People's Crusade sets out
April 12, 1096
Peter the Hermit, riding a donkey, led a huge crowd of unarmed French and Rhineland peasants east months before the formal Crusade was ready. Their march through Germany and Hungary left a trail of looted villages and pogroms against Jewish communities in the Rhineland. Few of them would ever reach the Holy Land.
In context
Also in 1096 (3 other events on record)
- Rhineland massacres begin · Europe · Religion
- Princes' Crusade departs Europe · Europe · War
- People's Crusade destroyed at Civetot · Middle East · War
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Religion
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.