ed, they decreed the death of all the unbelievers who
remained in the city. Passion energized policy. They compelled the
Saracens to leap from the walls or into flames, and heaped up their
corpses as altars on which others were sacrificed. The city was
everywhere strewn with corpses, even, as one remarks, "the very place
where Christ forgave His enemies." The habit of killing was now so
inveterate that such sights distressed none except as the odors and
dangers of pestilence. A few Mussulmans, saved chiefly from the
fortress of David, were compelled to remove for burial the bodies of
their kindred and people beyond the walls. The soldiers of Raymond aided
them, not from motives of humanity, but because being the last to enter
the city, they hoped to secure what they had missed in pillage by
robbing the bodies of the dead.

[Sidenote: _Heaps of Corpses_]

The city was soon cleaned, and, as all respected the marks of private
ownership upon which the Crusaders had agreed, they were enriched and
soon contributed to the life of a most orderly city.

[Sidenote: _Exhibition of True Cross_]

It will be recalled that when Heraclius conquered Chosroes he claimed to
have brought back the true cross to Jerusalem. During the Saracenic
occupation the Christians had concealed it and now brought it forth for
the adoration of the faithful. With triumph they bore it to the Church
of the Resurrection.

[Sidenote: _Godfrey Refuses Crown_]

The question of government was settled, after debate, fasting, some
ceremony and prayer, by a special Council of Ten. Godfrey of Bouillon
was chosen king with acclamation, all but universal, yet he refused to
receive a diadem because his Savior had in that city worn a crown of
thorns, and would receive no other title beyond "Defender of the Holy
Sepulcher."

The effort to organize the Church admittedly was less successful in
putting wise and holy men in high places than the attempt to elect a
suitable king. The bishops of the Latin Church, then as now, took high
ground, claimed to be above the civil power, and demanded that the bulk
of the captured wealth be put into their hands. The Greek priests had
the right of possession, but were sacrificed. Simeon, who had invited
the Crusaders, and who from Cypress had repeatedly sent the Latins
succor, died while a Latin bishop was claiming his patriarchate. Arnold,
believed by most to be tainted, was made pastor of Jerusalem.

[Sidenote: _Arrogance of