The Peasant’s CrusadeIn the early Middle Ages, Muslim forces had conquered most of the Mid

The Peasant’s CrusadeIn the early Middle Ages, Muslim forces had conquered most of the Middle East, overruning the Holy Land, at the time territory of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). By the end of the 11th century the Seljuk Turks had conquered Anatolia (Turkey), threatening the heart of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Emperor Alexios Komnenos sent to the West for help hoping that the Pope would send an army of Western Europe’s best to drive back the invaders.  Instead what he got was a mob.In response to Komnenos' plea, on November 27th, 1095, Pope Urban II gave a speech calling on the nobility of Europe to combine their military forces and march against the Muslims in a great Crusade to reconquer the Holy Land.  As an incentive for the Crusade, Urban offered an absolution of all sins and guaranteed place in Heavan for thosel who answered his call.  In response, Urban raised a 35,000 man international army composed of knights and professional soldiers as intended. What he didn’t expect were the thousands of peasants and commoners who would likewise heed his call.  In 1096 a man named Peter the Hermit began preaching the Crusades to the common people, raising a massive army of over 40,000 people.  These were not knights or professional soldiers, but peasants and commoners including women and children.  Supposedly Peter the Hermit was a priest or monk from Amiens, but there is no evidence that he actually took up Holy Orders. Obviously a charismatic man, he claimed to be in direct communication with God, even carrying a letter written by Jesus Christ himself giving him the authority to organize and lead a Crusade. He was also helped by a meteor shower, a lunar eclipse, the appearance of a comet, and a possible outbreak of ergot poisoning which drove many Crusaders to believe that the apocalypse was nigh.In April of 1096 the Crusade set out for the Holy Land and promptly became a scourge to all but the Turks and Muslims.  A large band of ill disciplined peasants, the army was more like an unruly mob than a proper army.  As they passed through Central Europe, despite strong condemnation from the Catholic Church, they attacked and murdered thousands of German Jews, committing some of the worst pogroms in history up until the Holocaust. Other victims included people accused of witchcraft, and any other non-christians and non-believers. Often lacking food and supplies, the peasant Crusaders often plundered and raided the lands they traveled through as they made their way to Holy Land.  The worst hit was modern day Serbia.  In late May, the peasant Crusaders arrived in Belgrade.  When a dispute occured over the price of shoes, a riot ensued which led to the pillaging and burning of the city. The Crusaders then clashed with Byzantine forces outside of Nis.The peasant Crusaders arrived in Constantinople in August of 1096, and Emperor Alexios Komnenos was shocked to find an army not of professional knights and soldiers, but a mob of poorly armed and equipped peasants driven to religious zealotry.  After recieving word of the destruction wrought by the Crusaders on their journey to Constantinople, Comnenos refused to allow them in the city and ordered that they be sent on their way as quickly as possible. He ordered the Crusaders shipped across the Bosphorus to Turkey, most likely knowing that he was sending them off to their doom. The “army” marched to Nicea, the provincial capital of the region, plundering and pillaging the local towns and villages on the way. By then the army was reduced to half its size, with 20,000 peasant Crusaders dying of disease, hunger, and from the many clashes on their journey so far. On the way to Nicea, they were ambushed by the Turks near a town called Dracon.  Against the well trained and heavily armed Turkish soldiers, the peasant Crusaders didn’t stand a chance, and after a single volley of Turkish arrows the army was disbursed in a panicked rout.  Most of the Crusaders were cut down by Tukish cavalry as they fled in terror.  Three thousand were able to take refuge in an abandoned castle where they remained under siege until they were rescued by a Byzantine Army.  Of the 40,000 peasant Crusaders who set off from Europe, only around 2,000 survived. -- source link

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