They were two of the leaders of the "Crusade of the Poor People" of 1096-1097:
Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless (also known as Peter of Amiens and Walter Sansavoir) were two of the leaders of the "Crusade of the Poor People? in 1096-1097, an ill-fated prelude to the several campaigns waged in the Holy Lands between 1096 and 1270 that are commonly referred to as the Crusades. In 1095, Pope Urban II called together his bishops and followers at Clermont, France, and told them of the alleged horrors experienced by the Christians of the East at the hands of the Turks. Urban declared to the assembled that Europe was ?too narrow for your large population? and urged them to take up swords against the Saracens who defiled ?that land that floweth with milk an honey,? thus inspiring the Crusaders. Peter, a disheveled former soldier, seized the moment, preaching the ?People?s Crusade? and quickly gathering a following of more than 20,000 Crusaders, including Walter, a French Knight.
