Crusades Biographies | Peter the Hermit Biography

c. 1050
Amiens, France

1115
Liège, Belgium

Preacher

"There was a priest, Peter by name.... In response to his constant admonition [scolding] and call [for a Crusade]...every class of the Christian profession, nay, also women and those influenced by the spirit of penance [seeking forgiveness of sins]—all joyfully entered upon this expedition."

—Albert of Aix, quoted in The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eye-witnesses and Participants.

Peter the Hermit was a French preacher at the time when Pope Urban II (see entry) called for a Crusade, or holy war, against the forces of Islam in Palestine and Jerusalem. The pope demanded that Christians, both rich and poor, go to the Holy Land and end the centuries-long Muslim occupation there....