massacres at Jerusalem and Jaffa, arrived in Europe, St. Louis
remembered him of his dream. More persuaded than ever, that it was an
intimation direct from Heaven, he prepared to take the Cross at the
head of his armies, and march to the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre.
From that moment he doffed the royal mantle of purple and ermine, and
dressed in the sober serge becoming a pilgrim. All his thoughts were
directed to the fulfilment of his design, and although his kingdom
could but ill spare him, he made every preparation to leave it. Pope
Innocent IV. applauded his zeal and afforded him every assistance. He
wrote to Henry III. of England to forward the cause in his dominions,
and called upon the clergy and laity all over Europe to contribute
towards it. William Longsword, the celebrated Earl of Salisbury, took
the Cross at the head of a great number of valiant knights and
soldiers. But the fanaticism of the people was not to be awakened
either in France or England. Great armies were raised, but the masses
no longer sympathized. Taxation had been the great cooler of zeal. It
was no longer a disgrace even to a knight if he refused to take the
Cross. Rutebeuf, a French minstrel, who flourished about this time
(1250), composed a dialogue between a crusader and a non-crusader,
which the reader will find translated in "Way's Fabliaux." The crusader
uses every argument to persuade the non-crusader to take up arms, and
forsake every thing, in the holy cause; but it is evident from the
greater force of the arguments used by the noncrusader, that he was the
favourite of the minstrel. To a most urgent solicitation of his friend,
the crusader, he replies,

"I read thee right, thou boldest good
To this same land I straight should hie,
And win it back with mickle blood,
Nor gaine one foot of soil thereby.
While here dejected and forlorn,
My wife and babes are left to mourn;
My goodly mansion rudely marred,
All trusted to my dogs to guard.
But I, fair comrade, well I wot
An ancient saw, of pregnant wit,
Doth bid us keep what we have got,
And troth I mean to follow it."

This being the general feeling, it is not to be wondered at that Louis
IX. was occupied fully three years in organizing his forces, and in
making the necessary preparations for his departure. When all was ready
he set sail for Cyprus, accompanied by his Queen, his two brothers, the
Counts d'Anjou and d'Artois, and a long train