nce I know not;
but we saw him passing through the towns and villages, preaching every
where, and the people surrounding him in crowds, loading him with
offerings, and celebrating his sanctity with such great praises, that I
never remember to have seen such honours bestowed upon any one." Thus he
went on, untired, inflexible, and full of devotion, communicating his own
madness to his hearers, until Europe was stirred from its very depths.

[1] Guibert de Nogent.

While the Hermit was appealing with such signal success to the people, the
Pope appealed with as much success to those who were to become the chiefs
and leaders of the expedition. His first step was to call a council at
Placentia, in the autumn of the year 1095. Here, in the assembly of the
clergy, the Pope debated the grand scheme, and gave audience to emissaries
who had been sent from Constantinople by the Emperor of the East, to
detail the progress made by the Turks in their design of establishing
themselves in Europe. The clergy were of course unanimous in support of
the Crusade; and the council separated, each individual member of it being
empowered to preach it to his people.

But Italy could not be expected to furnish all the aid required; and the
Pope crossed the Alps to inspire the fierce and powerful nobility and
chivalrous population of Gaul. His boldness in entering the territory, and
placing himself in the power of his foe, King Philip of France, is not the
least surprising feature of his mission. Some have imagined that cool
policy alone actuated him; while others assert that it was mere zeal, as
warm and as blind as that of Peter the Hermit. The latter opinion seems to
be the true one. Society did not calculate the consequences of what it was
doing. Every man seemed to act from impulse only; and the Pope, in
throwing himself into the heart of France, acted as much from impulse as
the thousands who responded to his call. A council was eventually summoned
to meet him at Clermont, in Auvergne, to consider the state of the Church,
reform abuses, and, above all, make preparations for the war. It was in
the midst of an extremely cold winter, and the ground was covered with
snow. During seven days the council sat with closed doors, while immense
crowds from all parts of France flocked into the town, in expectation that
the Pope himself would address the people. All the towns and villages for
miles around were filled with the multitude; even the fie