The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness

THE CRUSADE OF THE CHILDREN is a fictionalized story about a young French shepherd boy who believed he was called by God to preach a crusade of children to free the Holy Land from the Moslems. The fever spread as he preached before thousands of people and he attracted a following of about 30,000 children, many under the age of twelve. This seething mass of children set out for Marseilles where they believed ships would carry them to the Holy Land, which was under control of the Moslems. After many days, many of the children deserted and returned to their homes. However, about five thousand sailed away in ships provided by two unsavory characters. Two ships were wrecked off the island of San Pietro, but the others reached a Mohammedan port and slave market.