It has been customary to attribute the actual initiation of the crusades to the fiery eloquence of Peter the Hermit. This man was a native of Picardy, and was possessed of a spirit as restless as the seas that washed the shores of that northern province of France. He at one time seems to have followed the life of a soldier, but his ardent mind demanded higher entertainment than the gossip of camps and exploits of the field. The pursuit of letters, in an age so barren of literary resources, soon wearied him. Ecclesiastical duties seemed also a dreary routine. Like many of the nobler spirits of his day, he deserted the world and in the seclusion of his own thoughts sought communion with Heaven. His mind, unfurnished with information of the actual world, filled itself with visions. From ecstatic solitude he emerged at times to sway the masses with the eloquence of a second John the Baptist. According to tradition, he made the pilgrimage to Palestine, the sight of whose holy places inflamed his spiritual zeal, while the atrocities perpetrated upon his fellow-Christians by the Turks rent his heart. Together with Simeon, the venerable Patriarch of Jerusalem, he wept over the desolation of Zion. He there conceived the sublime purpose of rousing all Europe to take up arms against the common enemy. One day, while praying before the Holy Sepulchre, he heard the voice of Christ saying, “Peter, arise! hasten to proclaim the tribulations of My people.” Bearing a letter from the patriarch, he went to Rome and summoned Pope Urban II., as the Vicegerent of Jesus, to listen to this new evangel from the ascended Lord. Urban perceived in the monk’s fervor the signs of the will of Heaven, and commissioned him to proclaim it to the nations of Europe. It is unfortunate for the romance of this part of Peter’s life that it is unconfirmed by any contemporary records. Anna Comnena, the Greek annalist, who lived in Peter’s day, declares that, while he started upon the pilgrimage, he did not reach Jerusalem. It is best to regard Peter’s career as having been inspired by the crusading project already determined upon by others. His eloquence was like the first rush of steam from a newly opened volcano; it could not have generated the mighty force that upheaved Europe and “hurled it against Asia.”