What Is The Children's Crusade?

Cameron 1
Children’s Crusade
The Children’s Crusade is considered by most to be a minor crusade. Others do not believe it ever happened. That may be because historians don’t have much intel to go on. The fate of the French children is largely speculated.
The Crusade started in 1212, when a young French boy, Stephen of Cloyes, thought he received a letter from Christ ordering him to peacefully win back the Holy Land from the
Muslims. The credibility of him receiving this letter is slim, because he had a peasant’s background and more than likely did not know how to read or write. He went to King Philip of
France explaining the letter and his yearning to start a crusade. Not surprisingly, King Philip told
Stephen to come back when he was older.
Stephen told them that when they came to the
Mediterranean Sea, it would part and they would be able to walk across, quite similar to Moses and the Israelites. So about 30,000 children decided to leave their homes and join Stephen in his quest. Some adults didn’t approve of the children being on a crusade; others encouraged the children, thinking their innocence would prevail and make their success a certainty. The
Roman Catholic Church probably did not try to stop it, because they thought it might guilt and shame the kings and emperors into getting a proper crusade in action.
This children’s crusade was bound to fail. A twelve-year-old leading other very young children, with no adult supervision at all is going to lead nowhere or to danger extremely fast.
Children cannot walk the long distances from Vendome to Marseilles to Jerusalem on foot

Cameron 2 without becoming exhausted. Many died along the way because of the exhaustion, while many others died from starvation. When they finally made it to the Mediterranean Sea, it did not part like Stephen had promised. Some of the children decided to turn back and head home; others wanted to push on. Two merchants of the city of Marseilles offered to give them rides
They told him two of the boats sunk and killed all of the people on board. The rest of the children were sold into slavery; the Algerian and Egyptians especially valued white skinned people in the slave markets. The priest more than likely was telling what he believed to be true, whether it actually was true or not.
A German Children’s Crusade took place in 1212. This crusade was led by a boy named
Nicholas, from Cologne, and the crusade totaled roughly 20,000 people. Nicholas’s dream was the same as Stephen’s, to take Jerusalem peacefully from the Muslims. This crusade consisted of more than just children, however. There were men and women too.
Their journey south from Germany to Italy included a trip across the Alps. That trek of the journey was extremely dangerous and many of the people died from the cold. The remaining survivors pushed onto Rome. When they entered Rome they met the Pope. The Pope commended them for their bravery, but told them they were too young to continue. They decided to return to Germany, but many of them died on the journey home. Those who chose to take a boat to the Holy Land from Pisa, Italy, were never heard from again.

Cameron 3
Works Cited