Shepherds' Crusade (1251)

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.

His followers, said to number 60,000, were mostly young peasants, men, women, and children, from Brabant, Hainaut, Flanders, and Picardy.