The First Crusade

For sinners the expedition offered the chance of plenary indulgence, another novelty.3.
             The Pope called upon his clergy to express the importance of his message in their churches as well. Urban had wanted this to be a military expedition, which was carried out by soldiers and then controlled by the clerics. However, tens of thousands of 'ordinary people' wanted to join. Life as a crusader was far better than anything that they had at that time, even if death was more than probable. .
             One of these 'ordinary people', known as Peter the Hermit, had a massive impact on the people. He inspired countless people to join in the fight, which became known as the People's Crusade. Peter became the leader of one of the bands. They rode out of Amiens in early March of 1096. In order to remain fed, they constantly had to be on the move, due to their large number. Pausing for a short while in Germany, Peter preached to the people there, and even managed to entice some of them to join. They carried on marching towards Constantinople. However, they ran into some problems in Semlin, which resulted in a riot. Thousands of Hungarians were killed, and many provisions taken, before they left. Then, again, on the way to Sofia, the crusaders had difficulties. When this fighting was over, a quarter of the crusaders were lost. They continued to march towards Constantinople.
             Finally, they reached Constantinople in August. When they reached it, the Emperor, Alexius, stated that they should be forgiven for the crimes that they had committed. Still, though, he did not know what to do with them. "To Alexius's experienced eye the expedition was not impressive. He feared that if it crossed into Asia it would soon be destroyed by the Turks. But its indiscipline obliged him to move as soon as possible from the neighborhood of Constantinople. The westerners committed endless thefts."4 As a way to rid himself of this large crusading group, while at the same time using them for his own purpose, Alexius gave them money and food to tide them over.