Alexis Comnenus, the Greek emperor, who had applied to the Latins for succour against the Turks, entertained a hope, and but a feeble one, of obtaining such an aid as might enable him to repulse the enemy. He was, therefore, astonished to see his dominions overwhelmed by an inundation of licentious barbarians, strangers alike to order and discipline, and to hear of the multitudes that were following, under different leaders. He contented himself, however, with getting rid, as soon as possible, of such troublesome guests, by furnishing them with vessels to transport themselves to the other side of the Bosphorus; and general Peter soon saw himself in the plains of Asia, at the head of a Christian army, ready to give battle to the Infidels. Soliman, sultan of Nice, fell upon the disorderly crowd, and slaughtered them almost without resistance. Walter the Moneyless, and many other leaders of equal distinction, were slain; but Peter the Hermit found his way back to Constantinople, where he was considered as a maniac, who had enlisted a multitude of madmen to follow him".

A. D. 1097.

In the mean time the more disciplined armies arrived at the imperial city, and were there joined by Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard, from motives of policy rather than piety. Having no other inheritance but the small principality of Tarentum, and his own valour, he took advantage of the epidemical enthusiasm of the times to assemble under his banner ten thousand horsemen, well armed, and some infantry, with which he hoped to conquer a few provinces either from the Christians or Mahometans. His presence gave much alarm to the emperor Alexis Comnenus, with whom he had been formerly at war. But the refined policy of that prince, who carressed those rapacious allies whom he wished to ruin, and secretly regarded as more dangerous than the enemies they came to

9. Anna Comnena, uhi sup.

combat,

combat, diverted all apprehensions of harm either from Bohemond or the other leaders of the crusade. He furnished them with provisions, and transported them - safely into Asia: after having conciliated their affections by presents and promises, and engaged them to do him homage for the lands they should conquer from the Turks1o.

Asia, like Europe, was then divided into a number of little states, comprehended under the great ones. The Turkish princes paid an empty homage to the caliphs, but were in reality their masters; and the sultans, or soldans, who were very numerous, weakened still farther the empire of Mahomet by continual wars with each other, the necessary consequence of divided sway. The soldiers of the cross, therefore, who amounted, when mustered on the banks of the Bosphorus, to the incredible number of one hundred thousand horsemen, and six hundred thousand foot, were sufficient to have conquered all Asia, had they been united under one head, or commanded by leaders that observed any concert in their operations. But they were unhappily conducted by men of the most independent, intractable spirit, unacquainted with discipline, and enemies to civil or military subordination. Their zeal, however, their bravery, and their irresistable force, still carried them forward, and advanced them to the great end of their enterprize, in spite of every obstacle; the scarcity of provisions, the excesses of fatigue, and the influence of unknown climes. After an obstinate siege, they took Nice, the seat of old Soliman, the sultan of Syria, whose army they had twice defeated: they had made themselves masters of Antioch, the seat of another sultan, and entirely broke the strength of the Turks, who had so long tyrannised over the Arabs".

A. D. 1098.)

The caliph of Egypt, whose alliance the Christians had hitherto courted, recovered, on the fall of the

10. Maimbourg, ubi sup. 11. Dach. Specileg, vol. iv. Maimbourg, tom. i. Turkish

Turkish power, the authority of the caliphs of Jerusalem. On this he sent ambassadors to the leaders of the crusade, informing them, that they might now perform their religious vows, if they came disarmed to that city, and that all Christian pilgrims, who should thenceforth visit the holy sepulchre, might expect the same good treatment which they had ever received from his predeCors. His offer was, however, rejected. He was required to yield up the city to the Christians; and, on his refusal, the champions of the Cross advanced to the siege of Jerusalem, the great object of their armament, and the acquisition of which they considered as the consummation of their labours.

These pious adventurers were now much diminished by the detachments they had made, and the disasters they had suffered and what seems almost incredible, they did not exceed, according to the testimony of most historians, twenty thousand foot, and fifteen hundred horse, while the garrison of Jerusalem conA. D. 1099. sisted of forty thousand men. But, be that as it may, after a siege of five weeks, they took the city by assault, and put the garrison and inhabitants to the sword, without distinction. Arms protected not the brave, or submission the timid: no age or sex was spared: infants perished by the same sword that pierced their mothers, while imploring mercy. The streets of Jerusalem were covered with heaps of slain; and the shrieks of agony or despair still resounded from every house, when these triumphant warriors, glutted with slaughter, threw aside their arms, yet streaming with blood, and advanced with naked feet, and bended knees, to the sepulchre of the Prince of Peace! sung anthems to that Redeemer, who had purchased their salvation by his death; and, while dead to the calamities of their fellowcreatures, dissolved in tears for the sufferings of the Messiah'!-So inconsistent is human nature with itself;

12. M. Paris. Order. Vital. Vertot, Hist. de Chev. de Malt. tom. i.

and

and so easily, as the philosophic Hume remarks, does the most effeminate superstition associate both with the most heroic courage, and with the fiercest barbarity.

About the same time that this great event happened in Asia, where Godfrey of Bouillon was chosen king of Jerusalem, and Bohemond, and some other Christian princes, settled in their new conquests, Urban II. the author of the crusade, and the queen of France, died in Europe. In consequence of these deaths, Philip I. who still continued to live with the countess of Anjou, was absolved, by the new pope, from the sentence of excommunication denounced in the council of Clermont. although this absolution quieted in some measure his domestic troubles, his authority, which the thunder of the church, together with his indolent and licentious course of life, had ruined, was far from being restored. The nobility more and more affected independency; they insulted him every hour; plundered his subjects, and entirely cut off the communication between Paris and Orleans '3.

A. D. 1100.

But

In order to remedy these evils, Philip associated his son Lewis in the government; or, at least, declared him, with the consent of the nobility, his successor. This young prince was, in all respects, the reverse of his father; active, vigorous, affable, generous, and free from the vices incident to youth. He saw that in a state so corrupted, nothing could be done but by force: he therefore kept continually in the field, with a small body of troops about him, and these he employed against such nobles as would not listen to the dictates of justice and equity, but treated the laws of their country with derision. He demolished their castles; he compelled them to make restitution to such as they had pillaged, and he forced them to abandon the lands they had usurped from the clergy: yet all these rigours he exe

A. D. 1192.

13. Order. Vital. Mezeray.

cuted

cuted in a manner so disinterested, and with so indisputable a zeal for the public welfare, that he gained the affections of the virtuous part of the nobility, and the reverence of the people, while he restored order to the state, and preserved the monarchy from subversion 4.

This prince, who is commonly called by the old historians Lewis the Gross, from his great size in the latter part of life, and who was the sixth Lewis that sat upon the throne of France, succeeded his A. D. 1108. father in 1108, when he was thirty years of age. Soon after his coronation, he engaged in a war against Henry I. of England, a powerful vassal, whom it was his interest to humble. The war was carried on with a variety of fortunes during the greater part of this reign, but without producing any remarkable event, except what I have related in the history of England, or any alteration in the state of either kingdom's.

A. D. 1128.

A peace was at length concluded between the two rival princes; after which Lewis devoted himself to the regulation of the interior polity of his kingdom, and either humbled or overawed the great vassals of the crown, so as to procure universal tranquillity. This he accomplished, partly by establishing the commons or third state; partly by enfranchising the villains or bondmen; and partly by diminishing the exorbitant authority of the seignioral jurisdictions; sending commissaries into the provinces to receive the complaints and redress the wrongs of such as had been oppressed by the dukes and counts, and every where encouraging appeals to the royal judges.-But the king of France, in the midst of his prosperity, fell into a languishing disorder, occasioned by his excessive corpulency; and when he thc ght his death at hand, he ordered his son to be called to him, and gave him the following excellent advice. By this sign," said he, finger, and putting it on

(drawing the signet from his

14. Order. Vital. Sug. Vit. Lud. Grossi. 15. See Letter XXIII.

that