that he never visited Rome. Bernard's influence caused him to postpone
his immediate duties for a work which every Christian of the time
regarded as of paramount importance. The first Crusade had met with a
measure of success only because the Mohammedan powers were divided.
The Crusaders were organised into the kingdom of Jerusalem and the
principalities of Tripoli, Antioch, and Edessa. But they quarrelled
incessantly. Meanwhile Imad-ed-din Zangi, the Atabek or Sultan of
Mosul on the Tigris, extended his arms over all Mesopotamia and
Northern Syria, and in 1144 he conquered the Latin principality of
Edessa. The whole of Europe was shocked at the disaster. Pope Eugenius
delegated to Bernard the task of preaching a new crusade. The young
King, Louis VII of France, had already taken the Crusader's vow, but
so far the earnest entreaty of his minister, Suger, Abbot of St.
Denys, had kept him from his purpose. But at the Council of Vezelai in
1146 the eloquence of Bernard bore down all considerations of
prudence. Conrad III was much harder to persuade, for he felt the need
of his presence at home. But Bernard was not to be denied, and by
working upon Conrad's feelings at the moment of the celebration of the
Mass he entirely overcame the better judgment of the German King.

Events proved in every way the mischievous nature of Bernard's
influence. The Crusade was a total failure. Only a small remnant of
the force which followed either King reached Palestine; and the only
offensive operation undertaken--an attack upon Damascus--had to be
abandoned. Nothing had been done to break the growing power of Zangi's
son, Noureddin, the uncle and predecessor of the great Saladin.

[Sidenote: The divorce of Louis VII.]

The effects were scarcely less disastrous in Western Europe. Suger