Shepherds' Crusade (1251)

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The Shepherds' Crusade of 1251 was a popular crusade in northern France aimed at rescuing King Louis IX during the Seventh Crusade.

In 1249, Saint Louis IX of France went away on crusade, leaving his mother, Blanche of Castile, as regent during his absence. Louis was defeated and captured in Egypt at the Battle of Fariskur. When news of this reached France the next year, both nobles and peasants were deeply distressed; the king was well-loved and it was inconceivable to them that such a pious man could be defeated by heathens. Louis sent his brothers to France to get relief, where despite the efforts of Blanche of Castile, it was seen that neither the nobility nor the clergy were helping the king.^[1]

A man, apparently an old Hungarian monk living in northern France, claimed he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in which she told him to raise a peasant army to rescue King Louis. From about Easter 1251, a group of perhaps as many as 60,000 followed him, causing disruption, especially conflict with the clergy in several cities, and later began to attack the Jewish population. They never went beyond northern France as a large group, and were eventually dispersed by order of Blanche.