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 embarked at Barfleur for Southampton, and, perceiving from the countenances of the seamen that there was in their minds some question as to the wisdom of attempting the passage while the weather continued as threatening as it then was, is reported to have said: "If the Supreme Ruler designs by my arrival in England to restore to my people that peace which He knows I sincerely have at heart, may He mercifully bring me to a safe port; but if His will has decreed to scourge the realm, may I never be permitted to reach its shore." And the English fleet seems to have kept the Narrow Seas clear of the enemy, while, on the other hand, bad weather contributed to the discomfiture of the foe.

It was in the last quarter of the twelfth century that the nobles of England first began to take an active interest in affairs in the Holy Land. Some writers assert that the resultant Crusades exerted, upon the whole, less direct influence upon England than upon most of the other countries of Europe; and this is perhaps true; but there can be no question that, indirectly, the Crusades have affected the destinies of the country ever since; for it was they which first caused her to become a Power in the Mediterranean, and which first led a large volume of English trade thither. Indeed it was they which first induced England to essay the exercise of her naval force in water anywhere outside her own seas; which showed her her aptitude for distant adventure; and which taught her wherein lay the secret of her strength.

Henry took great interest in the Eastern question, and designed to himself assume the Cross; but, though he was never able to carry out his intention, at least one private crusading expedition was fitted out in England during his reign, and the king, more than once, furnished ships, arms and money for the assistance of Christendom against the Infidel.

The most noteworthy private expedition was one headed by William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, who, accompanied by many nobles, knights and gentlemen of several nationalities, sailed from Dartmouth in 1177, with thirty-seven ships. Touching at Lisbon, Essex was invited by the King of Portugal to aid him against the Moors, and, acquiescing, contributed greatly to their defeat and to the slaughter of forty thousand of them.