The Deeds of God through the Franks

G >> Guibert of Nogent >> The Deeds of God through the Franks

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Aere perennius,

Regalique situ pyramidum altius:

(I have built a monument) more lasting than brass, taller that the
royal site of the Pyramids...

So that the fine man, happier than any pig, might say with the poet:

Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei

Vitabit Libitiam.

I shall not die entirely, a great part of me shall avoid Hell.

That is:

Manditur ore suum, qui porcum vixerat, hujus

Membra beata cluunt, podice fusa suum.

Quum talos ori, tum quod sus fudit odori,

Digno qui celebrat cultor honore ferat.

He who has lived by the pig is chewed to death by the pig and the
limbs which were called blessed have become pigs' excrement. May
those who wish to honor him carry to their mouths his heels, which
the pig has poured forth in stench.

What if there is some truth in what the Manicheans say about
purification, that in every food something of God is present and that
part of God is purified by chewing and digesting, and the purified
part is turned into angels, who are said to depart from us in
belching and flatulence: how many angels may be believe were produced
by the flesh eaten by these pigs and by the great farts they let go?
But, laying aside the comic remarks intended to mock his followers,
my point is that they did not think that he was God, but a just man
and leader, through whom divine laws might be transmitted. They
imagined that he had been taken up into heaven, with only his heels
left as a monument for his faithful adherents, who visit them with
great veneration, and condemn eating pork, because pigs consumed
their lord with their bites.

After the pagan heresy had grown strong over a long time, and for
many generations, the people whom we have mentioned above invaded
Palestine, Jerusalem, and the Holy Sepulchre, and captured Armenia,
Syria, and the part of Greece that extends almost to the sea which is
called the Arm of Saint George. Among all the Eastern kingdoms, the
Babylonian empire was from ancient times the most powerful, and ruled
over many kingdoms. However, the kingdom of the Parthians, whom we,
because of changes in the language, call the Turks, is pre-eminent in
military matters, in horsemanship, and in courage, although it is a
very small country. And so the Babylonian emperor occupied the areas
we just mentioned with a large army, but in the course of time he
lost them, as the Turks grew in number, and the Assyrians were
defeated. More energetic, and in command of an astute boldness, they
were attacking the empire of Constantinople and seemed about to
besiege the city, when the emperor of the Greeks, frightened by their
frequent and relentless incursions, sent a letter to France, written
to the elder Robert, count of Flanders,[71] offering him reasons that
might urge him to defend endangered Greece. He did not approach him
because he thought that Robert, although extremely wealthy, and
capable of raising a large force, could alone supply enough troops
for the task, but because he realized that if a man of such power
went on such a journey, he would attract many of our people, if only
for the sake of a new experience, to support him. This count was
truly as wise in military matters as he was perspicacious and
discriminating in literary matters. He had once before gone to
Jerusalem, for the sake of prayer, and, happening to pass through
Constantinople on the way, had spoken with the emperor; as result, on
the basis of the great feeling of trust he had developed for him, the
emperor was impelled to call upon him for aid. Since inserting the
letter itself in this little work would produce a tedious effect, I
have preferred to offer some of what was said, but clothed in my own
words.

He complained that, "after Christianity was driven out, the churches
which the pagans held had been turned into stables for horses, mules,
and other animals. It was also true that they had set up in them
temples, which they called Mahomeries, and they carried out all kinds
of filthy activity in them, so that they had become not cathedrals,
but brothels and theaters. Moreover, there would be no purpose to my
mentioning the slaughter of Catholics, since the faithful who died
received in exchange eternal life, while those who survived led lives
wretchedly bound by the yoke of slavery, harsher, I believe, than
what those who died endured. They took virgins and made them public
prostitutes, since they were never deterred by shame or feeling for
marital fidelity. Mothers were violated in the presence of their
daughters, raped over and over again by different men, while their
daughters were compelled, not only to watch, but to sing obscene
songs and to dance. Then they changed places, and the suffering,
which is painful and shameful to speak of, was inflicted upon the
daughters, while the filthy activity was adorned by the obscene songs
of the unfortunate mothers. Finally reverence for all that was
called Christian was handed over to the brothel. When the female sex
was not spared (an action which might be excused since it is at least
in accord with nature), they became worse than animals, breaking all
human laws by turning on men. Their lust overflowed to the point
that the execrable and profoundly intolerable crime of sodomy, which
they committed against men of middle or low station, they also
committed against a certain bishop, killing him. How can this urgent
lust, worse than any insanity anywhere, which perpetually flees
wisdom and modesty, and is enkindled more powerfully the more it is
quenched, control itself among human beings, whom it befouls with
couplings unheard of among beasts, actions to which Christians may
not give name. And although, according to their own judgment, these
wretches may have many women, that is not enough, but they must stain
their dignity at the hog-trough of such filth by using men also. It
is not surprising that God could not tolerate their ripe wantoness,
and turned it into grief, and the earth, in its ancient way, cast out
the excrement of such destructive inhabitants." Therefore, after he
had expressed his great fears about the siege of Constantinople,
which would follow the crossing of the Arm of Saint George by his
enemies, he added, among other remarks, the following: "This great
city is most deserving of every kind of help if for no other reason
than to prevent the six apostles whose bodies are buried here from
being burned by unbelievers, or buried in the swirling sea." And
certainly nothing is more true. For that city, not only superior for
its monuments of the saints, but also famed for the merit and renown
of its founder, and particularly for the divine revelation which
transformed it from a very old little town into a miraculous city and
a second Rome, is worth of having the whole world come together to
help it, if that were possible. Then, after speaking of the apostles,
the emperor said that they had the head of John the Baptist, which
(although it was not true) seemed to be covered with hair and skin,
as though alive today. Now if this were true, one would have to
investigate the head of John the Baptist that is glorified by the
monks at Angers. Now we are certain that two John the Baptists did
not exist, nor did the one man have two heads, which would be impious
to say. In this matter, one should consider the frequent but not
deadly error, which particularly assails the churches of France,
regarding the bodies of saints: two different places claim to have
the same martyr or confessor, but a single entity cannot occupy two
spaces simultaneously. This mistaken contention arises from the fact
that saints are not permitted to enjoy the peace of the permanent
burial they deserve. And I do not doubt that their bodies are
covered with silver and gold out of motives lower than piety; open
and extremely foul avarice drives them to collect money by displaying
bones and dragging around wagons. These things would stop if, as in
the case of the Lord Jesus, their limbs were shut up in locked tombs.

However, setting these things aside, let us go on. The emperor added
that if neither the prevention of such evil, nor the love of the
aforementioned saints inspired them to perform this task, then at
least greed for gold and silver, of which there was a plentiful
supply in his region, might entice them. Finally he offered an
argument that has no power over men with self-control, saying that
they would be drawn by the pleasure of seeing the most beautiful
women, as though the beauty of Greek women were so great that they
would be preferred to the women of Gaul, and for this reason alone,
the Frankish army would march to Thrace. While this foul tyrant was
offering this argument, he should have kept in mind that for this
very reason the most powerful adversity had descended upon him and
his people; in well-known proclamation, he had issued an order
throughout the land that families with several daughters give one of
them up to prostitution, and place in his own treasury money gained
from the disgusting experience. In addition, he had issued another
edict, ordering families with several sons to have one castrated,
thus rendering their bodies, deprived of virility, weak and
effeminate, no longer fit for military service. Even worse, they
were cut off from producing progeny for the future, who might have
been looked for as aid against their enemies. Therefore he who had
brought destruction upon himself was now compelled to seek help from
foreigners. In addition, one should note that this emperor had
received the purple not by legitimate succession, but because he had
been one of the officers of the palace, under the ruler whose name,
unless I am mistaken, was Michael, who had put him in charge of the
larger group of Western soldiers, whose natural probity made them the
best of the emperor's men, and the emperor's bodyguard. Gathering
boldness from the men he commanded, he undertook a coup against his
own prince. Invading the city of Constantinople, he captured his
ruler, cruelly deprived him of his eyes, and placed him under close
guard in a certain town. Then he usurped imperial power entirely
without legal right. Compelled by necessity, as we said above, he
sought the Franks. But after he saw such remarkable leaders
assembled, distinguished both for their impeccable conduct and
military ability, he envied the size of the forces, but envied their
wisdom even more. When they successfully completed what they had set
out to do, his envy of the ability of our men grew even greater;
after the victory at Jerusalem, the emperor feared that they might
turn their victorious arms against him, especially since they had
learned that, among the nations in that area, he was their most
powerful rival. We also heard, however, before the beginning of the
journey had been announced, that the emperor's mother, a sorceress,
had predicted that a man of Frankish origin would take his empire and
his life from him. Judging by events, Bohemund tried to fulfill this
oracle, attacking the emperor with such force, and compelling him so
often to flee from battle, that a large part of the provinces fell
into his hands. Since his family was from Normandy, a part of France,
and since he had obtained the hand of the daughter of the king of
the Franks, he might be very well be considered a Frank.

HERE ENDS THE FIRST BOOK OF THE DEEDS OF GOD AS PERFORMED BY THE
FRENCH.

BOOK TWO

Pope Urban, whose name was Odo before becoming Pope, was descended
from a noble French family[73] from the area and parish of Rheims,
and they say, unless the report is in error, that he was the first
French Pope. A cleric, he was made a monk of Cluny, after the abbot
of glorious memory who aided Hugo;[74] not long afterwards he was
made prior, and then, because of his abilities, he was appointed
bishop of the city of Ostia, by order of Pope Gregory VII; finally,
he was elected supreme pontiff of the Apostolic See. His greatness
of spirit was made manifest when he urged that the journey be
undertaken, because when he first showed how it was to be done the
whole world was astonished. His death, resplendent in miracles,
attests to the state of his mind. According to what the bishop who
succeeded him at Osti wrote,[75] many signs were seen after he was
dead and buried; a certain young man stood at his tomb, and swore by
his own limbs that no sign had ever been given or might be given by
the merit of Urban, who was called Odo. Before he could move a step,
he was struck dumb, and paralyzed on one side; he died the next day,
offering testimony to the power of Urban. This great man, although
honored with great gifts, and even with prayers, by Alexius, prince
of the Greeks, was driven much more by the danger to all of
Christendom, which was diminished daily by pagan incursions (for he
heard that Spain was steadily being torn apart by Saracen invasions),
decided to make a journey to France, to recruit the people of his
country. It was, to be sure, the ancient custom for pontiffs of the
apostolic see, if they had been harmed by neighboring people, always
to seek help from the French: the Pontiffs Stephen and Zacharias, in
the time of Pepin and Charles,[76] took refuge with them; Pepin made
an expedition to Ticinum to restore to the church its patrimony, and
to place Stephen back on his throne.[77] Charles compelled king
Desiderius,[78] by the mere threat of combat, to return what he had
seized by force. More respectful and humble than other nations
toward blessed Peter and pontifical decrees, the French, unlike other
peoples, have been unwilling to behave insolently against God. For
many years we have seen the Germans, particularly the entire kingdom
of Lotharingia, struggling with barbaric obstinacy against the
commands of Saint Peter and of his pontiffs.[79] In their striving,
they prefer to remain under a daily, or even eternal excommunication
rather than submit. Last year while I was arguing with a certain
archdeacon of Mainz about a rebellion of his people, I heard him
vilify our king and our people, merely because the king had given a
gracious welcome everywhere in his kingdom to his Highness Pope
Paschal and his princes; he called them not merely Franks, but,
derisively, "Francones."[80] I said to him, "If you think them so
weak and languid that you can denigrate a name known and admired as
far away as the Indian Ocean, then tell me upon whom did Pope Urban
call for aid against the Turks? Wasn't it the French? Had they not
been present, attacking the barbarians everywhere, pouring their
sturdy energy and fearless strength into the battle, there would have
been no help for your Germans, whose reputation there amounted to
nothing." That is what I said to him. I say truly, and everyone
should believe it, that God reserved this nation for such a great
task. For we know certainly that, from the time that they received
the sign of faith that blessed Remigius brought to them until the
present time, they succumbed to none of the diseases of false faith
from which other nations have remained uncontaminated either with
great difficulty or not at all. They are the ones who, while still
laboring under the pagan error, when they triumphed on the
battlefield over the Gauls, who were Christians, did not punish or
kill any of them, because they believed in Christ. Instead, those
whom Roman severity had punished with sword and fire, native French
generosity encased in gold and silver, covered with gems and amber.
They strove to welcome with honor not only those who lived within
their own borders, but they also affectionately cared for people who
came from Spain, Italy, or anywhere else, so that love for the
martyrs and confessors, whom they constantly served and honored, made
them famous, finally driving them to the glorious victory at
Jerusalem. Because it has carried the yoke since the days of its
youth, it will sit in isolation,[81] a nation noble, wise, war-like,
generous, brilliant above all kinds of nations. Every nation borrows
the name as an honorific title; do we not see the Bretons, the
English, the Ligurians call men "Frank" if they behave well? But now
let us return to the subject.

When the Pope crossed our borders, he was greeted with such great joy
by crowds in the cities, towns, and villages, because no one alive
could remember when the bishop of the apostolic see had come to these
lands. The year of the incarnate Word 1097 was hastening to its end,
[82] when the bishop hastily convoked a council, choosing a city in
Auvergne, famous for the most learned of all bishops, Sidonius,
although its name has now been changed to Clermont. The council was
even more crowded because of the great desire to see the face and to
hear the words of such an excellent, rarely seen person. In addition
to the multitudes of bishops and abbots, whom some, by counting their
staves, estimated at approximately 400, learned men from all of
France and the dependent territories flowed to that place. One could
see there how he presided over them with serene gravity, with a
dignified presence, and, if I may use the words of Sidonius, with
what peppery eloquence[83] the most learned Pope answered whatever
objections were raised. It was noted with what gentleness the most
brilliant man listened gently to the most vehemently argued speeches,
and how little he valued the social position of people, judging them
only by God's laws.

Then Philip, king of the French, who was in the thirty-seventh year
of his reign, having put aside his own wife, whose name was Berta,
and having carried off Bertrada, the wife of the count of Anjou, was
excommunicated by the Pope, who spurned both the attempts by
important people to intercede for the king, and the offers of
innumerable gifts. Nor was he afraid that he was now within the
borders of the kingdom of France. In this council, just as he had
planned before leaving Rome and seeking out the French for this
reason, he gave a fine speech to those who were in attendance. Among
other things, which were said to exceed the memories of the listeners,
he spoke about this project. His eloquence was reinforced by his
literary knowledge; the richness of his speech in Latin seemed no
less than that of any lawyer nimble in his native language. Nor did
the crowd of disputants blunt the skill of the speaker. Surrounded
by praiseworthy teachers, apparently buried by clouds of cases being
pressed upon him, he was judged to have overcome, by his own literary
brilliance, the flood of oratory and to have overwhelmed the
cleverness of every speech. Therefore his meaning, and not his exact
words, follow: "If, among the churches scattered through the whole
world, some deserve more reverence than others because they are
associated with certain people and places, then, because of certain
persons, I say, greater privileges are granted to apostolic sees; in
the case of places, some privilege is granted to royal cities, as is
the case with the city of Constantinople. We are grateful for having
received from this most powerful church the grace of redemption and
the origin of all Christianity. If what was said by the Lord remains
true, namely that "salvation is from the Jews," and it remains true
that the Lord of the Sabbath has left his seed for us, lest we become
like those of Sodom and Gomorrha, and that Christ is our seed, in
whom lies salvation and blessing for all people, then the earth and
the city in which he lived and suffered is called holy by the
testimony of Scripture. If this land is the inheritance of God, and
his holy temple, even before the Lord walked and suffered there, as
the sacred and prophetic pages tell us, then what additional sanctity
and reverence did it gain then, when the God of majesty took flesh
upon Himself there, was fed, grew up, and moving in his bodily
strength walked here and there in the land? To abbreviate a matter
that could be spun out at much greater length, this is the place
where the blood of the Son of God, holier than heaven and earth, was
spilled, where the body, at whose death the elements trembled, rested
in its tomb. What sort of veneration might we think it deserves? If,
soon after our Lord's death, while the city was still in the
possession of the Jews, the Evangelist called it sacred, when he said,
"Many bodies of the saints that have been asleep here have awoken,
and come to the holy city, and they been seen by many."[84], and it
was said by the prophet Isaiah, "His tomb will be glorious,"[85],
since this very sanctity, once granted by God the sanctifier himself,
cannot be overcome by any evil whatsoever, and the glory of his tomb
in the same way remains undiminished, then, O my dearly beloved
brothers, you must exert yourselves, with all your strength, and with
God leading you and fighting for you, to cleanse the holiness of the
city and the glory of the tomb, which has been polluted by the thick
crowd of pagans, if you truly aspire to the author of that holiness
and glory, and if you love the traces that he has left on earth. If
the Maccabees once deserved the highest praise for piety because they
fought for their rituals and their temple, then you too, O soldiers
of Christ, deserve such praise, for taking up arms to defend the
freedom of your country. If you think you must seek with such effort
the thresholds of the apostles and of others, then why do you
hesitate to go see and to snatch up the cross, the blood, and to
devote your precious souls to rescuing them? Until now you have
waged wrongful wars, often hurling insane spears at each other,
driven only by greed and pride, for which you have deserved only
eternal death and damnation. Now we propose for you battles which
offer the gift of glorious martyrdom, for which you will earn present
and future praise. If Christ had not died and been buried in
Jerusalem, had not lived there at all, if all these things had not
taken place, surely this fact alone should be enough to drive you to
come to the aid of the land and the city: that the law came from Zion
and the word of God from Jerusalem. If all Christian preaching flows
from the fountain of Jerusalem, then let the rivulets, wherever they
flow over the face of the earth, flow into the hearts of the Catholic
multitude, so that they may heed of what they owe to this overflowing
fountain. If "rivers return to the place whence they flow, so that
they may continue to flow,"[86] according to the saying of Solomon,
it should seem glorious to you if you are able to purify the place
whence you received the cleansing of baptism and the proof of faith.
And you should also consider with the utmost care whether God is
working through your efforts to restore the church that is the mother
of churches; he might wish to restore the faith in some of the
eastern lands, in spite of the nearness of the time of the Antichrist.
For it is clear that the Antichrist makes war neither against Jews,
nor against pagans, but, according to the etymology of his name, he
will move against Christians. And if the Antichrist comes upon no
Christian there, as today there is scarcely any, there will be no one
to resist him, or any whom he might justly move among. According to
Daniel and Jerome his interpreter, his tent will be fixed on the
Mount of Olives, and he will certainly take his seat, as the Apostle
teaches, in Jerusalem, "in the temple of God, as though he were God,
"[87] and, according to the prophet, he will undoubtedly kill three
kings pre-eminent for their faith in Christ, that is, the kings of
Egypt, of Africa, and of Ethiopia. This cannot happen at all, unless
Christianity is established where paganism now rules. Therefore if
you are eager to carry out pious battles, and since you have accepted
the seedbed of the knowledge of God from Jerusalem, then you may
restore the grace that was borrowed there. Thus through you the name
of Catholicism will be propagated, and it will defeat the perfidy of
the Antichrist and of the Antichristians. Who can doubt that God,
who surpasses every hope by means of his overflowing strength, may so
destroy the reeds of paganism with your spark that he may gather
Egypt, Africa and Ethiopia, which no longer share our belief, into
the rules of his law, and "sinful man, the son of perdition,"[88]
will find others resisting him? See how the Gospel cries out that
"Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the time of
the nations will be fulfilled."[89]"The time of nations" may be
understood in two ways: either that they ruled at will over the
Christians, and for their own pleasures have wallowed in the troughs
of every kind of filth, and in all of these things have found no
obstruction (for "to have one's time" means that everything goes
according to one's wishes, as in "My time has not yet come, but your
time is always ready,"[90] and one customarily says to voluptuaries,
"You have your time;") or else the "time of nations" means the
multitudes of nations who, before Israel is saved, will join the
faith. These times, dearest brothers, perhaps will now be fulfilled,
when, with the aid of God, the power of the pagans will be pushed
back by you, and, with the end of the world already near, even if the
nations do not turn to the Lord, because, as the Apostle says, "there
must be a falling away from faith."[91] Nevertheless, first,
according to the prophecies, it is necessary, before the coming of
the Antichrist in those parts, either through you or through whomever
God wills, that the empire of Christianity be renewed, so that the
leader of all evil, who will have his throne there, may find some
nourishment of faith against which he may fight. Consider, then,
that Almighty providence may have destined you for the task of
rescuing Jerusalem from such abasement. I ask you to think how your
hearts can conceive of the joy of seeing the holy city revived by
your efforts, and the oracles, the divine prophecies fulfilled in our
own times. Remember that the voice of the Lord himself said to the
church, "I shall lead your seed from the East, and I shall gather you
from the West."[92] The Lord has led our seed from the East, in that
he brought forth for us in double manner[93] out of the Eastern land
the early progeny of the Church. But out of the West he assembled us,
for through those who last began the proof of faith, that is the
Westerners, (we think that, God willing, this will come about through
your deeds), Jerusalem's losses will be restored. If the words of
Scripture and our own admonitions do not move your souls, then at
least let the great suffering of those who wish to visit the holy
places touch you. Think of the pilgrims who travel the Mediterranean;
if they are wealthy, to what tributes, to what violence are they
subjected; at almost every mile they are compelled to pay taxes and
tributes; at the gates of the city, at the entrances of churches and
temples, they must pay ransoms. Each time they move from one place
to another they are faced with another charge, compelled to pay
ransom, and the governors of the Gentiles commonly coerce with blows
those who are slow to give gifts. What shall we say about those who
have taken up the journey, trusting in their naked poverty, who seem
to have nothing more than their bodies to lose? The money that they
did not have was forced from them by intolerable tortures; the skin
of their bones was probed, cut, and stripped, in search of anything
that they might have sewed within. The brutality of these evil-doers
was so great that, suspecting that the wretches had swallowed gold
and silver, they gave them purgatives to drink, so that they would
either vomit or burst their insides. Even more unspeakable, they cut
their bellies open with swords, opening their inner organs, revealing
with a hideous slashing whatever nature holds secret. Remember, I
beg you, the thousands who died deplorably, and, for the sake of the
holy places, whence the beginnings of piety came to you, take action.
Have unshakable faith that Christ will be the standard-bearer and
inseparable advance guard before you who are sent to His wars."

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