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A Brief History Of The Religious And Military Order Of The Knights Templars Of St. John Of Jerusalem.
Enthusiasm pervaded the multitude like an electrical shock . The prince and . the peasant , the nobles and their vassals , young and old , rich and poor , of either sex , burned with indignation against those who profaned the spot where their Lord was crucified , and that where his precious bod y had been deposited during the short space of his death . All were on fire to set out instantly on this great expedition , which appeared to be no other than the cause of heaven ; and all other considerations were now buried in that grand one of recovering the holy land from the infidels .
In less than a year the Hermit had passed over Europe , and returned to the Pope with the most satisfactory account of his mission . In consequence of the favourable disposition which was universally exhibited to the views of the missionary , Urban called two councils in the year 1095 ; the first at Piacentia in Ital y , and the other at Clermont in France . "The same spirit prevailed through each of these assemblies even
; ' private feuds were now lost , and all the difference seemed to be who should approve himself the most zealous in a cause of so much importance to the Christian interests . One voice burst from all parts of the meeting , and nothing was heard for a time but Dieu le veut , God will have it so ! These words became the device , and also the signal for an onset to the Christian soldiers .
By the last of these councils it was ordered , that every . soldier engaged in this enterprise should wear a red cross on his right shoulder . The ecclesiastics who composed this council , as soon as it was ended , preached up the necessity of the crusade with such zeal , that a prodigious army was soon raised . This mi ghty mass , which seemed to hang . portentous over the fate of Asia , was a motley mixture of priests and laicsold and youngmen and womenprompted bvarious
, , , y motives to engage in the expedition . Such an ill-selected army must have been soon destroyed , had not some noble soldiers supported them by bands of regular and disciplined troops . The principal of these was Godfrey of Bouillon , who headed a body of ten thousand horse , and seventy thousand foot . All the parties composing the crusade took the route to Constantinople . This was in the year
1096 , when , upon the plains before that illustrious capital of the East , the Christian princes mustered a hundred thousand horse , and six hundred thousand foot . The Greek emperor Alexis beheld with equal surprize and concern this formidable assemblage in the heart of his empire ; and though he knew the nature of their design , and had received strong letters from the Pope , recommending the pious adventurers to his pro j ectionyetbeing a prince of the most perfidious
, , disposition , he determined to ruin the enterprize . under the mask of friendship . Blinded by his professions , and sensible of his power , the Latin princes engaged to take the city of Nice for him , which the infidels had seized . To this place they laid siege in the spring fol-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Brief History Of The Religious And Military Order Of The Knights Templars Of St. John Of Jerusalem.
Enthusiasm pervaded the multitude like an electrical shock . The prince and . the peasant , the nobles and their vassals , young and old , rich and poor , of either sex , burned with indignation against those who profaned the spot where their Lord was crucified , and that where his precious bod y had been deposited during the short space of his death . All were on fire to set out instantly on this great expedition , which appeared to be no other than the cause of heaven ; and all other considerations were now buried in that grand one of recovering the holy land from the infidels .
In less than a year the Hermit had passed over Europe , and returned to the Pope with the most satisfactory account of his mission . In consequence of the favourable disposition which was universally exhibited to the views of the missionary , Urban called two councils in the year 1095 ; the first at Piacentia in Ital y , and the other at Clermont in France . "The same spirit prevailed through each of these assemblies even
; ' private feuds were now lost , and all the difference seemed to be who should approve himself the most zealous in a cause of so much importance to the Christian interests . One voice burst from all parts of the meeting , and nothing was heard for a time but Dieu le veut , God will have it so ! These words became the device , and also the signal for an onset to the Christian soldiers .
By the last of these councils it was ordered , that every . soldier engaged in this enterprise should wear a red cross on his right shoulder . The ecclesiastics who composed this council , as soon as it was ended , preached up the necessity of the crusade with such zeal , that a prodigious army was soon raised . This mi ghty mass , which seemed to hang . portentous over the fate of Asia , was a motley mixture of priests and laicsold and youngmen and womenprompted bvarious
, , , y motives to engage in the expedition . Such an ill-selected army must have been soon destroyed , had not some noble soldiers supported them by bands of regular and disciplined troops . The principal of these was Godfrey of Bouillon , who headed a body of ten thousand horse , and seventy thousand foot . All the parties composing the crusade took the route to Constantinople . This was in the year
1096 , when , upon the plains before that illustrious capital of the East , the Christian princes mustered a hundred thousand horse , and six hundred thousand foot . The Greek emperor Alexis beheld with equal surprize and concern this formidable assemblage in the heart of his empire ; and though he knew the nature of their design , and had received strong letters from the Pope , recommending the pious adventurers to his pro j ectionyetbeing a prince of the most perfidious
, , disposition , he determined to ruin the enterprize . under the mask of friendship . Blinded by his professions , and sensible of his power , the Latin princes engaged to take the city of Nice for him , which the infidels had seized . To this place they laid siege in the spring fol-