People's Crusade

The Battle of Civetot on 21 October 1096 ended the People's Crusade, the disorganized mass movement that had preceded the main baronial expedition to the Holy Land. A Seljuk force under Kilij Arslan I engaged the crusading peasants, who numbered around 20,000 under commanders including Walter Sans-Avoir, Geoffrey Burel, and Constantine Katakalon, inflicting approximately 3,000 casualties. The defeat effectively destroyed the movement as a fighting force. A portion of the survivors subsequently joined the First Crusade, meaning the People's Crusade contributed a remnant of manpower to the organized military expedition that followed, though the main campaign itself had been extinguished at Civetot.