Peter The Hermit's Crusade

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Peter the hermit’s- or Pierre L’ermite his French name, journey started in Amiens, France in which he was born on 1050¹. This of course, made him of a white origin and he was also born into Roman Catholicism¹. He grew up to be a Priest of Amiens, being part of the crusades and also gaining many followers¹. It has been rumoured many times before that he would have gone on a pilgrimage, if not for the Turks stopping him before 1096- which is the year Pope Urban II held the great sermon in France announcing the crusade; but it is certain that he did when Pope Urban II announced the crusade³. On May 1096 he began preaching the merits of crusade, which game him many followers-mostly serfs, although his speech also targeted trained knights; …show more content…

This group of mostly disorganized and untrained crusaders became known as the People's Crusade². August 6th was the day the crusaders advance to Nicomedia (modern Izmir, Turkey)³, but unfortunately, Peter had trouble maintaining his forces, and fled to Constantinople to seek help, in which he did from the Byzantine emperor, Alexius I¹. Sadly, Peters forces were mostly annihilated when he was gone (October 21, 1096)¹. After the annihilation of his forces, he waited in Constantinople; with no followers in sight³. After this, he waited until May 1097 in which the princely expedition from Western Europe was assembled. Peter the Hermit joined them south eastwards across Anatolia, but on January 1098 he became highly discouraged by the many hardships in the crusaders siege, and abandoned the enterprise³. He was captured shortly after his abandoning, and forcefully returned to the crusade, in which he begged on his knees for forgiveness for his loss of faith. Eventually, Peter the Hermit reached Jerusalem; in which he was (Spring 1099) appointed almoner for the Christian

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