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 III.] GROWING IMPORTANCE OF THE KINGS. 23 dom for her son, Baldwin III. The outpost of the realm, Edessa, had been taken by the Sultan of Aleppo, and fresh aid from the West could alone save the other sacred places. New ardour awakened, Lewis saw a means of appeasing his remorse for the deathc at Vitry, and Eleanor hoped to relieve the dulness of her court. The nobles and clergy were convoked at Vezelai, where Bernard so preached that the place rang with shouts of " The cross ! the cross ! " and it was assumed by hosts of knights. Bernard then passed on to Speyer, where he kindled aUke zeal in the German king, Conrad of Siuabia. He was entreated to lead the crusade, but he was far too wise, saying that the temporal sword was given to the laity. While waiting to embark, the crusaders wanted to have a foretaste of their expected achievements in Palestine by plundering and murdering the Jews ; but this wickedness was cut short by Bernard. 9. The Second Crusade, 1 147. — All was ready by the summer of 1147. The French army assembled at Metz, and marched through Germany in the wake of Conrad, There were difficulties with the Eastern Emperor, and misfortunes began as soon as the Bosporos was passed. The German force was routed, and only a very few remained with Conrad, and joined the French troops. Lewis wintered at Ephesus ; and, when in the spring he attempted to advance, he was beset in the wild ravines of Asia Minor, and barely escaped with the loss of all his baggage ; and when he at length arrived at Antioch by sea, he was wofully crippled in strength. He and Conrad laid siege to Damascus, but there were constant misun- derstandings between the crusaders and the princes of the kingdom of Jerusalem, whose perfidy and vice dis- gusted their allies. Sickness and famine prevailed ; one crusader after another went home ; and though Lewis remained a year in Palestine, he had not troops enough for any undertaking, and spent his time in devotion at the different shrines, while his wife Eleanor was further corrupted by the vices of Eastern life. When at last he returned home, and landed at the mouth of the Rhone in 11 49, he brought back with him only 300 men. 10. Preponderance of the House of Anjou, 1154. — Two years later died the wise Abbot Suger, and St. Bernard only survived him till 1 153. A great power was now growing up north and west of France. On the death