Lasting only from May-Sept 1212, the Children’s Crusade was a popular religious movement in which thousands of young people took crusading vows and set out to recover Jerusalem from the Muslims. This was probably not as surprising an event back then, as it sounds to our ears.
Popular movements of religious fervour appeared whenever official crusades were preached. Preaching aroused mass enthusiasm, mostly in areas with a long tradition of crusading, as in and around the French town of Chartres. From the time of the First Crusade in the late C11th and continuing into the C13th, successive waves of crusading fervour swept over this region.
This was already a turbulent era. The Albigensian Crusade (1209–29) was being preached against the heretical southern Cathars, resulting in strong military recruitment from Chartres. Spain was the scene of another Crusading crisis. A Muslim invasion from North Africa in 1210 led to the fall of Salvatierra Castle in Spain in 1211. A fearful war was expected in 1212. Pope Innocent III quickly coordinated Christian prayers on behalf of the threatened Spanish church by holding processions in Rome in May 1212.
Similar processions were held at Chartres in May where the shepherd boy Stephen of Cloyes and his fellow workers participated. This young preacher believed he’d been chosen by Jesus to lead the divine mission: to lead pueri and puelle (Latin for boys and girls) to save Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre. He gathered followers by predicting miracles eg by claiming that the Mediterranean Sea would part for them en route to Jerusalem! Masses of children became wild with excitement, dropped their ploughs and sheep, took the crusader’s vow and flocked to the rendezvous point.
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A woodcut after a drawing by Heinrich Merte
Popular movements of religious fervour appeared whenever official crusades were preached. Preaching aroused mass enthusiasm, mostly in areas with a long tradition of crusading, as in and around the French town of Chartres. From the time of the First Crusade in the late C11th and continuing into the C13th, successive waves of crusading fervour swept over this region.
This was already a turbulent era. The Albigensian Crusade (1209–29) was being preached against the heretical southern Cathars, resulting in strong military recruitment from Chartres. Spain was the scene of another Crusading crisis. A Muslim invasion from North Africa in 1210 led to the fall of Salvatierra Castle in Spain in 1211. A fearful war was expected in 1212. Pope Innocent III quickly coordinated Christian prayers on behalf of the threatened Spanish church by holding processions in Rome in May 1212.
Similar processions were held at Chartres in May where the shepherd boy Stephen of Cloyes and his fellow workers participated. This young preacher believed he’d been chosen by Jesus to lead the divine mission: to lead pueri and puelle (Latin for boys and girls) to save Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre. He gathered followers by predicting miracles eg by claiming that the Mediterranean Sea would part for them en route to Jerusalem! Masses of children became wild with excitement, dropped their ploughs and sheep, took the crusader’s vow and flocked to the rendezvous point.
The Children's Crusade, c1875
photo credit: BBC History Magazine
Some adults believed the children’s movement was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Other adults believed that sending off 11-12 year olds was the work of the Devil. Some parents were so anxious for the young lives that they locked up their children in the home, to prevent their departure. [I would certainly have locked my 11 year old sons up!]
Under Stephen’s leadership, French children assembled at St Denis during a popular annual June event, the Lendit Fair. The numbers of Stephen’s followers were uncertain but presumably c30,000 French children assembled in bands and marched through French towns. Carrying banners and crosses, some of the French children went all the way to Marseilles. Those that sailed from that port were probably sold as slaves in Alexandria or Tunisia. Other children were too hungry to go on, and returned home.
From the records of a German Children’s Crusade, we know that some of the French children arrived in Germany in mid-July. A lad named Nicholas from Cologne DID succeed in launching a crusade, carrying his charismatic tau cross and leading the German pueri southward to Mainz and Speyer.
Nicholas led his c50,000 lads to go over the Alps into Italy via Piacenza and Genoa, then onto the pope in Rome. The pope praised the children for their bravery, but stated that they were too young to crusade. From the port of Brindisi, a few thousand young crusaders got onto ships to sail to Jerusalem .. and disappeared. Quite separately we heard that of the 7,000 German pueri who arrived in Genoa, many remained because cheap labour was needed there. Only a few German children returned home to their frantic parents.
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Yet it also represented the decline of the Crusades. Innocent III had already planned a crusade to recapture Jerusalem; in 1213 and 1215 he issued papal bulls calling on Christians to join in. The eventual failure of this 5th Crusade predicted the end. In 1270-2 the 8th and 9th Crusades failed totally; the mainland Crusader states ended with the fall of Tripoli (1289) and Acre (1291).
Historiography
Although 50 versions of the story have been found in chronicles dating back to the mid C13th, the true facts were always uncertain. Mentions were often very short, or mythologised. A Laon report noted that Stephen of Cloyes was instructed by a poor pilgrim to deliver letters to French King Philip II. Nothing was recorded about the contents of these letters, if indeed they existed, nor of any meeting with the king - only that the king ordered the pueri to disperse.
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Johann Sporschil: Geschichte der Kreuzzüge.
I can easily imagine the excitement that these self-proclaimed, unarmed Crusaders evoked when they planned to regain Jerusalem and recover the True Cross. So despite the very short amount of time taken up by the children’s crusading movement, interest in the story continued over the centuries. Countless children’s books were written in later generations. Highly romanticised illustrations of the Children’s Crusade were still being published in prints and books, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Some adults believed the children’s movement was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Other adults believed that sending off 11-12 year olds was the work of the Devil. Some parents were so anxious for the young lives that they locked up their children in the home, to prevent their departure. [I would certainly have locked my 11 year old sons up!]
Under Stephen’s leadership, French children assembled at St Denis during a popular annual June event, the Lendit Fair. The numbers of Stephen’s followers were uncertain but presumably c30,000 French children assembled in bands and marched through French towns. Carrying banners and crosses, some of the French children went all the way to Marseilles. Those that sailed from that port were probably sold as slaves in Alexandria or Tunisia. Other children were too hungry to go on, and returned home.
From the records of a German Children’s Crusade, we know that some of the French children arrived in Germany in mid-July. A lad named Nicholas from Cologne DID succeed in launching a crusade, carrying his charismatic tau cross and leading the German pueri southward to Mainz and Speyer.
Nicholas led his c50,000 lads to go over the Alps into Italy via Piacenza and Genoa, then onto the pope in Rome. The pope praised the children for their bravery, but stated that they were too young to crusade. From the port of Brindisi, a few thousand young crusaders got onto ships to sail to Jerusalem .. and disappeared. Quite separately we heard that of the 7,000 German pueri who arrived in Genoa, many remained because cheap labour was needed there. Only a few German children returned home to their frantic parents.
Children's Crusade by Gary Dickson (Palgrave Macmillan, NY, 2008).
The engraving is The Children’s Crusade by Gustave Doré (1877).
All in all, the Children’s Crusade was an utter disaster. As it was doomed to be from the beginning.
All in all, the Children’s Crusade was an utter disaster. As it was doomed to be from the beginning.
The Children's Crusade provided the strongest display of the ignorance, superstition and fanaticism that typified the C13th. It was filled with a holiness that was prepared to sacrifice innocent children, in obedience to the will of God. In one sense the event marked the culmination of the Crusades, confirming Pope Innocent III’s belief that crusading would continue - with the 5th Crusade (1218).
Yet it also represented the decline of the Crusades. Innocent III had already planned a crusade to recapture Jerusalem; in 1213 and 1215 he issued papal bulls calling on Christians to join in. The eventual failure of this 5th Crusade predicted the end. In 1270-2 the 8th and 9th Crusades failed totally; the mainland Crusader states ended with the fall of Tripoli (1289) and Acre (1291).
Historiography
Gary Dickson noted that 1212 was a year of great fervour, due to recruiting for the Albigensian Crusade. Yet the Children’s Crusade was officially never called by Pope Innocent III (1198–1216). Thus it was an unsanctioned “popular movement”, whose start and end were hard to pin down. Were the pueri really pre-teens? In fact many of the participants could have belonged to the impoverished peasant class or day labourers. Yet the chroniclers emphasised the youthfulness of the participants, probably because the young people were the most visible, and unusual.
Leipzig 1843
Wikimedia Commons
I can easily imagine the excitement that these self-proclaimed, unarmed Crusaders evoked when they planned to regain Jerusalem and recover the True Cross. So despite the very short amount of time taken up by the children’s crusading movement, interest in the story continued over the centuries. Countless children’s books were written in later generations. Highly romanticised illustrations of the Children’s Crusade were still being published in prints and books, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries.