Editing First Crusade (section)

==Peter the Hermit and the People's Crusade==
{{Main|People's Crusade}}

[[File:PeoplesCrusadeMassacre.jpg|thumb|An illustration showing the defeat of the [[People's Crusade]], from Sébastien Mamerot's ''Livre des Passages d'Outre-mer'' ([[Jean Colombe]], {{circa|1472–75}}, [[Bibliothèque Nationale|BNF]] Fr. 5594)|alt=Lines of peasants and armies are shown in battle against the Seljuq Turks.]]

The great French nobles and their trained armies of knights were not the first to undertake the journey towards Jerusalem.<ref name="Murray-2006">Murray, Alan V. (2006)."People's Crusades (1096)". In ''The Crusades – An Encyclopedia''. pp. 939–941.</ref> Urban had planned the departure of the first crusade for 15 August 1096, the [[Assumption of Mary|Feast of the Assumption]], but months before this, a number of unexpected armies of peasants and petty nobles set off for Jerusalem on their own, led by a charismatic priest called [[Peter the Hermit]].<ref>[[Louis Bréhier|Louis René Bréhier]] (1911). "[[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Peter the Hermit|Peter the Hermit]]". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. '''11'''. New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref> Peter was the most successful of the preachers of Urban's message, and developed an almost hysterical enthusiasm among his followers, although he was probably not an "official" preacher sanctioned by Urban at Clermont.{{sfn|Asbridge|2004|pp=78–82|loc=Peter the Hermit and the "People's Crusade"}} It is commonly believed that Peter's followers consisted entirely of a massive group of untrained and illiterate peasants who did not even know where Jerusalem was, but there were also many knights among the peasants, including [[Walter Sans Avoir]], who was lieutenant to Peter and led a separate army.{{sfn|Riley-Smith|2005|p=27|loc=The First Wave}}

Lacking military discipline, Peter's fledgling army quickly found itself in trouble despite the fact they were still in Christian territory.<ref name="Runciman-1949" /> The army led by Walter plundered the [[Belgrade]] and [[Zemun]] areas, and arrived in Constantinople with little resistance. Meanwhile, the army led by Peter, which marched separately from Walter's army, also fought with the Hungarians and may have captured Belgrade. At [[Niš]], the Byzantine governor tried to supply them, but Peter had little control over his followers and Byzantine troops were needed to quell their attacks. Peter arrived at Constantinople in August, where his army joined with the one led by Walter, which had already arrived, as well as separate bands of crusaders from France, Germany, and Italy. Another army of [[Bohemia]]ns and [[Saxony|Saxons]] did not make it past Hungary before splitting up.{{sfn|Asbridge|2004|p=82|loc=Afire with Crusading Fever}}

Peter's and Walter's unruly mob began to pillage outside the city in search of supplies and food, prompting Alexios to hurriedly ferry the gathering across the [[Bosphorus|Bosporus]] one week later. After crossing into Asia Minor, the crusaders split up and began to pillage the countryside, wandering into Seljuk territory around Nicaea. The far more-experienced Turks massacred most of this group.<ref name="Murray-2006" /> Some Italian and German crusaders were defeated at the [[Siege of Xerigordos|Siege of Xerigordon]] at the end of September. Meanwhile, Walter and Peter's followers, who, although for the most part untrained in battle but led by about 50&nbsp;knights, fought the Turks at the [[Battle of Civetot]] in October 1096. The Turkish archers destroyed the crusader army, and Walter was among the dead. Peter, who was absent in Constantinople at the time, later joined the second wave of crusaders, along with the few survivors of Civetot.{{sfn|Asbridge|2004|pp=101–103|loc=The Battle of Civetot}}

At a local level, the preaching of the First Crusade ignited the [[Rhineland massacres]] perpetrated against Jews. At the end of 1095 and the beginning of 1096, months before the departure of the official crusade in August, there were attacks on Jewish communities in France and Germany. In May 1096, [[Emicho|Emicho of Flonheim]] (sometimes incorrectly known as Emicho of Leiningen) attacked the Jews at [[Speyer]] and [[Worms, Germany|Worms]]. Other unofficial crusaders from Swabia, led by Hartmann of Dillingen, along with French, English, Lotharingian and Flemish volunteers, led by [[Drogo of Nesle]] and [[William the Carpenter]], as well as many locals, joined Emicho in the destruction of the Jewish community of Mainz at the end of May.{{sfn|Asbridge|2004|pp=84–85|loc=The Journey to Byzantium}} In Mainz, one Jewish woman killed her children rather than let the crusaders kill them. Chief rabbi [[Kalonymus Ben Meshullam]] committed suicide in anticipation of being killed. Emicho's company then went on to Cologne, and others continued on to Trier, Metz, and other cities.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=102–103|loc=The March to Constantinople}} Peter the Hermit also may have been involved in violence against the Jews, and an army led by a priest named Folkmar attacked Jews further east in Bohemia.{{sfn|Riley-Smith|2005|p=24|loc=The "first Holocaust"}}

[[Coloman the Learned|Coloman of Hungary]] had to deal with the problems that the armies of the First Crusade caused during their march across his country towards the Holy Land in 1096. He crushed two crusader hordes that had been pillaging the kingdom. Emicho's army eventually continued into Hungary but was also defeated by Coloman, at which point, Emicho's followers dispersed. Some eventually joined the main armies, although Emicho himself went home. Many of the attackers seem to have wanted to force the Jews to convert, although they were also interested in acquiring money from them. Physical violence against Jews was never part of the church hierarchy's official policy for crusading, and the Christian bishops, especially the Archbishop of Cologne, did their best to protect the Jews. A decade before, the Bishop of Speyer had taken the step of providing the Jews of that city with a walled ghetto to protect them from Christian violence and given their chief rabbis the control of judicial matters in the quarter. Nevertheless, some also took money in return for their protection. The attacks may have originated in the belief that Jews and Muslims were equally enemies of Christ, and enemies were to be fought or converted to Christianity.{{sfn|Asbridge|2004|pp=84–88|loc=The Journey to Byzantium}}