The Influence Of Peter The Hermit And His People's Crusade

Peter the Hermit and his People’s Crusade was an especially significant moment in European Christianity and a defining moment of the High Middle Ages, not only in the sense that it demonstrates how essential religion was in the lives of people at the time, but also in how it set the stage for the divisions; between people and their beliefs, between the West and the East and between Christianity and all other faiths. In the year 1095 Pope Urban II addressed the Council of Clermont in response to a letter he had received from Alexios I Komnenos, the Byzantine Emperor, requesting aid to fight the Seljuq Turks who had conquered most of Asia Minor . In his speech, Urban II, in front of a great crowd, urged all to assist the Greeks and to help recover Palestine from the rule of the Muslims “Your brethren who live in the East are in urgent need of your help, and you must …show more content…
Walter and his forces made it to Constantinople with little trouble, due to the organisation of the military unit, and took the Byzantine leaders by surprise at the speed of their arrival . Peter’s follower encountered a lot more trouble along the path, with a riot breaking out in Zemun, Hungary, resulting in the death of many Hungarians . By the time Peter’s followers got to Belgrade they sacked the deserted area and exchanged hostages for supplies with nearby Nish, who sent troops after the crusaders, some of which were killed, in retaliation for burning down mills . Eventually they reached Constantinople at the cost of losing many participants and funds, along with inflicting serious damage along the path they had taken . They also lost more participants who were sidetracked by the pogroms and those who decided to turn