make long pause over the recital of their attempts and their reverses,
for it is the history of France, and not a general history of the
crusades, which is here related; but it was in France, by the French
people, and under French chiefs, that the crusades were begun; and it was
with St. Louis, dying before Tunis beneath the banner of the cross, that
they came to an end. They received in the history of Europe the glorious
name of _Gesta Dei per Francos_ (God's works by French hands); and they
have a right to keep, in the history of France, the place they really
occupied.

During a reign of twenty-nine years, Louis VI., called the Fat, son of
Philip I., did not trouble himself about the East or the crusades, at
that time in all their fame and renown. Being rather a man of sense than
an enthusiast in the cause either of piety or glory, he gave all his
attention to the establishment of some order, justice, and royal
authority in his as yet far from extensive kingdom. A tragic incident,
however, gave the crusade chief place in the thoughts and life of his
son, Louis VII., called the Young, who succeeded him in 1137. He got
himself rashly embroiled, in 1142, in a quarrel with Pope Innocent II.,
on the subject of the election of the Archbishop of Bourges. The pope
and the king had each a different candidate for the see. "The king is a
child," said the pope; "he must get schooling, and be kept from learning
bad habits."

"Never, so long as I live," said the king, "shall Peter de la Chatre (the
pope's candidate) enter the city of Bourges." The chapter of Bourges,
thinking as the pope thought, elected Peter de la Chatre; and Theobald
II., Count of Champagne, took sides for the archbishop elect. Mind your
own business," said the king to him; "your dominions are large enough to
occupy you; and leave me to govern my own as I have a mind." Theobald