" In his old cathedral, in Roskilde
town, lies Saxo, according to tradition under an unmarked stone.
When he went to rest his friend and master had slept five years.
Esbern outlived his brother three years. The hero of so many battles
met his death at last by an accidental fall in his own house. The
last we hear of him is at a meeting in the Christmas season, 1187,
where emissaries of Pope Gregory VIII preached a general crusade.
Their hearers wept at the picture they drew of the sufferings
Christians were made to endure in the Holy Land. Then arose Esbern
and reminded them of the great deeds of the fathers at home and
abroad. The faith and the fire of Absalon were in his words:
"These things they did," he said, "for the glory of their name and
race, knowing nothing of our holy religion. Shall we, believing, do
less? Let us lay aside our petty quarrels and take up this greater
cause. Let us share the sufferings of the saints and earn their
reward. Perhaps we shall win--God keeps the issue. Let him who
cannot give himself, give of his means. So shall all we, sharing the
promise, share also the reward."
The account we have says that many took the cross, such was the
effect of his words, more likely of the man and what he was and had
been in the sight of them all throughout his long life.
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