CHAP. X. 456 HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES. were general throughout Christendom, for there was scarcely a noble family that had not some of its members in one of those societies. Every eye was turned to the papal court for the arbitration of their disputes. Alexander III. declared, that the bond of charity ought to unite Christians of every denomination. By his influence, a treaty of peace was signed between the two orders. But the Pope could not remove the great causes of dispute, ambition and avarice, and therefore dissatisfaction slept in the thin ashes of a seeming friendship. ADDITIONAL NOTES. Note (A).-Page 6. THE palmer's dress was simple, consistently with the seriousness of his object. It was generally a long garment of coarse woollen. Du Cange, art. Sclavina. Drayton describes the "palmer poore in homely russet "clad." Polyolb. S. 12, p. 198, ed. 1622, cited by Mr. Todd, note on the Fairy Queen of Spenser, vol. iii. p. 252. Palmer's weeds are frequently mentioned in old romances as a disguise, in which knights and ladies travelled. Thus in Bevis of Hampton (also cited by Mr. Todd), Sabere tells his son Terry, whom he is about to send into the "Sarrasins land" in search of Bevis, "Palmers weeds thou shalt weare, "So maist thou better of him heare." Afterwards Bevis himself, meeting with a palmer, thus addresses him : "Palmer," he said, "doe me some favour; "For my cloathing and for my steed." So in the history of King Lear, - we will go disguised in Palmers' weeds, That no man shall mistrust us what we are. 'Milton has made a most beautifully poetical applica cation of the subject. When the gray-hooded Even, Like a sad votarist in Palmer's weed, Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. Comus, verse 188, &c. I shall conclude with Spenser's description of a Palmer: A silly man, in simple weeds foreworne, His scrip did hang, in which his needments he did bind. Note (B).-Page 39. The father of this Bohemond was a Norman gentleman, named Robert Wiscard, who made a trade of war, and at the head of fifteen knights went into Apulia, on the invitation of some other Normans who had established themselves in Magna Grecia. By arms and address Robert became (about the year 1058) master of Apulia and Calabria, and, indeed, of all the country which forms the present kingdom of Naples. Pope Nicholas H. gave him the title of duke. One of his brothers, Richard, was prince of Capua, and the other, Robert, Earl of Sicily. He then aspired to further conquests; and, giving Apulia to his younger son, Roger, he crossed the Adriatic with his other other son, Bohemond. The mother of Roger was an Apulian woman; but Bohemond was of the perfect Norman race. Wiscard took Durazzo; but he was summoned to Italy by Pope Gregory VII. in order to aid him in resisting the emperor Henry, and the imperial ecclesiastic Guibert of Ravenna; the latter of whom was afterwards the antagonist of Urban. The Norman twice reinstated Gregory, and as often sacked Rome. The Pope preserved his friendship by the promise of the splendid title of the Emperor of the West. The arms neither of Constantinople nor of Venice could subdue the young Bohemond; and he conquered Illyria and Macedonia, and the country from Durazzo to Thessalonica. His father returned to Greece; but he died before the dismembered Grecian states could be reduced to the permanent sub. jection of his family. Some writers say that Alexius flattered the vanity of Robert's wife by the promise of an imperial union; and at the emperor's instigation she poisoned her husband. A.D. 1085, Alexiad, book 1-4. Du Cange's Notes. William of Malmsbury (Sharp's translation), 336, 407. Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, lib. 9. c. 1, 4. lib. 10. c. 2, 6, 7. It is most probable, however, that Robert died a natural death; for the Calabrians do not at all countenance the accusation of the French and English writers against Alexius. L'Art de vérifier les Dates, III. 806-808. The Norman princes were powerful in Italy; and the prudent Urban neglected nothing which could gain their friendship. See the life of Pope Urban in the eighth volume of the Literary History of France, by the Maurite Monks. Most of the circumstances mentioned in this note materially corroborate the opinion of of Malmsbury, that Bohemond was the adviser of Urban in the affair of the first Crusade. Note (C).-Page 56. Before we commence the history of the first Crusade, some account should be given of the principal sources whence it is drawn. 1. Historia Hierosolymitana Roberti Monachi. Robert accompanied the Crusaders; and he is apparently a faithful historian. 2. Hist. Hier. Baldri Archiepiscopi. Baldric assisted at the council of Clermont, but did not go to Jerusalem. His book, however, was revised by an abbot who went. 3. Hist. Francorum Raimondi De Agiles. This writer was a canon in the cathedral of Puy, in the Valais, under bishop Adhemar. He was the chaplain and friend of the count of Tholouse during the Crusade. 4. Historia Hierosolimetana Expeditionis edita ab Alberto Canoni Aquensis Ecclesiæ. Albert was a contemporary, though not an eye-witness of the first Crusade. His history is full and interesting, and reaches to the year 1120. 5. Fulcherii Carnotensis Gesta Peregrinantium Francorum, &c. Fulcher was the chaplain of the count of Chartres, and then of Baldwin, Brother of Godfrey, during the first Crusade. His history extends a few years further than that of Albert. It is an important document; but his style is so sesquipedalian and inflated, that the task is no light one to read his book. 6. Gesta Dei per Francos, edita a Guiberto, &c. Guibert was a eontemporary. The basis of his book is Fulcher. He does not correct his original in any point of history, but frequently in the dreams, visions, &c. about which Fulcher was more superstitious than even his bigotted associates. |