January 15, 2012

OWS: The Children's Crusade Redux

By Jeff Lipkes
This year marks the 800th anniversary of the Children's Crusade.  The celebration began early.  There are some intriguing parallels, and contrasts, with OWS as it sputters into the new year. In the spring and summer of 1212, crowds of young people gathered around two charismatic boys: a shepherd from near Chartres called Stephen and a twelve-year-old from Cologne, Nicholas.  Stephen claimed that he had received a letter from Jesus, delivered in person, and Nicholas reported a conversation with an angel.  The boys had been told to lead a Crusade to the Holy Land. Crusading was in the air.  The disastrous Fourth Crusade, launched in 1202, had been diverted to Constantinople and had sacked the capital of Eastern Christianity.  Undeterred, the pope had declared crusades against heretics in southern France in 1208 and against the Muslim conquerors of Spain in the early spring of 1212.  Like the Second and Third Crusades, these were all military...(Read Full Article)