Peter the Hermit: A Tale of EnthusiasmGoodsell, Daniel A. (Daniel Ayres)
History
Peter the Hermit: A Tale of Enthusiasm
Goodsell, Daniel A. (Daniel Ayres)
Peter, the Hermit, -1115
The two results in the East were intense prejudice among the Greeks
against the whole movement and contempt of the Turks for Christian
warriors.
[Sidenote: _Peter Belabors His Followers_]
[Sidenote: _Peter's Failure as Leader_]
But where was Peter? Losing all authority among the Crusaders he went
back, before the battle of Nicea, to Constantinople and turned the
batteries of his abusive eloquence on those he had lately commanded. He
called them robbers and brigands, and said that their sins shut them out
of the Holy Land. In this he follows the sad habit of all, or almost
all, of those who lead their followers into trouble. It is probable that
he had at this moment led three hundred thousand to death. It may be
that his conscience troubled him a little, though in general the fanatic
is superior to such pangs. At any rate Peter calmed himself by the
consideration that his army was chiefly a rascally crowd. This was the
final proof that he was not of the stuff of which leaders are made. The
verdict of the historian is just: "He had neither the prudence, the
coolness, nor the firmness of the commander." He could rouse but not
control. He could preach, but could not conserve the results of his
preaching. Hereafter we shall see him as a preacher chiefly or in
kindred work. Others supply true leadership.
[Sidenote: _Later Leadership Wiser_]
Those who lingered at home, when the armies of Peter the Hermit and
Walter the Penniless started for Jerusalem, may have been of the wiser
sort, and certainly seemed to have profited by the calamities of their
brethren, both in the matter of preparation and in the treatment of the
nations through which they passed. The first army was led by enthusiasm
almost wholly. The second had true military leadership.
[Sidenote: _Christianity Coalesces With Military Spirit_]
[Sidenote: _Defects of Crusading Christianity_]
[Sidenote: _Europe Callous as to Losses_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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