anarchy, the instruments of agriculture
and art were converted into the weapons of bloodshed: the peaceful
occupations of civil and ecclesiastical society were abolished or
corrupted; and the bishop who exchanged his mitre for a helmet, was more
forcibly urged by the manners of the times than by the obligation of his
tenure. [89]

[Footnote 88: Ex Francis, quo nomine tam Latinos quam Teutones
comprehendit, ludum habuit, (Liutprand in Legat ad Imp. Nicephorum, p.
483, 484.) This extension of the name may be confirmed from Constantine
(de Administrando Imperio, l. 2, c. 27, 28) and Eutychius, (Annal. tom.
i. p. 55, 56,) who both lived before the Crusades. The testimonies of
Abulpharagius (Dynast. p. 69) and Abulfeda (Praefat. ad Geograph.) are
more recent]

[Footnote 89: On this subject of ecclesiastical and beneficiary
discipline, Father Thomassin, (tom. iii. l. i. c. 40, 45, 46, 47) may
be usefully consulted. A general law of Charlemagne exempted the bishops
from personal service; but the opposite practice, which prevailed from
the ixth to the xvth century, is countenanced by the example or silence
of saints and doctors.... You justify your cowardice by the holy canons,
says Ratherius of Verona; the canons likewise forbid you to whore, and
yet--]

The love of freedom and of arms was felt, with conscious pride, by the
Franks themselves, and is observed by the Greeks with some degree of
amazement and terror. "The Franks," says the emperor Constantine, "are
bold and valiant to the verge of temerity; and their dauntless spirit is
supported by the contempt of danger and death. In the field and in close
onset, they press to the front, and rush headlong against the enemy,
without deigning to compute either his numbers or their own. Their ranks
are formed by the firm connections of consanguinity and friendship; and
their martial deeds are prompted by the desire of saving or revenging
their dearest companions. In their eyes, a retreat is a shameful flight;
and flight is indelible infamy." [90] A nation endowed with such
high and intrepid spirit, must have been secure of victory if these
advantages had not been counter-balanced by many weighty defects. The
decay of their naval power left the Greeks and Saracens in possession
of the sea, for every purpose of annoyance and supply. In the age
which preceded the institution of knighthood, the Franks were rude
and unskilful in the service of cavalry; [91] and in all perilous
emer