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He soon leapt into fame as an emotional revivalist, and the vast majority of sources and historians agree that thousands of peasants eagerly took the cross at his bidding. Jonathan Riley-Smith has proposed that the People's Crusade also included well-armed soldiers and nobles. This part of the crusade was also known as the crusade of the "paupers", a term which in the Middle Ages indicated a status as impoverished or mendicant wards of the Church.
Peter organized and guided the paupers as a spiritually purified and holy group of pilgrims who would, supposedly, be protected by the Holy Ghost. A list of known participants in Peter's army can be found at Riley-Smith, et al. Before Peter went on his crusade he got permission from the Patriarch of Jerusalem [11]. This particular Patriarch was named Simeon.
Peter was able to recruit from England, Lorraine, France, and Flanders [11]. Peter also slaughtered Jewish people in the Kingdom of Lorraine. The citizens of Cologne were also unkind to the Jewish people. They also killed a number of them as well. Peter's Party also slaughtered Jewish people in Mainz. They piled bodies of the dead until they could not pile them any higher [11]. Peter's crusade was sure to tear up Torah whenever they were in a Jewish settlement. Torturing and dragging people was also not out of the question. Leading the first of the five sections of the People's Crusade to the destination of their pilgrimage, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , he started with 40, men and women from Cologne in April, , and arrived with 30, men and women at Constantinople at the end of July.
The Eastern Roman Emperor Alexios I Comnenus was less than pleased with their arrival, for along with the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Patriarch Nicholas III of Constantinople , he was now required to provide for the care and sustenance of the vast host of paupers for the remainder of their journey. Before reaching Constantinople though, Peter and his followers began to run into trouble.
This would have been fine if a dispute about the sale of a pair of shoes had not occurred [12]. This lead to a riot and against Peter's wishes the town was attacked and the citadel was stormed. This resulted in Hungarians being killed and lots of provisions stolen.
Von Sybel , in his Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges , published in , suggested that in the camp of the paupers which existed side by side with that of the knights, and grew increasingly large as the crusade took a more and more heavy toll on the purses of the crusaders some idolization of Peter the Hermit had already begun, parallel to the similar glorification of Godfrey by the Lorrainers. At Easter, in the year , a great crowd of about fifteen thousand French mustered in the city of Cologne on the Rhine. All he wanted was an army, for he himself was once a soldier and thought he could be equal to any emergency. The Arabs worshipped Mohammed, and did not believe in Christ, but as they were a generous and kind-hearted people, they allowed pious pilgrims from all over the world to visit Jerusalem, and to worship at the tomb of Christ. The origin of such a legend is a matter of some interest. In other projects Wikimedia Commons. It is generally quoted that he founded an Augustinian monastery in France named for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Then on June 26 Peter's army was able to cross the Save river. Then the army marched into Belgrade and lit the town on fire and proceeded to pillage it [12]. The army then made its way into and through Nish after an eight-day delay. After riding though Nish the Crusaders made their way towards Sofia when they were attacked on the road.
The army took heavy losses. After a while, they arrived at a castle called Xerigordon and captured it. They captured the castle by taking possession of the castle's spring and well. After setting off to Civetot they had set up camp near a village called Dracon. Pilgrimages and Historic Memory ] Wherever a great leader has been born, has taught, has suffered, died, or been buried, the feet of his followers have been glad to stand.
At such spots religious emotions are revived, holy influences are believed to be absorbed, and a sense of nearness to the prophets of God acquired.
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Whatever the teacher wore, used, or even looked upon, became a treasure through its relation to him. In India pilgrimages to holy shrines, rivers, and cities have been works of merit, even from prehistoric times. The same is true of China as to temples, tombs, springs, and mountain summits.
Devotees of later religions, like that of Mahomet, have their Meccas, as the Roman Church has her Loretto and her Lourdes. And if his faith can be assured as to the site of Calvary, the great tragedy loses all historical dimness and is made real, visible, and present, though its story be read through penitent tears.
The Arabs worshipped Mohammed, and did not believe in Christ, but as they were a generous and kind-hearted people, they allowed pious pilgrims from all over the world to visit Jerusalem, and to worship at the tomb of Christ. Those pilgrims were treated with consideration, and the church of the holy sepulchre was kept in order and treated with respect. But when Peter was fifteen years old, the barbarous Turks overran Palestine and captured Jerusalem from the Arabs and changed everything, so far as the poor pilgrims were concerned.
The Christians had to pay large sums of money to visit the tomb of Christ, and even then were often robbed and some of them were killed. Moreover, the church was no longer treated with reverence, but became dirty and neglected. When Peter was forty-five years of age, it is said that he made his way to Jerusalem and saw the plight in which all his fellow pilgrims were. He went at once to the patriarch of the church and loudly complained.
It is filthy beyond description, and fills my soul with horror. Besides, the pilgrims are robbed and beaten. Only yesterday, I saw a pilgrim pay his last coin to enter the church, and the door was closed in his face. I have heard of others being beaten until they died. I am helpless, for I also am poor and almost alone.
And Peter saw that the good father was powerless to help the pilgrims or to protect the holy sepulchre from desecration. That night Peter was admitted to the tomb of Christ, and there kept vigil, or watch, all night. As he watched by the tomb a vision came to him as of an angel, saying:.
I advise you to preach a crusade against these infidels and Turks, and to arouse the Christians of all lands to come by the thousands and redeem this holy sepulchre, by which thou standest, from the hands of those that do but defile it. Peter departed the next day with a great purpose.
He would preach a crusade, and arouse the world. The patriarch gave him a letter to the Pope at Rome, to whom Peter carried it. The Pope blessed him and praised his purpose, and then let him depart on his way to his native land. Peter now began to preach the first crusade. He was known everywhere as Peter the Hermit, because he had come out of his retirement in order to preach to the people. He was small in size, thin, and of dark complexion. His eyes were bright and his voice most persuasive. Everywhere he was hailed by the people with great eagerness, for he was telling them a stirring story of the cruel Turks, and calling upon them to rise and march to Jerusalem.
He went about barefoot, poorly clad, carrying a cross in his hand. He probably had a long white beard, and his hair fell over his shoulders, for most of the monks wore their hair in that way. As he went through the country he rode a mule, and the excited people would pull hairs from the mule's tail, keeping them as relics of the holy man.