page_title: Walter Sans Avoir
hierarchical_section_title: Walter Sans Avoir
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: gri_33125008050011 (find matches) Title: Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance Year: 1870 (1870s) Authors: Jacob, P. L., 1806-1884 Subjects: Middle Ages Civilization, Medieval Civilization, Renaissance Costume Military art and science Christian life Publisher: London&#160;: Bickers &amp; Son Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: -claiming the decrees which had been promulgated there. Thenceforward all,in spite of age, sex, or social position, were carried away by the same enthu-siasm. Family ties were broken, riches were no longer held of any account.The question was not who had taken up the cross, but who had hesitatedto do so. A poet of the time says, I hold no man a true knight who refusesto go willingly, with his whole heart and with all the means in his power, tothe assistance of God, who so greatly needs it. Women of every rank sewedthe cross to their clothing, children of every age marked it on their innocentbodies. Monks left the retreat where they had hoped to peacefully end theirexistence, hermits came out of their caves and forests, and even the very * God wills it. THE CRUSADES. robbers of the highway came forward, confessed their crimes, and swore toexpiate them in the ranks of the holy army. The train was laid, the matchwas lighted, and for two centuries the Crusades were waged continually, with Text Appearing After Image: Fig. 101.—Reception of Gautier-sans-Avoir by the King of Hungary, who permits him to passthrough his territory with the Crusaders.—From a Miniature in the Histoire des Empereurs,a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century (Library of the Arsenal, Paris). a few intervals of rest, caused by the enormous sacrifice of men and moneyentailed by this gigantic undertaking, which, inspired and controlled by anardent faith, was persisted in, in spite of every reverse and every disaster.The spring of the year 1096 witnessed the first departure of the u6 THE CRUSADES. Crusaders, in two numerous bodies, under the orders of Peter the Hermithimself, and of a poor but valiant warrior, Gautier-sans-Avoir (Fig. 101).But these undisciplined masses, forced to support themselves on their roadby pillage, were dispersed and nearly destroyed by the nations through whosecountries they had to pass, and who were ruined by their advent as they mighthave been by an army of locusts. Only a few thousand ever reached Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Walter Sans Avoir was the lord of Boissy-sans-Avoir in the Île-de-France. He was mistakenly known as Walter the Penniless, but while his name literally means "Walter without property", it actually derives from the name of his demesne and, ultimately, the motto of his family, Sans avoir Peur.
  As lieutenant to Peter the Hermit he co-led the People's Crusade at the beginning of the First Crusade. Leaving well before the main army of knights and their followers, Walter led his knights and pilgrims through the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Serbian and Bulgarian province of the Eastern Roman Empire, traveling separately from Peter. While they passed through Germany and Hungary uneventfully, Walter's followers plundered the Belgrade area, drawing reprisals upon themselves. From here they continued to Constantinople under Byzantine escort.
  Walter and Peter joined forces at Constantinople where Alexius I Comnenus provided transport across the Bosporus. Despite Peter's entreaties to restrain themselves, the Crusaders engaged the Turks at once and were cut to pieces. Peter had returned to Constantinople, either for reinforcements or to protect himself.
context_section_description: Walter Sans Avoir (in French Fr. Gautier Sans-Avoir; died 21 October 1096) was the lord of Boissy-sans-Avoir in the Île-de-France. He was mistakenly known as Walter the Penniless, but while his name literally means "Walter without property", it actually derives from the name of his demesne and, ultimately, the motto of his family, Sans avoir Peur ("Fearless").
  As lieutenant to Peter the Hermit he co-led the People's Crusade at the beginning of the First Crusade. Leaving well before the main army of knights and their followers, Walter led his knights and pilgrims through the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Serbian (Syrmian) and Bulgarian province of the Eastern Roman Empire, traveling separately from Peter. While they passed through Germany and Hungary uneventfully, Walter's followers plundered the Belgrade area, drawing reprisals upon themselves. From here they continued to Constantinople under Byzantine escort.
  Walter and Peter joined forces at Constantinople where Alexius I Comnenus provided transport across the Bosporus. Despite Peter's entreaties to restrain themselves, the Crusaders engaged the Turks at once and were cut to pieces. Peter had returned to Constantinople, either for reinforcements or to protect himself. But Walter was killed, allegedly pierced by seven arrows on 21 October 1096 when the Seljuk leader Kilij Arslan attacked him and his followers.
caption: Reception of Walter Sans Avoir by the King of Hungary, who permitted him to pass through his territory with the Crusaders.
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