“Little grateful for this hospitality, we continued our retreat as soon as possible. At Nicea we met the French, who at the outset had as large a force as our own, and who had met with similar misfortunes. The most of them had been slaughtered by the Turks. An agreement was made to take the remainder to Antioch, whither the King of France had gone by vessel. Instead of keeping their word, however, the Greeks detained them in dark hovels, and left them a prey to hunger and disease.” “Horrible!” exclaimed all. “But true,” said Frederick. “Will you believe me when I tell you that thousands voluntarily surrendered to the Turks, for they expected and received better treatment from them than from those of their own faith?” These dreadful revelations brought tears of sorrow to the eyes of Gertrude and many of the listeners. “At last,” continued Frederick, “we reached Jerusalem, where also both sovereigns came. Reduced in numbers and half-starved as we were, we nevertheless ventured to besiege Damascus, but were baffled again by these Eastern Christians, who, in consideration of Turkish gold, helped the enemy and obstructed us.” “So you see,” interrupted Conrad, “we came back rich in exploits, but not crowned with victory.” “That is not our fault,” replied Frederick, “and yet it is not just to lay the blame upon Providence. It is just as unreasonable also to reproach the Abbé Bernard of Clairvaux,[3] who advocated the Crusade, as to charge us with responsibility for the failure of the movement which he was certain would be successful. The highest human skill cannot avail against treachery. The grand work of rescuing the Holy Sepulchre will not succeed until all engaged in it are animated by Christian love and harmony, and work together for the common purpose, allowing nothing to divert them from its attainment.” Chapter II Frederick Ascends the Throne The German Empire suffered many grave calamities the following year.[4] Henry, who already had been designated successor of Conrad III, suddenly died, and all hope of filling the vacancy on the throne without exciting dangerous quarrels among the princes and their adherents seemingly was gone. The seriousness of the situation was soon apparent. Two years passed, and no successor was found. Then the sudden death of Conrad occurred, causing great sorrow and even dismay in the German provinces; for he had been a good ruler, even though he had not always been successful in securing peace.