Peter the Hermit

Peter the Hermit (also known as Cucupeter,Little Peter or Peter of Amiens;c. 1050 – 8 July 1115) was a priest of Amiens and a key figure during the First Crusade.

His name in French is Pierre l'Ermite. The structure of this name in French unlike in English has led some francophone scholars to treat l'Ermite as a surname rather than a title.

According to Anna Comnena, he had attempted to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before 1096, but was prevented by the Seljuk Turks from reaching his goal and was reportedly mistreated. However, doubts remain that he ever made such a journey.

Sources differ as to whether he was present at Pope Urban II's famous Council of Clermont in 1095; but it is certain that he was one of the preachers of the crusade in France afterward, and his own experience may have helped to give fire to the Crusading cause. Tradition in Huy holds that he was there when the crusade was announced and he began his preaching at once. He soon leapt into fame as an emotional revivalist, and the vast majority of sources and historians agree that thousands of peasants eagerly took the cross at his bidding. However, Jonathan Riley-Smith has proposed that the People's Crusade also included well armed soldiers and nobles. This part of the crusade was also known as the crusade of the "paupers", a term which in the Middle Ages indicated a status as impoverished or mendicant wards of the Church. Peter organized and guided the paupers as a spiritually purified and holy group of pilgrims who would, supposedly, be protected by the Holy Ghost. A list of known participants in Peter's army can be found at Riley-Smith, et al.

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