The court of France was at Vezelay--the King, the Queen, the great
vassals of the kingdom at the King's command, and those of Aquitaine
and Guienne and Poitou in the train of Eleanor, whose state outshone
and dwarfed her husband's. And there was Bernard, the holy man of
Clairvaux, to preach the Cross, where old men remembered the voice of
Peter the Hermit and the shout of men now long dead in far Palestine,
crying, "God's will! God's will!"
Because the church of Saint Mary Magdalen was too small to hold the
multitude, they were gathered together in a wide grassy hollow without
the little town, and there a raised floor of wood had been built for
the King and Queen and the great nobles; but the rest of the knights
and Eleanor's three hundred ladies stood upon the grass-grown slope,
and were crowded together by the vast concourse of the people.
The sun was already behind the hill, and the hot July air had cooled a
little; but it was still hot, and the breathing of the multitude could
be heard in the silence. Gilbert had come but just in time; he had left
his men to find him a lodging if they could, and now he pressed forward
as well as he might, to see and hear, but most of all to find out, if
he could, the face of Beatrix among the three hundred.
There sat the Queen, in scarlet and gold, wearing the crown upon her
russet hair, and the King in gold and blue beside her, square, grave,
and pale as ever; and when Gilbert had searched the three hundred fair
young faces in vain, his eyes came back to the most beautiful woman in
the world. He saw that she was fairer than even his memory of her, and
he felt pride that she should call herself his friend.
Then suddenly there was a stir among the knights behind the throne, and
though they were standing closely, shoulder to shoulder, and pressed
one against another, yet they divided to let the preacher go through.
He came alone, with quiet eyes, thanking the knights to right and left
because they made way for him, and he passed between them quickly like
a white shadow. So thought pierces matter and the spiritual being
penetrates the terrestrial being and is unchanged.
But when Bernard had ascended the white wooden stage and stood near the
King and Queen, then the hushed stillness became a dead silence, and
the eyes of all that multitude were fastened upon his face and form, as
each could see him. For a moment every man held his breath as if an
angel had come down from heaven, bringing on his lips the word of God
and in his look the evidence of eternal light. He was the holy man of
the world even while he lived, and neither before him nor after him,
since the days of the Apostles, has any one person so stood in the eyes
of all mankind.
The gentle voice began to speak, without effort to be heard, yet as
distinct and clear as if it spoke to each several ear, pleading for the
cause of the Cross of Christ, and for the suffering men who held the
holy places in the East with ever-weakening hands, but still with
undaunted, desperate courage.
"Is there any man among you who has loved his mother, and has received
her dying breath with her last blessing, and has laid her to rest in
peace, in a place holy to him for her sake, and who would suffer that
her grave should be defiled and defaced by her enemies, so long as he,
her son, has in his body blood of hers to shed? Is there any among you
who would not fight, while he had breath, to save his father's dead
bones from dishonour? Do you not daily boast that you will lay down
your lives in a quarrel for the good name of your ladies, as you would
for your own daughters' fair fame and your own wives' faithfulness?
"And now, I say, is not the Church of God your mother, and are not her
temples your most holy places? You boast that you are ready to die for
an honourable cause: yet Christ gave His life for us, not because of
our honour, but because of our dishonour, and our sins which are many
and grievous; and having atoned for us in His Holy Passion, He was laid
at rest after the manner of men. And the place where He rested is
sacred, for the Lord from Heaven lay therein when He had washed away
our iniquity with His holy blood, when He had healed us by His stripes,
when He had given His life that we might live, when He had endured the
bondage of this dying flesh that we might be raised undying in the
spirit, by Him, and through Him, and in Him.
"Shall the earth that drank that blood be as other earth? Shall the
place that echoed the seven words of agony be as other places? Is the
tomb where God rested Him of His crucified manhood to be given up to
forgetfulness and defilement? Or are we sinless, that we need not even
the memory of the sacrifice, and so pure that we need no purification?
I would that we were. The world is evil, the hour is late, the Judge is
at hand, and we are lacking of good and eaten of evil, so that there is
no whole part in us.
"And yet we move not to save ourselves, though Christ gave His life to
save us if we would stir ever so little, if we would but stretch out
our hands to the hand that waits for ours. He bids us not be crucified,
as He was for us. He bids us only take up our cross and follow Him, as
He took it up Himself, and bore it to the place of death."
Thus Bernard began to speak, gently at first, as one who rouses a
friend from sleep to warn him of danger, and fears to be rough, yet
cannot be silent; but by and by, in the breathing stillness, the sweet
voice was strengthened and rang like the first clarion at dawn on the
day of battle, far off and clear, heart-stirring and true. And with the
rising tone came also the stronger word, and at last the spirit that
moves more than word or voice.
"Lay the Cross to your hearts as you wear it on your breasts. Bear it
with you on the long day marches, and in the watches of night bow
before it inwardly, and pray that you may have grace to bear it to the
end. So shall your footsteps profit you, and your way shall be the way
of the Cross, till you stand in the holy place. But if so be that God
ask blood of you, blessed shall they be among you who shall give life
freely, to die for the Cross of our Lord Christ; and they shall stand
in the place that is holy indeed, before the Throne of God.
"Yet beware of one thing. I would not that you should go out to fight
for the Sepulchre as some of our fathers did, boasting in the Cross,
yet in heart each for his own soul and none for the glory of Christ,
counting the weariness, and the hurts, and the drops of blood as a sure
reckoning to be repaid to you in heaven, as if you had lent God a piece
of money which He must pay again. The Lord Jesus gave not His life at
an account, nor His blood at usury; He counted not the pain, nor was
His suffering set down in a book; but He gave all freely, of His love
for men. Shall men therefore ask of God a return, saying: 'We have
given Thee so much, as it were a wound, or it may be a life, or else a
prayer, and a day of fasting, see that Thou pay us what is just'? That
were not giving to God what is a man's own; it were rather lending or
selling to God what is His. See that you do not thus, but if you have
anything to give, let it be given freely; or else give not at all, for
it is written that from him that hath not faith shall be taken even
such things as he hath.
"But if you take the Cross, and arm yourselves to fight for it, and go
your way to Palestine to help your brethren in their sore need, go not
for yourselves, suffer not for yourselves, fight not for yourselves.
For as God is greater than man, so is the glory of God greater than the
glory of self and more worthy that you should die for it. Think not
therefore of earning a reward, but of honouring the Lord Christ in the
holy place where He died for you.
"March not as it were to do penance for your old sins, hoping for
forgiveness, as a trader that brings merchandise looks for a profit!
Strike not as slaves, who fight lest they be beaten with rods, neither
as men in fear of everlasting fire and the torments of hell! Neither go
out as thieves, seeking to steal the earth for yourselves, and striving
not with the unbeliever, but with the rich man for his riches, and with
the great man for his possessions! I say, go forth and do battle for
God's sake and His glory! March ye for Christ and to bring the people
to Him out of darkness! Take with you the Cross to set it in the hearts
of men, and the seed of the tree of life to plant among desolate
nations!
"Ye kings, that are anointed leaders, lead ye the armies of Heaven! Ye
knights, that are sworn to honour, draw your unsullied swords for the
honour of God! Men and youths, that bear arms by allegiance, be ye
soldiers of Christ and allegiant to the Cross! Be ye all first for
honour, first for France, first for God Most High!"
[Illustration: "CROSSES! GIVE US CROSSES!"]
With those words the white-sleeved arm was high above his head, holding
up the plain white wooden cross, and there was silence for a moment.
But when the people saw that he had finished speaking, they drew deep
breath, and the air thundered with the great cry that came.
"Crosses! Give us crosses!"
And they pressed upon one another to get nearer. The King had risen,
and the Queen with him, and he came forward and knelt at Bernard's
feet, with bent head and folded hands. The great abbot took pieces of
scarlet cloth from a page who held them ready in a basket, and he
fastened them upon the King's left shoulder and then raised his right
hand in blessing. The people were silent again and looked on, and many
thought that the King, in his great mantle and high crown, was like a
bishop wearing a cope, for he had a churchman's face. He rose to his
feet and stepped back but he was scarcely risen when the Queen stood in
his place, radiant, the evening light in her hair.
"I also will go," she said in a clear, imperious voice. "Give me the
Cross!"
She knelt and placed her hands together, as in prayer, and there was a
fair light in her eyes as she looked up to Bernard's face. He hesitated
a moment, then took a cross and laid it upon her mantle, and she smiled.
A great cry went up from all the knights, and then from the people,
strong and triumphant, echoing, falling, and rising again.
"God save the Queen!--the Queen that wears the Cross!"
And suddenly every man held up his sword by the sheath, and the great
cross-hilts made forests of crosses in the glowing air. But the Queen's
three hundred ladies pressed upon her.
"We will not leave you!" they cried. "We will take the Cross with you!"
And they thronged upon Bernard like a flight of doves, holding out
white hands for crosses, and more crosses, while he gave as best he
could. Also the people and the knights began to tear pieces from their
own garments to make the sign, and one great lord took his white mantle
and made strips of the fine cloth for his liege vassals and his squires
and men; but another took Bernard's white cape from his shoulders and
with a sharp dagger made many little crosses of it for the people, who
kissed them as holy things when they received them.
In the throng, Gilbert pressed forward to the edge of the platform
where the Queen was standing, for he was strong and tall. He touched
her mantle softly, and she looked down, and he saw how her face turned
white and gentle when she knew him. Being too far below her to take her
hand, he took the rich border of her cloak and kissed it, whereat she
smiled; but she made a sign to him that he should not try to talk with
her in the confusion. Then looking down again, she saw that he had yet
no cross. She took one from one of her ladies, and, bending low, tried
to fasten it upon his shoulder.
"I thank your Grace," said Gilbert, very gratefully. "Is Beatrix here?"
he asked in a low tone.
But, to his wonder, the Queen's brow darkened, and her eyes were
suddenly hard; she almost dropped the cross in her hurry to stand
upright, nor would she again turn her eyes to look at him.