When the Pope crossed our borders, he was greeted with such great joy
by crowds in the cities, towns, and villages, because no one alive
could remember when the bishop of the apostolic see had come to these
lands. The year of the incarnate Word 1097 was hastening to its end,
[82] when the bishop hastily convoked a council, choosing a city in
Auvergne, famous for the most learned of all bishops, Sidonius,
although its name has now been changed to Clermont. The council was
even more crowded because of the great desire to see the face and to
hear the words of such an excellent, rarely seen person. In addition
to the multitudes of bishops and abbots, whom some, by counting their
staves, estimated at approximately 400, learned men from all of
France and the dependent territories flowed to that place. One could
see there how he presided over them with serene gravity, with a
dignified presence, and, if I may use the words of Sidonius, with
what peppery eloquence[83] the most learned Pope answered whatever
objections were raised. It was noted with what gentleness the most
brilliant man listened gently to the most vehemently argued speeches,
and how little he valued the social position of people, judging them
only by God's laws.

Then Philip, king of the French, who was in the thirty-seventh year
of his reign, having put aside his own wife, whose name was Berta,
and having carried off Bertrada, the wife of the count of Anjou, was
excommunicated by the Pope, who spurned both the attempts by
important people to intercede for the king, and the offers of
innumerable gifts. Nor was he afraid that he was now within the
borders of the kingdom of France. In this council, just as he had
planned before leaving Rome and seeking out the French for this
reason, he gave a fine speech to those who were in attendance. Among