,
assembled their vassals; and the confederate force that marched under
his banner was composed of fourscore thousand foot and about ten
thousand horse. II. In the parliament that was held at Paris, in the
king's presence, about two months after the council of Clermont, Hugh,
count of Vermandois, was the most conspicuous of the princes who assumed
the cross. But the appellation of the Great was applied, not so much to
his merit or possessions, (though neither were contemptible,) as to the
royal birth of the brother of the king of France. [46] Robert, duke
of Normandy, was the eldest son of William the Conqueror; but on his
father's death he was deprived of the kingdom of England, by his own
indolence and the activity of his brother Rufus. The worth of Robert was
degraded by an excessive levity and easiness of temper: his cheerfulness
seduced him to the indulgence of pleasure; his profuse liberality
impoverished the prince and people; his indiscriminate clemency
multiplied the number of offenders; and the amiable qualities of
a private man became the essential defects of a sovereign. For the
trifling sum of ten thousand marks, he mortgaged Normandy during his
absence to the English usurper; [47] but his engagement and behavior in
the holy war announced in Robert a reformation of manners, and restored
him in some degree to the public esteem. Another Robert was count of
Flanders, a royal province, which, in this century, gave three queens to
the thrones of France, England, and Denmark: he was surnamed the
Sword and Lance of the Christians; but in the exploits of a soldier he
sometimes forgot the duties of a general. Stephen, count of Chartres, of
Blois, and of Troyes, was one of the richest princes of the age; and
the number of his castles has been compared to the three hundred and
sixty-five days of the year. His mind was improved by literature; and,
in the council of the chiefs, the eloquent Stephen [48] was chosen to
discharge the office of their president. These four were the principal
leaders of the French, the Normans, and the pilgrims of the British
isles: but the list of the barons who were possessed of three or four
towns would exceed, says a contemporary, the catalogue of the Trojan
war. [49] III. In the south of France, the command was assumed by
Adhemar bishop of Puy, the pope egate, and by Raymond count of St.
Giles and Thoulouse who added the prouder titles of duke of Narbonne
and marquis of Provence. The form