1-156-633 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Battle during First Crusade (People's Crusade), 1096-1099, (c1490). Foreground: mounted knights unhorsed and killed. Centre: melee of hand-to-hand fighting with, on left, man wielding two-sided battleaxe or bipennis. Right background: reinforcements streaming out of city gates. Peter The Hermit (c1050-c1115) was popularly credited with instigating first crusade but his role was not as significant as medieval historians claimed. Detail from Passages fait Outremer.