the neighbourhood of the towns or villages, preparatory to their
joining some popular leader of the expedition. The meadows of France
were covered with tents. As the belligerents were to have remission of
all their sins on their arrival in Palestine, hundreds of them gave
themselves up to the most unbounded licentiousness: the courtezan,
with the red cross upon her shoulders, plied her shameless trade with
sensual pilgrims, without scruple on either side: the lover of good
cheer gave loose rein to his appetite, and drunkenness and debauchery
flourished. Their zeal in the service of the Lord was to wipe out all
faults and follies, and they had the same surety of salvation as the
rigid anchorite. This reasoning had charms for the ignorant, and the
sounds of lewd revelry and the voice of prayer rose at the same
instant from the camp.

It is now time to speak of the leaders of the expedition. Great
multitudes ranged themselves under the command of Peter the Hermit,
whom, as the originator, they considered the most appropriate leader
of the war. Others joined the banner of a bold adventurer, whom
history has dignified with no other name than that of Gautier sans
Avoir, or Walter the Pennyless, but who is represented as having been
of noble family, and well skilled in the art of war. A third multitude
from Germany flocked around the standard of a monk, named Gottschalk,
of whom nothing is known, except that he was a fanatic of the deepest
dye. All these bands, which together are said to have amounted to
three hundred thousand men, women, and children, were composed of the
vilest rascality of Europe. Without discipline, principle, or true
courage, they rushed through the nations like a pestilence, spreading
terror and death wherever they went. The first multitude that set
forth was led by Walter the Pennyless early in the spring of 1096,
within a very few months after the Council of Clermont. Each man of