onversant with the French and Teutonic
languages: the barons of France, Germany, and Lorraine, 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. 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;
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 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. III. In the south of France, the command
was assumed by Adhemar bishop of Puy, the pope legate, and by Raymond
count of St. Giles and Thoulouse who add