Peter, after he had performed all the penances and duties of his
pilgrimage, demanded an interview with Simeon, the Patriarch of the
Greek Church at Jerusalem. Though the latter was a heretic in Peter's
eyes, yet he was still a Christian, and felt as acutely as himself for
the persecutions heaped by the Turks upon the followers of Jesus. The
good prelate entered fully into his views, and, at his suggestion,
wrote letters to the Pope, and to the most influential monarchs of
Christendom, detailing the sorrows of the faithful, and urging them to
take up arms in their defence. Peter was not a laggard in the work.
Taking an affectionate farewell of the Patriarch, he returned in all
haste to Italy. Pope Urban II. occupied the apostolic chair. It was at
that time far from being an easy seat. His predecessor, Gregory, had
bequeathed him a host of disputes with the Emperor Henry IV. of
Germany, and he had made Philip I. of France his enemy by his
strenuous opposition to an adulterous connexion formed by that
monarch. So many dangers encompassed him about, that the Vatican was
no secure abode, and he had taken refuge in Apulia, under the
protection of the renowned Robert Guiscard. Thither Peter appears to
have followed him, though in what spot their meeting took place is not
stated with any precision by ancient chroniclers or modern historians.
Urban received him most kindly; read, with tears in his eyes, the
epistle from the Patriarch Simeon, and listened to the eloquent story
of the Hermit with an attention which showed how deeply he sympathised
with the woes of the Christian church. Enthusiasm is contagious, and
the Pope appears to have caught it instantly from one whose zeal was
so unbounded. Giving the Hermit full powers, he sent him abroad to
preach the holy war to all the nations and potentates of Christendom.
The Hermit preached, and countless thousands answered to his call.
France, Germany, and Italy started at his voice, and prepared for the
deliverance of Zion. One of the early historians of the Crusade, who