At the same time nude women were seen hurrying through towns and
villages, speaking no word."
If it had not been for the Crusades, something else must have happened
to relieve the unbearable tension. The world was longing for a great
deed, a deed overstepping the border-line of metaphysics, and its
enthusiasm was sufficient guarantee of achievement. In the case of the
individual, vanity and boastfulness played no mean part. Thus the
Austrian minnesinger, Ulrich of Lichtenstein, proposed taking the Cross
"not to serve God but to please his mistress." It is quite probable,
though not historically proved, that this veritable Don Quixote dreamed
of decorating the Holy Sepulchre with his lady's handkerchief, but in
the end he remained at home. A journey to foreign lands, to return after
years of yearning for the beloved, her loyalty, or her treachery,
supplied the romantic imagination of the age with endless material. The
story of the Count von Gleichen and his two wives is famous to this day.
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