fear for their possessions, reported
terrible stories of Turkish atrocities and Christian suffering. All
Europe got excited.

Pope Urban II, a Frenchman from Reims, who had been educated at the same
famous cloister of Cluny which had trained Gregory VII, thought that
the time had come for action. The general state of Europe was far from
satisfactory. The primitive agricultural methods of that day (unchanged
since Roman times) caused a constant scarcity of food. There was
unemployment and hunger and these are apt to lead to discontent and
riots. Western Asia in older days had fed millions. It was an excellent
field for the purpose of immigration.

Therefore at the council of Clermont in France in the year 1095 the Pope
arose, described the terrible horrors which the infidels had inflicted
upon the Holy Land, gave a glowing description of this country which
ever since the days of Moses had been overflowing with milk and honey,
and exhorted the knights of France and the people of Europe in general
to leave wife and child and deliver Palestine from the Turks.

A wave of religious hysteria swept across the continent. All reason
stopped. Men would drop their hammer and saw, walk out of their shop and
take the nearest road to the east to go and kill Turks. Children would
leave their homes to "go to Palestine" and bring the terrible Turks
to their knees by the mere appeal of their youthful zeal and Christian
piety. Fully ninety percent of those enthusiasts never got within sight
of the Holy Land. They had no money. They were forced to beg or steal to
keep alive. They became a danger to the safety of the highroads and they
were killed by the angry country people.

The first Crusade, a wild mob of honest Christians, defaulting
bankrupts, penniless noblemen and fugitives from justice, following the
lead of half-crazy Peter the Hermit and Walter-without-a-Cent, began
their campaign against the Infidels by murdering all the Jews whom
they met by the way. They got as far as Hungary and then they were all
killed.

This experience taught the Church a lesson. Enthusiasm alone would not
set the Holy Land free. Organisation was as necessary as good-will and
courage. A year was spent in training and equipping an army of 200,000
men. They were placed under command of Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert, duke
of Normandy, Robert, count of Flanders, and a number of other noblemen,
all experienced in the art of war.

In the year 1096 this seco