Peter the Hermit | Page 4

that prophecy had been interpreted to mean
that in the year 1000 A. D. Christ would appear and set up His
millennial kingdom. This greatly stimulated the pilgrimages to the Holy
Land, as it did all other phases of devotion. Thousands felt that it would

be well to be at the scene of the cross and of the resurrection when
Christ came with His angels. It were well they should be near where He
ascended, whether they were living or dead when He came.
[Sidenote: Haroun Dead Persecution Follows]
Persecutions followed the death of the great Caliph, particularly in the
sultanate of Egypt. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was destroyed.
Other Christian buildings shared the same fate. Then as now, the Jews
had to suffer from suspicions created by their voluntary segregation as
well as by their forced isolation. The Christians in France heard that the
French Jews had sent word to the Sultan Hakim that a great Christian
invasion of the Holy Land was intended. This led to a revenge, the
justice of which in any degree remains unsettled to this day.
[Sidenote: Toll for Entering Jerusalem]
Unexpected calm came to Palestine through the development of the
maritime powers of Italy, which could fall on Hakim's dominions at
will. The largest annoyance of the pilgrims for awhile was the enforced
payment of a toll for entering Jerusalem, established near this time by
the Mohammedan powers. In the cooler blood of historical inquiry
to-day, we can not wonder at a tax which failed at its greatest height to
meet the increased cost of government when thousands of pilgrims
were added to the population of Jerusalem and its environs. But it was
often gladly paid by those who could, and the gates of Jerusalem were
opened by the richer pilgrims for those to whom it was an impossible
or severe burden.
[Sidenote: Christianity now Wealthy]
Christianity had now attained a history of a thousand years. It had
climbed to stately thrones and to cathedrals. Princes of great names,
like Robert of Normandy, and bishops who were also secular princes
made the pilgrimage and returned to speak with authority on the
attractions of the holy places and on the shame of the infidel's
domination.

[Sidenote: Pilgrimage Guaranteed Pardon]
In the shrewd management of the Church at this time, pilgrimages were
substituted for penances, and troublesome sinners were sent out of their
country on a pious mission which promised forgiveness if it could not
pledge reform. It at least secured a period of quiet to their families and
of security to the neighborhoods from which they came.
The Bollandist manuscripts afford many details of the pilgrim life at
Jerusalem which had, however, to be enjoyed by permission of the
infidel, always a bitter portion in the pilgrim's cup.
[Sidenote: Round of Pilgrim Duties]
On arrival they prepared themselves by fasting and prayer. Then,
covered by a mourning robe, they visited the Church of the Sepulcher.
The robe thus attained such sanctity that it was preserved until death
and enshrouded the owner at burial. They then visited, in turn, the
sacred spots in and adjacent to the city. This accomplished, they sought
the holy mountains of the Sermon, the Transfiguration, and Ascension.
Then they washed their sins away in Jordan, and tore off palm-leaves
near Jericho to attest on their homeward journey that the holy
pilgrimage was complete.
The tenth and eleventh centuries thus kept by the thousands of pilgrims
yearly, all Christian Europe became informed of the conditions which
obtained in the land where Christ suffered for the sins of men.
[Sidenote: Services to Pilgrims]
Slowly there grew up a devotion which was nearly equal to a secondary
religion. Service rendered to a pilgrim was almost the same as being a
pilgrim. Nor did the pilgrims fail to profit by the reverence they
inspired. Some of them paid their way by their prayers. There is record
of one who paid his fare for a voyage from Alexandria to Palestine with
a copy of the Evangelists.
On the St. Bernard, on Mt. Cenis, on the frontiers of Hungary, in Asia

Minor, as well as in Palestine, hospitals and hostelries were built by the
faithful as works of salvation.
[Sidenote: Impure Accretions]
No pious movement has ever long existed without drawing to itself
some of impure and selfish motive. The rich had no surer way of
advertising their generosity than by making the journey and aiding in
the comfort of their poorer brethren. Some made the pilgrimage as
many times as planet pilgrims now visit Europe. Yet to the credit of the
pilgrim it must be said that no act of violence is recorded against any
one who really made the whole journey. It is recorded of a Mussulman
governor that he said of such, "They are