The Children’s Crusade

What comes to mind first when you think of the Crusades? Is it a knight clad in chainmail or plate armor covered in a white tunic with a bright red cross? You wouldn’t be wrong to think of a Templar knight first, they are ubiquitous with the pop cultural ideal of the Crusades. However knights played a small part of these crusades, forming a small but important core of any medieval crusading force. In reality, a Crusade was a confluence of people from many walks of life within Europe. During the Medieval period, it was all the rage to pledge oneself to a crusade, from elderly people, high born nobles and knights, kings and princes, all the way down to common or destitute people, and even children taking up “the cross.”

               But what is a crusade? A crusade in this context, is a Roman Catholic religious movement in the form of a military expedition, to retake or conquer territory held by non-Christian groups. Officially, a movement can only be called a crusade when it was called into existence or sanctioned by the Pope himself. There were officially eight crusades from 1095 to 1291, focusing on the capture and securing of the Holy Land or Outremer (today made up of mostly Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria) for Catholics, but crusades also focused on North Africa, specifically Tunisia and Egypt. However, there were many “popular” or unofficial crusades that cannot be excluded from what historians now call collectively “The Crusades.” In this collective, you have popular movements and military expeditions focusing on the modern states of Poland, Lithuania, Spain, France, Czechia, and Germany, as well as the traditional target of Outremer. The Children’s crusade was two movements that have been combined into a singular example of these popular but unofficial crusades.

               Let us first start by stating the Children’s crusade may not have happened at all, and if it did happen, it may not have been led or made up of children. There is debate amongst historians regarding translations of medieval sources on whether these were religiously fanatic children or just common people. This debate hinges on the words infante and parvuli which some historians translate as “wandering poor,” not children. Additionally, the sources we do have are hostile to the popular movements, with concern from the Church at the message and methods of the children crusaders. But the majority of primary and secondary sources contest that children led two large mass movements, which we are going to explore in depth.

               In 1212, two separate movements emerged that would collectively come to be known as the Children’s Crusade. The first was led by Stephen of Cloyes, a French shepherd boy, and the second by Nicholas of Cologne, a German youth. Both claimed to have received divine visions or messages urging them to lead a crusade to the Holy Land.

Starting with the French movement, Stephen of Cloyes was a 12 year boy who claimed he met Jesus Christ. In this meeting with Jesus, who was appearing to the boy as a poor pilgrim begging for bread, Stephen was given a letter from Jesus to give to the King of France, Phillip II. This claim attracted the attention of people and he quickly surrounded himself with a large group of like-minded youth and impressed adults. Some of these young people claimed to also possess spiritual and religious powers from God and could work miracles. Eventually, a total of 30,000 began to follow Stephen on his journey to deliver the letter to Phillip however, Phillip would not receive the crowd and implored the people to return to their homes. Stephen, with the vigor of youth, refused to give up and began preaching and traveling around France, losing over half his flock by the time he declared they were going to Jerusalem via Marseilles to convert Muslims to Christianity. The travel through France was tough on many of the followers, who were forced to survive by begging for food, convincing most that they were better off returning to their homes, as Phillip originally requested. Those left in Stephen’s crusade were able to secure passage from Marseilles to Tunisia but met a disturbing fate upon their arrival: they were sold into slavery by the merchants who had ferried them across the Mediterranean, ending the movement.

               The second movement, either starting in the spring or summer of 1212 was led by a German boy, Nicholas of Cologne. Like Stephen of Cloyes, Nicholas claimed to have received a divine vision or message from God, instructing him to lead a crusade to the Holy Land. The exact nature of this revelation is not well-documented, and much of what we know comes from later accounts that may blend fact with legend. He reportedly attracted a significant following, including many children and young people who were drawn by his message and the promise of a divine mission. Nicholas’ crusade had peaceful aims, intending to convert the population of the holy land through message and scripture. Nicholas and his followers, after massing in Cologne, split into two groups in order to reach the Holy Land, with both traveling through different parts of Switzerland. The journey through the alps for both groups was brutal, with 2 out of 3 people on the journey dying or returning home. Nicholas had assured his followers they would not have to take ships to the Holy Land as the sea would divide for them and clear the way, however when the remaining 7,000 people arrived in Genoa, the were bitterly disappointed when the sea did not part as promised. Some left, accusing Nicholas of being a fraud and betraying them, while others implored patience that God would divide the sea and support them. Of course the sea never parted and the group remained in Genoa, although the local authorities were so impressed by the faith of the group that they offered Genoese citizenship to the remaining followers. Most of the remaining “crusaders” took up this offer but many others refused to give up, including Nicholas. He traveled with those who refused the Genoese offer first to Pisa (where some claim that a few ships departed for the Holy Land) and then onto the Papal States, with the group splintering further with each stop. In Rome, Nicholas met with the Pope, Innocent III, who asked him and his remaining followers to be good Christians and to return home. Unfortunately for Nicholas and his followers, the journey back proved to be just as perilous as the first, with Nicholas himself and many of his remaining members, dying in the Alps. The family members of those who perished in Nicholas’ crusade were so enraged that they found his father and lynched him as retribution.

               An image of thousands of children marching to Jerusalem is conjured when one hears the name “Children’s Crusade,” but more than likely it was a movement of adults, elderly, and children caught up in the religious fervor of the Crusading period, if it even happened at all. With both of these histories ending in such dramatic fashion, involving slavery and or death, one should absolutely approach this topic with skepticism. However, if they are accurate in their basic telling, the Children’s Crusade is a fascinating example of religious fanaticism gone wrong.