Walter Sans Avoir

Who was Walter Sans Avoir?

Walter Sans Avoir, also mistakenly known as the Penniless, was the lord of Boissy-sans-Avoir in the Île-de-France. As lieutenant to Peter the Hermit he co-led the People's Crusade at the beginning of the First Crusade. Leaving well before the main army of knights and their followers, Walter led his band through the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Serbian and Bulgarian province of the Eastern Roman Empire, traveling separately from Peter. While they passed through Germany and Hungary uneventfully, Walter's followers plundered the Belgrade area, drawing reprisals upon themselves. From here they continued to Constantinople under Byzantine escort.

Walter and Peter joined forces at Constantinople where Alexius I Comnenus provided transport across the Bosporus. Despite Peter's entreaties to restrain themselves, the Crusaders engaged the Turks at once and were cut to pieces. Peter had returned to Constantinople, either for reinforcements or to protect himself. But Walter was killed, allegedly pierced by seven arrows on 21 October 1096 when the Seljuk leader Kilij Arslan attacked him and his followers.