h shed already to drown it, and we are no
nearer than when the first swarms of pilgrims made their way thither."

On Cuthbert's returning home and telling his mother all that had passed,
she shook her head, but said that she could not oppose his wishes to go
with the earl when the time should come, and that it was only right he
should follow in the footsteps of the good knight his father.

"I have heard much of these Crusades," he said; "canst tell me about
them?"

"In truth I know not much, my son; but Father Francis, I doubt not, can
tell you all the particulars anent the affair."

The next time that Father Francis, who was the special adviser of Dame
Editha, rode over from the convent on his ambling nag, Cuthbert eagerly
asked him if he would tell him what he knew of the Crusades.

"Hitherto, my son," he said, "the Crusades have, it must be owned,
brought many woes upon Europe. From the early times great swarms of
pilgrims were accustomed to go from all parts of Europe to the holy
shrines.

"When the followers of the evil prophet took possession of the land,
they laid grievous burdens upon the pilgrims, heavily they fined them,
persecuted them in every way, and treated them as if indeed they were
but the scum of the earth under their feet.

"So terrible were the tales that reached Europe that men came to think
that it would be a good deed truly to wrest the sepulcher of the Lord
from the hands of these heathens. Pope Urban was the first to give
authority and strength to the movement, and at a vast meeting at
Claremont of thirty thousand clergy and four thousand barons, it was
decided that war must be made against the infidel. From all parts of
France men flocked to hear Pope Urban preach there; and when he had
finished his oration the vast multitude, carried away by enthusiasm,
swore to win the holy sepulcher or to die.

"Mighty was the throng that gathered for the First Crusade. Monks threw
aside their gowns and took to the sword and cuirass; even women and
children joined in the throng. What, my son, could be expected from a
great army so formed? Without leaders, without discipline, without
tactics, without means of getting food, they soon became a scourge of
the country through which they passed.

"Passing through Hungary, where they greatly ravaged the fields, they
came to Bulgaria. Here the people, struck with astonishment and dismay
at this great horde of hungry people who arrived among them like
loc