Urban had planned the departure of the crusade for 15 August 1096, the Feast

of the Assumption, but months before this a number of unexpected armies of

peasants and petty nobles set off for Jerusalem on their own, led by a
charismatic priest named Peter the Hermit of Amiens. Peter was the most
successful of the preachers of Urban's message, who developed an almost
hysterical enthusiasm among his followers, although he was probably not an
"official" preacher sanctioned by Urban at Clermont. A century later he was
already a legendary figure; William of Tyre believed that it was Peter who had
planted the idea for the crusade in Urban's mind (which was taken as fact by
historians until the nineteenth century). It is commonly believed that Peter led
a massive group of untrained and illiterate peasants who did not even have
any idea where Jerusalem was, but in fact there were many knights among the
peasants, including Walter the Penniless.

The Assumption of Mary is the traditional belief held by Christians of the

Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and some Protestant
churches such as Lutheranism and Anglo-Catholic Anglicans that the Virgin
Mary at the end of her life was physically taken up into heaven. The Roman
Catholic Church teaches as dogma that the Virgin Mary, "having completed
the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."
This means that it claims that Mary was transported into Heaven with her
body and soul united. This doctrine was dogmatically and infallibly defined by
Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, in his Apostolic Constitution
Munificentissimus Deus. The feast day recognizing Mary's assumed passage
into Heaven is celebrated as The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary by Roman Catholics, and as the Dormition by Orthodox
Christians. In those denominations that observe it, the Assumption is a major
festival, commonly celebrated on August 15. This is a Holy Day of Obligation
in many Roman Catholic jurisdictions.