Note 38 — BOOK I.

Anna Comnena calls Peter the Hermit Cucupièttore, which appears to be taken from the Picard word kiokio, little, and from the word Petrus, Peter, little Peter. If we are to believe Oderic-Vital, the hermit had still another name, and was called Peter of Achiris. He is styled in this manner in the chronicle of the counts of Anjou: “Heremita quidam Petrus Achiriensis.” William of Tyre informs us that he was a hermit in name and in fact: “Heremita nomine et effectu.” Adrian Barland, in his book De Gestis Ducum Brabantiæ, expresses himself thus: “Petrus Heremita, Ambianensis, vir nobilis, primâ ætete rei militari deditus, tametsi litteris optimè imbutus, sed corpore deformis ac brevis staturæ,” &c. The life of Peter the Hermit has been written by André Thevet, in his “History of the most Illustrious and Learned Men of their Ages,” and by Father Outtreman, a Jesuit. Several families have pretended to be descended from Peter the Hermit. The most rational and best supported claim is that of the family of Souliers, which still exists in the Limousin.