as now, the commerce of the world was in Jewish hands, and it was felt that so much wealth ought not to be in such hands. That element which still exists in the Jewish character of being purse-proud and offensively familiar in prosperity, is reported to have twitted the Christians with the worship of a Jewish prophet as a G.o.d.

[Sidenote: _Slaughter of Jews_]

Whatever was the proportion of motive, it is certain that this mob fell on the Jews and robbed and killed all they found in the cities of the Rhine and the Moselle. It is said that many perished by kindling flames they felt to be more merciful than their Christian persecutors. Others, with stones tied to their necks, drowned themselves and their treasures in the adjacent rivers. Let us be thankful that there was pity somewhere and that the Bishops of Worms, Treves, Mayence, and Spires gave asylum to the persecuted race and denounced the marauding bands as beyond the pale of the Church.

[Sidenote: _A Goose for a Leader_]

[Sidenote: _Fear of such Maniacs_]

This band set out for Jerusalem in pious rapture that the soldiers of G.o.d had been given victory and had been supplied by the G.o.d of Battles with money for the journey! Blinded with superst.i.tion, they measure themselves to us by what they did. Albert of Aix tells us that they found a goose "filled with the Holy Ghost," which they made leader in equal authority with a goat not less filled with the same Spirit (_et capellam non minus eodem repletam_)! Fear of such maniacs closed the gates of Hungarian cities. The city now known among Germans as Ungarish-Altenburg, situated in the marshy embouchure of the Leytha, was attacked by them by means of a causeway made of the trunks of trees.

Ladders were built, and walls, defended by darts, arrows, and boiling oil, were almost scaled and won, when the breaking of ladders caused a panic and the plain was soon covered by fugitives who had, like all panicky soldiers, thrown away their arms. Mult.i.tudes of these were butchered without resistance while others died hopelessly mired in the marshes.

[Sidenote: _Horrors of the March_]

Surely these are enough to show the horrors of such marches in the name of Christ. A sentence may express the fate of those who survived. The Bulgarians almost finished what the Huns began. The Greeks received the news with joy.

[Sidenote: _Forget Their Lessons_]

At length Peter and Walter, between them, could muster an army of one hundred thousand men, when the re-enforcements from Italian cities were counted. Still under the walls of Constantinople it was not long before they forgot the lessons of their defeats and began again to rob and murder. Alexius soon found it expedient to ferry them across the Bosporus. The subjects of Alexius suffered worse than the Turks at first. Anna Comnena, perhaps prejudiced, yet quoted by Michaud, declares that the Normans in Peter's army when near Nicea, chopped children to pieces, stuck others on spits, and harried old people. The Germans, stung by Norman gibes, took a fort in the mountain near Nicea, killed the garrison and there met the attack of the Turks only to be slain by the sword. Their commander purchased his life by apostasy and a treasonable oath.

[Sidenote: _Cruelties of Crusaders_]

Once again the army sets forward, against the protest of the Penniless Walter, but by his forced consent. Once again they meet the reward of ignorance and undisciplined courage.

[Sidenote: _Walter Killed at Nicea_]

The ruler of Nicea, concealing a part of his army in the woods, waited for the Crusaders at the foot of a hill. The Turks pretended flight, but suddenly turned, surrounded the Crusaders on all sides, routed them, and slew them with dreadful carnage. Walter died of seven arrow wounds.

The whole army found refuge in a castle close to the sea. The Chronicler says, "Their monument was a heap of bones piled upon the plain of Nicea."

[Sidenote: _Turkish Contempt for Crusaders_]

The two results in the East were intense prejudice among the Greeks against the whole movement and contempt of the Turks for Christian warriors.

[Sidenote: _Peter Belabors His Followers_]

[Sidenote: _Peter's Failure as Leader_]

But where was Peter? Losing all authority among the Crusaders he went back, before the battle of Nicea, to Constantinople and turned the batteries of his abusive eloquence on those he had lately commanded. He called them robbers and brigands, and said that their sins shut them out of the Holy Land. In this he follows the sad habit of all, or almost all, of those who lead their followers into trouble. It is probable that he had at this moment led three hundred thousand to death. It may be that his conscience troubled him a little, though in general the fanatic is superior to such pangs. At any rate Peter calmed himself by the consideration that his army was chiefly a rascally crowd. This was the final proof that he was not of the stuff of which leaders are made. The verdict of the historian is just: "He had neither the prudence, the coolness, nor the firmness of the commander." He could rouse but not control. He could preach, but could not conserve the results of his preaching. Hereafter we shall see him as a preacher chiefly or in kindred work. Others supply true leadership.

[Sidenote: _Later Leadership Wiser_]

Those who lingered at home, when the armies of Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless started for Jerusalem, may have been of the wiser sort, and certainly seemed to have profited by the calamities of their brethren, both in the matter of preparation and in the treatment of the nations through which they pa.s.sed. The first army was led by enthusiasm almost wholly. The second had true military leadership.

[Sidenote: _Christianity Coalesces With Military Spirit_]

[Sidenote: _Defects of Crusading Christianity_]

[Sidenote: _Europe Callous as to Losses_]

It is interesting to observe how the two great dominant forces, Christianity and the military spirit, co-operated, and even coalesced, yet allowed neither to govern in its proper sphere. The early Crusaders had piety enough to hold them to the march, notwithstanding the awful trail of death. They did not have enough to prevent their behaving on the way more like devils than Christians. They had sufficient military spirit to make them willing to fight, but not enough to make adequate preparation. The Christianity of that time had devotional but not humanizing power. It carried along faith, obedience to ceremonial, abundant prayers, personal humility; but it had little restraint for pa.s.sion whether corporal or revengeful. Its hand was powerless to restrain fury or prevent or relieve misery "The knight before the battle was as devout as the bishop; the bishop in the battle as ferocious as the knight."[5] Little better fate availed the women when Christians prevailed than when Turks won the day. Whatever mourning there was for individuals, the failure to win the Holy City appears to have given more sorrow to Europe than the death of three hundred thousand men.

[Sidenote: _Peter Ceases to be General_]

One might gather up at this point the remaining appearances of Peter, and call his work done. But while he ceased to be a military leader, his work continued, his spiritual influence remained. We shall see him at one time arguing with Turks, and at another praying for victory over them. His strength and his weakness can only be brought out by briefly sketching some of the men who took up leadership after his failure, and with whose victories he was identified as priest, prophet, and partic.i.p.ant.

[Sidenote: _G.o.dfrey of Bouillon_]

[Sidenote: _A Great Character_]

The n.o.blest, greatest of the leaders was G.o.dfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine. Born in Brabant, the blood of Charlemagne was in his veins through his mother. He had fought for the antipope, and was the first to enter Rome when captured by the army of Henry. His sentiments changed until he was ready to expiate his sacrilege by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and as a warrior for her deliverance. A giant in strength, a hero in bravery, his simplicity was that of a hermit. He was wise enough not to be reckless, and courageous enough never to shrink from the supreme moment of danger. The common soldier was his friend. His word to all was his bond. Men felt braver and safer under his lead. Others might seem by name to be weightier than he in leadership, but in fact he composed quarrels and compelled unity by his wisdom, and, in moments of peril, what he thought prevailed.

[Sidenote: _Accessions to His Leadership_]

When his leadership was known, France and the Rhine country gave him of their best in treasure, of men, arms, and money. Women denied their amiable vanities that their jewels might furnish outfit for husbands and sons. The Abbe Guibert[6] declares that what avarice and war had hidden, now came leaping in marvelous abundance into the hands of the chiefs of the army. Heaps of gold were visible in their tents, as if fruits had been carried there instead of untold wealth. Yet some robbed their va.s.sals that they might be ready. G.o.dfrey sold his dominions chiefly to the bishops so that it was well said that the secular princes stripped themselves for the Crusaders while the bishops enriched themselves by the enthusiasm of the laity.

[Sidenote: _Mixed Motives Again_]

[Sidenote: _G.o.dfrey Welcome_]

Yet here again we must see mixed motives. To regain Jerusalem was also to be enriched by Saracenic spoils. To give up a petty government or heritage in Europe might lead to dominion in Asia. These things were promised by the authority of pope and general. Many great names acceded to G.o.dfrey's roster, and aided in leading a fairly disciplined and restrained army toward Palestine. The Huns and Bulgars who had slain the hosts of Peter welcomed the army of G.o.dfrey, and sped them on their way with food and prayers. He sent to the East more than eighty thousand men. Their advance made it easier for the pope to put the dominion of unfriendly kings in peril by excommunications and other ecclesiastical penalties. He trimmed the talons of princes while their defenders were absent. Papal authority rose as secular authority went down. It gave the people peace at home at the expense of national independence.

[Sidenote: _Fear of Eclipse_]

How much science has done for humanity in relieving it of evil signs and omens we may know by this, that the reddened moon under eclipse and the waving streamers of the Aurora combined to persuade the people that the war was of G.o.d. The indifferent were stirred by these prodigies, and joined the Crusade, and Italy was moved as never before. More princes, knights, and bishops than can be recorded joined in the march. Alexius, the craven emperor, who had invited Latin help, trembled with good reason at the hundreds of thousands now headed toward his capital. He was a true Greek in sending amba.s.sadors to greet them and in hiding his troops where they could hara.s.s them.

[Sidenote: _Confused Tracks_]

[Sidenote: _A Mean Emperor_]

No one can untangle the tracks of the many bands as described by the annalists of each expedition. Some went the ruggedest way; some the smoothest. Alexius made a prisoner of a shipwrecked count, only to have G.o.dfrey shake him into frenzies of fear by attacking one of his provinces. He purchased allegiance from his prisoner only to make himself and his prisoner objects of contempt. He tried to starve G.o.dfrey's army by refusing provisions, only to have that army bring the fear of famine to his capital through the energy with which it helped itself. The approach of Christmas was used as a basis of peace. The foraging ceased, and Alexius provided food.

[Sidenote: _Christians Quarreling_]

The spectacle of disagreement and of growing contempt for each other is painful to any who this day bear the Christian name. The Greeks had the same contempt for the Latins which the Chinese have for the foreign devil. Unable to resist their arms, they took refuge in the futilities of philosophy as their proof of superiority, and in the trickery which, at some periods, had helped them well. But nothing could meet or restrain the skill, courage, and discipline of the forces pledged to the cross, and no complacency was proof against the contempt of the Latins for the Greeks, who, calling themselves Christians, were indifferent to the cry of the oppressed city of the Savior's pa.s.sion.

[Sidenote: _Alexius Deceives G.o.dfrey_]

Alexius did succeed in blinding G.o.dfrey, and possibly Bohemond, who was coming toward Constantinople through Macedonia. He obtained pledges from both for the integrity of his empire, and apparent submission. Alexius used money because he could not use force, to create dissensions and to win over the venial. His temporary success would be astonishing were it not almost always the case that the craft of an old civilization at first befools the inexperience of more youthful, more rugged, and more trusting nations. Alexius finally got all to the other side of the Bosporus, but failed to wheedle all who came near his throne.

[Sidenote: _On the Track of Peter_]

[Sidenote: _The Crusaders' Discipline_]