378 THE DECLINE AND FALL the hermit, but far below St. Bernard in the merit of an orator and a statesman. An illiterate priest of the neighboiu*hood of Paris, Fulk of Neuilly/^ forsook his parochial duty, to assume the more flattering character of a popular and itinerant mission- ary. The fame of his sanctity and miracles was spread over the land ; he declaimed with sevei-ity and vehemence against the vices of the age ; and his sermons, which he preached in the streets of Paris, converted the robbers, the usurpers, the prostitutes, and even the doctors and scholars of the university. No sooner did Innocent the Third ascend the chair of St. Peter than he proclaimed, in Italy, Germany, and France, the obHga- tion of a new crusade. ^^ The eloquent pontiff described the ruin of Jerusalem, the triumph of the Pagans, and the shame of Christendom ; his liberality proposed the redemption of sins, a plenary indulgence to all who should serve in Palestine, either a year in person or two years by a substitute ; ^^ and, among his legates and orators who blew the sacred trumpet, Fulk of Neuilly was the loudest and most successful. The situation of the principal monarchs was averse to the pious summons. The emperor Frederic the Second was a child ; and his kingdom of Germany was disputed by the rival houses of Brunswick and Swabia, the memorable factions of the Guelphs and Ghibelines. Philip Augustus of France had performed, and could not be persuaded to renew, the perilous vow ; but, as he was not less ambitious of praise than of power, he cheerfully instituted a perpetual fund for the defence of the Holy Land. Richard of England was satiated with the glory and misfortunes of his fii-st adventure, and he presumed to deride the exhortations of Fulk of Neuilly, who was not abashed in the presence of kings. "You advise me," said Plantagenet, "to dismiss my three daughters, pride, avarice, and incontinence : I bequeath them to the most deserving ; my pride to the knights-templars, my avarice to the monks of Cisteaux, and my incontinence to the 31 See Fleury, Hist. Eccl^s. torn. xvi. p. 26, &c. , and Villehardouin, No. i, with the observations of Ducange, which I always mean to quote with the original te.t.
- ^ The contemporary life of Pope Innocent III., published by Baluze and Mura-
tori (Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, torn. iii. pars i. p. 4S6-568), is most valuable for the important and original documents which are inserted in the text. The bull of the crusade may be read, c. 84, 85. ^•* Por ce que cil pardon fut issi gran, si s'en esmeurent mult li cuers des genz, et mult s'en croisierent, porce que li pardons ere si gran. Villehardouin, No. i. Our philosophers may refine on the cause of the crusades, but such were the genuine feelings of a French knight.
