the protection of the renowned
Robert Guiscard. Thither Peter appears to have followed him, though in
what spot their meeting took place is not stated with any precision by
ancient chroniclers or modern historians. Urban received him most
kindly; read, with tears in his eyes, the epistle from the Patriarch
Simeon, and listened to the eloquent story of the Hermit with an
attention which showed how deeply he sympathised with the woes of the
Christian church. Enthusiasm is contagious, and the Pope appears to
have caught it instantly from one whose zeal was so unbounded. Giving
the Hermit full powers, he sent him abroad to preach the holy war to
all the nations and potentates of Christendom. The Hermit preached,
and countless thousands answered to his call. France, Germany, and
Italy started at his voice, and prepared for the deliverance of Zion.
One of the early historians of the Crusade, who was himself an
eye-witness of the rapture of Europe, [Guibert de Nogent] describes the
personal appearance of the Hermit at this time. He says, that there
appeared to be something of divine in every thing which he said or did.
The people so highly reverenced him, that they plucked hairs from the
mane of his mule, that they might keep them as relics. While preaching,
he wore in general a woollen tunic, with a dark-coloured mantle, which
fell down to his heels. His arms and feet were bare, and he ate neither
flesh nor bread, supporting himself chiefly upon fish and wine. "He set
out," says the chronicler, "from whence I know not; but we saw him
passing through the towns and villages, preaching every where, and the
people surrounding him in crowds, loading him with offerings, and
celebrating his sanctity with such great praises that I never remember
to have seen such honours bestowed upon any one." Thus he went on,
untired, inflexible, and full of devotion, communicating his own
madness to his hearers, until Europe was stirred from its very depths.

While the Hermit was appealing with such signal success to the people,
the Pope appealed with as much success to those who were to become the
chiefs and leaders of the expedition. His first step was to call a
council at Placentia, in the autumn of the year 1095. Here, in the
assembly of the clergy, the Pope debated the grand scheme, and gave
audience to emissaries who had been sent from Constantinople by the
Emperor of the East to detail the progress made by the Turks in their
design of e