Suger had opposed the journey of the king to the Holy Land, but he was not in the least wanting in zeal or compassionate enthusiasm in favour of his brethren of the east.[601] Any thing but the absence of a monarch from his unquiet dominions he would have considered as a small sacrifice towards the support of the kingdom of Jerusalem; and now, at seventy years, he proposed to raise an army at his own expense, and to finish his days in Palestine.--His preparations were carried on with an ardour, an activity, an intelligence, which would have been wonderful even in a man at his prime; but, in the midst of his designs, he was seized with a slow fever, which soon showed him that his end was near. He saw the approach of death with firmness; and, during the four months that preceded his decease, he failed not from the bed of sickness to continue all his orders for the expedition, which could no longer bring living glory to himself. He named the chief whom he thought most worthy to lead it; he bestowed upon him all the treasures he had collected for the purpose; he gave him full instructions for his conduct, and he made him swear upon the Cross to fulfil his intentions. Having done this, the Abbot of St. Denis waited calmly the approach of that hour which was to separate him from the living; and died, leaving no one like him in Europe. With his life appears to have ended the second crusade, which, with fewer obstacles and greater facilities than the first, produced little but disgrace and sorrow to all by whom it was accompanied.[602] CHAPTER XI. _Progress of Society--The Rise of Poetry in Modern Europe--Troubadours-- Trouveres--Various Poetical Compositions--Effect of Poetry upon Chivalry-- Effect of the Crusades on Society--State of Palestine after the Second Crusade--Cession of Edessa to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus--Edessa completely subjected by the Turks--Ascalon taken by the Christians--State of Egypt under the last Califs of the Fatimite Race--The Latins and the Atabecks both design the Conquest of Egypt--Struggles for that Country-- Rise of Saladin--Disputes among the Latins concerning the Succession of the Crown--Guy of Lusignan crowned--Saladin invades Palestine--Battle of Tiberias--Fall of Jerusalem--Conquest of all Palestine--Some Inquiry into the Causes of the Latin Overthrow._