"to use the gift of eloquence which God had given him for the good of the Holy Land." Fulk executed his commission in Normandy, Flanders, and Burgundy. His reputation as a preacher, a healer of the sick, and a worker of miracles had preceded him, and crowds everywhere went out to hear him and to be influenced by his teaching. According to the popular belief, virtue went out of him, and his clothes were sometimes torn to rags from the struggles of the masses to touch them in order that sickness might be healed. It is easy to say that Fulk lent himself to the imposture, but it is more probable that he, like other middle-age revivalists, believed himself to be a divine instrument, and the marvels attributed to him to be proofs of his mission. It must be said in favor of Fulk that he was willing to turn the popular enthusiasm into a useful channel. "My garments," said he, when the crowd pressed upon him, "are not blessed, and have no charm about them; but look, I am going to bless and give virtue to this man's cloak." At the same time, seizing upon one belonging to a bystander, he made the sign of the Cross upon it, in token that the wearer would join the crusade, and each one hastened to snatch a portion as a relic. His influence was marvellous and at times strangely exercised. If the crowd were too noisy, he obtained silence by solemnly cursing the noisiest. Sometimes he would lay about him lustily with his stick, while those who were wounded would kiss their wounds or the blood as sanctified by the man of God. Wherever he preached great numbers took the Cross, or contributed to the expenses of the crusade.
Theobald of Champagne. His greatest success was in the conversion of Theobald of of Champagne. This nobleman, a nephew of Richard of England and of Philip of France, a young man of twenty-two, was already renowned in arms and in song. Eighteen hundred knights did homage as his vassals. During the truce between the kings of England and France he had called together a brilliant assemblage to engage in or witness a tournament. Fulk invited the knights to gain a more lasting glory by joining in the crusade. Theobald, Count Louis of Blois, and Simon de Montfort, father of our English hero