ABSTRACT
The response generated by his speech was immediate and of a magnitude that must have surprised the pope himself. In the first wave an estimated 20,000 followers of the hermit preacher, Peter of Amiens, set out; this number had risen to about 25,000 by the time they reached Asia Minor. This was only one of the contingents taking part, and possibly as many as 40-50,000 followed in the second wave. This must have been not only beyond the expectations of the pope but also beyond those of Alexius, who had hoped for a limited force of Western mercenaries who would aid him in staving off Seljuk attacks. Instead the enterprise begun at Clermont was one of history’s great popular movements. What came to be known as the People’s Crusade was an undisciplined rabble mainly comprised of the non-knightly classes, including many non-combatants. It is perhaps best remembered for the terrible massacres of Jews carried out by many of the followers in the Rhineland before they were wiped out in Hungary. Peter the Hermit and some of his followers managed to reach Constantinople and cross the Bosphorus before they were routed by the Turks outside their camp at Civitot in October.
