Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/301

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 279 was sincere ; and, in the tumult of a camp, he practised the real and fictitious virtues of a convent. Superior to the private fac- tions of the chiefs, he reserved his enmity for the enemies of Christ ; and, though he gained a kingdom by the attempt, his pure and disinterested zeal was acknowledged by his rivals. Godfrey of Bouillon ^^ was accompanied by his two brothers, by Eustace the elder, who had succeeded to the county of Boulogne, and by the younger, Baldwin, a character of more am- biguous virtue. The Duke of Lorraine was alike celebrated on either side of the Rhine ; from birth and education, he was equally conversant with the French and Teutonic languages : the barons of France, Germany, and Lorraine assembled their vassals ; and the confederate force that marched under his banner was composed of fourscore thousand foot and about ten thousand horse. IL In the parliament that was held n. Hugh of at Paris, in the king's presence, about two months after the Robert of ' council of Clermont, Hugh, count of Vermandois, was the most Robert°of ' Flanders conspicuous of the princes who assumed the cross. But the Stephen of appellation of the Great was applied, not so much to his merit or possessions (though neither were contemptible), as to the royal birth of the brother of the king of France.^^ Robert, duke of Normandy, was the eldest son of William the Conqueror ; but on his father's death he was deprived of the kingdom of England, by his own indolence and the activity of his brother Rufus. The worth of Robert was degraded by an excessive levity and easiness of temper ; his cheerfulness seduced him to the indulgence of pleasure ; his profuse liberality impoverished the prince and people ; his indiscriminate clemency multiplied the number of offenders ; and the amiable qualities of a private man became the essential defects of a sovereign. For the trifling sum of ten thousand marks he mortgaged Nor- mandy during his absence to the English usurper ; '*'-' but his previous design in Guibert (p. 485) ; his sickness and vow in Bernard. Thesaur. (c. 78). ■•' Anna Comnena supposes that Hugh [05^o?] was proud of his nobility, riches, and power (1. x. p. 288 [c. 7]) ; the two last articles appear more equivocal ; but an eiiyeVeia, which, seven hundred years ago, was famous in the palace of Constan- tinople, attests the ancient dignity of the Capetian family of France. are not by William], 1. vii. c. 7, p. 672, 673, in Camden. Normanicis [in Migne, Pat. Lat. 149, p. 779 sqq.']. He pawned the duchy for one hundredth part of the present yearly revenue. Ten thousand marks may be equal to five hundred thousand livres, and Normandy annually yields fifty-seven millions to the king {Necker, Administration des Finances, toni. i. p. 287).
 * ' See the family character of Godfrey in William of Tyre, 1. ix. c. 5-8 ; his
 * " Will. Gemeticensis [of Jumi^ges ; c. A.D. 1027 ; the end of Bk. 7 and Bk. 8