13th–14th centuries
Crusade of the Pastoreaux
1320·Sud-ouest de la France, Aragon
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
Toulouse, Albi, Cahors, Castelsarrasin, Verdun-sur-Garonne (500 killed), Montclus (337 killed)
Bands of young men, shepherds, and the poor formed in the North of the kingdom, claiming to be called to deliver the Holy Land. Unable to set sail, they moved southwestward through France, attacking the Jewish communities of the towns they passed through.
Toulouse, Albi, Cahors, Castelsarrasin, Verdun-sur-Garonne — where the besieged defended themselves in a tower before perishing there — then, across the border, Aragon and the fortress of Montclus. The consuls and royal officers stood aside or were overwhelmed; Jacques II of Aragon had those responsible for Montclus pursued, and the seneschal of Carcassonne had some of them hanged.
These bands did not target only the Jews: they also turned on the king's officers and the clerics who protected them, and it was this that brought about their suppression. The following year, the accusation of a leper conspiracy would take over.
- Period :
- 13th–14th centuries
- Type :
- Military repression
- Region :
- Western Europe
- Country :
- France et Espagne
Continuateur de Guillaume de Nangis ; Bernard Gui ; documents de la couronne d'Aragon.