In the
troubadours' songs of the crusaders there is a strong yearning for
penance and sanctification, quite independent of the idea of the
delivery of the Holy Sepulchre from the rule of the infidels.
All I held dear I now abhor,
My pride, my knightly rank and fame,
And seek the spot which all adore,
The pilgrim's goal--Jerusalem.
sang Guillem of Poitiers, one of the gayest of the troubadours.
Only very few of the more thoughtful minds realised that divine thoughts
have their source in the soul of man, and that these Crusades were
obviously a senseless undertaking (not to mention the fact that God does
not need human assistance). "It is a greater thing to worship God always
in humility and poverty," said the abbot, Peter of Cluny, "than to
journey to Jerusalem in great pomp and circumstance. If, therefore, it
is a good thing to visit Jerusalem and stand on the soil which our
Lord's feet have trod, it is a far better thing still to strive after
heaven where our Lord can be seen face to face.
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