In this chapter, Peter the Hermit preaches the crusade to liberate Jerusalem from the Turks; the Pope and the western European rulers pick it up; Alexius Comnenus, the Byzantine Emperor, succeeds in channelling the Crusaders' energies to Syria and Palestine, where they carve out a set of new Christian kingdoms. See also notes on Islamophobia, Anna Comnena, whether the Crusades were a just war, the Celts among the crusaders, cannibalism, the Holy Lance and the Assizes of Jerusalem.
