The First Crusade was a time of political upheaval, military glory, and historical significance. However, it was also mass hysteria. While it was meant to mobilize knights and experienced soldiers, the ideas spread across all people including the lower classes. This is why when the lords and princes arrived in Europe, they were also accompanied by hordes of pilgrims without weapons or combat training.
But not everyone followed their lords to the Holy Land. As the ideas of the crusade spread, there was also a tide of Millennialism, where some believed this was the end of the world. While it might seem mad today, you must remember that this was a time before fact-checking and mass media. Everything spread through word of mouth, so things were easily lost in translation.
More importantly, it was a time of extreme religious faith where most people lived their lives destitute, with only the promise of their immortal spirit being saved as their comfort. This meant that countless people were ready to take the cross if it meant securing their immortal souls and that anything remotely out of the ordinary was considered sacred.
One of the most fascinating cases was during the People’s Crusade. Instead of being led by experienced generals, these were stirred up by preachers, local barons, and in this case, a goose.
Yes, that is right. A goose led a band of Crusaders. The idea of animals having divine abilities is not new as there were many stories of saints having miraculous encounters with animals.
But the story goes that one young woman who decided to become a pilgrim brought her goose along for the journey to the Holy Land. As the goose ran ahead, the woman followed after her beloved pet. This caused rumors to circulate that the goose that the goose was controlled by the Holy Spirit and would lead them to Jerusalem.
Unfortunately, the goose died while still in France. No one knows if this band of pilgrims ever reached the Holy Land or if this story is true. There are some theories that this story was invented by the chroniclers to mock the peasantry and perhaps justify some of the failures of the Crusades.
Still, it is amusing to think about and the chroniclers captured it perfectly in the work The Deeds of God Through the Franks.
‘What I am about to say is ridiculous, but has been testified to by authors who are not ridiculous. A poor woman set out on the journey, when a goose, filled with I do not know what instructions, clearly exceeding the laws of her own dull nature, followed her. Lo, the rumour flying on Pegasean wings, filled the castles and cities with the news that even geese had been sent by God to liberate Jerusalem. Not only did they deny that this wretched woman was leading the goose, but said that the goose led her. At Cambrai they assert that, with people standing on all sides, the woman walked through the middle of the church to the alter, and the goose followed behind, in her footsteps, with no one urging it on. Soon after, we have learned, the goose died in Lorraine; she would certainly have gone more directly to Jerusalem if, the day before she set out, she had made herself a holiday meal for her mistress. We have attached this incident to the true history so that men may know that they have been warned against permitting Christian seriousness to be trivialized by vulgar fables.’
-Guibert of Nogent, chronicle of ‘The Deeds of God Through the Franks’
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