Unsurprisingly, the intentions of politicians and the response of their audiences often diverge. In 1095–6 the official line promoted a campaign against the infidels who, as enemies of Christ, had seized lands rightly belonging to Christians (the Holy Land) and were continuing to persecute the faithful and to threaten Christendom. The rhetoric deliberately focused on Christ and the scene of his life on earth, death and resurrection. There was nothing explicitly anti-Jewish in the papal programme. However, at a time of heightened communal excitement revolving around the image of Christ crucified and when large numbers of rural and urban property owners were seeking to realise their assets in order to pay for their journey east, where there existed significant established Jewish populations, as in many Rhineland cities, they risked becoming the object of ill-considered yet far from random hostility, more vulnerable because of the erosion of the power of their chief secular protector, the emperor Henry IV, and the pusillanimous behaviour of local bishops, to whom they looked for ecclesiastical defence. As ‘enemies of the Christian faith’, regarded by many Christians as responsible for Christ’s death on the Cross, the Jews became the first of a long and bloody catalogue of victims of the new war of the Cross.
The massacres of 1096 may have begun at Cologne with the arrival there of Peter the Hermit in mid-April, but the main carnage was associated with the recruitment of Count Emich of Flonheim, whose forces, some weeks after the passage of Peter the Hermit, inspired atrocities of increasing ferocity as May progressed, at Speyer, Worms and Mainz, whence the infection spread northwards to Cologne and the lower Rhine in late May and June, beyond the path of the crusaders who turned eastwards from Mainz to reach the Danube at Regensburg, where Peter the Hermit’s army had already attempted forcible baptism of Jews in mid-May. With the departure of the crusaders from the region, the hysteria subsided and the violence ceased. The Jewish communities, shocked, wary but undisturbed for another half-century until the Second Crusade (1146–7), recuperated and revived. Some Christian observers, such as Albert in nearby Aachen, adopting the official theological line of disapproval of such attacks, condemned the excesses; his condemnation of cruelty is matched by his scorn at credulity, a moral he illustrated with the famous story of crusaders following a goose and a goat.
The trigger for these atrocities was the arrival in the Rhineland of the troops raised in the winter of 1095–6 by the charismatic preacher Peter the Hermit. The career and influence of Peter, controversial at the time, has remained a matter of debate. One tradition, deriving ultimately from Lorrainers, some of whom may have travelled east with Peter and later retold their experiences to the Rhineland chronicler Albert of Aachen or to one of his sources, credits Peter with being the primus auctor, the chief instigator of the Jerusalem journey. Some straws in the wind suggest this impression cannot have been wholly fanciful or fictitious, even if elements of the tale are incredible as well as ignoring what can be reconstructed of the roles of Alexius and Urban. Peter did lead a substantial force east that set out from eastern France in March 1096, only four months after Clermont. All contemporary narrative accounts acknowledge his role in inciting the first military retinues to depart. Some prior collusion with the pope is possible, especially as Peter’s preaching itinerary shadowed but never cut across Urban’s. Peter remained a significant figure on the campaign even after the destruction of his forces in October 1096 and his subsequent attempt to desert the army at Antioch in January 1098. He was afforded status and respect by the emperor Alexius. The legend of Peter, which in outline was repeated in the history written by Alexius’ daughter Anna Comnena, claimed a central role for the patriarch of Jerusalem; Patriarch Symeon had close contacts with Alexius’ court and did indeed play a prominent part in the councils of the expedition when it arrived in Syria in the autumn of 1097. While the historiographically dominant ‘French’ tradition emphasises Urban’s contribution, the distinct ‘Lorraine’ strand of memory found powerful and lasting expression not only in Albert of Aachen’s independent and probably well-sourced version of events, the Historia Hierosolymitana, in which the account of 1095–9 may have been completed as early as 1102, but also in the vernacular verse cycle known as the Chanson d’Antioche and the highly influential and well-researched Historia of Archbishop William of Tyre (c.1184). On his return, Peter retired to a monastery he founded at Huy in the Meuse valley, not very far from Aachen where the chronicler Albert was a canon.
Albert of Aachen’s account, therefore, while in places hard to credit as literally accurate, and certainly fashioned to suit prevailing themes of religious interpretation, vividly preserves an exactly contemporary perception of the role played by Peter the Hermit.
Peter, a priest from Amiens in the western Frankish kingdom, who had at one time been a hermit, began his call for the expedition in Berry, a part of the kingdom, pleading with all his eloquence and using every sermon and address to preach it. His insistent advocacy won over bishops, abbots, priests and monks, laymen of the highest rank, princes of the kingdoms, all the people, the celibate, the unchaste, adulterers, murderers, thieves, perjurers, bandits. In short, all men of Christian faith were brought to repentance and joyfully assembled for the march.
What follows will explain the reason and purpose of Peter’s preaching, which made him the chief instigator of the crusade.
Some years before the expedition set out, Peter had gone on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and there, in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, had looked with horror on evil and forbidden practices. Grief-stricken and groaning in spirit, he prayed to God to avenge the wrongs he saw. He went to the patriarch of Jerusalem and asked how he could let infidels and godless men desecrate the Holy Places, plunder the offerings of the faithful and make the church a house of ill fame; how he could see Christians assaulted, holy pilgrims suffering unjust extortions and subjected at every turn to persecution.
The venerable patriarch and priest of the Holy Sepulchre replied: ‘Most faithful of Christians, how can you thus upbraid and trouble a patriarch whose power and authority are like a tiny ant’s before the overweening might of such enemies? My life is ransomed only by constant payments, without which I face torture and death. I fear the threats will grow daily unless Christendom sends help. You must be my envoy to summon it.’
Peter answered: ‘Holy father, I have understood. I see how weak is the band of Christians living with you here, and what hardships you suffer at the hands of the heathen. So for God’s love and to restore the honour of the saints, I shall go home, with God beside me for my safety, and I shall seek out first the pope, and then all Christian primates, the kings, the dukes, the counts, the rulers of the lands, and I shall tell them all of your wretched servitude, your unendurable hardships. The news of what is happening will soon be known to all.’
Meanwhile darkness covered earth and sky, and Peter went back to the Holy Sepulchre to pray. There, wearied with watching and supplication, he fell asleep. As he slept, the Lord Jesus appeared before him in majesty and addressed him, a weak mortal, in these words: ‘Peter, most beloved Christian son, arise. Go to the patriarch, take from him a letter of appointment sealed with the sign of the Cross, and return with all speed to the land of your kinsmen. There make known the persecution and sufferings of my people and the wrongs done to the Holy Land. Rouse the hearts of the faithful to cleanse the Holy Places of Jerusalem and restore the service of the saints. Despite all perils and temptations, those who are called and chosen will find the gates of heaven opened to them.’
At this wondrous revelation of the power of God, when the vision ended Peter awoke, and in the first glimmerings of dawn he left the church. Going to the patriarch he told him that he had seen God, and requested a letter sealed with the Cross appointing him as his holy representative. This the patriarch gave gratefully, and by his leave Peter undertook the mission and started on his journey home. After a difficult crossing he landed at Bari and left at once for Rome. There he went to the pope and told him of the charge laid upon him by God and the patriarch to report the abomination of the heathen and their persecution of the saints and pilgrims. The pope listened readily and intently and promised in every particular to heed the bidding and the prayers of the saints …
At the beginning of summer in the same year [1096] in which Peter and Gottschalk,* after collecting an army, had set out, there assembled in like fashion a large and innumerable host of Christians from diverse kingdoms and lands; namely, from the realms of France, England, Flanders, and Lorraine … I know not whether by a judgement of the Lord, or by some error of mind, they rose in a spirit of cruelty against the Jewish people scattered throughout these cities and slaughtered them without mercy, especially in the kingdom of Lorraine, asserting it to be the beginning of their expedition and their duty against the enemies of the Christian faith. This slaughter of Jews was done first by citizens of Cologne. These suddenly fell upon a small band of Jews and severely wounded and killed many; they destroyed the houses and synagogues of the Jews and divided among themselves a very large amount of money. When the Jews saw this cruelty, about two hundred in the silence of the night began flight by boat to Neuss. The pilgrims and crusaders discovered them, and after taking away all their possessions, inflicted on them similar slaughter, leaving not even one alive.
Not long after this, they started upon their journey, as they had vowed, and arrived in a great multitude at the city of Mainz. There Count Emich,† a nobleman, a very mighty man in this region, was awaiting, with a large band of Teutons, the arrival of the pilgrims who were coming thither from diverse lands by the king’s highway.
The Jews of this city, knowing of the slaughter of their brethren, and that they themselves could not escape the hands of so many, fled in hope of safety to Bishop Ruthard. They put an infinite treasure in his guard and trust, having much faith in his protection, because he was bishop of the city. Then that excellent bishop of the city cautiously set aside the incredible amount of money received from them. He placed the Jews in the very spacious hall of his own house, away from the sight of Count Emich and his followers, that they might remain safe and sound in a very secure and strong place.
But Emich and the rest of his band held a council and, after sunrise, attacked the Jews in the hall with arrows and lances. Breaking the bolts and doors, they killed the Jews, about seven hundred in number, who in vain resisted the force and attack of so many thousands. They killed the women, also, and with their swords pierced tender children of whatever age and sex. The Jews, seeing that their Christian enemies were attacking them and their children, and that they were sparing no age, likewise fell upon one another, brothers, children, wives and sisters, and thus they perished at each other’s hands. Horrible to say, mothers cut the throats of nursing children with knives and stabbed others, preferring them to perish thus by their own hands rather than to be killed by the weapons of the uncircumcised.
From this cruel slaughter of the Jews a few escaped; and a few because of fear, rather than because of love of the Christian faith, were baptised. With very great spoils taken from these people, Count Emich, Clarebold, Thomas, and all that intolerable company of men and women then continued on their way to Jerusalem, directing their course towards the kingdom of Hungary, where passage along the royal highway was usually not denied the pilgrims. But on arriving at Wieselburg,* the fortress of the king, which the rivers Danube and Leitha protect with marshes, the bridge and gate of the fortress were found closed by command of the king of Hungary, for great fear had entered all the Hungarians because of the slaughter which had happened to their brethren …
But while almost everything had turned out favourably for the Christians, and while they had penetrated the walls with great openings, by some chance or misfortune, I know not what, such great fear entered the whole army that they turned in flight, just as sheep are scattered and alarmed when wolves rush upon them. And seeking a refuge here and there, they forgot their companions …
Emich and some of his followers continued in their flight along the way by which they had come. Thomas, Clarebold and several of their men escaped in flight towards Carinthia and Italy. So the hand of the Lord is believed to have been against the pilgrims, who had sinned by excessive impurity and fornication, and who had slaughtered the exiled Jews through greed of money, rather than for the sake of God’s justice, although the Jews were opposed to Christ. The Lord is a just judge and orders no one unwillingly, or under compulsion, to come under the yoke of the Catholic faith.
There was another detestable crime in this assemblage of wayfaring people, who were foolish and insanely fickle. That the crime was hateful to the Lord and incredible to the faithful is not to be doubted. They asserted that a certain goose was inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that a she-goat was not less filled by the same Spirit. These they made their guides on this holy journey to Jerusalem; these they worshipped excessively; and most of the people following them, like beasts, believed with their whole minds that this was the true course. May the hearts of the faithful be free from the thought that the Lord Jesus wished the sepulchre of his most sacred body to be visited by brutish and insensate animals, or that he wished these to become the guides of Christian souls, which by the price of his own blood he deigned to redeem from the filth of idols!
There are two main Hebrew narratives devoted to the ghastly events of 1096. One, attributed to Solomon ben Simson, is a later-twelfth-century compilation of sources for the massacres in Speyer, Worms, Mainz, Cologne and elsewhere. The other, known as The Narrative of the Old Persecutions, was written much nearer the events by an anonymous author, possibly from Mainz.* It concentrates with devastating anecdotal detail on the pogroms carried out in three towns, Speyer, Worms and, especially, Mainz.
I shall begin the narrative of past persecution – may the Lord protect us and all of Israel from future persecution.
In the year one thousand and twenty-eight† after the destruction of the Temple, this evil befell Israel. The noblemen and counts and the common people in the land of France united and decided to soar up like an eagle, to wage war and to clear a way to Jerusalem, the Holy City, and to come to the tomb of the crucified one, a rotting corpse that cannot avail and cannot save, being of no worth or significance.
They said to each other: ‘Look now, we are going to a distant country to make war against mighty kings and are endangering our lives to conquer the kingdoms which do not believe in the crucified one, when actually it is the Jews who murdered and crucified him.’ They stirred up hatred against us in all quarters and declared that either we should accept their abominable faith or else they would annihilate us all, even infants and sucklings. The noblemen and common people placed an evil symbol – a vertical line over a horizontal one – on their garments and special hats on their heads.
When the communities in the land of France heard this, they were gripped by fear and trembling, and they resorted to the custom of their ancestors.‡ They wrote letters and despatched messengers to all communities around the River Rhine, bidding them to proclaim fast-days and seek mercy from God, that he might save them from the hands of the enemy. When the letters reached the saints, the men of renown, the pillars of the universe in Mainz, they wrote to the land of France, saying: ‘All the communities have decreed a fast-day. We have done our duty. May the Omnipresent One save us and you from all the trouble and affliction. We are greatly concerned about your well-being. As for ourselves, there is no great cause for fear. We have not heard a word of such matters, nor has it been hinted that our lives are threatened by the sword.’
When the errant ones started arriving in this land [Rhineland], they sought money to buy bread. We gave it to them, applying to ourselves the verse: ‘Serve the king of Babylon, and live.’* All this, however, did not avail us. Because of our sins, whenever the errant ones arrived at a city, the local burghers would harass us, for they were at one with them in their intention to destroy vine and root all along their way to Jerusalem.
When the errant ones came, battalion after battalion like the army of Sennacherib, some of the noblemen in this kingdom declared: ‘Why do we sit? Let us join them, for every man who goes on this path and clears the way to the unholy grave of the crucified one will be fully qualified and ready for hell.’ The errant ones gathered, the nobles and the commoners from all provinces, until they were as numerous as the sands of the sea. A proclamation was issued: ‘Whosoever kills a Jew will receive pardon for all his sins.’† There was a Count Dithmar‡ there who said that he would not depart from this kingdom until he had slain one Jew; only then would he proceed on his journey.
When the holy community of Mainz learned of this, they decreed a fast-day and cried out loudly to the Lord. Young and old alike fasted day and night, reciting prayers of lamentation in the morning and evening. Despite all of this, however, our God did not withhold his wrath from us. For the errant ones came with their insignia and banners before our homes, and, upon seeing one of us, they would pursue and pierce him with their lances – till we became afraid even to step on the thresholds of our homes.
On 3 May, on the sabbath, the measure of justice began to fall upon us. The errant ones and the burghers first plotted against the holy men, the saints* of the Most High, in Speyer, and they planned to seize all of them together in the synagogue. Told of this, the saints arose on sabbath morning, prayed quickly, and departed from the synagogue. When the enemy saw that their plot to take them all captive together had been frustrated, they rose up against them and slew eleven of them. This was the beginning of the persecution, fulfilling the biblical verse: ‘And at my sanctuary shall you begin.’
When Bishop John heard of this, he came with a large army and whole-heartedly aided the community, taking them indoors and rescuing them from the enemy. The bishop then took some of the burghers and cut off their hands, for he was a righteous man among the Gentiles, and the Omnipresent One used him as a means for our benefit and rescue.†
Rabbi Moshe, son of Rabbi Yekuthiel, stood in the breach. He endangered himself for his fellow Jews.‡ As a result of his efforts, all those who had been forcibly converted and had survived in Henry’s domain by fleeing to various places were enabled to return.§ And through the aid of the king, Bishop John enabled the remnant of the community of Speyer to take refuge in his fortified towns.
The Lord had mercy upon them for the sake of his great name, and the bishop concealed them until the enemies of the name had passed. The Jews engaged in fasting, weeping and lamentation, and began to despair greatly, for day after day the errant ones and the Gentiles and Emich, may his bones be ground to dust, and the common people all gathered against them to capture and annihilate them. Through the efforts of Rabbi Moshe, Bishop John saved them, for the Lord had moved him to keep them alive without taking a bribe – for it was the Lord’s doing to grant us a vestige and a remnant by the bishop’s hand.
When the bad tidings reached Worms that some of the community of Speyer had been murdered, the Jews of Worms cried out to the Lord and wept in great and bitter lamentation. They saw that the decree had been issued in heaven and that there was no escape and no recourse. The community then was divided into two groups: some fled to the bishop and sought refuge in his castles; others remained in their homes, for the burghers had given them false promises, which, like broken reedstaffs, cause harm and do no good. For the burghers were in league with the errant ones in their intention to wipe out our people’s name and remnant. So they offered us false solace: ‘Do not fear them, for anyone who kills one of you – his life will be forfeit for yours.’ The Jews had nowhere to flee, as the Jewish community had entrusted all their money to their non-Jewish neighbours. It was for this very reason that their neighbours handed them over to the enemy.
On 5 May, a Monday, they cunningly plotted against the Jews.* They took a rotting corpse of theirs, which had been buried thirty days previously, and bore it into the city, saying: ‘Look what the Jews have done to one of us. They took a Gentile, boiled him in water, and poured the water into our wells in order to poison us to death!’ When the errant ones and burghers heard this, they cried out. They all assembled, anyone capable of drawing and bearing a sword, big and small, and declared: ‘Behold, the time has come to avenge him who was nailed to the wood, whom their forefathers slew. Now, let no remnant or vestige of them be allowed to escape, not even a babe or a suckling in the cradle.’
The enemy came and smote those who had remained at home – handsome lads, pretty and pleasant girls, old men and old women – all extended their necks in martyrdom. Manumitted servants and maids* were also slain in sanctification of the eternally awesome and sublime name of him who rules above and below, who was and will be, whose name is Lord of Hosts, and who is crowned with the graces of the seventy-two names, he who created the Torah 974 generations before the creation of the world; and there were twenty-six generations between the creation and Moses, father of the prophets, through whom the Torah was given – the same Moses who wrote in this Torah: ‘It is the Lord whom you have chosen today,’ etc. It was for him and his Torah that they were slain like oxen, and dragged through the market-places and streets like sheep to be slaughtered, and lay naked in the streets, for the foe stripped them and left them naked.
When the survivors saw their brethren lying naked and the chaste daughters of Israel naked – under this great duress they yielded to the foe. For the errant ones had said that they would not leave a single survivor. So some of the Jews said: ‘Let us do their will for the time being, and then go and bury our brethren and also save our children from them.’ For the enemy had already seized the few remaining children, thinking that perhaps they would be gained for their erroneous faith. But the children did not turn away from their Creator, and their hearts did not stray after the crucified one; but they clung to God on High.
Those of the community who had remained within the bishop’s chambers sent garments so that the dead might be clothed by those rescued, for the survivors were charitable people. The heads of the community remained there [in the bishop’s palace], and most of the community were spared initially. They sent words of comfort to the forced converts: ‘Do not fear and do not take to heart what you have done. If the Blessed Holy One saves us from our enemies, then we shall be with you in death and in life. But do not turn away from the Lord.’
On 18 May the errant ones and the burghers said: ‘Let us also take vengeance against those who have remained in the courtyard and chambers of the bishop.’ People assembled from all the surrounding villages, together with the errant ones and the burghers, and they besieged and fought against them. A great battle was fought between the two groups until they captured the chambers where the children of the Sacred Covenant were sheltered. When they saw that the war was on every side by decree of the King of Kings, they justified heaven’s judgement upon them, placed their trust in their Creator, and offered true sacrifices, taking their children and whole-heartedly slaughtering them in witness to the oneness of the venerated and awesome name. The notables of the community were slain there.
There was a man there by the name of Meshullam, son of Isaac, and he called out in a great voice to his beloved wife Mistress Zipporah and to all those present: ‘Hear me, adults and children! God gave me this son; my wife Zipporah bore him in her advanced age. His name is Isaac. I shall now offer him up as a sacrifice as our Father Abraham did his son Isaac.’ His wife Zipporah said to him: ‘My lord, my lord, wait, do not yet move your hand towards the boy whom I have raised and brought up, whom I bore in my old age. Slaughter me first and let me not see the death of the child.’* He replied: ‘I shall not tarry even for a second. He who gave him to us shall take him as his share and place him in the bosom of our father Abraham.’ He bound Isaac, his son, and took the knife in his hand to slaughter him, reciting the blessing for ritual slaughter. The boy responded: ‘Amen.’ And he slaughtered the boy. He took his shrieking wife and together they left the room. The errant ones then slew them.
‘Wilt thou restrain thyself for these things, O Lord?’ Yet, with all this, his great wrath did not turn away from us!
There was a lad there named Isaac, son of Daniel. They [the Christians] asked him: ‘Do you wish to exchange your God for a disgusting idol?’ He replied, ‘God forbid that I should deny him. In him I shall place my trust and I shall even yield up my soul to him.’ They put a rope around his neck and dragged him through the entire city in the muddy streets to the house of their idolatry. There was still some life in his frame when they said to him: ‘You can still be saved if you agree to change your religion.’ Having already been strangled, he could not utter a word from his mouth, so he gestured with his finger to say: ‘Cut off my head.’ And they slit his throat.
There was yet another youth there [in Worms], by the name of Simha ha-Cohen, son of our master Isaac ha-Cohen, whom they sought to contaminate with their putrid water. They said to him: ‘Look, they have all been killed already and are lying naked.’ The youth cleverly answered: ‘I will do all that you ask of me if you take me to the bishop.’ So they took him and brought him to the bishop’s courtyard. The bishop’s nephew was there, too, and they began to invoke the name of the foul and disgusting scion and then left him in the bishop’s courtyard. The youth drew his knife, then gnashed his teeth, like a lion worrying his prey, at the nobleman, the bishop’s kinsman; then he dashed at him and plunged the knife into his belly, and the man fell dead. Turning from there, he stabbed yet another two, until the knife broke in his hand. They fled in all directions. When they saw that his knife had broken, they attacked him and slew him. There was slain the youth who had sanctified the name, doing what the rest of the community had not done – slaying three uncircumcised ones with his knife.
The rest devotedly fasted daily and then endured martyrdom. They had wept for their families and their friends to the point of exhaustion, so that they were unable to fight against the enemy. They declared: ‘It is the decree of the King. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, and let us go and behold the great light.’ There they all fell attesting the oneness of the name.
A distinguished woman, named Mistress Mina, found refuge below the ground in a house outside the city. The people of the city gathered outside her hiding-place and called: ‘Behold, you are a woman of valour. Perceive that God is no longer concerned with saving you, for the slain are lying naked in the open streets with no one to bury them. Yield to baptism.’ They fell all over themselves entreating her, as they did not wish to slay her, for her fame had travelled far because the notables of her city and the nobles of the land used to frequent her company. But she answered by saying: ‘Heaven forfend that I should deny God on high. Slay me for him and his holy Torah, and do not tarry any longer.’ There she was slain, she who was praised in the gates. They all were slain sanctifying the name whole-heartedly and willingly, slaughtering one another: young men and maidens, old men and women, and babes, too, were sacrificed in sanctification of the name.
Those specifically mentioned by name acted thus, and the others not mentioned by name even surpassed them in valour. What they did had never been witnessed by the eye of man. It is of them and the likes of them that it was said: ‘From mortals, by your hand, O Lord; from mortals of this world, whose portion is in this life …’ ‘Neither hath the eye seen a God beside thee, who workest for him that waiteth for him.’ They all fell by the hand of the Lord and returned to their rest, to the great light in the Garden of Eden. Behold, their souls are bound up till the time of the end in the bond of life with the Lord God, who created them.
When the saints, the pious ones of the Most High, the holy community of Mainz, heard that some of the community of Speyer had been slain and that the community of Worms had been attacked a second time, their spirits failed and their hearts melted and became as water. They cried out to the Lord: ‘Alas, O Lord God! Will you completely annihilate the remnant of Israel? Where are all your wonders which our forefathers related to us, saying: “Did You not bring us up from Egypt, O Lord?” But now you have forsaken us, delivering us into the hands of the Gentiles to destroy us!’
All the Jewish community leaders assembled and came before the bishop with his officers and servants, and said to them: ‘What shall we do about the news we have received regarding the slaughter of our brethren in Speyer and Worms?’ They [the bishop and his followers] replied: ‘Heed our advice and bring all your money into our treasury and into the treasury of the bishop. And you, your wives, sons and all your belongings shall come into the courtyard of the bishop. Thus will you be saved from the errant ones.’ Actually, they gave this advice so as to herd us together and hold us like fish that are caught in an evil net and then turn us over to the enemy. The bishop assembled his ministers, servants and great noblemen in order to rescue us from the errant ones, for at first it had been his desire to save us, but in the end he turned against us.*
One day a Gentile woman came, bringing a goose which she had raised since it was new-born. The goose would accompany the Gentile woman wherever she went, and the woman would call to all passers-by, saying: ‘Look, the goose understands my intention to go straying and he desires to accompany me.’† The errant ones and burghers then gathered against us and said to us: ‘Where is he in whom you place your trust? How will you be saved? See the wonders which the crucified one works for us.’ And they all came with swords and lances to destroy us, but some of the burghers came and prevented them. At this point, the errant ones all united and battled the burghers on the bank of the River Rhine, until a crusader was slain.
Seeing this the crusaders cried out: ‘The Jews have caused this,’ and nearly all of them reassembled.
When the holy people [the Jews] saw this, their hearts melted. The foe reviled and derided them, with the intention of falling upon them. Upon hearing their words, the Jews, old and young alike, said: ‘Would that our death might be by the hand of the Lord, so that we should not perish at the hands of the enemies of the Lord; for he is a merciful God, the sole sovereign of the universe.’
They abandoned their houses; neither did they go to the synagogue save on the sabbath.* That was the final sabbath before the evil decree befell us, when a small number of them entered the synagogue to pray; Rabbi Judah, son of Rabbi Isaac, also came there to pray on that sabbath. They wept exceedingly, to the point of exhaustion, for they saw that it was a decree of the King of Kings.
A venerable student, Baruch, son of Isaac, was there, and he said to us: ‘Know that this decree has been issued against us in truth and honesty, and we cannot be saved; for this past night I and my son-in-law Judah heard the souls praying here [in the synagogue] in a loud voice, like weeping. When we heard the sound, we thought at first that perhaps some of the community had come back from the court of the bishop to pray in the synagogue at midnight because of their anguish and bitterness of heart. We ran to the door of the synagogue, but it was closed. We heard the sound, but we understood nothing. We returned frightened to our house, for it was close to the synagogue. Upon hearing this, we cried out: “Alas, O Lord God! Will you completely annihilate the remnant of Israel?” ’ Then they went and reported the occurrence to their brethren who were concealed in the court of the count and in the bishop’s chambers. Thereupon, they, too, wept exceedingly.
On 25 May, the wicked Emich, may his bones be ground to dust between iron millstones, arrived outside the city with a mighty horde of errant ones and peasants, for he, too, had said: ‘I desire to follow the stray course.’ He was the chief of all our oppressors. He showed no mercy to the aged or youths, or maidens, babes or sucklings – not even the sick; and he made the people of the Lord like dust to be trodden underfoot, killing their young men by the sword and disembowelling their pregnant women.
They [the crusaders] encamped outside the city for two days. The leaders of the community now said: ‘Let us send him money and give him letters of safe conduct, so that the [Jewish] communities along the route will honour him. Perhaps the Lord will intercede in his abundant grace.’ For they had already given away their money, giving the bishop, the count, his officers and servants, and the burghers about 400 halves [marks] to aid them [the Jews]. But it was of no avail whatever.
We were not even comparable to Sodom and Gomorrah, for in their case they were offered reprieve if they could produce at least ten righteous people, whereas in our case not twenty, not even ten, were sought.
On 27 May, the day on which Moses said: ‘Be ready against the third day’ – on that day the diadem of Israel fell. The students of the Torah fell, and the outstanding scholars passed away; ended was the glory of the Torah, and the radiance of wisdom came to an end. ‘He hath cast down from heaven unto the earth the splendour of Israel.’ Humility and the fear of sin ceased. Gone were the men of virtuous deed and purity, nullifiers of evil decrees and placators of the wrath of their Creator. Diminished were the ranks of those who give charity in secret, gone was truth; gone were the explicators of the word and the law; fallen were the people of eminence, while the number of the shameless and insolent increased. Alas that they are gone! For since that day on which the Second Temple was destroyed, their like had not arisen, nor shall there be their like again. They sanctified the name with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their might; happy are they.
At midday, the evil Emich, may his bones be ground to dust, came with his entire horde. The townspeople opened the gate to him, and the enemies of the Lord said to one another: ‘Look, the gate has opened by itself; this the crucified one has done for us in order that we may avenge his blood on the Jews.’ They then came with their banners to the bishop’s gate, where the people of the Sacred Covenant were assembled – a vast horde of them, as the sand upon the sea-shore. When the saints, the fearers of the Most High, saw this great multitude, they placed their trust in their Creator and clung to him. They donned their armour and their weapons of war, adults and children alike, with Rabbi Calonymus, son of Rabbi Meshullam, at their head.
There was a pious man there, one of the great men of the generation, Rabbi Menahem, son of Rabbi David, the Levite. He said to the entire community: ‘Sanctify the venerable and awesome name with a willing heart.’ They all answered as did the sons of our father Jacob when he wished to reveal the time of the final redemption to his children but was prevented from doing so because the divine presence departed from him. Jacob then said: ‘Perhaps I have been found to have a defect, just like Abraham, my grandfather, or like my father Isaac.’ And like our fathers, who, when they received the Torah at Mount Sinai at this season, promptly declared: ‘We shall do and obey,’ so did the martyrs now declare in a great voice: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.’
And they all advanced towards the gate to fight against the errant ones and the burghers. The two sides fought against each other around the gate, but as a result of their transgressions the enemy overpowered them and captured the gate. The bishop’s people, who had promised to help them, being as broken reed-staffs, were the first to flee, so as to cause them to fall into the hands of the enemy.
The enemies now came into the courtyard and found Rabbi Isaac, son of Rabbi Moses, whom they smote with a stroke of the sword, slaying him. However, fifty-three souls fled with Rabbi Calonymus via the bishop’s chambers, entered a long chamber called the sacristy, and remained there. The enemy entered the courtyard on 27 May, the third day of the week, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness – let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own, let God not enquire after it from above, nor let the light shine upon it. O sun and moon! Why did you not withhold your light? O stars, to whom Israel has been compared, and the twelve constellations, like the number of the tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob – why was your light not withheld from shining for the enemy who sought to eradicate the name of Israel? Enquire and seek: was there ever such a mass sacrificial offering since the time of Adam?
When the people of the Sacred Covenant saw that the heavenly decree had been issued and that the enemy had defeated them, they all cried out, young and old men, maidens, girls, children, menservants and maids, and wept for themselves and for their lives, saying: ‘Let us bear the yoke of the holy creed, for now the enemy can slay us but by the lightest of the four deaths, which is the sword, and we shall then merit eternal life, and our souls will abide in the Garden of Eden, in the speculum of the great luminary.’ They all then said with gladness of heart and with willing soul: ‘After all things, there is no questioning the ways of the Holy One, blessed be he and blessed be his name, who has given us his Torah and has commanded us to allow ourselves to be killed and slain in witness to the oneness of his holy name. Happy are we if we fulfil his will, and happy is he who is slain or slaughtered and who dies attesting the oneness of his name. Such a one will not only be worthy of entering the world-to-come and of sitting in the realm of the saints who are the pillars of the universe, he will also exchange a world of darkness for one of light, a world of sorrow for one of joy, a transitory world for an eternal world.’
And in a great voice they all cried out as one: ‘We need tarry no longer, for the enemy is already upon us. Let us hasten to offer ourselves as a sacrifice to our Father in heaven. Anyone possessing a knife should slaughter us in sanctification of the one name of the everlasting one. Then this person should thrust his sword into either his throat or his stomach, slaughtering himself.’ They all arose, man and woman alike, and slew one another. The young maidens, the brides and the bridegrooms looked out through the windows and cried out in a great voice: ‘Look and behold, O Lord, what we are doing to sanctify thy great name, in order not to exchange thy divinity for a crucified scion who was despised, abominated and held in contempt in his own generation, a bastard son conceived by a menstruating and wanton woman.’ They were all slaughtered, and the blood of the slaughter streamed into the chambers where the children of the Sacred Covenant had taken refuge. They lay in rows, babes and aged men together, gurgling in their throats in the manner of slaughtered sheep.
‘Wilt thou restrain thyself for these things, O Lord?’ Avenge the spilt blood of thy servants! Let one and all behold – has the like of this ever occurred? For they all vied with one another, each with his fellow, saying: ‘I shall be the first to sanctify the name of the supreme King of Kings.’ The saintly women threw their money outside in order to delay the enemy, until they had slaughtered their children. The hands of compassionate women strangled their children in order to do the will of their master, and they turned the faces of their tender, lifeless children towards the Gentiles.
When the enemy came into the chambers, they smashed the doors and found the Jews writhing and rolling in blood; and the enemy took their money, stripped them naked, and slew those still alive, leaving neither a vestige nor a remnant. Thus they did in all the chambers where children of the Sacred Covenant were to be found. But one room remained which was somewhat difficult to break into, and the enemy fought over it till nightfall.
When the saints saw that the enemy was prevailing over them, they rose up, men and women alike, and slaughtered the children, and then slaughtered one another. Some of them fell upon their swords and perished, and others were slaughtered with their own swords or knives. The righteous women hurled stones from the windows on the enemy, and the enemy threw rocks back at them. The women were struck by the stones, and their bodies and faces were completely bruised and cut. They taunted and reviled the errant ones with the name of the crucified, despicable and abominable son of harlotry, saying: ‘In whom do you place your trust? In a putrid corpse!’ The misled ones then approached to smash the door.
There was a distinguished young woman there named Mistress Rachel, daughter of Isaac, son of Asher, who said to her friend: ‘Four children have I. Have no mercy on them either, lest those uncircumcised ones come and seize them alive and raise them in their ways of error. In my children, too, shall you sanctify the holy name of God.’ One of her friends came and took the knife. When Rachel saw the knife, she cried loudly and bitterly and smote her face, crying and saying: ‘Where is thy grace, O Lord?’ She [the friend] then took Rachel’s little son Isaac, who was a delightful boy, and slaughtered him. She [Rachel] said to her friend: ‘Upon your life do not slaughter Isaac before Aaron.’ The lad Aaron, upon seeing that his brother had been slaughtered, cried: ‘Mother, mother, do not slaughter me,’ and fled, hiding under a box. Rachel then took her two daughters, Bella and Madrona, and sacrificed them to the Lord God of Hosts, who commanded us not to depart from his pure doctrine, and to remain whole-hearted with him.
When this pious woman had completed sacrificing three of her children to our Creator, she raised her voice and called to her son Aaron: ‘Aaron, where are you? I will not spare you either, or have mercy on you.’ She drew him out by his feet from under the box where he had hidden, and slaughtered him before the exalted and lofty God. Rachel then placed them in her two sleeves, two children on one side and two on the other, beside her stomach, and they quivered beside her until finally the errant ones captured the chamber and found her sitting and lamenting over them. They said to her: ‘Show us the money you have in your sleeves’; but when they saw the slaughtered children, they smote and killed her upon them.
It is of her that it was said: ‘The mother was dashed in pieces with her children.’ She perished with them as did that righteous woman who perished with her seven sons,* and it is of her that it was said: ‘The mother of the children rejoices.’
The errant ones slew all those who were inside and stripped them naked as they still quivered and writhed in their blood. ‘See, O Lord, and behold, how abject I am become.’ Then they threw them out of the rooms, through the windows, naked, creating mounds upon mounds, heaps upon heaps, until they appeared as a high mountain. Many of the children of the Sacred Covenant were still alive when they were thus thrown, and they gestured with their fingers: ‘Give us water to drink.’ When the errant ones saw this, they asked: ‘Is it your desire to defile yourselves?’ The victims shook their heads in refusal and gazed upwards to their Father in heaven, thus saying no, and pointed with their fingers to the blessed Holy One, whereupon the errant ones slew them.
Such were the deeds of those that have been cited by name. As for the rest of the community, how much more did they do to attest the oneness of the holy name, and all of them fell into the hand of the Lord.
The errant ones then began to rage tumultuously in the name of the crucified one. They raised their banner and proceeded to the remainder of the community, in the courtyard of the count’s fortress. They besieged them, too, and warred against them until they had taken the gatehouse of the courtyard and slew some of them as well. A man was there, named Moses, son of Helbo. He called his two sons and said to them: ‘My sons, Helbo and Simon, at this hour Gehenna is open and the Garden of Eden is open. Which of the two do you desire to enter?’ They replied, saying: ‘Lead us into the Garden of Eden.’ They extended their throats, and the enemy smote them, father and sons together.
There was also a Torah scroll in the room; the errant ones came into the room, found it, and tore it to shreds. When the holy and pure women, daughters of kings, saw that the Torah had been torn, they called in a loud voice to their husbands: ‘Look, see, the holy Torah – it is being torn by the enemy!’ And they all said, men and women together: ‘Alas, the holy Torah, the perfection of beauty, the delight of our eyes, to which we used to bow in the synagogue, kissing and honouring it! How has it now fallen into the hands of the impure uncircumcised ones?’
When the men heard the words of these pious women, they were moved with zeal for the Lord, our God, and for his holy and precious Torah. One young man, by the name of David, son of our master Rabbi Menahem, said to them: ‘My brothers, rend your garments for the honour of the Torah!’ They then rent their garments in accordance with the instructions of our sages.
They found an errant one in one of the rooms, and all of them, men and women, threw stones at him till he fell dead. When the burghers and the errant ones saw that he had died, they fought against them. They went up on the roof of the house in which the children of the Covenant were; they shattered the roof, shot arrows at them, and pierced them with spears.
There was a man [there] by the name of Jacob, son of Sullam, who was not of distinguished lineage and whose mother was not of Jewish origin. He called out in a loud voice to all those that stood about him: ‘All my life, until now, you have scorned me, but now I shall slaughter myself.’ He then slaughtered himself in the name of him who is called mighty of mighties, whose name is Lord of hosts.
Another man was there, Samuel the elder, son of Mordecai. He, too, sanctified the name. He took his knife and plunged it into his stomach, spilling his innards on to the ground. He called to all those standing about him and declared: ‘Behold, my brothers, what I shall do for the sanctification of the eternally living one.’ Thus did the elder perish, attesting the oneness of God’s name and in sanctification of God-fear.
The errant ones and the burghers now departed from there and entered the city, and they came to a certain courtyard where David, son of Nathaniel, was hiding together with his wife, children and his entire household – the courtyard of a certain priest. The priest said to him: ‘Behold, not a vestige or remnant has survived in the bishop’s courtyard or the count’s. They have all been slain, cast away and trampled underfoot in the streets – except for the few who were profaned. Do as they did, so that you may be saved – you, your money and your entire household – from the errant ones.’
The God-fearing man replied: ‘Go to the errant ones and to the burghers and tell them all to come to me.’ When the priest heard the words of Master David, he rejoiced greatly, for he thought: ‘Such a distinguished Jew has consented to give heed to our words.’ He ran to them and related the words of the righteous man. They, too, rejoiced greatly and gathered about the house by the thousands and myriads. When the righteous man saw them, he placed his trust in his Creator and called out to them, saying: ‘Alas, you are children of whoredom, believing as you do in one born of whoredom. As for me – I believe in the eternally living God who dwells in the lofty heavens. In him have I trusted to this day and in him will I trust until my soul departs. If you slay me, my soul will abide in the Garden of Eden – in the light of life. You, however, descend to the deep pit, to eternal obloquy, condemned together with your deity – the son of promiscuity, the crucified one!’
Upon hearing the words of the pious man, they flew into a rage. They raised their banners and encamped around the house and began to cry out and shout in the name of the crucified one. They advanced towards him and slew him, his pious wife, his sons, his son-in-law, and his entire household and kin – all of them were slain there in sanctification of the name. There the righteous man fell, together with the members of his household.
Then they turned and came to the house of Samuel, son of Naaman; he, too, sanctified the holy name. They gathered around his house, for he alone of the entire community had remained at home. They asked him to allow himself to be defiled with their putrid and profane water. He placed his trust in his Creator, he and all those with him, and they did not give heed to them [the crusaders]. The enemy slew them all and cast them out through the windows.
Those who have been cited by name performed these acts. As to the rest of the community and their leaders – I have no knowledge to what extent they attested the oneness of the name of the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be he and blessed be his name, like Rabbi Akiba and his companions.* May the Lord rescue us from this exile.
After leaving the Rhineland blood-bath behind, the misleadingly named Peasants’ or People’s Crusade proceeded in various contingents across central Europe down the Danube and across the Balkans towards Constantinople during June and July 1096. Some groups, such as those led by Gottschalk or Folkmar, were destroyed by local opposition in Hungary; others, like Count Emich’s, turned back in the Balkans. But the armies of Walter SansAvoir and Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople between 20 July and 1 August 1096, their travails reported by the disapproving Guibert of Nogent.
While the leaders, who needed to spend large sums of money for their great retinues, were preparing like careful administrators, the common people, poor in resources but copious in number, attached themselves to a certain Peter the Hermit, and they obeyed him as though he were the leader, as long as the matter remained within our own borders. If I am not mistaken, he was born in Amiens, and, it is said, led a solitary life in the habit of a monk in I do not know what part of upper Gaul, then moved on, I don’t know why, and we saw him wander through cities and towns, spreading his teaching, surrounded by so many people, given so many gifts, and acclaimed for such great piety, that I don’t ever remember anyone equally honoured. He was very generous to the poor with the gifts he was given, making prostitutes morally acceptable for husbands, together with generous gifts, and, with remarkable authority, restoring peace and treaties where there had been discord before. Whatever he did or said seemed like something almost divine. Even the hairs of his mule were torn out as though they were relics, which we report not as truth, but as a novelty loved by the common people. Outdoors he wore a woollen tunic, which reached to his ankles, and above it a hood; he wore a cloak to cover his upper body, and a bit of his arms, but his feet were bare. He drank wine and ate fish, but scarcely ever ate bread. This man, partly because of his reputation, partly because of his preaching, had assembled a very large army, and decided to set out through the land of the Hungarians. The restless common people discovered that this area produced unusually abundant food, and they went wild with excess in response to the gentleness of the inhabitants. When they saw the grain that had been piled up for several years, as is the custom in that land, like towers in the fields, which we are accustomed to call metas* in everyday language, and although supplies of various meats and other foods were abundant in this land, not content with the natives’ decency, in a kind of remarkable madness, these intruders began to crush them. While the Hungarians, as Christians to Christians, had generously offered everything for sale, our men wilfully and wantonly ignored their hospitality and generosity, arbitrarily waging war against them, assuming that they would not resist, but would remain entirely peaceful. In an accursed rage they burned the public granaries we spoke of, raped virgins, dishonoured many marriage beds by carrying off many women, and tore out or burned the beards of their hosts. None of them now thought of buying what he needed, but instead each man strove for what he could get by theft and murder, boasting with amazing impudence that he would easily do the same against the Turks. On their way they came to a castle that they could not avoid passing through. It was sited so that the path allowed no divergence to the right or left. With their usual insolence they moved to besiege it, but when they had almost captured it, suddenly, for a reason that is no concern of mine, they were overwhelmed; some died by the sword, others were drowned in the river, others, without any money, in abject poverty, deeply ashamed, returned to France. And because this place was called Moisson, and when they returned they said that they had been as far as Moisson, they were greeted with great laughter everywhere.†
When he was unable to restrain this undisciplined crowd of common people, who were like prisoners and slaves, Peter, together with a group of Germans and the dregs of our own people, whose foresight had enabled them to escape, reached the city of Constantinople on the calends of August [1 August 1096]. But a large army of Italians, Ligurians, Langobards, together with men from parts of countries beyond the Alps, had preceded him, and had decided to wait for his army and the armies of the other Frankish leaders, because they did not think that they had a large enough army to go beyond the province of the Greeks and attack the Turks.
Further details of the march come from Albert of Aachen.
In the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1096, in the fourth indiction, in the thirteenth year of the reign of Henry IV, third august emperor of the Romans, and in the forty-third year of the empire, in the reign of Pope Urban II, formerly Odoard, on the eighth day of March, Walter, surnamed the Penniless,* a well-known soldier, set out, as a result of the preaching of Peter the Hermit, with a great company of Frankish foot-soldiers and only about eight knights. On the beginning of the journey to Jerusalem he entered into the kingdom of Hungary. When his intention and the reason for his taking this journey became known to Lord Coloman, most Christian king of Hungary, he was kindly received and was given peaceful transit across the entire realm, with permission to trade. And so without giving offence, and without being attacked, he set out even to Belgrade, a Bulgarian city, passing over to Malevilla,† where the realm of the king of Hungary ends. Thence he peacefully crossed the Morava river.
But sixteen of Walter’s company remained in Malevilla, that they might purchase arms. Of this Walter was ignorant, for he had crossed long before. Then some of the Hungarians of perverse minds, seeing the absence of Walter and his army, laid hands upon those sixteen and robbed them of arms, garments, gold and silver and so let them depart, naked and empty-handed. Then these distressed pilgrims, deprived of arms and other things, hastened on their way to Belgrade, which has been mentioned before, where Walter with all his band had pitched tents for camp. They reported to him the misfortune which had befallen them, but Walter heard this with equanimity, because it would take too long to return for vengeance.
On the very night when those comrades, naked and empty-handed, were received, Walter sought to buy the necessaries of life from a chief of the Bulgarians and the magistrate of the city; but these men, thinking it a pretence, and regarding them as spies, forbade the sale of anything to them. Wherefore, Walter and his companions, greatly angered, began forcibly to seize and lead away the herds of cattle and sheep, which were wandering here and there through the fields in search of pasture. As a result, a serious strife arose between the Bulgarians and the pilgrims who were driving away the flocks, and they came to blows. However, while the strength of the Bulgarians was growing even to 140, some of the pilgrim army, cut off from the multitude of their companions, arrived in flight at a chapel. But the Bulgarians, their army growing in number, while the band of Walter was weakening and his entire company scattered, besieged the chapel and burned sixty who were within; on most of the others, who escaped from the enemy and the chapel in defence of their lives, the Bulgarians inflicted grave wounds.
After this calamity and the loss of his people, and after he had passed eight days as a fugitive in the forests of Bulgaria, Walter, leaving his men scattered everywhere, withdrew to Nish, a very wealthy city in the midst of the Bulgarian realm. There he found the duke and prince of the land and reported to him the injury and damage which had been done him. From the duke he obtained justice for all; nay, more, in reconciliation the duke bestowed upon him arms and money, and the same lord of the land gave him peaceful conduct through the cities of Bulgaria, Sofia, Philippopolis and Adrianople, and also licence to trade.
He went down with all his band, even to the imperial city, Constantinople, which is the capital of the entire Greek empire. And when he arrived there, with all possible earnestness and most humble petition he implored from the lord emperor himself permission to delay peacefully in his kingdom, with licence to buy the necessaries of life, until he should have as his companion Peter the Hermit, upon whose admonition and persuasion he had begun this journey. And he also begged that, when the troops were united, they might cross in ships over the arm of the sea called the Strait of St George,* and thus they would be able to resist more safely the squadrons of the Turks and the Gentiles. The outcome was that the requests made of the lord emperor, Alexius by name, were granted.
Not long after these events, Peter and his large army, innumerable as the sands of the sea – an army which he had brought together from the various realms of the nations of the Franks, Swabians, Bavarians and Lotharingians – were making their way to Jerusalem. Descending on that march into the kingdom of Hungary, he and his army pitched their tents before the gate of Oedenburg …
Peter heard this report and, because the Hungarians and Bulgarians were fellow Christians, absolutely refused to believe so great a crime of them, until his men, coming to Malevilla, saw hanging from the walls the arms and spoils of the sixteen companions of Walter who had stayed behind a short time before, and whom the Hungarians had treacherously presumed to rob. But when Peter recognised the injury to his brethren, at the sight of their arms and spoils, he urged his companions to avenge their wrongs.
These sounded the trumpet loudly, and with upraised banners they rushed to the walls and attacked the enemy with a hail of arrows. In such quick succession and in such incredible numbers did they hurl them in the face of those standing on the walls that the Hungarians, in no wise able to resist the force of the besieging Franks, left the walls, hoping that within the city they might be able to withstand the strength of the Gauls. Godfrey, surnamed Burel – a native of the city Etampes, master and standard-bearer of two hundred foot-soldiers, himself a foot-soldier, and a man of great strength – seeing the flight of the Hungarians away from the walls, then quickly crossed over the walls by means of a ladder he chanced to find there. Reinald of Broyes, a distinguished knight, clad in helmet and coat of mail, ascended just after Godfrey; soon all the knights, as well as the foot-soldiers, hastened to enter the city. The Hungarians, seeing their own imminent peril, gathered seven thousand strong for defence; and, having passed out through another gate which looked towards the east, they stationed themselves on the summit of a lofty crag, beyond which flowed the Danube, where they were invincibly fortified. A very large part of these were unable to escape quickly through the narrow passage, and they fell before the gate. Some who hoped to find refuge on the top of the mountain were cut down by the pursuing pilgrims; still others, thrown headlong from the summit of the mountain, were buried in the waves of the Danube, but many escaped by boat. About four thousand Hungarians fell there, but only a hundred pilgrims, not counting the wounded, were killed at that same place.
This victory won, Peter remained with all his followers in the same citadel five days, for he found there an abundance of grain, flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, a plentiful supply of wine and an infinite number of horses …
When Peter learned of the wrath of the king and his very formidable gathering of troops, he deserted Malevilla with all his followers and planned to cross the Morava with all spoils and flocks and herds of horses. But on the whole bank he found very few boats, only 150, in which the great multitude must pass quickly over and escape, lest the king should overtake them with a great force. Hence many who were unable to cross in boats tried to cross on rafts made by fastening poles together with twigs. But driven hither and thither in these rafts without rudders, and at times separated from their companions, many perished, pierced with arrows from the bows of the Patzinaks, who inhabited Bulgaria. As Peter saw the drowning and destruction which was befalling his men, he commanded the Bavarians, the Alemanni and the other Teutons, by their promise of obedience to come to the aid of their Frankish brethren. They were carried to that place by seven rafts; then they sank seven small boats of the Patzinaks with their occupants, but took only seven men captive. They led these seven captives into the presence of Peter and killed them by his order.
When he had thus avenged his men, Peter crossed the Morava river and entered the large and spacious forests of the Bulgarians with supplies of food, with every necessary, and with the spoils from Belgrade. And after a delay of eight days in those vast woods and pastures, he and his followers approached Nish, a city very strongly fortified with walls. After crossing the river before the city by a stone bridge, they occupied the field, pleasing in its verdure and extent, and pitched their tents on the banks of the river …
Peter, obedient to the mandate of the emperor, advanced from the city of Sofia and withdrew with all his people to the city of Philippopolis. When he had related the entire story of his misfortune in the hearing of all the Greek citizens, he received, in the name of Jesus and in fear of God, very many gifts for him. Next, the third day after, he withdrew to Adrianople, cheerful and joyful in the abundance of all necessaries. There he tarried in camp outside the walls of the city only two days, and then withdrew after sunrise on the third day. A second message of the emperor was urging him to hasten his march to Constantinople, for, on account of the reports about him, the emperor was burning with desire to see this same Peter. When they had come to Constantinople, the army of Peter was ordered to encamp at a distance from the city, and licence to trade was fully granted …
Small in stature but mighty in heart and speech, Peter, accompanied only by Fulcher,* was brought by the imperial officers into the presence of the emperor, who wished to see if he was as his reputation reported. As he entered, Peter boldly greeted the emperor in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and told him in detail how by the love and grace of Christ himself he had left his country to visit the Holy Sepulchre, briefly recounting the hardships he had borne. Mighty men, he said, earls and the greatest dukes, would shortly follow in his steps, having resolved like him, with hearts on fire, to take the road to Jerusalem. Seeing Peter and hearing his words, the emperor acknowledged the purpose in his heart, and asked what he would have that he could give. Peter begged for alms of the emperor’s mercy to sustain him and his people, telling him of the great losses he had suffered by his men’s heedlessness and disobedience. His humility moved the emperor to pity, and he commanded that 200 Byzantine aurei should be given him, and distributed a quarter-bushel of tartara [a denomination of money] to his army.
The subsequent destruction in Asia Minor in September and October 1096 of the assembled armies of Walter and Peter, alongside a force that had arrived at Constantinople directly from Lombardy, proved a source of moral disapproval alike for western and eastern observers. The grisly fate of the ‘People’s Crusade’ supplied a powerful introduction to the author of the Gesta Francorum,* who described events for much of the crusade from the perspective of the army of Bohemund of Taranto, the Norman leader from southern Italy.
When that time had already come, of which the Lord Jesus warns his faithful people every day, especially in the Gospel where he says, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me,’† there was a great stirring of heart throughout all the Frankish lands, so that if any man, with all his heart and all his mind, really wanted to follow God and faithfully to bear the Cross after him, he could make no delay in taking the road to the Holy Sepulchre as quickly as possible. For even the pope [Urban II] set out across the Alps as soon as he could, with his archbishops, bishops, abbots and priests, and he began to deliver eloquent sermons and to preach, saying, ‘If any man wants to save his soul, let him have no hesitation in taking the way of the Lord in humility, and if he lacks money, the divine mercy will give him enough.’ The lord pope said also, ‘Brothers, you must suffer for the name of Christ many things, wretchedness, poverty, nakedness, persecution, need, sickness, hunger, thirst and other such troubles, for the Lord says to his disciples, “You must suffer many things for my name,”* and “Be not ashamed to speak before men, for I will give you what you shall say,” and afterwards “Great will be your reward.” ’ And when these words had begun to be rumoured abroad through all the duchies and counties of the Frankish lands, the Franks, hearing them, straightway began to sew the Cross on the right shoulders of their garments, saying that they would all with one accord follow in the footsteps of Christ, by whom they had been redeemed from the power of hell. So they set out at once from their homes in the lands of the Franks.
The Franks ordered themselves in three armies. One, which entered into Hungary, was led by Peter the Hermit and Duke Godfrey, Baldwin his brother and Baldwin, count of Hainault.† These most valiant knights and many others (whose names I do not know) travelled by the road which Charlemagne, the heroic king of the Franks, had formerly caused to be built to Constantinople.‡
The aforesaid Peter was the first to reach Constantinople on 1 August, and many Germans came with him. There they found men from northern and southern Italy and many others gathered together. The emperor [Alexius I Comnenus] ordered such provisions as there were in the city to be given to them, and he said, ‘Do not cross the Hellespont until the great army of the Christians arrives, for there are not enough of you to fight against the Turks.’ But those Christians behaved abominably, sacking and burning the palaces of the city, and stealing the lead from the roofs of the churches and selling it to the Greeks, so that the emperor was angry, and ordered them to cross the Hellespont. After they had crossed they did not cease from their misdeeds, and they burned and laid waste both houses and churches. At last they reached Nicomedia, where the Italians and Germans broke away from the Franks,* because the Franks were intolerably proud. The Italians chose a leader called Rainald; the Germans also chose a leader, and they all went into [Asia Minor] and travelled for four days’ journey beyond the city of Nicaea, where they found a deserted castle named Xerigordus which they took, finding therein plenty of corn and wine and meat and abundance of all good things. But when the Turks heard that the Christians were in the castle, they came and besieged it. Before its gate was a well, and beneath its walls a spring, where Rainald went out to lay an ambush for the Turks, but when they arrived on Michaelmas Day they caught Rainald and his company, and killed many of them. The survivors fled into the castle, which the Turks at once besieged, cutting off the water supply. Our men were therefore so terribly afflicted by thirst that they bled their horses and asses and drank the blood; others let down belts and clothes into a sewer and squeezed out the liquid into their mouths; others passed water into one another’s cupped hands and drank; others dug up damp earth and lay down on their backs, piling the earth upon their chests because they were so dry with thirst. The bishops and priests encouraged our men and told them not to despair. This miserable state of affairs went on for eight days. Then the leader of the Germans made an agreement to betray his comrades to the Turks, and pretending that he was going out to fight he fled to them, and many men went with him. Of the remainder, those who would not renounce God were killed; others, whom the Turks captured alive, were divided among their captors like sheep, some were put up as targets and shot with arrows, others sold and given away as if they were brute beasts. Some of the Turks took their prisoners home to Khorasan,* Antioch or Aleppo or wherever they happened to live. These men were the first to endure blessed martyrdom for the name of our Lord Jesus.
Afterwards, when the Turks heard that Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless† were in Cibotus, which is beyond the city of Nicaea, they came thither full of glee intending to kill them and their comrades, and when they had come they found Walter and his men, and killed them at once. Peter the Hermit, however, had gone off to Constantinople a little before this happened, for he could not control such a mixed company of people who would not obey him or listen to what he said. The Turks fell upon his men and killed most of them – some they found asleep, others naked, and all these they slaughtered. Among the rest they found a priest saying mass, and they killed him at once upon the altar. Those who managed to escape fled to Cibotus. Some leapt into the sea, and others hid in the woods and mountains. The Turks chased some of our men into the castle, and piled up wood so that they could burn them and the castle together, but the Christians in the castle set fire to the pile of wood, and the flames were blown back against the Turks and burned some of them, but God delivered our men from that fire. At last the Turks took them alive and apportioned them as they had done with the others, sending them away through all the neighbouring lands, some to Khorasan and some to Persia. All this happened in October.‡ When the emperor heard that the Turks had inflicted such a defeat on our men he rejoiced greatly, and gave orders for the survivors to be brought back over the Hellespont. When they had crossed over he had them completely disarmed.
The eruption of pious militancy from the west allowed the daughter of the Greek emperor Alexius, Anna Comnena, to draw a convenient veil over her father’s involvement in summoning what proved to be very awkward allies as well as to highlight her themes of the violence, barbarism, intemperance, untrustworthiness and uncontrolled enthusiasm of the westerners, themes that coloured her whole picture of the crusaders and their expedition.
[Alexius] had no time to relax before he heard a rumour that countless Frankish armies were approaching. He dreaded their arrival, knowing as he did their uncontrollable passion, their erratic character and their irresolution, not to mention the other peculiar traits of the Celts,* with their inevitable consequences: their greed for money, for example, which always led them, it seemed, to break their own agreements without scruple for any chance reason. He had consistently heard this said of them and it was abundantly justified. So far from despairing, however, he made every effort to prepare for war if need arose. What actually happened was more far-reaching and terrible than rumour suggested, for the whole of the west and all the barbarians who lived between the Adriatic and the Straits of Gibraltar migrated in a body to Asia, marching across Europe country by country with all their households. The reason for this mass movement is to be found more or less in the following events. A certain Celt, called Peter, with the surname Cucupetrus,† left to worship at the Holy Sepulchre and after suffering much ill treatment at the hands of the Turks and Saracens who were plundering the whole of Asia, he returned home with difficulty. Unable to admit defeat, he wanted to make a second attempt by the same route, but realising the folly of trying to do this alone (worse things might happen to him) he worked out a clever scheme. He decided to preach in all the Latin countries. A divine voice, he said, commanded him to proclaim to all the counts in France that all should depart from their homes, set out to worship at the Holy Shrine and with all their soul and might strive to liberate Jerusalem from the Agarenes.‡ Surprisingly, he was successful. It was as if he had inspired every heart with some divine oracle. Celts assembled from all parts, one after another, with arms and horses and all the other equipment for war. Full of enthusiasm and ardour they thronged every highway, and with these warriors came a host of civilians, outnumbering the sand of the seashore or the stars of heaven, carrying palms and bearing crosses on their shoulders. There were women and children, too, who had left their own countries. Like tributaries joining a river from all directions they streamed towards us in full force, mostly through Dacia.* The arrival of this mighty host was preceded by locusts, which abstained from the wheat but made frightful inroads on the vines. The prophets of those days interpreted this as a sign that the Celtic army would refrain from interfering in the affairs of Christians but bring dreadful affliction on the barbarian Ishmaelites, who were the slaves of drunkenness and wine and Dionysus. The Ishmaelites are indeed dominated by Dionysus and Eros; they indulge readily in every kind of sexual licence, and if they are circumcised in the flesh they are certainly not so in their passions. In fact, the Ishmaelites are nothing more than slaves – trebly slaves – of the vices of Aphrodite. Hence they reverence and worship Astarte and Ashtaroth, and in their land the figure of the moon and the golden image of Chobar are considered of major importance.† Corn, because it is not heady and at the same time is most nourishing, has been accepted as the symbol of Christianity. In the light of this the diviners interpreted the references to vines and wheat. So much for the prophecies. The incidents of the barbarians’ advance followed in the order I have given, and there was something strange about it, which intelligent people at least would notice. The multitudes did not arrive at the same moment, nor even by the same route – how could they cross the Adriatic en masse after setting out from different countries in such great numbers? – but they made the voyage in separate groups, some first, some in a second party and others after them in order, until all had arrived, and then they began their march across Epirus. Each army, as I have said, was preceded by a plague of locusts, so that everyone, having observed the phenomenon several times, came to recognise locusts as the forerunners of Frankish battalions. They had already begun to cross the Straits of Lombardy [Otranto] in small groups when the emperor summoned certain leaders of the Roman forces and sent them to the area round Dyrrhachium [Durazzo] and Avlona, with instructions to receive the voyagers kindly and export from all countries abundant supplies for them along their route; then to watch them carefully and follow, so that if they saw them making raids or running off to plunder the neighbouring districts, they could check them by light skirmishes. These officers were accompanied by interpreters who understood the Latin language; their duty was to quell any incipient trouble between natives and pilgrims. I would like here to give a clearer and more detailed account of the matter.
The report of Peter’s preaching spread everywhere, and the first to sell his land and set out on the road to Jerusalem was Godfrey [of Bouillon]. He was a very rich man, extremely proud of his noble birth, his own courage and the glory of his family. (Every Celt desired to surpass his fellows.) The upheaval that ensued as men and women took to the road was unprecedented within living memory. The simpler folk were in very truth led on by a desire to worship at Our Lord’s tomb and visit the Holy Places, but the more villainous characters (in particular Bohemund and his like) had an ulterior purpose, for they hoped on their journey to seize the capital itself, looking upon its capture as a natural consequence of the expedition. Bohemund disturbed the morale of many nobler men because he still cherished his old grudge against the emperor. Peter, after his preaching campaign, was the first to cross the Lombardy Straits, with eighty thousand infantry and one hundred thousand horsemen. He reached the capital via Hungary.* The Celts, as one might guess, are in any case an exceptionally hotheaded race and passionate, but let them once find an inducement and they become irresistible.
The emperor knew what Peter had suffered before from the Turks and advised him to wait for the other counts to arrive, but he refused, confident in the number of his followers. He crossed the Sea of Marmara and pitched camp near a small place called Helenopolis. Later some Normans, ten thousand in all, joined him but detached themselves from the rest of the army and ravaged the outskirts of Nicaea, acting with horrible cruelty to the whole population; they cut in pieces some of the babies, impaled others on wooden spits and roasted them over a fire; old people were subjected to every kind of torture. The inhabitants of the city, when they learnt what was happening, threw open their gates and charged out against them. A fierce battle ensued, in which the Normans fought with such spirit that the Nicaeans had to retire inside their citadel. The enemy therefore returned to Helenopolis with all the booty. There an argument started between them and the rest (who had not gone on the raid) – the usual quarrel in such cases – for the latter were green with envy. That led to brawling, whereupon the daredevil Normans broke away for a second time and took Xerigordus by assault. The sultan’s reaction was to send Elkhanes with a strong force to deal with them. He arrived at Xerigordus and captured it; of the Normans some were put to the sword and others taken prisoner. At the same time Elkhanes made plans to deal with the remainder, still with Cucupetrus. He laid ambushes in suitable places, hoping that the enemy on their way to Nicaea would fall into the trap unawares and be killed. Knowing the Celtic love of money, he also enlisted the services of two determined men who were to go to Peter’s camp and there announce that the Normans, having seized Nicaea, were sharing out all the spoils of the city. This story had an amazing effect on Peter’s men; they were thrown into confusion at the words ‘share’ and ‘money’; without a moment’s hesitation they set out on the Nicaea road in complete disorder, practically heedless of military discipline and the proper arrangement which should mark men going off to war. As I have said before, the Latin race at all times is unusually greedy for wealth, but when it plans to invade a country, neither reason nor force can restrain it. They set out helter-skelter, regardless of their individual companies. Near the Dracon they fell into the Turkish ambuscade and were miserably slaughtered. So great a multitude of Celts and Normans died by the Ishmaelite sword that when they gathered the remains of the fallen, lying on every side, they heaped up, I will not say a mighty ridge or hill or peak, but a mountain of considerable height and depth and width, so huge was the mass of bones. Some men of the same race as the slaughtered barbarians later, when they were building a wall like those of a city, used the bones of the dead as pebbles to fill up the cracks. In a way the city became their tomb. To this very day it stands with its encircling wall built of mixed stones and bones.* When the killing was over, only Peter with a handful of men returned to Helenopolis. The Turks, wishing to capture him, again laid an ambush, but the emperor, who had heard of this and indeed of the terrible massacre, thought it would be an awful thing if Peter also became a prisoner. Constantine Euphorbenus Catacalon was accordingly sent with powerful contingents in warships across the Straits to help him. At his approach the Turks took to their heels. Without delay Catacalon picked up Peter and his companions (there were only a few) and brought them in safety to Alexius, who reminded Peter of his foolishness in the beginning and added that these great misfortunes had come upon him through not listening to his advice. With the usual Latin arrogance Peter disclaimed responsibility and blamed his men for them, because (said he) they had been disobedient and followed their own whims. He called them brigands and robbers, considered unworthy therefore by the Saviour to worship at his Holy Sepulchre. Some Latins, after the pattern of Bohemund and his cronies, because they had long coveted the Roman empire† and wished to acquire it for themselves, found in the preaching of Peter an excuse and caused this great upheaval by deceiving more innocent people. They sold their lands on the pretence that they were leaving to fight the Turks and liberate the Holy Sepulchre.‡