Feudalpunk.
Peter The Hermit (?-1115)
“Peter of Amiens, better known to to his followers as Cucu Peter, or Little Peter. He was a small, ugly man, wearing a monk’s habit although he may have been neither a monk nor a priest.”
“Peter the Hermit may have visited the Holy Land in 1093, but it wasn’t until after Pope Urban II made his speech in 1095 that he began a tour of France and Germany, preaching the merits of crusade as he went. Peter’s speeches appealed not only to trained knights, who usually followed their princes and kings on crusade, but to laborers, tradesmen and peasants. It was these 40,000 untrained and disorganized folk who followed Peter the Hermit most eagerly to Constantinople in what became known as “The People’s Crusade” or “The Crusade of the Poor People.”
In spring of 1096 Peter the Hermit and his followers left Europe for Constantinople, then moved on to Nicomedia in August. But, as an inexperienced leader, Peter had trouble maintaining discipline among his unruly troops, and he returned to Constantinople to seek assistance from Byzantine Emperor Alexius. While he was gone the bulk of Peter’s forces were slaughtered by the Turks at Civetot.”
