PASTORELLI. - The name *p.* (pastoureaux) was given in the Middle Ages to certain bands of peasants, among whom there were numerous shepherds, who, rising up against their lords, advanced religious pretexts, such as that of the Crusade.
Several uprisings of *p.* are known: 1) During the reign of Philip Augustus, in 1185–86, some peasants expelled from their huts because of the continual wars between feudal lords organized themselves into bands and sacked castles. The young king was forced to undertake a punitive expedition against them in person. He defended himself strongly, but they were largely massacred. This first revolt of the *p.*, as it was called, was a simple uprising, without religious motivation. 2) Toward the end of Philip Augustus’ reign, in 1214, a second uprising of *p.* occurred in Berry, but it was quickly repressed. 3) The principal analogous movement took place when King St. Louis was on Crusade, in 1251. When the news spread that the king had been taken prisoner during Easter festivities, a violent emotion seized the countryside. The example was set in northern France: bands of common folk, joined by women and children, began to go from village to village, saying that it was necessary to go and free the king and conquer Jerusalem. They soon found a leader, called the “Master of Hungary”: he was an old man of about 60 of uncertain origin, pale, thin, with a long beard, who spoke in an enthralling manner. It was believed that he was a Cistercian monk named James. It is certain, however, that the “Master of Hungary” could speak French, Flemish, and Latin. From Brabant, from Hainaut, he crossed Flanders and Picardy; the multitude grew ever larger until it reached Paris. He preached the Crusade not to gentlemen or the rich, whose pride God rejected, but to the poor and the humble, to whom God had reserved the glory of freeing the king and the Holy Places. Under Paris, the *p.* numbered “sixty thousand,” a very large number for those times. “Their leader,” attests the guardian of the Franciscans of Paris, “blesses the people, preaches, distributes crosses (for the Crusade); he has established a new baptism and performs false miracles. When he arrived in Paris, the popular passion against priests was such that, in a few days, several of them were killed, thrown into the sea, or wounded” (Langlois, *V. BIBLICA.*, p. 80). The regent, Blanche of Castile, alarmed by such a display of force, granted an audience to the Master of Hungary, but soon afterward the *p.*, intoxicated by their successes, committed excesses and crimes against religious persons and things; therefore the regent gave orders to attack them. The Master of Hungary perished in combat near Villeneuve-sur-Cher. The remnants of the band were pursued everywhere; some were hanged at Aigues-Mortes, Bordeaux, and even in England. This kind of anticlerical uprising had no sequel.
4) Another similar movement developed in 1320, under King Philip V the Long. Again, the *p.* took up the liberation of the Holy Land. They were led by an apostate monk and an excommunicated priest; their fury was directed especially against the Jews. They committed many excesses, reaching Paris from one side and Avignon from the other. The pope excommunicated them. Repressed, their movement ceased immediately.