And the results of the first crusade seemed to indicate that God had willed it. Following the lead of roving preachers with names like Peter the Rabbit, Peter the Hermit. Stan, you're always making history less cool. Fine. Following preachers like Peter the Hermit, thousands of peasants and nobles alike volunteered for the first crusade. It got off to kind of a rough start because pilgrims kept robbing those they'd encounter along the way. Plus, there was no real leader, so there were constant rivalries between nobles about who could supply the most troops.