§ 4:9. THE CALL TO THE CRUSADES. 229
Frenchmen, distinguished above all other nations by remark able glory in arms, courage, and bodily prowess. He ap pealed to the deeds of Charlemagne and his son Lewis, who had destroyed pagan kingdoms and extended the territory of the Church.
To this moving appeal the answer came back from the whole throng, " God wills it, God wills it."1 "It is," added the pope, "it is the will of God. Let these words be your war-cry when you unsheathe the sword. You are soldiers of the cross. Wear on your breasts or shoulders the bloodred sign of the cross. Wear it as a token that His help will never fail you, as the pledge of a vow never to be recalled."2
Thousands at once took the vow and sewed the cross on their garments or branded it upon their bare flesh. Adhemar, bishop of Puy, knelt at Urban's feet, asking permission to go, and was appointed papal legate. The next day envoys came announcing that Raymund of Toulouse had taken the vow. The spring of 1096 was set for the expedition to start. Urban discreetly declined to lead the army in person.3
The example set at Clermont was followed by thousands throughout Europe. Fiery preachers carried Urban's mes sage. The foremost among them, Peter the Hermit, traversed Southern France to the confines of Spain and Lorraine and went along the Rhine. Judged by results, he was one of the most successful of evangelists. His appearance was well suited to strike the popular imagination. He rode on an ass, his face emaciated and haggard, his feet bare, a slouched
1 Deus vult, Deos lo volt, Diex el volt. These are the different forms in which the response is reported. For this response in its Latin form, Robert the Monk is our earliest authority, I. 2, Rec., III. 729. He says una vociferatio " Deus vult, Deus vult."
2 In the First Crusade all the crosses were red. Afterwards green and white colors came into use. Urban himself distributed crosses. Guibert, II. 5, Rec., IV. 140, and Fulcher, I. 4, state that Urban had the Crusaders wear the cross as a badge.
3 Urban's letters, following up his speech at Clermont, are given by Hagenmeyer, Epistulce, p. 136 sqq.
230 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
cowl on his head,1 and a long mantle reaching to his ankles, and carrying a great cross. In stature he was short.2 His keen wit,3 his fervid and ready, but rude and unpolished, elo quence,4 made a profound impression upon the throngs which gathered to hear him.5 His messages seemed to them divine.6 They plucked the very hairs from his ass' tail to be preserved as relics. A more potent effect was wrought than mere temporary wonder. Reconciliations between husbands and wives and persons living out of wedlock were effected, and peace and concord established where there were feud and liti gation, Large gifts were made to the preacher. None of the other preachers of the Crusade, Volkmar, Gottschalk, and Enrich,7 could compare with Peter the Hermit for eloquence and the spell he exercised upon the masses. He was held in higher esteem than prelates and abbots.8 And Guibert of Nogent says that he could recall no one who was held in like honor.9
In a few months large companies were ready to march against the enemies of the cross.
1 Petrum more heremi vilissima cappa tegebat, Radulf of Caen. The above description is taken from strictly contemporary accounts.
2 The statura brevis of Radulf becomes in William of Tyre's account pusillus, persona contemptibilis.
3 I have thus translated Radulf's spiritus acer.
4 Albert of Aachen : neminem invenerunt qui tarn ferocissimo et superbo loqui auderet quousque Petrns.
6 So Guibert speaks of the crowds listening to him as tanta populorum multitudo. Hagemneyer, p. 114, accepting Guibert's statement, refers to immense throngs, ungeheure Zahl.
6 Guibert: quidquid agebat namque sen loquebatur quasi quiddam subdimnum videbatur.
7 So Ekkehard, XII., Rec. , V. 20 sq. who has something derogatory to say of all of these preachers and also of Peter's subsequent career. Quern postea multi hypocritam esse dicebant.
8 Robert the Monk, I. 5, 7?ec., III. 731. Super ipsos prcesules et abbates apice religionis efferebatur.
9 Guibert : neminem meminerim similem honore haberi. Baldric speaks of him as Petrus quidam maynus heremita, or as we would say, u that great hermit, Peter."