Peter the Hermit | Page 6

Byzantine power was wisely used for the development of
pontifical authority and the spread of the Latin Church. And, again, the
Eternal City through its popes, and particularly through Gregory,
became the ruler of the world. Gregory summoned all monarchs to
derive their authority and their enthronement from him, and endeavored

to make laws for every country in which his Church had place. Resisted
by some monarchs, his influence widened nevertheless, and while he
forgot his pledge to deliver Jerusalem, he prepared the way for a final
unity of action which he could not secure in his own lifetime.
In the pontificate of his successor, mingled religious and commercial
motives led to a movement against the Saracens, which, while never
numbered among the Crusades, almost deserved that name. The
acquisition of maritime power by the Saracens had led to interference
with Italian commerce.
[Sidenote: "Christian" Butchery]
Promising remission of sins to all who fought, Victor besought
Christians to take up arms. Christians crossed to Africa and professed
to have slain a hundred thousand Saracens; certainly did decorate
Italian churches with the spoils of victory, and made a Moorish king
pay tribute to the pope.
What kings, emperors, and popes could not do, a pilgrim accomplished.
We pass from the Foreground to the Figure.
CHAPTER II.
THE MAN AND HIS MESSAGE.
[Sidenote: Preparation for Peter]
The study of the Foreground of the Crusades exhibits the preparation
for the man who was to be the great leader and, one might say,
originator of these astonishing movements. Whatever part others
played, or whatever the measure of the aid given, to Peter the Hermit is
to be given the credit of the effective inspiration and active leadership.
The leadership here claimed for Peter is challenged, it is only fair to say,
by Von Sybil whose views are, in the main, accepted by Hagenmeyer.
Von Sybil gives credit to the Pope alone for inspiration and direction. It
seems more probable, however, that the Pope utilized and magnified

the enthusiasm and influence of Peter; and directed it into channels
more likely to permit the movement of the Roman Church Eastward
and the growth of Pontifical supremacy. This is the view contained in
these pages.
[Sidenote: Peter's Birth]
We know where Peter came from. Born in Picardy, the historians are
not agreed whether of obscure or noble family. It makes little
difference, since if this were known all their dignity and life in history
would proceed from Peter. He was called Peter the Hermit because he
was a hermit, and not, as some have maintained, because it was his
surname. The weight of opinion favors his descent from humble
parents.
All are agreed that he was of very ordinary appearance; one says
"ignoble and vulgar." The sum of the statements of contemporaries as
to his personality, is that he was of sharp understanding, energetic,
decided; coarse and sometimes brutal; enthusiastic; of great
imaginative power. If a Picard, then a Frank, and if a Frank, then a
fighter, and very ready to fight for religion. His nationality, therefore,
gave him access by speech to a most restless, gallant, and adventurous
people. Born with courage, moral intensity, restlessness, and activity,
he experimented for satisfaction in every direction.
[Sidenote: Chooses Hermit's Life]
[Sidenote: Effect of Self-confidence]
It seems that neither celibacy nor marriage, study nor warfare, long
attracted him. The conditions about him seemed beyond his remedy,
and, like many others, he retired from a sinful world to the harshnesses
and austerity of a hermit's life. Fasting did for him what it seems to do
for all when excess is reached either by self-will or necessity. He
became truly a "visionary." "He saw visions and dreamed dreams." His
temperament and his religious exercises made him feel that, better than
others he knew the will of God and that he was chosen to execute it. In
this stage a man becomes capable of great things in a poor cause. The

world is always impressed by the confident and the courageous. No
great movement, however wrong in doctrine, defective in morals, or
disastrous in results, has been without such leadership.
Like all orators of the Latin race, his fervor showed itself, not only in
his tones, but in his gesticulation and his postures. He was a master of
pantomime. If any were beyond his voice, they were not beyond his
meaning. If he had lived in our time he would have been counted
among the most "magnetic" of preachers. The reputation of his sanctity
showered him with gifts. He kept nothing for himself. All went to the
poor, and evil women were dowried by him that they might cease from
evil in honorable marriage.
[Sidenote: Generosity Self-Sacrifice]
Peter was not stirred alone by the relations of returning pilgrims as to
the ignominies heaped alike on