ches,
when the tyrant was assassinated by the emissaries of his sister. The
succeeding caliphs resumed the maxims of religion and policy: a free
toleration was again granted; with the pious aid of the emperor of
Constantinople, the holy sepulchre arose from its ruins; and, after a
short abstinence, the pilgrims returned with an increase of appetite to
the spiritual feast. In the sea-voyage of Palestine, the dangers were
frequent, and the opportunities rare: but the conversion of Hungary
opened a safe communication between Germany and Greece. The charity
of St. Stephen, the apostle of his kingdom, relieved and conducted his
itinerant brethren; and from Belgrade to Antioch, they traversed fifteen
hundred miles of a Christian empire. Among the Franks, the zeal of
pilgrimage prevailed beyond the example of former times: and the roads
were covered with multitudes of either sex, and of every rank, who
professed their contempt of life, so soon as they should have kissed the
tomb of their Redeemer. Princes and prelates abandoned the care of their
dominions; and the numbers of these pious caravans were a prelude to the
armies which marched in the ensuing age under the banner of the cross.
About thirty years before the first crusade, the arch bishop of Mentz,
with the bishops of Utrecht, Bamberg, and Ratisbon, undertook this
laborious journey from the Rhine to the Jordan; and the multitude of
their followers amounted to seven thousand persons. At Constantinople,
they were hospitably entertained by the emperor; but the ostentation
of their wealth provoked the assault of the wild Arabs: they drew their
swords with scrupulous reluctance, and sustained siege in the village
of Capernaum, till they were rescued by the venal protection of the
Fatimite emir. After visiting the holy places, they embarked for Italy,
but only a remnant of two thousand arrived in safety in their native
land. Ingulphus, a secretary of William the Conqueror, was a companion
of this pilgrimage: he observes that they sailed from Normandy, thirty
stout and well-appointed horsemen; but that they repassed the Alps,
twenty miserable palmers, with the staff in their hand, and the wallet
at their back.

After the defeat of the Romans, the tranquillity of the Fatimite caliphs
was invaded by the Turks. One of the lieutenants of Malek Shah, Atsiz
the Carizmian, marched into Syria at the head of a powerful army, and
reduced Damascus by famine and the sword. Hems, and the