The event that historians call the First Crusade (1096–1099) mobilized a force of
some 100,000 people, including warriors, old men, bishops, priests, women, children,
and hangers-on. The armies were organized not as one military force but rather as
separate militias, each authorized by the pope and commanded by a different
individual.
Several motley bands were not authorized by the pope. Though called collectively
the “Peasants’ (or People’s) Crusade,” these irregular armies included nobles. They
were inspired by popular preachers, especially the eloquent Peter the Hermit, who
was described by chroniclers as small, ugly, barefoot, and—partly because of those
very characteristics—utterly captivating. Starting out before the other armies, the
Peasants’ Crusade took a route to the Holy Land through the Rhineland in Germany.
This indirect route was no mistake. The crusaders were looking for “wicked
races” closer to home: the Jews. Under Henry IV many Jews had gained a stable
place within the cities of Germany, particularly along the Rhine River. The Jews
received protection from the local bishops (who were imperial appointees) in return
for paying a tax. Living in their own neighborhoods, the Jews valued their tightly-knit
communities focused on the synagogue, which was a school and community center
as well as a place of worship. Nevertheless, Jews also participated in the life of the
larger Christian community. For example, Archbishop Anno of Cologne made use of
the services of the Jewish moneylenders in his city, and other Jews in Cologne were
allowed to trade their wares at the fairs there.
Although officials pronounced against the Jews from time to time, and although
Jews were occasionally (temporarily) expelled from some Rhineland cities, they were
not persecuted systematically until the First Crusade. Then the Peasants’ Crusade,
joined by some local nobles and militias from the region, threatened the Jews with
forced conversion or death. Some relented when the Jews paid them money; others,
however, attacked. Beleaguered Jews occasionally found refuge with bishops or in
the houses of Christian friends, but in many cities—Metz, Speyer, Worms, Mainz,
and Cologne—they were massacred:
Oh God, insolent men have risen against me
They have sorely afflicted us from our youth
They have devoured and destroyed us in their wrath against us
Saying, let us take their inheritance for ourselves.^7
