Download HISTORY 3137(Fall 2012) – Crusade and Jihad

Nipissing University
HISTORY 3137(Fall 2012) – Crusade and Jihad
First Written Assignment
An analysis of Pope Urban II’s speech at Clermont
Ever since the first crusade itself, a speech given by Pope Urban II’s at Clermont in
central France to has been seen as the spark that led to a great explosion, an
unprecedented campaign, involving people from many parts of Europe, in an effort to
recover the Holy Sepulcher for Christendom. Some modern historians tend to deemphasize the speech, but there's no doubt that contemporaries, once Jerusalem had been
taken, looked back to this one incident as a turning point.
At the Internet Medieval Sourcebook, there are five different versions of the speech
recorded. All of them were written some years later, when everyone knew how things
had turned out, but some at least are the product of men who were present on the day the
speech was delivered. More than records of what was said, they are records of what the
writers thought was important about the entire crusading enterprise.
Nevertheless, I am asking you to write an analysis of the speech(es) as a definer and
motivator of a specific audience, the people, clerical and lay, who heard Pope Urban
speak and who reacted positively. Although the writers are not modern reporters, they
tried to present their readers with a picture of the Pope and his audience, and a credible
report of the kind of speech that motivated so unprecedented event as the First Crusade.
There are two possible ways at least of approaching this project. First, you can put
yourself in the position of the Pope who is trying to move his audience. What values,
images, and promises did he think would motivate his listeners? Second, what did the
Pope (according to these writers) think his audience was like? These two approaches are
really simply different emphases and are not mutually exclusive.
Remember this paper like other papers is part of an ongoing conversation about the first
crusade. I strongly suggest that you take a point raised by some modern or medieval
writer and make your paper a reaction to that other person's view -- whether through
agreement or some degree of disagreement. This will give your paper the kind of focus
that will be satisfying to the reader.
The speeches are found at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html
Length: 8 pages
Due: October 4
Worth: 20%