Tuesday, July 8, 2025

It is the 8th of July 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Let’s head back to the Crusades and take a look at one of the more curious characters wrapped up in that quagmire of pious intentions and mass violence.

He was Peter the Hermit, likely born around 1050 in Northern France. He was likely born into nobility, such that he was afforded various opportunities- he may have served in the military, and he may have married, but by 1090, he was living the life of a secluded hermit. There are those who have suggested that his name “L’Hermit’ was his family name. This seems unlikely, but if it were the truth, it would be a case of nominative determinism or an aptonym (where one’s name matches their vocation- like the ophthalmologist Dr. Ashley Seawright).

Nonetheless, Peter had become a holy man around the time of the First Crusade- as a refresher, the Seljuk Turks had been expanding westward, threatening the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine Emperor Alexios Komnenos appealed to Pope Urban II, who, at the Council of Clermont in late 1095, gave a now-lost sermon in which he offered assurance of salvation to those who gave their lives to the holy cause of liberating the Eastern Christians from the Muslim threat. It would take about a year for Western nobility to put together a crusading army to head to Constantinople.

Enter Peter the Hermit. There was a tradition that wanted to make this enigmatic figure the head of the crusades. One story was told that Peter had made his way to the Holy Land prior to 1095 and slept in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. When he was there, he reportedly had a vision from Jesus telling him to go to the Byzantine Emperor to hear his plea for help and take it to the Pope.

This didn’t happen. But Peter was nearby Clermont in 1095 and heard of the Crusade early on. But he wouldn’t wait for princes and knights, Peter decided to go from town to town to preach the Crusade and its promises to anyone who would listen.

Contemporary reports tell us that Peter was a sight to behold- portly and misshapen with wild eyes and ratty robes, he rode into town on a donkey. But he was charismatic and soon peasants- whole families, the poor, and criminals- started following him. People collected hair from his donkey for its miracle-working properties. File this under Medieval eccentricities, but it is also the timeless story in the church of egalitarian impulses and charismatic preaching.

Tens of Thousands began following Peter on his way to Constantinople, but this story turns quickly. They couldn’t make it out of Europe without the mob impulse taking over. Inspired by the coming battle and by apocalyptic expectations, the group turned on Jewish communities across the Rhineland. The massacre would be one of many dark episodes of the coming Crusades.

Once the group made their way to Constantinople, the Emperor Alexios was surprised- certainly Urban would send an actual army, not a hermit and a bunch of Peasants. Not knowing what to do, the Emperor sent the peasants across the Bosphorus into Asia-Minor, where they first turned on themselves and then were slaughtered by the Turks.

Peter was back in Constantinople and was spared. He waited until the proper Crusading armies arrived and joined them in their siege on Antioch. At one point, however, our curious holy man abandoned the army only to be captured and sent back to fight. He would be forced to challenge a muslim leader to a duel to decide the siege, the muslim leader declined, and Peter would be hailed for his courage. Peter would ride on the success of the first crusade, identifying the spear that pierced the side of Jesus and helping to take Jerusalem. One story has him preaching a fiery and apocalyptic sermon from the Mount of Olives before the army took the holy city.

The Hermit, whose initial foray into Crusading was an absolute, unmitigated disaster, became something of a religious figurehead such that the story of his interceding became one legend of the beginning of the Crusades. After taking Jerusalem, he returned to Europe, setting up an abbey in modern Belgium. Peter the Hermit would die at the abbey on this, the 8th of July in 1115. The curious crusader would have been in his mid-60s.  

The Last word for today comes from Acts 20- a text about the power and authority of the apostles if not also a warning against long sermons.

7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 8th of July 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who wishes we knew more about the magic donkey… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by someone who has learned never to take the window seat during a sermon… I’m Dan van Voorhis 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.