Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-03-26

Per acre, in his own survey.
Now, reader, as it's come to you,
Take hold and show what you can do!
Sat. Eue. Post.
Richard Ceur de Leon, And Bcrengaria,
Princess of Navarro.
BY THE REV. ISAAC NJ. SHERMAN, ID. D.
Many as have been the tales of wild romance,
founded on the chivarous adventures of the Cru
saders, it is to be doubted whether any inventions
of the fancy can surpass the naked and truthful
history of those times, and of the wild fanaticism
which for nearly two centuries drained all Europe
of countless Inhabitants and incaculable treasures.
Did not the history of'our own times show the
proneness of the human mind 10 run after the
widest delusions. we should scarcely credit the
old historians in their accounts Of the effects pro-
duced by the rude but earnest eOquence Of Peter
the Hermit. who had himself been on pilgrim
AGE 10 the Holy Iaad, and subjected to the brutal
insoence of the Mosem Turks, then recent con-
querors of Palestine. Flushed with many victo-
ries, iusoleut and cruel, they made the pilgrims
feel without mercy the difference between their
rule and the former Saracenc masters of Judea.-
Burning with resentment, and meeting the full
concurrence of Urban H., Puntiff Of Rome, Peter
travelled through Europe, proclaiming the shame
ofall Christendom, in allowing the Holy Sepulcher
to be- in possession Of infdels. In a benighted
age, when the benign doctrines of the Prince of
Peace were little understood or prasticed, it is not
strange that the widest commotion followed ey-
erywhere in his footsteps Of this the histories
of the eleventh century bear ample testimony.
Guibert, Of Nogent, and eyewitness of these
scenes, thus writes: "A great rumor spread
through the whole Of France, and as fame brought
the news of the orders Of the pont to any one, he
went instantly to solicit his neighbors aud rela
ton, TO engage with him IN the ,oay Of God,'
50 they designated the purposed expedition The
Counts OF Palestine were already full of the desire
10 undertake the juurney aud all the knights of
inferior order felt the same zeal. The poor them
selves soon caught the fame SO ardently that no
one paused to think Of the smallness of his wealth
and 10 consider whether he ought to yield his
house, and his fields, and his vines; but each set
about selling mis- property at as low a price as if
he wa. held in some horrible captivity and sought
to pay his ransom without loss Of time" ''In
the mean time, those who had not determined on
tho journey joked aud laughed with those who
had, and who were thus selling their goods for
whatever they could get, and prophesed that the
voyage wuald be miserable, and their return
worse. Such was ever the language Of one Gay
but the next suddenly seized with desire to
share with the rest-!hose whs had bsen the
most forward to meek, abandoned everything for
4 few crowns and set out with those they had
laughed at the day before. Who shall tell the
children aud the intirm, that, animated with the
same spirit, hastened to the war?
''Who shall count tas old men and the young
maidens who hasled to the iJht2 not with the
hope of aiding. but for the crown Of martyrdom
70 be won amid the swords Of the infides. you
warriors they cried, you shall vanqush by the
spear and the brand but let us at least conquer
Christ by our sufferings' At the same time one
mig hit see thousand things springing from the
same spirit, which were both laughable and aston
ishing the poor shoeing their oxen as We shoe
horses, and harnessing them to otuo. wheeled carts,
in which they placed their scanty provisions and
their young children, and proceeded onward,
while the habes at each town or castle they saw
demanded eagerly whether that was Jerusalem"
Among the thousands Of adventures who hast
ened to the scene Of strife and carnage, there are,
perhaps, none with whose history and whose fate
we are more familiar than those of Richard l. of
Enulaud better known az the Lion Hearted. -
Gigantic IN size, and hercuean in strength, Rich.
ards whole life, after attaining manhood, seems
to have been a succession OF wars and turmol.-
But though lzwiess in habits, and feroeOus as the
beast whose name he bears, Richard found
time to love and woo, and it is said his lore was
fervent, tender, aud disinteresied Ne had been
betrothed when a child TO Adelals, or Alice, in
faat sister OF Philip, king of France. This prin
cess had been delivered 10 Henry of England,
Richards father, as hostage, and had been
brought up at llenrys court, but for some cause
ne refused 10 allow the consumlnsion OF the
marriage, which was the oStenSible pretext for
Richards joining Philip, Ailce's brother, in a
war with Henry. Meanwhile Richard while
hus clamoring yocferously for his affianced
bride, whom his father wished to bes,ow on John,
MS younger sun, aad who, it is said, pasSionately
owed her, was assduousy paying his devoirs to
Berengaria, the beautiful daughter of tho King of
Navarro.
Richard had been received at her fathers's
court some two years before his own fathers death
and was paSsionately enaaored Of her. His love
was romantic, and what Was strange for Richard,
ree from s0rdid motives; for he gained no terri
tories for her dover, and ne stipulated for no po
tical advantage. Berengaria seems to have
returned his love with equal ardur and though at
irst it may seen strange that delicate high
,red lady like the Princess of Navarro could love
such an one as Richard, we are to recollect that
n those days strength, and courage, and reckless
lariihood were regarded az mans highest attfl-
OuleS. l--+l
When at the death Of his father Richard might
have claimed Adelas, he utterly rejected her,
aud ihocgh busy in his gigantic preparations for
war with the inidel he dispatched his mother, tho
iowager queen, Eleanor, 10 ask the hand of
Berengaria, who, undismayed by danger or hard
ship, joyfully consented to follow her intended
mother n-law from the Pyrenees 10 the Alps and
peunines, and thence TO follow her husband
beyond sea to the land of the pagan" Depart
NO from Navarro with grand escort of barons,
Knights, and priests. Berengaria and Eleanor, who
sill retained her vgor, travelled by land to Naples,
where they enjoyed short rest, thence through
he dangerous passes Of Montefor,e and Buvino,
md over tine vast plain Of Apnlia, arriving at
eng,h at the ancient city of Brndisi. Here they
ound the feet of Richard 50 nearly ready to sail,
/ was thought best not to delay the e1pedtsn;
besides the season of Lent not being quite past,
he royal marriage was MT celebrated at Messina,
10 first contemplated. 81 Eleanor placed the
bride in the care of Joan, dowager qeen of Sicily,
,nd embarked for England. Eleanor, it will be
by the readers of history, had in for
ner years visited Palestine with her first husband
Louis of France, which. together with her ad-
sanced age, may well account for her return to
England.
The day after the departure of the queen
mother, the whole fleet set sail for Acre, The
historians of that day are prufuse in their praises