Apr 112009
A pious opinion was current in Europe in the Middle Ages that the Holy Land could not be captured except by the pure of heart. In accordance with this belief, thousands of children were gathered under the leadership of a young shepherd of Vendome, France and a youth from Cologne, Germany for an expedition to Palestine in 1212. Many died of hunger and exhaustion on the way to Brindisi where the remainder were sold as slaves to the Moors.