d
drunkenness and debauchery flourished. Their zeal in the service of the
Lord was to wipe out all faults and follies, and they had the same surety
of salvation as the rigid anchorite. This reasoning had charms for the
ignorant, and the sounds of lewd revelry and the voice of prayer rose at
the same instant from the camp.

It is now time to speak of the leaders of the expedition. Great multitudes
ranged themselves under the command of Peter the Hermit, whom, as the
originator, they considered the most appropriate leader of the war. Others
joined the banner of a bold adventurer, whom history has dignified with no
other name than that of Gautier sans Avoir, or Walter the Pennyless, but
who is represented as having been of noble family, and well skilled in the
art of war. A third multitude from Germany flocked around the standard of
a monk named Gottschalk, of whom nothing is known except that he was a
fanatic of the deepest dye. All these bands, which together are said to
have amounted to three hundred thousand men, women, and children, were
composed of the vilest rascality of Europe. Without discipline, principle,
or true courage, they rushed through the nations like a pestilence,
spreading terror and death wherever they went. The first multitude that
set forth was led by Walter the Pennyless early in the spring of 1096,
within a very few months after the Council of Clermont. Each man of that
irregular host aspired to be his own master. Like their nominal leader,
each was poor to penury, and trusted for subsistence on his journey to the
chances of the road. Rolling through Germany like a tide, they entered
Hungary, where, at first, they were received with some degree of kindness
by the people. The latter had not yet caught sufficient of the fire of
enthusiasm to join the Crusade themselves, but were willing enough to
forward the cause by aiding those embarked in it. Unfortunately this good
understanding did not last long. The swarm were not contented with food
for their necessities, but craved for luxuries also. They attacked and
plundered the dwellings of the country people, and thought nothing of
murder where resistance was offered. On their arrival before Semlin, the
outraged Hungarians collected in large numbers, and, attacking the rear of
the crusading host, slew a great many of the stragglers, and, taking away
their arms and crosses, affixed them as trophies to the walls of the city.
Walter appears to have been in n