The New Student's Reference Work/Peter the Hermit
Pe′ter the Her′mit, the apostle of the first crusade for the recovery of Jerusalem from the Mohammedans, was born at Amiens, France, about 1050. After serving as a soldier he became a monk, and is said to have made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land before 1094, when he began the preaching that started so many thousands on the famous march to Jerusalem. A portion of the first army was led by Peter himself, but at the siege of Antioch he attempted to desert, and, when several miles on his way home, was brought back by the soldiers of Tancred to receive a public reprimand. When Jerulalem was taken by the crusaders in 1099, Peter preached a sermon on the Mount of Olives. At the end of the crusade he returned to Europe and founded a monastery at Huy in Belgium, where he died on July 11, 1115.