Illustration of the Children's Crusade
Children's Crusade Gallery
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The Children's Crusade was supposedly launched in 1212 by the 12-year old French boy Stephen de Cloyes. More than 50,000 children were thought to have been sold into slavery when they thought that they were boarding ships that would take them to the Holy Land, but many historians disbelieve that this Crusade ever occurred.
This illustration depicts children happily singing and praying on the ships bearing them to the Holy Land. If there were any truth to the stories of the Children's Crusade, these ships would actually be taking them to slavery - which makes it strange that this image looks like it came from a children's book. And is that Gandalf standing there with them?
