This list represents the People's Crusade of Peter the Hermit and Gautier Sans-Avoir in 1096 AD
The "People's Crusade" happened in 1096 AD and is often considered the "avantgarde" of the First Crusade. Some months before the departure of the European nobles towards the Holy Land, called by Pope Urban II, a great number of peasants and lesser knights organized a movement in Northern France and Flanders, under the leadership of Peter the Hermit, a charismatic monk that claimed to be inspired by Christ, and Guillaime Sans-Avoir (William the Penniless) a knight with no land. The crowd, numbering around 100,000, including non-combatants, from France, Flanders, Germany and, later, Italy, marched towards Costantinople divided in two separate contingents, pillaging the country during their passage of Hungary, causing one bloody riot in the town of Semlin, where 4.000 Hungarian people were killed, burning Belgrade and fighting with local troops, loosing about one quarter of their initial number. When they reached Byzantine territory, they were quickly ferried by Emperor Alexius I Comnenus through the Bosphorus into Turkey. Almost immediately Peter the Hermit lost the control of the army, that split into national contingents and started pillaging the countryside. The Germans captured the town of Xerigordon but were surrounded and forced to surrender by the Turks. The remnants, about 20,000, marched towards Nicea, but were ambushed by a Turkish army. Only 3,000 crusaders managed to escape and were saved by the Byzantines, all the others were killed or sent to slavery.
To read some accounts about the People's Crusade (Internet Medieval Sourcebook)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/peterhermit.html
| Era: Triumph of Cavalry | Peoples Crusade 1096 AD | CR: H: 3 L: 3 | BP: 2 | Init: 4 | ||||
| Core | ||||||||
| Number | Type | Description | Key | FV | PROT | Weapon | Cost | |
| 8 | WB | Peasants | k | 4[1]2 | +1 | Various | 4 | |
| 1 | HC(d!) | Nobles, knights etc | k | 5[0]0 | +1 | Lance | 11 | |
| 1 | FT | Follower | k | 5[1]1 | +1 | Spears | 6 | |
| 3 | LI | Plunderers | 3[1]2 | +1 | Various* | 4 | ||
| 1 | SI | 3[1]2 | +2 | Sling | 2 | |||
| 1 | SI | 2[1]1 | +2 | Bows | 2 | |||
| 1 | SI | 2[1]1 | +2 | X-bow | 2 | |||
| Bonus: | ||||||||
| 13 | WB | Peasants | k | 4[1]2 | +1 | Various | 4 | |
| 1 | HC(d!) | Gentry, squires etc** | k | 4[0]0 | +1 | Lance | 9 | |
| 1 | FT | Followers | k | 5[1]1 | +1 | Spears | 6 | |
| 3 | FT | Lesser Followers | k | 4[1]1 | +0 | Various | 3 | |
| 3 | LI | Plunderers | 3[1]2 | +1 | Various* | 4 | ||
| 2 | SI | 2[1]1 | +2 | X-bows | 2 | |||
| 1 | SI | 3[1]2 | +2 | Sling | 2 | |||
| 2 | SI | 2[1]1 | +2 | Bows | 2 | |||
| 2 | SI | Camp Followers | 2[1]1 | +0 | Improvised | (*) | ||
Terrain:
Core: 1-RG***
Bonus: (Max: 3 ) 3GR; 1 SH; 1 W; 1 RG
Notes:
Core: 96 Bonus: 98
WB (Peasants) are move 9", BP:3
* LI (Plunderers) are not javelin armed - so no distant shooting for these units
** Bonus HC (Gentry, squires etc) ARE subject to Obligatory Charge
Lesser Followers are full FT units with BP:4
(*) Both units cost 2 points together and must be purchased together, they can only be deployed Out of Command in the Core RG. These units represent: non-combatants, the elderly, sick and wounded detailed to defend the baggage and themselves!
*** The Core RG represents the camp or baggage train
This list may also fight against 11th Century Byzantines and Seljuk Turkish and so can also be used in the Age of Chivalry section
Ordo Link: People's Crusade
Last Edited: 03 February 2007
List Author: Polemicus