Heroines of the Crusades Part 39

The word dub is of pure Saxon origin. The French word adouber is similar to the Latin adoptare, for knights were not made by adapting the habiliments of chivalry to them, but by receiving them, or being adopted into the order. Many writers have imagined that the accolade was the last blow which the soldier might receive with impunity.--_Mill's History of Chivalry_, p. 28.

NOTE T.--PAGE 48.

"_The Saxon Secretary Ingulphus._"--In the year 1051, William, Duke of Normandy, then a visitor at the court of Edward the Confessor, made Ingulphus, then of the age of twenty-one, his secretary. He accompanied the duke to Normandy--went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and upon his return was created abbot of the rich monastery of Croyland--_See Encyclopedia._

NOTE U.--PAGE 47.

"_I craved a portion of the Holy dust._"--Even the dust of Palestine was adored: it was carefully conveyed to Europe, and the fortunate possessor, whether by original acquisition or by purchase, was considered to be safe from the malevolence of demons. As a proof that miracles had not ceased in his time, St. Augustine relates a story of the cure of a young man who had some of the dust of the Holy City suspended in a bag over his bed.--_Mill's Crusades_, p. 14.

NOTE V.--PAGE 47.

"_Pilgrim, and Palmer._"--On his return, he placed the branch of the sacred palm tree, which he had brought from Jerusalem, over the altar of his church, in proof of the accomplishment of his vow; religious thanksgivings were offered up; rustic festivity saluted and honored him, and he was revered for his piety and successful labors.--_Mill's Crusades_, p. 14.

NOTE W.--PAGE 48.

"_Joined the Archbishop._"--The clergy of Germany had proclaimed their intention of visiting Jerusalem; and Ingulphus, a native and historian of England, was one of a Norman troop which joined them at Mayence. The total number of pilgrims was seven thousand, and among the leaders are the names respectable for rank of the Archbishop of Mayence and the Bishops of Bamberg, Ratisbon, and Utrecht. Their march down Europe, and through the Greek Empire, was peaceable and unmolested; but when they entered the territory of the infidels, they fell into the hands of the Arab robbers, and it was not without great losses of money and lives that the band reached Jerusalem.--_History of Crusades_, p. 17.

NOTE X.--PAGE 49.

"_The Gog and Magog of sacred writ._"--Magyar is the national and oriental denomination of the Hungarians; but, among the tribes of Scythia, they are distinguished by the Greeks under the proper and peculiar name of Turks, as the descendants of that mighty people who had conquered and reigned from China to the Volga.--_Gibbon's Rome_, vol. 5, p. 411.

NOTE Y.--PAGE 50.

"_Battle Abbey._"--William laid the foundation of the Abbey of St.

Martin, now called Battle Abbey, where perpetual prayers were directed to be offered up for the repose of the souls of all who had fallen in that sanguinary conflict. The high altar of this magnificent monument of the Norman victory was set upon the very spot where Harold's body was found, or, according to others, where he first pitched his gonfanon.--_Queens of England_, vol. 1, p. 50.

NOTE Z.--PAGE 51.

"_Did not that for his own sins._"--It is a maxim of the civil law, that whosoever cannot pay with his purse must pay with his body; and the practice of flagellation was adopted by the monks, a cheap, though painful equivalent. By a fantastic arithmetic, a year of penance was taxed at three thousand lashes, and such was the skill and patience of a famous hermit, St. Dominic, of the iron cuira.s.s, that in six days he could discharge an entire century by a whipping of three hundred thousand stripes. His example was followed by many penitents of both s.e.xes; and as a vicarious sacrifice was accepted, a st.u.r.dy disciplinarian might expiate on his own back the sins of his benefactors.--_Gibbon's Rome_, vol. 5, p.

58.

NOTE AA.--PAGE 53.

The story of the n.o.ble Magyar is taken from early travels in Palestine.

NOTE BB.--PAGE 60.

"_The a.s.sa.s.sin band of Mount Lebanon._"--Ha.s.san, with his seven successors, is known in the East, under the name of the Old Man of the Mountain, because his residence was in the mountain fastness in Syria.

These Ismaelians, therefore, acquired in the West the name of a.s.sa.s.sins, which thence became in the western languages of Europe a common name for murderer.--_See Encyclopedia._

NOTE CC.--PAGE 68.

"_Thou shouldst have been King._"--His eldest son, Robert, was absent in Germany, at the time of his death. William was on his voyage to England; Henry, who had taken charge of his obsequies, suddenly departed on some self-interested business, and all the great officers of the court having dispersed themselves,--some to offer their homage to Robert, and others to William, the inferior servants of the household plundered the house, stripped the person of the royal dead, and left his body naked upon the floor.--_Queens of England_, vol. 1, p. 85.

NOTE DD.--PAGE 69.

"_Our uncle Odo hates Lanfranc._"--The Duke William was brave, open, sincere, generous; even his predominate fault, his extreme indolence and facility, were not disagreeable to those haughty barons, who affected independence, and submitted with reluctance to a vigorous administration in their sovereign. Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and Robert, Earl of Montaigne, maternal brothers of the conqueror, envying the great credit of Lanfranc, which was increased by his late services, enforced all these motives with these partisans, and engaged them in a formal conspiracy to dethrone William Rufus.--_Hume's History of England_, vol. 1, p. 221.

NOTE EE.--PAGE 71.

"_Siege of St. Michael's Mount._"--Prince Henry, disgusted that so little care had been taken of his interests in this accommodation, retired to St.

Michael's Mount, a strong fortress on the coast of Normandy, and infested the neighborhood with his incursions. Robert and William, with their joint forces, besieged him in this place, and had nearly reduced him by the scarcity of water, when the eldest, hearing of his distress, granted him permission to supply himself, and also sent him some pipes of wine for his own table. Being reproved by William for his ill-timed generosity, he replied, "What, shall I suffer my brother to die of thirst--where shall we find another when he is gone?"--_Hume's England_, vol. 1.

NOTE FF.--PAGE 73.

"_Crowds followed the steps of the monk._"--The lower order of people attached themselves to one Peter the Hermit, a monk of the city of Amiens.

He had at first led a solitary life under the habit of a monk; but afterwards, men saw him traversing the streets, and preaching everywhere.

The people surrounded him in crowds,--overwhelmed him with presents, and proclaimed his sanct.i.ty with such great praises, that I do not remember like honors having been rendered to any one. In whatever he did or said, there seemed to be something divine in him, so that they would even pluck the hairs out of his mule, to keep them as relics; which I relate here, not as laudable, but for the vulgar, who love all extraordinary things. He wore only a woollen tunic, and above it a cloak of coa.r.s.e dark cloth, which hung to his heels. His arms and feet were naked; he ate little or no bread; and supported himself on wine and fish.--_Michelet_, p. 209.

NOTE GG.--PAGE 78.

"_Deus Vult._"--Urban was about to continue, when he was interrupted by a general uproar; the a.s.sistants shed tears, struck their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, raised their eyes and hands to heaven, all exclaiming together, "Let us march, G.o.d wills it! G.o.d wills it!"--_History of the Popes_, p. 384.

NOTE HH.--PAGE 79.

"_St.i.tch the red cross._"--All mounted the red cross on their shoulders.

Red stuffs and vestments of every kind were torn in pieces; yet were insufficient for the purpose. There were those who imprinted the cross upon themselves with a red-hot iron.--_Michelet_, p. 210.

NOTE II.--PAGE 82.

"_Walter the Penniless._"--Sixty thousand were conducted by the Hermit.

Walter the Penniless led fifteen thousand footmen, followed by a fanatic named G.o.deschal, whose sermons had swept away twenty thousand peasants from the villages of Germany. Their rear was again pressed by a herd of two hundred thousand, the most stupid and savage refuse of the people, who mingled with their devotion a brutal license of rapine, prost.i.tution, and drunkenness. Some counts and gentlemen, at the head of three thousand horse, attended the motions of the mult.i.tude to partake in the spoil; but their genuine leaders (may we credit such folly) were a goose and a goat, who were carried in the front, and to whom these worthy Christians ascribed an infusion of the divine spirit.--_Gibbon's Rome_, vol. 5, p.

553.

NOTE JJ.--PAGE 84.

"_Inquire if that be Jerusalem._"--In some instances the poor rustic shod his oxen like horses, and placed his whole family in a cart, where it was amusing to hear the children, on the approach to any large town or castle, inquiring if the object before them were Jerusalem.--_Mill's Crusades_, p.

31.

NOTE KK.--PAGE 87.