Crusade of the Great Companies 1365

International audienceLouis the First, the king of Hungary, recognised the danger a few years after the appearance of the Ottomans on the European continent and actively participated in the preparation of a crusade which was devoted to erasing the enemies of Christ from the Balkans. To achieve this he, along with the Pope Urban V, the emperor Charles IV and the French king Charles V designed a plan to send the most feared soldiers of their time, the “great companies” against the “saracens” the “proud disciples of Lucifer”. After several years of planning, and complicated political manoeuvres, the crusade was finally launched and resulted in the migration of tens of thousands of people from the east of France towards the Hungarian Kingdom. Under the leadership of the famous Arnauld de Cervole, “the Archpriest”, the routiers crossed the border of the Holy Roman Empire and intended to move towards the valley of the Danube to Hungary and later on to the Balkans. However, the “freie Reichsstadt” Strasbourg hindered the crusaders in cross ing the Rhine. If the crusaders were prevented from going to Hungary on land then they had an alternative route. The second option of the crusaders’ plan was to cross Italy with the Green Count, Amade VI of Savoy and to embark on the galleys in Venice, while the Hungarian army descended to the south to meet the mercenaries. Thus, the great companies continued their journey and returned to Burgundy