met them. The Crusaders
fought heroically all day long but at length were badly beaten.
Only a few escaped and found their way back to Constantinople.

Peter the Hermit had left the Crusaders before the battle and returned
to Constantinople. He afterwards joined the army of Godfrey of
Bouillon.

Godfrey's army was composed of six divisions, each commanded by
a soldier of high rank and distinction. It was a well organized
and disciplined force and numbered about half a million men.

It started only a few weeks after the irregular multitude which
followed Peter the Hermit, and was really the first Crusading army,
for Peter's undisciplined throng could hardly be called an army.

After a long march Godfrey reached Antioch and laid siege to it.

It was believed that this Moslem stronghold could be taken in a
short time; but the city resisted the attacks of the Christians
for seven months. Then it surrendered.

And now something happened that none of the Crusaders had dreamed
of. An army of two hundred thousand Persians arrived to help the
Moslems. They laid siege to Antioch and shut up the Crusaders within
its walls for weeks. However, after a number of engagements in
which there was great loss of life, the Turks and Persians were
at last driven away.

The way was now opened to Jerusalem. But out of the half million
Crusaders who had marched from Europe less than fifty thousand
were left. They had won their way at a fearful cost.

Still onward they pushed with brave hearts, until on a bright summer
morning they caught the first glimpse of the Holy City in the distance.
For two whole years they had toiled and suffered in the hope of
reaching Jerusalem. Now it lay before them.

[Illustration: ENTRY OF THE CRUSADERS INTO JERUSALEM]

But it had yet to be taken. For more than five weeks the Crusaders
carried on the siege. Finally, on the 15th of July, 1099, the Turks
surrendered. The Moslem flag was hauled down and the banner of
the cross floated over the Holy City.

A few days after the Christians had occupied Jerusalem Godfrey of
Bouillon was chosen king of the Holy Land.

"I will accept the office," he said, "but no crown must be put
on my head and I must never be called king. I cannot wear a crown
of gold where Christ wore one of thorns nor will I be called king
in the land where once lived the King of Kings."

Peter the Hermit is said to have preached an eloquent sermon on
the Mount of Olives. He did not, ho