tions as his army or horde passed through the country. The
mischief might have been much worse, had not the Hungarian cavalry,
acting professedly as a friendly escort, but really as cautious warders,
kept close to the crusading hosts.

At length they reached the gates of Philippopolis, and here Godfrey
learned that Hugh of Vermandois, whose coming had been announced to the
Greek emperor Alexius by four-and-twenty knights in golden armor, and
who styled himself the brother of the king of kings and lord of all the
Frankish hosts, was a prisoner within the walls of Constantinople. With
Robert of Normandy and Robert of Flanders, with Stephen of Chartres and
some lesser chiefs, Hugh had chosen to make his way through Italy; and
the charms of that voluptuous land had a greater effect, it seems, in
breaking up and corrupting their forces than the delights of Capua had
in weakening the soldiers of Hannibal.

With little regard to order, the chiefs determined to cross the sea as
best they might. Hugh embarked at Bari; and if we may believe Anna
Comnena, the historian and the worshipper of her father Alexius, his
fleet was broken by a tempest which shattered his own ship on the coast
between Palos and Dyrrhachium (Durazzo), of which John Comnenus, the
nephew of the Emperor, was at this time the governor. The Frank chief
was here detained until the good pleasure of Alexius should be known.
That wary and cunning prince saw at once how much might be made of his
prisoner, who was by his orders conducted with careful respect and
ceremony to the capital. Kept here really as a hostage, but welcomed to
outward seeming as a friend, Hugh was so completely won by the charm of
manner which Alexius well knew how and when to put on, that, paying him
homage and declaring himself his man, he promised to do what he could to
induce others to follow his example.

From Philippopolis Godfrey sent ambassadors to Alexius, demanding the
immediate surrender of Hugh. The request was refused, and Godfrey
resumed his march, treating the land through which he passed as an
enemy's country, until by way of Adrianople he at length appeared before
the walls of the capital at Christmastide, 1096. The fears of Alexius
were aroused by the sight of a host so vast and so formidable: they
quickened into terror as he thought of the armies which were still on
their way under the command of Bohemond and Tancred. Of Godfrey, beyond
the fact of his mission as a crusader,