THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE (1212 A.D.)

S1eems to have arisen from the idea that the main cause of the failure of the Crusades was the sinfulness of the pilgrims. None but the innocent and pure could accomplish the mission. In 1212, thirty thousand boys and girls set out under the boy, Stephen, and twenty thousand from Germany, under Nicholas, a peasant boy. Most of them perish on the way; and others are sold into slavery.