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Speech by Pope Urban II Nov. 1095
In 1094 or 1095, Alexios I Komnenos, the Byzantine emperor, was sent to the pope, Urban II, to ask for
aid from the west against the Seljuq Turks who had taken nearly all of Asia Minor from him. At the
council of Clermont, Urban addressed a great crowd and urged all to go to the aid of the Greeks and to
recover Palestine from the rule of the Muslims…
“Most beloved brethren: Urged by necessity, I Urban, by the permission of God's chief bishop and
prelate over the whole world, have come to these parts as an ambassador with a divine admonition for
you, the servants of God. I hoped to find you as faithful and as zealous in the service of God as I had
supposed you to be. But if there is any deformity or crookedness contrary to God's law, with divine help
I will do my best to remove it. For God has put you as stewards over his family to minister it. Happy
indeed will you be if he finds you faithful in your stewardship…
For your brethren who live in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to give
them aid, which has often been promised them. For, as most of you have heard the Turks and Arabs
have attacked them and conquered the territory of Romania [the Byzantine Empire] as far west as the
shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont, which is called the Arm of St. George. They have
occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in seven battles.
They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire. If
you permit them to continue thus for awhile with impunity, the faithful of God will be much more
widely attacked by them. On this account, I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to
publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank foot-soldier and knights, poor and
rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends.
I say this to those who are present, it is meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ
commands it.
All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate
remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested. O what
disgrace if such a despised and base race, which worships demons, should conquer a people which has
the faith of the omnipotent God and has made glorious with the name of Christ.”
(The Crusades: from Medieval European and Muslim Perspectives by Kamran Scot Aghaie, Council on
Islamic Education, p. 20)
Speech by Pope Urban II: The Council of Clermont (Primary Source)
VOCABULARY: prelate:
admonition:
zealous:
stewards / stewardship:
impunity:
beseech:
heralds:
pagans:
remission:
omnipotent:
READING QUESTIONS: What is the goal that Urban hopes to achieve in his proposed crusade (be specific,
use examples from the text)?
What methods does Urban use to convince these Christians to go on a crusade (Find more than one.)?
What does the pope promise for all those who may die in their crusade?
Response to Pope Urban's Appeal (Secondary Sources)
The primary motivation of the Crusaders was based in their faith and their obedience to the Catholic
Church. Later crusaders, upon hearing tales of power, prestige, and loot, may have been more selfish in
their reasons, but this was not as true for the first crusade. Note should still be made about secondary
motives:
“The motives that inspired Europeans to embark on the Crusades varied with the time, the place, and
the individual, but on the first expeditions, to the religious goal of the recapture of the holy places and
their restoration to Christian jurisdiction, the reunion of the Greek and Roman churches, and the
spiritual advantages of the popes' crusading indulgence, the following secular or material objects should
be added:
POLITICAL: to acquire land, fiefs, power in the Middle East; for a ruler, to rid his country or territory of
troublesome and rebellious knights.
SOCIAL: to seek adventure, excitement, the novelty to travel in an exotic world; to gain the respect,
prestige, and status that Crusaders earned.
ECONOMIC: to gain the loot and booty taken by victorious armies; for European townspeople and
bankers, the opportunity to profit from the sale of armor, equipment, horseshoes, fodder; for
innkeepers along the crusading routes.” (Stearns, The Encyclopedia of World History, CDRom Search:
Crusade)
1096-99 The First Crusade. Best recorded and most successful of the Crusades. Five popular, aimless
mass migrations (1096) that emptied whole villages; two (perhaps 7000 under Peter the Hermit and
perhaps 5000 under Walter the Penniless) reached Asia Minor and were annihilated. The NormanFrench baronage flocked to the Cross and converged in three divisions on Constantinople: the Lorrainers
under Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin, via Hungary; the Provençals under Count Raymond
of Toulouse and the papal legate, Adhemar of Puy, via Illyria; the Normans under Bohemund of Taranto
(the most effective leader) via Duazzo by sea and land. Perhaps they were 30,000 in all.
Another party, not mentioned in the above history, also played a large role in the crusade. “Stephen of
Blois, who was married to the formidable Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror, joined Duke Robert
of Normandy – the eldest son of William the Conqueror – and Count Robert of Flanders” (The Cross &
The Crescent by Malcolm Billings, p. 32). This party headed south from Bruges, through southern Italy
and across the Via Egnatia.
[It should be noted that although not a specified goal of Pope Urban II, “violent crusader assaults on
Jewish communities led to terrible massacres in Speyer, Mainz, Cologne, and other Rhineland cities” in
the Spring of 1096. (Stearns, The Encyclopedia of World History, CDRom Search: Crusade)]
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