Crusade (23 page)

It is said that the famous tale of the Pied Piper was based on the Children’s Crusades, perhaps in an attempt to answer the haunting questions about why thousands chose to follow the two young leaders and why their families let them go. Better answers can be found in the religion-dominated atmosphere of that period in history.

In the thirteenth century, the western part of Europe was unified by a common Catholicism, headed by a powerful pope in Rome. The Church was teacher and unquestioned authority. Countryfolk, by far the majority of the population, were illiterate. Sons of wealthy fathers were taught by men of the Church, in Latin, but there were no schools for the poor. Peasants spoke only the local dialect and learned only the Bible stories the priests told them on Sundays, along with the tortures of Hell vividly described in church sermons. It is hard to imagine today, but there were no other sources of information or inspiration available.

The Church was also mother, father, doctor, nurse, and soup kitchen. Secular rulers of the time never considered providing their subjects with educational, medical and social welfare services. The Church was the only resource for poor and sick people, establishing hospitals run by priests or nuns and distributing food to many in dire need. Unwanted babies were left outside church doors, and travellers were welcome to stay in monasteries along the road. Work problems, marriage problems, depression and unfulfilled longings – all were laid before God, or His earthly representative, the local priest.

The Crusades began as an effort by Christians from Europe to wrest control of the land of Jesus from the Muslims who had controlled that area for almost five hundred years. The first of these Crusades, in 1099, was successful and it inspired others, which continued in waves for nearly two centuries. After the First Crusade, the others were less successful and were marked by appalling cruelty towards ‘unbelievers’. The many thousands of victims included not only Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land, but also French and Bohemian Christians who differed slightly in belief from the Church. These included the Waldensians – ‘the Poor of Christ’ in this book – who were labelled heretical and therefore persecuted. However, the Waldensian theme of a direct relationship with Christ, without ceremony or priestly intermediary, reemerged some centuries later in the doctrine of the new Protestant movement.

Anti-Semitism in Europe was rife at the time. Jews were restricted from almost every form of work except moneylending and trading, but those professions earned them resentment and envy, while the Church found it politically convenient to lay false blame on them for the death of Jesus. The Jews of France, England and Germany who had the misfortunate to live in defenceless, small groups along several routes taken by the Crusaders were seen as legitimate targets of brutality and looting.

In writing this book I have taken a few historical liberties. The University of Paris came to be headed by a single rector only ten to thirty years after the Children’s Crusade. The Fourth Lateran Council took place in 1215. And almost two decades passed before a priest arrived in France who told the story, for the first time, of what happened to the children on seven ships supposedly bound for the Holy Land.

Recommended Books on the Crusades and Europe of that Period:

Buehr, Walter.
Crusaders
. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1959. Articulately written with imaginative descriptions.

Cosman, Madeleine Pelner.
Medieval Wordbook
. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1996. A short and tart dictionary of words used by maids and masters, children and kings of the period.

Harpur, James.
The Crusades. An Illustrated History
. Thunder’s Mouth Press, New York, 2005. Clear and well written, with numerous illustrations taken from artwork on this theme through the ages.

Ladurie, Emmanuel Le Roy.
Montaillou, The Promised Land of Error
. New York: Vintage Books, 1979. A unique insight into the everyday life of peasants in a village in southern France (Occitania) from 1318 to 1325, compiled in minute detail for the purposes of the Inquisition against the heresies of Albigensianism by a zealous and meticulous bishop-prosecutor, Jacques Fournier, who later became Pope Benedict XII.

Langley, Andrew.
Medieval Life.
Eyewitness Books series. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1996. Superb illustrations in a volume of the superb Eyewitness series.

Toussaint-Samat, M.
Stories of the Crusades
. Myths and Legends series. New York: World Pub. Co., 1966. Well-told stories and fantastical myths that grew up around the Crusades and specific noble or ignoble Crusaders.

About the Author

Linda Press Wulf’s first book of historical fiction,
The Night of the Burning
, won awards and inclusion in annual lists of the best fiction for young adults.  She grew up in South Africa, at a time when there was no TV to distract budding readers.  She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband and two sons, and is at work on her next novel.

By the Same Author

The Night of the Burning

Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney

First published in Great Britain in January 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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