l, and promised them the special favor of heaven if they
would go. They said that whoever devoted himself to this great cause
should surely be pardoned for all the sins and crimes that he had
committed, whatever they might be; and whenever they heard of the
commission of any great crimes by potentates or rulers, they would
seize upon the occasion to urge the guilty persons to go and fight for
the cross in Palestine, as a means of wiping away their guilt.

[Illustration: PREACHING THE CRUSADES.]

One of these preachers charged such a crime upon Louis, the husband
of Eleanora. It seems that, in a quarrel which he had with one of his
neighbors, he had sent an armed force to invade his enemy's dominions,
and in storming a town a cathedral had been set on fire and burned,
and fifteen hundred persons, who had taken refuge in it as a
sanctuary, had perished in the flames. Now it was a very great crime,
according to the ideas of those times, to violate a sanctuary; and the
hermit-preacher urged Louis to go on a crusade in order to atone for
the dreadful guilt he had incurred by not only violating a sanctuary,
but by overwhelming, in doing it, so many hundreds of innocent women
and children in the awful suffering of being burned to death. So Louis
determined to go on a crusade, and Eleanora determined to accompany
him. Her motive was a love of adventure and a fondness for notoriety.
She thought that by going out, a young and beautiful princess, at the
head of an army of Crusaders, into the East, she would make herself a
renowned heroine in the eyes of the whole world. So she immediately
commenced her preparations, and by the commanding influence which she
exerted over the ladies of the court, she soon inspired them all with
her own romantic ardor.

The ladies at once laid aside their feminine dress, and clothed
themselves like Amazons, so that they could ride astride on horseback
like men. All their talk was of arms, and armor, and horses, and
camps. They endeavored, too, to interest all the men--the princes, and
barons, and knights that surrounded them--in their plans, and to
induce them to join the expedition. A great many did so, but there
were some that shook their heads and seemed inclined to stay at home.
They knew that so wild and heedless a plan as this could end in
nothing but disaster. The ladies ridiculed these men for their
cowardice and want of spirit, and they sent them their distaffs as
presents. "We have no lo