30. The very spirit of the crusade seemed to have died out. The Latin
Kingdom of Jerusalem had become, like any other kingdom of the period,
a country in which men built houses, plowed land, made bargains, gave
feasts, etc., drank, laughed, talked, quarreled, and went to law. The
fall of Edessa, the first conspicuous success of the Turks, came like
a surprise upon the Latin population of Syria. An attempt was made by
the Christians to recover the city, but it failed, and the frontier of
Syria was open to invasion from the East.

THE SECOND CRUSADE.

31. The fall of Edessa, and the petitions of the people of Palestine
for aid, produced a sensation throughout Europe, and especially in
France. Nor was an apostle wanting worthy to fill the place of Peter,
and to summon the chivalry of Europe to a second crusade. Commissioned
by Pope Eugenius for that purpose, the famous Saint Bernard, Abbot of
Clairvaux in Champagne, traveled through France and Germany, exerting
the power of his marvelous eloquence in recruiting the armies of the
cross. The chiefs of the second crusade were two of the most powerful
princes of Europe, Louis VII, King of France, and Conrad III, Emperor
of Germany. Under their command upward of one million two hundred
thousand men, collected from all parts of Europe, marched toward
Palestine in two great armies, early in 1147.

32. Notwithstanding the vastness of the preparations, the expedition
was a total failure. The events of the last fifty years had rendered
the policy of the Greek princes hostile to the crusades. Manuel
Comnenus, the grandson of Alexius, who now occupied the throne,
suffered both armies to pass into Asia Minor, where, misled by Greek