Shepherds' Crusade (1320)

[2] It originally began when a large group of common-folk banded together to preach a crusade after a teenage shepherd said he was visited by the Holy Spirit.

[3] Initially aiming to help the Reconquista of Iberia, it failed to gain support from the church or nobility and instead murdered hundreds of Jews in France and Aragon.

[4][5] The causes of the movement are complex; however, at the time a series of famines had set in related to climatic changes (the "little ice age") and the economic situation for the rural poor had deteriorated.

Also, indebtedness to Jewish moneylenders had been apparently eliminated with their eviction by King Philip the Fair in 1306; however, his son Louis X brought them back and became a partner in the recovery of their debts.

[6] Along with this, the hypocritical leadership and the situation created by the people belonging to the upper class and the nobles led to the disastrous event of 1320.

[4] The failure of the society to take action against the violent acts that were aimed to change the current circumstances despite legitimizing the Holy war contributed to the onset of the movement.

[7] The crusade started in June 1320 in Normandy, when a teenage shepherd claimed to have been visited by the Holy Spirit, which instructed him to fight the Moors in Iberia.

When they eventually crossed into Spain, their attacks on the Jews were well-known, and James II of Aragon vowed to protect his citizens.

[2] After the defeat of the crusade, the Jews were helped by the Aragonese kings to stabilize and to return to their previous positions that they occupied before the movement.