1212 AD – The Children’s Holy Crusade To Battle - Once They Marched After Adults into War - Today They March After Adult Morals cover art

1212 AD – The Children’s Holy Crusade To Battle - Once They Marched After Adults into War - Today They March After Adult Morals

1212 AD – The Children’s Holy Crusade To Battle - Once They Marched After Adults into War - Today They March After Adult Morals

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 1212 AD – The Children’s Holy Crusade To Battle - Once They Marched After Adults into War - Today They March After Adult Morals Published 9/24/2025 Metadata Children filled the roads of Europe in 1212, convinced that innocence and faith could reclaim Jerusalem. Known as the Children’s Crusade, thousands of boys, girls, and poor adults followed Nicholas of Cologne, marching barefoot and hungry across the Alps. They never reached the Holy Land, but their zeal reveals how children imitate what they see — then it was crusading war, today it is the morals and examples of adults. Extended notes explore the origins, hardships, and collapse of this tragic movement, alongside the timeless warning it leaves for discipleship today. Make sure you Like, Share, Subscribe, Follow, Comment, and Review this episode and the entire COACH series. Keywords: Children’s Crusade, Nicholas of Cologne, Rhineland, 1212 AD, crusades, medieval church, innocence, zeal, discipleship, church history, Cologne Cathedral, Innocent III Hashtags: #ChurchHistory #Crusades #FaithLessons #Discipleship Description: In 1212, thousands of children and poor adults from the Rhineland set out on a bold yet misguided mission: to march peacefully to Jerusalem and win the Holy Land through innocence and prayer. Led by a boy named Nicholas, they crossed the Rhine, braved the Alps, and reached Italy — only to be scattered, starving, and dismissed by city leaders. History remembers it as the “Children’s Crusade,” but it was more than a tale of youth gone astray. It was a mirror of society’s influence: young people doing what they saw the adults of their world doing. Then it was crusade and war; today it is our morals, habits, and priorities. Children rarely follow our words, but they almost always imitate our example. This episode uncovers the facts of the Rhineland movement, its tragic outcome, and its lasting lesson for discipleship in every age. Join us as COACH explores how church history warns us that what we model, the next generation will mirror. Chunk 1 – Cold Hook It is the spring of 1212, in Cologne [KO-luhn] — a city that still stands today in western Germany, along the Rhine River. Crowds fill the cathedral square, pressed shoulder to shoulder. The air is alive with rumor — a boy named Nicholas has seen visions. He speaks with a fire beyond his years, promising that Jerusalem will fall not to swords but to the prayers of children. They come barefoot, some in rags, others clutching small crosses stitched to their cloaks. Bells toll, and thousands surge forward, convinced that God Himself will part the seas as He once did for Moses. Their parents plead. Priests hesitate. But still, they march. Boys, girls, and the destitute poor — leaving homes behind, chasing a dream of holy war without weapons. The path will lead them through mountains, storms, and foreign cities. Some will never return. And all of it began with a child’s cry that the world should have stopped to question. But what happens when innocence tries to walk the road of armies? [AD BREAK] Chunk 2 – Intro From the That’s Jesus Channel, welcome to COACH — where Church origins and church history actually coach us how to walk boldly with Jesus today. I’m Bob Baulch. On Wednesday, we stay between 500 and 1500 AD. In this episode we are in the year 1212 AD and uncovering how thousands of children and poor adults marched from Cologne toward Jerusalem — a movement remembered as the Children’s Crusade, and a story that still warns us today. Chunk 3 – Foundation The year is 1212. Europe is restless after the failure of the Fourth Crusade, when Christian armies attacked Constantinople instead of reaching Jerusalem. Ordinary people feel betrayed, abandoned by leaders who chased power more than faith. Out of this despair rises a new and shocking movement. In the Rhineland — today’s western Germany — a boy named Nicholas appears. Chronicles call him a shepherd, perhaps no older than twelve. He begins to preach in Cologne [KO-luhn], a city already bustling with traders and pilgrims. Clergy there remember him standing in the cathedral, calling others to follow him south. One letter from Cologne describes, QUOTE, “A certain boy named Nicholas stirred up the minds of the simple folk with his words, leading them southward in the belief that the sea would part before them as for Moses,” END QUOTE (Anonymous of Cologne, c. 1212–1213). Thousands respond. Boys and girls, poor farmhands, wandering laborers — they are called pueri [PWEH-ree — Latin for “youth” or “the lowly”]. They sew small crosses onto their clothes, just as official crusaders once did. They vow not to fight with weapons but to trust their innocence and prayer to reclaim Jerusalem. No papal summons had been given. No noble lords endorsed the plan. Yet the movement swells — not by command, but by rumor, vision, and desperation. Chunk 4 – Development By summer 1212, ...
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