II,] EARLIER KINGS. 17 He had been many years married to Beftha of Hollatid, and had four children, when he saw Bertrade de Moiitfort, whose beauty was such that Ftdk, called le Rechin, Count of Anjoti, had put away his wife to marry her, four years before. The king fell so madly in love with her that he declared his wedlock and hers both void, and by bribery obtained the perfonnance of the rite of marriage. Pope Urban II. after admonition, excommunicated the guilty pair. At first Philip mocked at his censure, but then pre- tended to submit, though without really dismissing Ber- trade, and for the chief part of fifteen years he was under sentence of excommunication. To prevent the loss of the throne, he caused his son Lewis, called I'Eveille, or the Alert, to be crowned. Bertrade became so jealous of her stepson as to attempt his death ; and only after much strife he received the county of the Vexin as the price of his toleration of her. She even contrived to reconcile her two husbands, who met at Angers on the most friendly terms, when she managed to stir up a quarrel between the Count of Anjou and the son of hi first marriage. The youth rebelled, was killed in battle, and her son Ftilk became heir. 12. The First Crusade, 1095. — In the meantime Pope Urban II. had visited Auvergfie, and, together with Peter the Hermit, had preached the First Crusade at the Council of Cler7iiont, where was enacted the canon that " he who from devotion alone, and not from desire of wealth or gain, shall consecrate himself to restore the Church of God at Jerusalem, may reckon his pilgrimage in the stead of all penance." This was the text of the preaching which sent thousands to take the Cross and win back the spots dear to all Christians. The chief of the vassals of the French crown who engaged in the First Crusade were Hugh, Count of Vermandois, Robert, Ditke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror, and Raymond, Count of Toulouse, who obtained the city of Tripoli as a feudal tenure under the first king of Jerusalem, Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine. The establishment of this kingdom and the need of guarding it by reinforcements from Europe had in the end a great eft'ect on the Fjench, who were so much the largest element in the crusading armies that the Eastern name for European is sA^xW F 1 ank , and the dialect of the crusading camp was called lingtia franca. The staple of the permanent defenders of the Latin kingdom -.f je'-usalem were however two religious orders, who C
