The People's Crusade was the first wave of the First Crusade, a largely unorganised movement of poor people and a few knights, who set out in the spring of 1096, before the main armies of the nobility. It was inspired by the preaching of Pope Urban II and, above all, by Peter the Hermit, a charismatic preacher from Amiens. On the way through Germany, bands of crusaders attacked Jewish communities in the Rhineland, including Speyer, Worms and Mainz, in a series of massacres. The main body crossed into Byzantine territory and then into Anatolia, where it was crushed by the Seljuk Turks of Kilij Arslan I at Civetot in October 1096. Peter survived and joined the later main force that captured Jerusalem in 1099.
Before and after
- from 1095 to 1291Crusades
- 27 November 1095Pope Urban II calls the First Crusade
- 1096Founding of University of Oxford
- from 1096 to 1099First Crusade
- from April 1096 to October 1096People's Crusade
- 1098Birth of Hildegard of Bingen
- from 15 July 1099 to 18 May 1291Kingdom of Jerusalem
- from 11th century to 14th centuryOrigins of Catharism
- 11th centuryPublication of The Song of Roland
More in Wars, politics & history
- 1206Temujin is proclaimed Genghis Khan
- 1212Children's Crusade
- 15 June 1215Magna Carta
- from 18 July 1270 to 30 October 1270Eighth Crusade
- 30 March 1282Sicilian Vespers
- from 24 May 1337 to 9 October 1453Hundred Years' War
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 11th century.