The first wave of crusaders was called the Paupers Crusade. The Paupers Crusade is a good example of the brutality of the crusaders toward non-Christians because it was so undisciplined and out of control. The Paupers Crusade was lead by a monk named Peter Hermit. He assembled an undisciplined mob of about 40 thousand crusaders as he traveled throughout France and Germany (Biel 36). Another French monk Walter the Penniless, had nearly as much success as Peter. Both of them together recruited over seventy thousand adventurous, yet poorly educated and totally undisciplined crusaders to march to Constantinople.
