assault, and
were all but giving way in the second; but Godfrey of Bouillon thought
that he saw in the sky a bright figure of a warrior beckoning him
onwards; and the Crusaders pressed forward with renewed courage until
they found themselves masters of the holy city (July 15, 1099). It was
noted that this was at three o'clock on a Friday afternoon,--the same
day of the week, and the same hour of the day, when our Blessed Lord was
crucified.

I shall not tell you of the butchery and of the other shocking things
which the Crusaders were guilty of when they got possession of
Jerusalem. They were, indeed, wrought up to such a state that they were
not masters of themselves. At one moment they were throwing themselves
on their knees with tears of repentance and joy; and then again they
would start up and break lose into some frightful acts of cruelty and
plunder against the conquered enemy, sparing neither old man, nor woman,
nor child.

PART III.

Eight days after the taking of Jerusalem, the Crusaders met to choose a
king. Robert of Normandy was one of those who were proposed; but the
choice fell on Godfrey of Bouillon. But the pious Godfrey said that he
would not wear a crown of gold when the King of kings had been crowned
with thorns; and he refused to take any higher title than that of
Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre.

Godfrey did not live long to enjoy his honours, and his brother,
Baldwin, was chosen in his room. The kingdom of Jerusalem was
established, and pilgrims soon began to stream afresh towards the sacred
places. But, although we might have expected to find that this recovery
of the Holy Land from the Mahometans by the Christians of the West would
have led to union of the Greek and Latin Churches, it unhappily turned
out quite otherwise. The popes set up a Latin patriarch, with Latin
bishops and clergy, against the Greeks, and the two Churches were on
worse terms than ever.

This crusade was followed by others, as we shall see by and by; but
meanwhile, I may say that, although the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was
never strong, and soon showed signs of decay, these crusades brought the
nations of the West, which fought side by side in them, to know more of
each other; that they served to increase trade with the East, and so to
bring the produce of the Eastern countries within the reach of
Europeans; and, as I have said already,[74] they greatly helped to
increase the power of the popes, who had s