Revisiting a Powerful Myth

We all know, or believe we know, the story of the children’s crusade. In the year 1212, many thousands of French and German children spontaneously set out on foot toward the Mediterranean, thence hoping to make their way to Jerusalem and evict the infidels from the Holy Land. Some may remember the event from parental readings of popular children’s stories such as Jerusalem and the Crusades (1913), Joan’s Crusade (1947), The Children’s Crusade (1958), An Army of Children (1978) and The Scarlet Cross (2006)—a small selection from a significant body of literature.

Others will be familiar with Sting’s song “Children’s Crusade” (available as a ringtone), or perhaps one or more of the 20th-century literary or operatic versions by Bertolt Brecht, Gabriele d’Annunzio, Benjamin Britten, Gian Carlo Menotti and Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five is subtitled The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with...