WHILE King Louis was making preparations in France for his expedition to the Holy Land, England did not remain altogether indifferent to what was passing on the Continent. Many of the Anglo-Norman knights exhibited a desire to take port in an adventure, from which so much glory was anticipated; and, if the King had encouraged the movement, a noble host would have left our shores. But Henry the Third, short-sighted as usual, kept the barons at home to fight against the crown; and not only warned his subjects not to take the cross, but forbade the preaching of a crusade in his kingdom.
The English barons had never been disposed to regard their sovereign's word as law; and, though the King's prohibition prevented any general movement, several took the cross, and declared their determination of going to fight the infidels. Of these, the most renowned was a great earl, nearly but illegitimately connected with the royal house.
Among the barons of England, at the opening of the thirteenth century, few were more conspicuous than the eldest of the two sons whom "fair Rosamond" bore to the first of our Plantagenet kings.
Gifted hy his sire with the earldom of Salisbury, and united in marriage to Hela Deveraux, an heiress of that Norman race whose chiefs in after-ages fought at Bosworth and Edgehill, this stalwart warrior flourished till the year 1226, and dying left a son, the heir of his name, his earldom, and his valor.
William, second Earl of Salisbury, surnamed "Long-sword," soon became even more famous than his sire, and proved his courage in a remarkable manner, on that day when the warriors of England fought against fearful odds at the village of Saintonge. At the time when Richard, Earl of Cornwall, went to Palestine, Longsword appears to have taken the cross; and no sooner did he learn that King Louis had resolved on an "armed pilgrimage," than he again assumed the sacred badge, along with Robert de Vere and Geoffrey Lucy.
Henry was not the man to submit tamely to this contempt for his authority. Immediately resolving on strong measures, he seized Salisbury's earldom and castles; and the earl found himself at his wits' end for money. But Longsword was not to be baffled. Without hesitation he repaired to Rome; and, craving an interview with the Pope, frankly explained the dilemma in which he found himself.
"My Lord," said the Earl, on being admitted to the presence of his Holiness, " you see that I have taken the cross, and am ready to join the French King in his pilgrimage, and to fight for God. I bear a great name, and one well known, namely, William Longsword. But my property is small: for the King, my kinsman and liege lord, has taken from me my title of earl and all my substance. This, however, he did judicially -- not in his anger or any violence of self-will; therefore I do not blame him. I am obliged to fly to your paternal bosom in this necessity; and if the Earl of Cornwall has been able to obtain, without taking the cross, the privilege of levying a tax upon those who have laid it down, I have thought that I might obtain a similar favor -- I, who have no resource but the charity of the faithful."
The Pope listened with attention to the Earl's speech. In fact, the grandeur of Longsword's aspect could not fail to make an impression; and his eloquence was such as to justify the boast that Norman gentlemen were orators from their cradles. After musing for a moment, the Pope smiled and informed the eloquent warrior that his petition was granted.
Salisbury, having succeeded so far, returned to England, and made all arrangements. Before leaving the country, he proceeded to the abbey of Lacock to take leave of his mother, who was the abbess of that religious house. The abbess then gave the Earl her blessing; and Longsword bade adieu to his mother, whom he was not destined to see again.
At length, early in the spring of 1249, Salisbury set forward on his expedition, and sailed from England. The mandate of Henry had prevented any general movement among the great barons; and the Bigods and Bohuns remained to worry him at Westminster, and to fight against him at Lewes. Nevertheless, Longsword was nobly attended when he embarked to join the Saint-king of France. Robert de Vere carried the Earl's banner; and with him went two hundred English knights of noble name and dauntless courage, sworn to bring that banner back with glory, or dye it with their heart's blood.
But if Louis had not the company of many Anglo-Norman barons, whose military genius made them such formidable war-chiefs, he could boast of being attended by the most illustrious patrician who sprang from the Anglo-Saxon race. While Salisbury and his friends were leaving the English shores, there might have been seen sailing out of the beautiful bay of Belhaven some ships of war with a lion-argent painted on the sails. This was the fleet of Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, a venerable warrior, whose spear had often drunk deep of Celtic gore, while exerting himself, like all the chiefs of his line, to establish law and spread civilization north of the Tweed.
At the time when rung Louis announced his intention of going to the East, Earl Patrick had long passed the age of threescore. But though his hair was white and his limbs stiff, the Earl's head was still as clear, his heart as valiant, and his spirit as adventurous, as in the days of his youth. Chroniclers tell that he was anxious, ere being laid among his ancestors in the convent of Eccles, to make his peace with God for some roughness of which he had been guilty towards the monks of Tynemouth. Perhaps, also, he wished to associate his renowned name with the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. No sooner, at all events, did he hear of a new crusade, than he determined to participate in its perils and glories.
Earl Patrick had not to contend with such difficulties as beset the path of William Longsword. His substance was immense, and his independence was equal to his substance. "I am lord of mine own," was the language of his grandson; "as free to reign in this land of mine as ever was prince or king." Nobody was likely to interfere with the Earl's movements: so the heir of Cospatrick sold his stud on the Leader Haughs to defray his expenses; took a last farewell of Euphe-mia Stewart, his aged countess; received the pilgrim's staff and scrip from the abbot of Melrose; embarked with his knights and kinsmen, and fared forth to couch, against the enemies of Christianity, that spear that had so often been dyed red in the blood of the enemies of civilization.
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From John G. Edgar
The Crusades and the Crusaders, 1860
