The Children’s Crusade

by Henry Treece

First published 1958

Amazon

3.9(117)

In 1212, Geoffrey and Alys de Villacours join a movement of children and poor pilgrims convinced that faith will open a path to Jerusalem. The march carries them across France towards Marseille, sustained by preaching, hope and rumours of divine protection even as hunger and exhaustion expose the vulnerability of the young travellers.

At the Mediterranean, merchants promise transport but instead sell many of the crusaders into slavery. Geoffrey and Alys are separated before both are carried into the household of Egypt’s governor. Treece uses their attempt to find one another to explore belief, exploitation and survival, building a historical adventure around the disputed medieval traditions remembered as the Children’s Crusade.