Till now there had prevailed a spirit of antagonism
between the Greek and Latin churches, the former refusing to yield
obedience to the pope of the West as the universal head of the Church.
Gregory, therefore, eagerly received the application of the Greek
Emperor, seeing the promise of the final subjection of the Greek to
the Latin Church. He resolved to give the enterprise his countenance,
and to march himself at the head of an army to rescue the Holy
Sepulchre.
6. Gregory was prevented from ever carrying out his design, and the
idea of a crusade gradually died away. Meanwhile, the Turks extended
their victories at the expense of the Greek Empire. Before the
accession of the celebrated Alexius Comnenus to the throne in 1081,
the whole of Asia Minor was in the possession of the Turks, and broken
up into a number of kingdoms, the sultans of which soon began to
quarrel among themselves. The disturbed state of Asia Minor greatly
increased the sufferings of the pilgrims; not one out of three
returned to recount the story of his hardships.
7. Among those who undertook the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, when the
dangers attending it were the greatest, was a native of Amiens in
France, named Peter, who had become a monk and an ascetic, being
called from his solitary manner of life, Peter the Hermit. He arrived
safely at Jerusalem, and visited all the scenes sacred to a
Christian's eyes.
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