Peter the Hermit

Timeline

1. c. 1080–1095France · FrancePeter was reportedly a hermit and pilgrim in his early years, having traveled to the Holy Land of Jerusalem; after returning he became a key oral promoter of the crusading idea among the common people of Western Europe, and his personal experiences were later romanticized by later sources.
2. 1095–1096France and the Rhineland · RhinelandAfter the Council of Clermont, Peter preached passionately in France, Flanders, and Germany, calling poor folk and lesser knights to take up arms for the eastward crusade, and quickly gathered a large following of irregular crusaders.
3. 1096–1099Constantinople to Anatolia · Byzantine frontierIn 1096 he led the People's Crusade eastward, passing through Constantinople into Anatolia, where his forces were nearly destroyed by the Seljuk Turks. Peter himself survived and later joined the main princes' crusade in subsequent campaigns.