Children's Crusade

Timeline

1. 1212northern France · NormandyAccording to later chronicles, a youth claiming revelation (traditionally called 'Stephen the Peddler') rallied a children's crusade in northern France, proclaiming that the sea would part to let the host cross to the Holy Land, attracting many boys and young men.
2. 1212Cologne · RhinelandAnother column, traditionally led by a Cologne boy named Nicholas, marched north along the Rhine intending to reach the Holy Land overland. Later accounts say the host broke up in the Alps or Italy, with some members sold into slavery or drowned; the details are highly legendary.
3. 1212Marseille · ProvenceThe French column reached Marseille expecting the sea to part, which did not occur. Local officials and churchmen dissuaded them; some youths were sent home, while legend holds that of two ships that sailed, one sank and the other reached North Africa, where the passengers were enslaved. The movement then largely collapsed, having no substantive military effect on the Fifth Crusade.