y: a free toleration was again granted; with the pious aid of the
emperor of Constantinople, the holy sepulchre arose from its ruins;
and, after a short abstinence, the pilgrims returned with an increase
of appetite to the spiritual feast. [70] In the sea-voyage of Palestine,
the dangers were frequent, and the opportunities rare: but the
conversion of Hungary opened a safe communication between Germany and
Greece. The charity of St. Stephen, the apostle of his kingdom, relieved
and conducted his itinerant brethren; [71] and from Belgrade to Antioch,
they traversed fifteen hundred miles of a Christian empire. Among the
Franks, the zeal of pilgrimage prevailed beyond the example of former
times: and the roads were covered with multitudes of either sex, and of
every rank, who professed their contempt of life, so soon as they should
have kissed the tomb of their Redeemer. Princes and prelates abandoned
the care of their dominions; and the numbers of these pious caravans
were a prelude to the armies which marched in the ensuing age under the
banner of the cross. About thirty years before the first crusade,
the arch bishop of Mentz, with the bishops of Utrecht, Bamberg, and
Ratisbon, undertook this laborious journey from the Rhine to the Jordan;
and the multitude of their followers amounted to seven thousand persons.
At Constantinople, they were hospitably entertained by the emperor; but
the ostentation of their wealth provoked the assault of the wild Arabs:
they drew their swords with scrupulous reluctance, and sustained
siege in the village of Capernaum, till they were rescued by the venal
protection of the Fatimite emir. After visiting the holy places, they
embarked for Italy, but only a remnant of two thousand arrived in safety
in their native land.

Ingulphus, a secretary of William the Conqueror, was a companion of this
pilgrimage: he observes that they sailed from Normandy, thirty stout
and well-appointed horsemen; but that they repassed the Alps, twenty
miserable palmers, with the staff in their hand, and the wallet at their
back. [72]

[Footnote 67: See D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 411,) Renaudot,
(Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 390, 397, 400, 401,) Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen.
p. 321-323,) and Marei, (p. 384-386,) an historian of Egypt, translated
by Reiske from Arabic into German, and verbally interpreted to me by a
friend.]

[Footnote 68: The religion of the Druses is concealed by their ignorance
and hypocrisy. T