LVIII. CHAP. by Raymond, Count of St Giles and Tholouse, who added the prouder titles of Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence. The former was a respectable prelate, alike qualified for this world and the next. The latter was a veteran warrior, who had fought against the Saracens of Spain, and who consecrated his declining age, not only to the deliverance, but to the perpetual service of the holy sepulchre. His experience and riches gave him a strong ascendant in the Christian camp, whose distress he was often able, and sometimes willing to relieve. But it was easier for him to extort the praise of the infidels, than to preserve the love of his subjects and associates. His eminent qualities were clouded by a temper, haughty, envious, and obstinate; and, though he resigned an ample patrimony for the cause of God, his piety, in the public opinion, was not exempt from avarice and ambition *. A mercantile, rather than a martial spirit, prevailed among his provincials †, a common name, which included the natives of Auvergne and Languedoc, the vassals of the kingdom of Bur gundy, * It is singular enough, that Raymond of St Giles, a second character in the genuine history of the crusades, should shine. as the first of heroes in the writings of the Greeks, (Anna Comnen. Alexiad, 1. xxi.), and the Arabians, (Longueruana, p. 129.). + Omnes de Burgundia, et Alvernia, et Vasconia, et Gothi (of Languedoc), provinciales appellabantur cæteri vero Francigenæ, et hoc in exercitu; inter hostes autem Franci dicebantur. Raymond des Agiles, p. 144. The town of his birth, or first appanage, was consecrated to St Ægidius, whose name, as early as the first crusade, was corrupted by the French into St Gilles, or St Giles. It is situate LVIII. mond and gundy, or Arles. From the adjacent frontier of CHAP. Spain, he drew a band of hardy adventurers; as he marched through Lombardy, a crowd of Italians flocked to his standard; and his united force consisted of one hundred thousand horse and foot. If Raymond was the first to enlist, and the last to depart, the delay may be excused by the greatness of his preparation, and the promise of an everlasting farewell. IV. The name of Bohemond, the IV. Bohe son of Robert Guiscard, was already famous by Tancred. his double victory over the Greek emperor; but his father's will had reduced him to the principality of Tarentum, and the remembrance of his Eastern trophies, till he was awakened by the rumour and passage of the French pilgrims. It is in the person of this Norman chief that we may seek for the coolest policy and ambition, with a small allay of religious fanaticism. His conduct may justify a belief, that he had secretly directed the design of the Pope, which he affected to second with astonishment and zeal. At the siege of Amalphi, his example and discourse inflamed the passions of a confederate army; he instantly tore his garment, to supply crosses for the numerous candidates, and prepared to visit Constantinople and Asia at the head of ten thousand horse and twenty thousand foot. Several princes of the Norman race accompanied this veteran general; and his cousin Tancred was the partner, rather than the servant, D 2 in the Lower Languedoc, between Nismes and the Rhone, and still boasts a collegiate church of the foundation of Raymond. (Melanges tirés d'une grande Bibliotheque, tom.xxxvii. p.51.). The mother of Tancred was Emma, sister of the great Robert LVIII. CHAP. servant, of the war. In the accomplished character of Tancred, we difcover all the virtues of a perfect knight, the true spirit of chivalry, which inspired the generous sentiments and social offices of man, far better than the base philosophy, or the baser religion, of the times. Chivalry. Between the age of Charlemagne and that of the crusades, a revolution had taken place among the Spaniards, the Normans, and the French, which was gradually extended to the rest of Europe. The service of the infantry was degraded to the plebeians; the cavalry formed the strength of the armies, and the honourable name of miles, or soldier, was confined to the gentlement who served on Robert Guiscard; his father, the Marquis Odo the Good, It is singular enough, that the family and country of so illustrious a person should be unknown; but Muratori reasonably conjectures that he was an Italian, and perhaps of the race of the Marquisses of Montferrat in Piedmont. (Script. tom. v. p. 281. 282.). To gratify the childish vanity of the house of Este, Tasso has inserted in his poem, and in the first crusade, a fabulous hero, the brave and amorous Rinaldo. (x. 75. xvii. 66—94.). He might borrow his name from a Rinaldo, with the Aquila Bianca Estense, who vanquished, as the standard-bearer of the Roman church, the emperor Frederic I. (Storia Imperiale di Ricobaldo, in Muratori Script. Ital. tom. ix. p. 360. Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, iii. 30.). But, 1. The distance of sixty years between the youth of the two Rinaldos, destroys their identity. 2. The Storia Imperiale is a forgery of the Conte Boyardo, at the end of the 15th century. (Muratori, p. 281— 289.) 3. This Rinaldo and his exploits are not less chimerical than the hero of Tasso. (Muratori, Antichità Estense, tom. i. p. 350.). Of the words, gentilis, gentilhomme, gentleman, two etymo logies are produced: 1. From the Barbarians of the fifth century, the soldiers, and at length the conquerors of the Roman empire, who were vain of their foreign nobility; and, 2. From the sense of the civilians, who consider gentilis as sy nonymous LVIII. on horseback, and were invested with the cha- CHAP. racter of knighthood. The dukes and counts, who had usurped the rights of sovereignty, divided the provinces among their faithful barons: the barons distributed among their vassals the fiefs or benefices of their jurisdiction; and these military tenants, the peers of each other, and of their lord, composed the noble or equestrian order, which disdained to conceive the peasant or burgher as of the same species with themselves. The dignity of their birth was preserved by pure and equal alliances; their sons alone, who could produce four quarters or lines of ancestry, without spot or reproach, might legally pretend to the honour of knighthood; but a valiant plebeian, was sometimes enriched and ennobled by the sword, and became the father of a new race. A single knight could impart, according to his judgement, the character which he received; and the warlike sovereigns of Europe derived more glory from this personal distinction, than from the lustre of their diadem. This ceremony, of which fome traces may be found in Tacitus and the woods of Germany, was in its origin simple and profane; the candidate, after some previous trial, was invested with the sword and spurs; and his cheek or shoulder were touched with a slight blow, as an emblem of the last affront which it was lawful for him to endure. But suD 3 perstition nonymous with ingenuus. Selden inclines to the first, but the latter is more pure, as well as probable. * Framea scutoque juvenem ornant. Tacitus, Germania, c.13. х LVIII. 26.2.90 CHAP. perstition mingled in every public and private action of life; in the holy wars, it sanctified the profession of arms; and the order of chivalry was assimilated in its rights and privileges to the sacred orders of priesthood. The bath and white garment of the novice, were an indecent copy of the regeneration of baptism; his sword, which he offered on the altar, was blessed by the ministers of religion; his solemn reception was preceded by fasts and vigils; and he was created a knight, in the name of God, of St George, and of St Michael the archangel. He swore to accomplish the duties of his profession; and education, example, and the public opinion, were the inviolable guardians of his oath. As the champion of God and the ladies (I blush to unite such discordant names), he devoted himself to speak the truth; to maintain the right; to protect the distressed; to practise courtesy, a virtue less familiar to the ancients; to pursue the infidels; to despise the allurements of ease and safety; and to vindicate in every perilous adventure the honour of his character. The abuse of the same spirit provoked the illiterate knight to disdain the arts of industry and peace; to esteem himself the sole judge and avenger of his own injuries; and proudly to neglect the laws of civil society and military discipline. Yet the benefits of this institution, to refine the temper of Barbarians, and to infuse some principles of faith, justice, and humanity, were strongly felt, and have been often observed. The asperity of national prejudice was softened; and the community of religion and arms spread |