Source.—William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Anglorum, ed. Stubbs, vol. ii., pp. 390, 393, 398. (Rolls Series.)

In the year 1095 after the Incarnation of Our Lord, Pope Urban II., who then filled the apostolic see, passed over the Alps and came to France. The ostensible cause of his coming was that after being driven from Rome by Guibert’s violence he might win over the churches north of the Alps to acknowledge him. His more secret purpose was less well known, to wit, by Bohemond’s counsel, to stir up wellnigh the whole of Europe for an expedition to Asia, so that amid so great a commotion in all countries mercenaries might easily be secured for Urban to attack Rome, and Bohemond Illyria and Macedonia.... However, whatever might have been the occasion of his journey, his coming was of great and glorious benefit to Christians. A council, then, was summoned at Clermont, the most famous city of Auvergne.... A clear and forcible sermon, as a priest’s sermon ought to be, was addressed to the people, touching an expedition of Christians against the Turks.... The audience was filled with enthusiasm, and shouted approval, delighted with the eloquence, and attracted to the pilgrimage; and forthwith, in the council, many of the nobility knelt before the Pope and consecrated themselves and theirs to God’s warfare; among them was Aymer, the mighty bishop of Puy, who afterwards commanded the host with wisdom and increased its numbers with his eloquence. So in the month of November, in which the council was held, all departed to their own homes; and forthwith the report of the good news spread throughout all the world and stirred the hearts of Christians with a pure emotion, which was so universally diffused, that there was no people so remote, so obscure, as not to contribute its proportion; for not only were the Mediterranean countries fired by the enthusiasm, but all who dwelt in the utmost islands or among savage nations and had heard the name of Christ. The Welshman left his forest-hunting, the Scotsman forsook his friendly lice, the Dane abandoned his endless drinking bouts, the Norwegian deserted his raw fish. The husbandmen left the fields, houses were emptied of their inmates, whole cities went abroad. There was no regard for ties, love of country was of small esteem, God alone held men’s vision. Stored up barns, hoarded treasures, all that might satisfy the tiller’s eager hopes or the miser’s greed, were abandoned; they hungered only after the journey to Jerusalem. Joy went with the travellers, grief oppressed those who stayed at home. Those who stayed at home? You might have seen husband and wife and all their children on the march; you would have laughed to see them, furniture and all, setting off in carts. The roads were too narrow, the ways too strait, for those who took the journey, so thick the multitudes jostled and thronged. The number surpassed men’s imagination, though the travellers were estimated at six millions. Never, beyond a doubt, did so many nations combine for one same purpose, never did a host so unorganized submit its undiscipline to one, nay, to no command. For most wonderful of all it was to see so vast a throng move slowly through all Christendom, yet never led to plunder, and none to restrain them. All were afire with mutual love, so that if any man found in his possession what he knew not to be his, he exposed it everywhere for many days to be claimed, and the finder’s desire meanwhile was checked, until the loser’s need might be satisfied.