Pope Urban II's call for the First Crusade and popular response

¶ … Pope Urban II call the First Crusade and why was the response so enthusiastic?

Pope Urban II was the cause for the First Crusade, which was carried out against the Muslim heathens who had taken over the control of certain places that belonged to Christians. The attempt made by Christians to re capture their lost land and also to re-establish them in Jerusalem is known as the First Crusade. Called by Pope Urban II, it was a great success, and many more such crusades followed over the next few years.

Pope Urban II was the person who was responsible for the ultimate launch of the First Crusade. He was born as Odo or Otto or Ottho de Lagery, into a knightly family settled in from Chatillon-sur-Marne in the province of Champagne. The young Otto studied at Reims. This was where the young boy was to later become canon, and even later, Archdeacon. When Otto was about thirty years old, in the year 1070, he moved to Cluny, which was in actuality a predecessor of the Cistercian order developed in later years. One must remember that it was the Cistercian Order that would eventually play an extremely important and kinship role to the Templars. In the year 1078 he became Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and also Pope Gregory's chief adviser. Otto de Lagery was crowned the Pope in the year 1088, when he was about forty-six years old. It is said that it was the speech that Otto gave on November 27th, 1095 that would ultimately bring him Papal fame. He spoke to the people and said, "...God has put you as stewards over his family to minister to it. Happy indeed will you be if he finds you faithful in your stewardship. You are called shepherds; see that you do not act as hirelings."

Lord Jesus pointed out to His people that "if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" and accordingly, Pope Urban or Otto de Lagery of the Roman See and his followers of archbishops, bishops, abbots and priests took up the cause and set about to deliver extremely eloquent speeches to their followers, enthusing them to save their souls by doing exactly what the beloved Lord Jesus was telling them to do, or in other words, to take up the ways of the Lord, and if they were to find that they did not have sufficient money for the cause, to believe in Divine Mercy. The First Crusade had been launched successfully. The prevailing views and opinions about crusading exist in the main part due to the 'Die Entstehung des Kreuzzugsgedankens', by Carl Erdmann, in 1935. The book mentions Pope Urban II's message to his people and to the faithful in his speech of 1095, in which he attempted to summon his people to launch a fight in aid of the Eastern Christians, which later came to be known as the First Crusade. The Crusade was in fact a synthesis of the several existing ideas of the time, namely, the Holy War, and the Pilgrimage. It is not clear, however, how much of this Crusade was understood initially by his people, because of the undeniable fact that most of the devoted were in truth motivated by monetary gain.

Carl Erdmann further stated in his book that crusades were in effect a by product of the eleventh century Reform Movement, for whom the ultimate purpose was not only a complete purification of the Church, but also of all Christians, including soldiers and warriors. In short, said the author, a crusade was nothing but a method in which the excess energies of the people of the time, and their violent temperaments and a military nature could be channelized creatively into doing well, and towards sacred ends. Therefore, Jerusalem, the so-called professed end of a Crusade, was more like a sort of enlistment tool rather than a serious objective or plan. HEJ Cowdery has been a strong critic of Carl Erdmann's style of thinking, and he asks the most important question, of whether or not the rescue of the Holy City was one of the most important missions that Pope Urban hoped to achieve through his call for the First Crusade. Or, on the other hand, as Erdmann had said, was the call for the First Crusade made in defense of Eastern Christians, and also in the hope of achieving some form of resolution to the problem of strained relations between Constantinople and Rome?

Why did Pope Urban call the First Crusade, and what did he achieve? Was the call a success? As mentioned earlier, it was Pope Urban's speech in 1095 that brought him Papal fame. The Pope Urban II delivered a very carefully prepared speech to a huge audience in Clermont in Southern France. The number of people who had come to hear him speak was so many that the meeting had to be made in the open air, so that everyone could be accommodated. The response to the speech, which was also the very beginning of the crusading movement soon to happen all across those parts was what could be termed 'extraordinary' and the consequences were far reaching as well. The reason for the crusade call may be perhaps related to the fact that earlier in the year, the then Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus had sent a missive to the Pope in Constantinople, asking Pope Urban II and the leaders of Western Europe of the time to help them in defending the country against foreign invaders -- the Seljuk Turks, who had succeeded in conquering most of Asia Minor, and who may attack Constantinople too. Perhaps Pope Urban II thought that this would be a good opportunity to help to mend the always-strained relations between the eastern and the western factions of the Christian Church, while at the same time currying favor with the Emperor. Perhaps, too, Pope Urban II desired to show his authority upon the Lords of Western Europe, who had earlier challenged the reserved right of the Pope to have the only and final say in the appointment of bishops and other similar matters of the Church. Furthermore, perhaps Pope Urban II thought of this as an opportunity to finally do something about the constant warfare between the Knights who were also the sons of those lords.

In general opinion, the First Crusade was more of a fiasco than anything serious; what happened after the call from Pope Urban II and his call to the Christians of the land of Jerusalem to reclaim their land from Islamic control was that a motley crew of knights and soldiers from the countries of Western Europe who made their way through Turkey, to the border between the Christian and the Muslim worlds. In less than a single year, almost all the horses that belonged to the Crusaders had died, and it looked like the entire operation would be a complete failure. It also looked like the taking of Jerusalem was inevitable, but the fact was that in 1097, the Crusaders were able to achieve exactly what they set out to do. It must be remembered that Pope Urban II was a great leader, and it was his promise of a 'Truce of God' that succeeded in inciting people into fighting for a cause, or in other word, a crusade.

This was why in November 1095; Pope Urban called for a meeting of his council, and immediately, a great big crowd of laymen, clergy and others all gathered in an open field to listen to what this man had to say to them. What Pope Urban said exactly, no one knows for sure, but there are five different accounts of the same speech available, each completely different from the other. The gist of the speech, however, is that the plight of the Middle East was indeed sad, because of the fact that Muslims now dominated it. The Christian Churches in the Middle East had all been converted into mosques, and some others, into stables for cattle. The very streets where Jesus had walked when he was living on the earth were now being trampled on by heathens. Furthermore, Christians everywhere were being prosecuted and tortured, and women were being raped. The power and the authority of Christianity were being eroded and broken up by Muslim heathens, and therefore, pilgrimages to the Holy Land had become impossible. Therefore, Pope urban purportedly said, the Franks must be able to finally set aside their petty squabbles and quarrels, and give up their time and energy for the cause of Christianity, and save Christendom from further ruin. He quoted the Scriptures as well, to incite and to encourage participation from among the nobles and knights and other members of the public. Pope Urban admonished all his listeners that any one who did not join in the cause and who held back for any reason whatsoever, even if it as for the love of their family would be considered to be quite unworthy of Christ the Lord.

In the same way, anyone that took it upon them to forsake the goods of this world, in order to crusade in the Holy Land would be able to inherit eternal life. Pope Urban reportedly also promised a complete remission of their sins to whoever promised to undertake and take part in the First Crusade to liberate the East from libels and heathens. He said, "...advance boldly, as knights of Christ, and rush as quickly as you can to the defense of the Eastern Church. For she it is from whom the joys of your whole salvation have come forth, who poured into your mouths the milk of divine wisdom, which set before you the holy teachings of the gospel." The great crowd of people then rushed forward, and proclaimed loudly, "It is the Will of God! It is the Will of God!" Pope urban answered them saying that yes, indeed, it was the true will of God hat the crusade to save the Middle East must be launched immediately, and that God had proven His will by uniting them all in their cry for liberation. They must remember, said Pope Urban, that since it was God Himself that had placed this cry upon their hearts, it must be taken up as a battle cry, and that they must now proceed to embroider the sign of the Cross on their clothes. When the meeting was finished, Pope Urban II wrote a letter to all the crusaders, with a gist of his speech, and also with the additional reassurance to all the people that they would be able to achieve a remission of all their sins if they were to join in the crusade with him.