Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/252

234 Fulk, the preacher of the crusade.

The preacher of the new crusade, the Peter the Hermit who made known the pope's wishes to the people of France and of Flanders, was a priest named Fulk, of Neuilly. If we can imagine a Wesley or a Whitefield with middle-age surroundings, we may obtain a glimpse of his character and of the secret of his influence. If, as Gibbon alleges, he was illiterate, his ignorance was not observed by his contemporaries. It is true that after his ordination he had been reproached with ignorance; but in consequence of this reproach, or of his desire for knowledge, he went to the University of Paris, and returned to his parish to become a distinguished preacher. He was full of zeal and enthusiasm. Like many of the great preachers of the churches, he regarded his own time as especially given over to wickedness. Contemporaries of his, monks and priests, had persuaded themselves that the world was shortly to come to an end, and that the mad confusion and anarchy of the time was one of the signs of the end. Fulk found in this belief the greater reason for putting right that which was wrong. He denounced iniquity in high places with the utmost fearlessness. Clergy and prelates felt the bitterness of his speech. In spite of ignominious treatment, threats, and imprisonment, he warned nobles and kings alike that they were travelling rapidly on the broad way to hell. He denounced the new custom of lending money, which the Lombards had introduced into France, and spoke fiercely against avarice and sensuality. No danger could terrify him, no threat make him keep silence. His fervor made him popular with the people. At times his audience became so excited that men threw off their garments and offered their belts to the preacher, publicly confessing their sins and asking for public punishment. The people, rich and poor, came at last to hear him gladly. His fame had already reached Rome. Here, then, was the man whom Innocent had need of. His enthusiasm, his energy, his fearlessness, his apparent disinterestedness, were to be made use of, as the Church of Rome has so often utilized the undisciplined enthusiasm which other churches have driven into opposition. The pope commissioned him to preach the Cross in France,