Armed Frankish Pilgrims 1

The Church regularly preached about the suffering of Christians in the Holy Land and the need for righteous men to atone for their sins by pilgrimage. Although these calls were chiefly addressed to the barons and knights of western Europe, they were heard by ordinary men and women, growing numbers of whom risked everything to travel across the world to Jerusalem. As the Peasants’ Crusade demonstrated, faith alone could not prevail against the military skill of the Seljuq Turks. Nevertheless, crowds of zealous but unskilled pilgrims could be found in the retinues of many crusading expeditions from Europe.