ed the prouder titles of duke of
Narbonne and marquis of Provence. The former was a respectable prelate,
alike qualified for this world and the next. The latter was a veteran
warrior, who had fought against the Saracens of Spain, and who
consecrated his declining age, not only to the deliverance, but to the
perpetual service, of the holy sepulchre. His experience and riches
gave him a strong ascendant in the Christian camp, whose distress he was
often able, and sometimes willing, to relieve. But it was easier for him
to extort the praise of the Infidels, than to preserve the love of his
subjects and associates. His eminent qualities were clouded by a temper
haughty, envious, and obstinate; and, though he resigned an ample
patrimony for the cause of God, his piety, in the public opinion,
was not exempt from avarice and ambition. A mercantile, rather than a
martial, spirit prevailed among his _provincials_, a common name, which
included the natives of Auvergne and Languedoc, the vassals of the
kingdom of Burgundy or Arles. From the adjacent frontier of Spain he
drew a band of hardy adventurers; as he marched through Lombardy,
a crowd of Italians flocked to his standard, and his united force
consisted of one hundred thousand horse and foot. If Raymond was the
first to enlist and the last to depart, the delay may be excused by the
greatness of his preparation and the promise of an everlasting farewell.
IV. The name of Bohemond, the son of Robert Guiscard, was already famous
by his double victory over the Greek emperor; but his father's will had
reduced him to the principality of Tarentum, and the remembrance of his
Eastern trophies, till he was awakened by the rumor and passage of the
French pilgrims. It is in the person of this Norman chief that we
may seek for the coolest policy and ambition, with a small allay of
religious fanaticism. His conduct may justify a belief that he had
secretly directed the design of the pope, which he affected to second
with astonishment and zeal: at the siege of Amalphi, his example and
discourse inflamed the passions of a confederate army; he instantly tore
his garment to supply crosses for the numerous candidates, and prepared
to visit Constantinople and Asia at the head of ten thousand horse and
twenty thousand foot. Several princes of the Norman race accompanied
this veteran general; and his cousin Tancred was the partner, rather
than the servant, of the war. In the accomplished character o