OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 273 state of their enemies ; and such was the stupidity of the people that, at the siijht of the first city or castle beyond the limits of their knowledge, they were ready to ask, whether that was not the Jerusalem, the term and object of their labours. Yet the more prudent of the crusaders, who were not sure that they should be fed from heaven with a shower of quails or manna, provided themselves with those pi-ecious metals which, in every country, are the representatives of every commodity. To defray, according to their rank, the expenses of the road, princes alien- ated their provinces, nobles their lands and castles, peasants their cattle and the instruments of husbandry. The value of property was depreciated by the eager competition of multitudes ; while the price of arms and horses was raised to an exorbitant height, by the Avants and impatience of the buyers. ^^ Those who remained at home, with sense and money, were en- riched by the epidemical disease : the sovereigns acquired at a cheap rate the domains of their vassals ; and the ecclesiastical purchasers completed the payment by the assurance of their prayers. The cross, which was commonly sewed on the garment, in cloth or silk, was inscribed by some zealots on their skin ; an hot iron, or indelible liquor, was applied to perpetuate the mark ; and a crafty monk, who showed the miraculous impression on his breast, was repaid with the popular veneration and the richest benefices of Palestine. ^^ The fifteenth of August had been fixed in the council of CI er- Departure of mont for the departure of the pila-rims ; but the day was antici- crusaders. 1.1 11 irii IT ^ D. 1096, pated by the thoughtless and needy crowd or plebeians ; and 1 March, May, shall briefly dispatch the calamities which they inflicted and suffered, before I enter on the more serious and successful enter- prise of the chiefs. Early in the spring, from the confines of France and Lorraine, about sixty thousand of the populace of both sexes flocked round the first missionaiy of the crusade, and pressed him with clamorous importunity to lead them to the holy sepulchre. The hermit, assuming the character, without the talents or authority, of a general, impelled or obeyed the forward impulse of his votaries along the banks of the Rhine and Danube. Their wants and numbers soon compelled them to ■^ Guibert (p. 481) paints in lively colours this general emotion. He was one of the few contemporaries who had genius enough to feel the astonishing scenes that were passing before their eyes. Erat itaque videre miraculum caro omnes emere, atque vili vendere, &c. '•'Some mstances of these stigmata are given in the Esprit des Croisades (torn. iii. p. 169, &c.), from authors whom I have not seen. VOL. VI. 18
