You may have previously heard of the Children’s Crusade, which happened in 1212. And was a total failure. When the Vatican sought recruits to fight Muslim Spain and the Cathars in spring 1212, an unexpected group of volunteers came forward, who were neither mercenaries nor local warriors. The chroniclers at the time called them “pueri.”
In 1977, the Dutch historian Peter Raedts argued that the Latin word “pueri” did not specifically mean children, but anyone who was socially “small.” So “pueri” could be peasants who belonged to the lowest tiers of society. Several sources specifically mention that adult men and women, as well as elderly people, were active in the events of 1212.
Another potential re-definition of the term “pueri” was that it may have generally referred to male adolescents under 15 years old, which at the time was the earliest legal age they could marry. If this was the definition, teenagers were therefore counted as part of the children’s crusade. But the word “infantes” – which specifically means children – also appeared in the sources describing the actual participants of the Children’s Crusade. Which suggests the more limited pueri definition is right.
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