The fanatical peasant leader who led 40,000 French and German peasants into Byzantine territory as the first crusading army. Brownworth describes him as unable to control his followers — his mob burned Belgrade, tried to loot a neighboring city, had 10,000 men killed by Byzantine cavalry, then looted the suburbs of Constantinople. Ferried across the Bosphorus, Peter ignored Alexios' advice not to engage the Turks, got his rabble wiped out, and slunk back to Constantinople in disgrace.
Also known as: Peter of Amiens
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Episode 14 (6 mentions)
The fanatical peasant leader who led 40,000 French and German peasants into Byzantine territory as the first crusading army. Brownworth describes him as unable to control his followers — his mob burned Belgrade, tried to loot a neighboring city, had 10,000 men killed by Byzantine cavalry, then looted the suburbs of Constantinople. Ferried across the Bosphorus, Peter ignored Alexios' advice not to engage the Turks, got his rabble wiped out, and slunk back to Constantinople in disgrace.
“Unfortunately, their leader, a fanatical peasant who called himself Peter the Hermit, was”
“Order was only restored by sending some heavy cavalry against them, reducing Peter's force”
“Predictably, his undisciplined rabble was all but wiped out, and Peter slunk back to”
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