in
most parts of Europe some great prince or lord became a votary for the
Holy Land; as Hugh the Great, brother to the King of France; Godfrey
Duke of Lorraine; Reimond Count of Toulouse; Robert Duke of Normandy,
and many others. Neither ought it to be forgotten, that most of these
noble and generous princes, wanting money to maintain the forces they
had raised, pawned their dominions to those very prelates who had first
engaged them in this enterprise: doubtless a notable mark of the force
of oratory in the churchmen of those ages, who were able to inspire that
devotion into others, whereof they seemed so little sensible themselves.

But a great share in the honour of promoting this religious war, is
attributed to the zeal and industry of a certain French priest, commonly
called Peter the Hermit; who being at Jerusalem upon pilgrimage some
time before, and entering often into private treaty with the patriarch
of that city, came back fully instructed in all the measures necessary
for such a war: to these was joined the artifice of certain dreams and
visions that might pass for divine admonition: all which, added to the
piety of his exhortations, gave him such credit with the Pope, and
several princes of Christendom, that he became in his own person the
leader of a great army against the infidels, and was very instrumental
for engaging many others in the same design.

What a spirit was thus raised in Christendom among all sorts of men,
cannot better be conceived than from the vast numbers of these warlike
pilgrims; who, at the siege of Nice, are said to have consisted of
600,000 foot, and 100,000 horse: and the success at first was answerable
to the greatness of their numbers, the valour of their leaders, and the
universal opinion of such a cause; for, besides several famous victories
in the field, not to mention the towns of less importance, they took
Nice, Antioch, and at last Jerusalem, where Duke Godfrey was chosen king
without competition. But zeal, with a mixture of enthusiasm, as I take
this to have been, is a composition only fit for sudden enterprises,
like a great ferment in the blood, giving double courage and strength
for the time, until it sink and settle by nature into its old channel:
for, in a few years the piety of these adventurers began to slacken, and
give way to faction and envy, the natural corruptions of all
confederacies: however, to this spirit of devotion there succeeded a
spirit of honour, whi