Although later Catholic historians and many other scholars disagree, Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris wrote that Peter the Hermit was the true author and originator of the First Crusade, a view also recounted in the anonymous Gesta Francorum – written c. 1100 – and by Albert of Aix in his Historia Hierosolymitanae Expeditionis, and also supported by some modern scholars.

Such historical sources recount that during an early visit to Jerusalem sometime before 1096, Jesus appeared to Peter the Hermit in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and bade him preach the crusade.
This story also appears in the pages of William of Tyre, which indicates that even a few generations after the crusade, the descendants of the crusaders already believed Peter was its originator.
The origin of such a legend is a matter of some interest.
Von Sybel, in his Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges, published in 1841, suggested that in the camp of the paupers (which existed side by side with that of the knights, and grew increasingly large as the crusade took a more and more heavy toll on the purses of the crusaders) some idolization of Peter the Hermit had already begun, parallel to the similar glorification of Godfrey by the Lorrainers.
Although later Catholic historians and many other scholars disagree, Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris wrote that Peter the Hermit was the true author and originator of the First Crusade, a view also recounted in the anonymous Gesta Francorum – written c. 1100 – and by Albert of Aix in his Historia Hierosolymitanae Expeditionis, and also supported by some modern scholars.
Such historical sources recount that during an early visit to Jerusalem sometime before 1096, Jesus appeared to Peter the Hermit in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and bade him preach the crusade. This story also appears in the pages of William of Tyre, which indicates that even a few generations after the crusade, the descendants of the crusaders already believed Peter was its originator. The origin of such a legend is a matter of some interest. Von Sybel, in his Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges, published in 1841, suggested that in the camp of the paupers (which existed side by side with that of the knights, and grew increasingly large as the crusade took a more and more heavy toll on the purses of the crusaders) some idolization of Peter the Hermit had already begun, parallel to the similar glorification of Godfrey by the Lorrainers.
Peter the Hermit