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Gyula the Master of Hungary

Gyula "the Master of Hungary" (23 February 1185-1251) was a very old Hungarian monk living in France who led the Shepherds' Crusade in 1251, murdering Jews and church officials in the French countryside until he and his followers were excommunicated and killed.

Biography[]

"The Master of Hungary" was born in 1185 to a family of Catholic Hungarians, and he was a cynical and wroth veteran of the crusades. It is said that he could speak any language "as if by miracle", and he claimed that the Virgin Mary had ordered him to head to the Holy Land to rescue the captured King Louis IX of France in 1251. 60,000 Parisian peasants joined him in the "Shepherds' Crusade", and he met with Louis' mother, Blanche of Castile. His followers devastated Rouen, Tours, and Orleans, attacking Jews in Amiens and Bourges. The authorities excommunicated the Master of Hungary and his followers, but they resisted arrest. The Master of Hungary was killed in the ensuing battle with the French knights, ending the "crusade".

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