We can’t say we’re utterly convinced as to the verisimilitude of the Children’s Crusade. But there is, at the very least, a primary source. And it doesn’t mince words:
About the time of Easter and Pentecost,without anyone having preached or called for it and prompted by I know not what spirit, many thousands of boys, ranging in age from six years to full maturity, left the plows or carts which they were driving, the flocks which they were pasturing, and anything else which they were doing. This they did despite the wishes of their parents, relatives, and friends who sought to make them draw back. Suddenly one ran after another to take the cross…One thing is sure: that of the many thousands who rose up, only very few returned.
The kids turned back at Metz or Marseille? We have a feeling they were the lucky ones.
buskertype // Oct 4, 2009 at 12:26 am
The history of the middle ages in europe is fascinating. They were so goddamn crazy. Just really f-ing nuts. And they wrote just enough down to give glimpses of the insanity but not fill in most of the details that might explain it.