them congregated many minor chiefs, the flower of the nobility of
France and Italy, with some few from Germany, England, and Spain. It
was wisely conjectured that armies so numerous would find a difficulty
in procuring provisions if they all journeyed by the same road. They,
therefore, resolved to separate, Godfrey de Bouillon proceeding
through Hungary and Bulgaria, the Count of Toulouse through Lombardy
and Dalmatia, and the other leaders through Apulia to Constantinople,
where the several divisions were to reunite. The forces under these
leaders have been variously estimated. The Princess Anna Comnena talks
of them as having been as numerous as the sands on the sea-shore, or
the stars in the firmament. Fulcher of Chartres is more satisfactory,
and exaggerates less magnificently, when he states, that all the
divisions, when they had sat down before Nice in Bithynia, amounted to
one hundred thousand horsemen, and six hundred thousand men on foot,
exclusive of the priests, women and children. Gibbon is of opinion
that this amount is exaggerated; but thinks the actual numbers did not
fall very far short of the calculation. The Princess Anna afterwards
gives the number of those under Godfrey of Bouillon as eighty thousand
foot and horse; and supposing that each of the other chiefs led an
army as numerous, the total would be near half a million. This must be
over rather than under the mark, as the army of Godfrey of Bouillon
was confessedly the largest when it set out, and suffered less by the
way than any other.

The Count of Vermandois was the first who set foot on the Grecian
territory. On his arrival at Durazzo he was received with every mark
of respect and courtesy by the agents of the Emperor, and his
followers were abundantly supplied with provisions. Suddenly however,
and without cause assigned, the Count was arrested by order of the
Emperor Alexius, and conveyed a close prisoner to Constantinople.