attle alike impelled them to the war, while the kings
and princes of Europe had still another motive for encouraging their
zeal. Policy opened their eyes to the great advantages which would
accrue to themselves, by the absence of so many restless, intriguing,
and blood-thirsty men, whose insolence it required more than the small
power of royalty to restrain within due bounds. Thus every motive was
favourable to the Crusades. Every class of society was alike incited to
join or encourage the war; kings and the clergy by policy, the nobles
by turbulence and the love of dominion, and the people by religious
zeal and the concentrated enthusiasm of two centuries, skilfully
directed by their only instructors.

It was in Palestine itself that Peter the Hermit first conceived the
grand idea of rousing the powers of Christendom to rescue the
Christians of the East from the thraldom of the Mussulmans, and the
sepulchre of Jesus from the rude hands of the infidel. The subject
engrossed his whole mind. Even in the visions of the night he was full
of it. One dream made such an impression upon him, that he devoutly
believed the Saviour of the world himself appeared before him, and
promised him aid and protection in his holy undertaking. If his zeal
had ever wavered before, this was sufficient to fix it for ever.

Peter, after he had performed all the penances and duties of his
pilgrimage, demanded an interview with Simeon, the Patriarch of the
Greek Church at Jerusalem. Though the latter was a heretic in Peter's
eyes, yet he was still a Christian, and felt as acutely as himself for
the persecutions heaped by the Turks upon the followers of Jesus. The
good prelate entered fully into his views, and, at his suggestion,
wrote letters to the Pope, and to the most influential monarchs of
Christendom, detailing the sorrows of the faithful, and urging them to
take up arms in their defence. Peter was not a laggard in the work.
Taking an affectionate farewell of the Patriarch, he returned in all
haste to Italy. Pope Urban II. occupied the apostolic chair. It was at
that time far from being an easy seat. His predecessor, Gregory, had
bequeathed him a host of disputes with the Emperor Henry IV. of
Germany, and he had made Philip I. of France his enemy by his strenuous
opposition to an adulterous connexion formed by that monarch. So many
dangers encompassed him about, that the Vatican was no secure abode,
and he had taken refuge in Apulia, under