Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, given a late Gothic setting in this illumination from the Livre des Passages d'Outre-mer, of c 1490 (Bibliothèque National)

The Council of Clermont was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Catholic Church, which was held in November 1095 at Clermont, France and triggered the First Crusade. Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, painting from c. ... Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, painting from c. ... The western facade of Reims Cathedral, France. ... The new buildings of the library. ... A synod (also known as a council) is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. ... The name Catholic Church can mean a visible organization that refers to itself as Catholic, or the invisible Christian Church, viz. ... Events The country of Portugal is established for the second time. ... Clermont-Ferrand is a city of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of approximately 140,000. ... Combatants Christendom, Catholicism West European Christians, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia Seljuks, Arabs and other Muslims The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the dual goals of liberating the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslims and freeing the Eastern Christians from Muslim...

Background

In 1095 Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus sent envoys to the west requesting military assistance against the Seljuk Turks. The message was received by Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza; later that year, in November, Urban called the Council of Clermont to discuss the matter further. In convoking the council, Urban urged the bishops and abbots whom he addressed directly, to bring with them the prominent lords in their provinces. This is a list of Byzantine Emperors. ... Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus Alexius I (1048–August 15, 1118), Byzantine emperor (1081–1118), was the third son of John Comnenus, the nephew of Isaac I Comnenus (emperor 1057–1059). ... The Seljuk coat of arms was a double headed eagle The Seljuk Turks (also Seldjuk, Seldjuq, Seljuq; in modern Turkish Selçuklular; in Persian سلجوقيان SaljÅ«qiyān; in Arabic سلجوق SaljÅ«q, or السلاجقة al-Salājiqa) were a major branch of the Oghuz Turks and a dynasty that ruled parts of... Pope Urban II (1042 – July 29, 1099), born Otho of Lagery (alternatively: Otto or Odo), was a Pope from 1088 to July 29, 1099. ... The Council of Piacenza was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Roman Catholic Church, which took place from March 1 to March 5, 1095, at Piacenza. ...

The Council lasted from November 18 to November 28, and was attended by about 300 clerics from throughout France. Urban discussed Cluniac reforms of the Church, and also extended the excommunication of Philip I of France for his adulterous remarriage to Bertrade of Montfort. On November 27, Urban spoke for the first time about the problems in the east, as he declared bellum sacrum against the Muslims who had occupied the Holy Land and were attacking the Eastern Roman Empire. is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Cluniac Reform was the time of the purification and scourging of the Roman Catholic Church during the 11th century. ... Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ... Philip I (23 May 1053 – 29 July 1108) was King of France from 1060 to his death. ... Bertrade de Montfort (c. ... is the 331st day of the year (332nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... A religious war is a war justified by religious differences. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Holy Land. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Byzantine Empire. ...

There are six main sources of information about this portion of the council: the anonymous Gesta Francorum ("The Deeds of the Franks") influencing others: Fulcher of Chartres, Robert the Monk, Baldric, archbishop of Dol, and Guibert de Nogent, who were apparently present at the council; also a letter survives that was written by Urban himself in December of 1095. The so-called Gesta Francorum (The Deeds of the Franks, in full De Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum) is a Latin chronicle of the First Crusade (1096-1099) by an anonymous author. ... Fulcher of Chartres (born around 1059 in or near Chartres) was a chronicler of the First Crusade. ... Robert was a chronicler of the First Crusade. ... Baldric, Balderic or Baudry of Dol (c. ... Guibert (1053-1124), of Nogent, historian and theologian, was born of noble parents at Clermont-en-Beauvoisis, and dedicated from infancy to the church. ...

According to Fulcher of Chartres who wrote a version of the speech in Gesta Francorum Jerusalem Expugnantium, Urban addressed various abuses of the church such as simony and the lack of adherence to the Peace of God: Look up simony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... ...

Let those who have been accustomed unjustly to wage private warfare against the faithful now go against the infidels and end with victory this war which should have been begun long ago. Let those who for a long time, have been robbers, now become knights. Let those who have been fighting against their brothers and relatives now fight in a proper way against the barbarians. Let those who have been serving as mercenaries for small pay now obtain the eternal reward. Let those who have been wearing themselves out in both body and soul now work for a double honor. [1]

In Gesta Dei per Francos by Robert the Monk, writing about twenty years after the council, an extended version of the speech presents the call to the "race of the Franks" as a peroration climaxing Urban's call for orthodoxy, reform and submission to the Church. Robert records that the pope asked western Christians, poor and rich, to come to the aid of the Greeks in the east, because "Deus vult," ("God wills it"), the rousing cry with which Urban ended his final address. Robert records that Urban promised remission of sins for those who went to the east, although he probably did not mean what later came to be called indulgences. Robert recorded that Urban's emphasis was on reconquering the Holy Land rather than aiding the Greeks; the intervening decades and the events of the First Crusade had certainly shifted the emphasis. According to Robert, Urban listed various gruesome offenses of the Muslims: Latin for God Wills It. ... In the theology of Roman Catholicism, an indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to God for a Christians sins. ... For other uses, see Holy Land (disambiguation). ... Combatants Christendom, Catholicism West European Christians, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia Seljuks, Arabs and other Muslims The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the dual goals of liberating the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslims and freeing the Eastern Christians from Muslim... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ...

They circumcise the Christians, and the blood of the circumcision they either spread upon the altars or pour into the vases of the baptismal font.

and more alleged atrocities expressed in inflammatory images that were derived from hagiography, but did not mention indulgences. Perhaps with the wisdom of hindsight, Robert makes Urban advise that none but knights should go, not the old and feeble, nor priests without the permission of their bishops, "for such are more of a hindrance than aid, more of a burden than advantage... nor ought women to set out at all, without their husbands or brothers or legal guardians." Hagiography is the study of saints. ...

About the same time, Baldrick, archbishop of Dol, also basing his account generally on Gesta Francorum, focused on the offenses of the Muslims and the reconquest of the Holy Land in terms likely to appeal to chivalry. Like Fulcher he also recorded that Urban deplored the violence of the Christian knights of Gaul. "It is less wicked to brandish your sword against Saracens," Baldrick's Urban cries, comparing them to the Amalekites. The violence of knights he wanted to see ennobled in the service of Christ, defending the churches of the East as if defending a mother. Baldrick asserts that Urban, there on the spot, appointed the bishop of Puy to lead the crusade. For other uses, see Holy Land (disambiguation). ... According to the Book of Genesis and 1 Chronicles, Amalek (עֲמָלֵק; Standard Hebrew ʿAmaleq, Tiberian Hebrew ʿĂmālēq) was the son of Eliphaz and the grandson of Esau (Gen. ...

Guibert, abbot of Nogent, was an eye witness; he also recorded that Urban's emphasis was reconquest of the Holy Land, but not necessarily to help the Greeks or other Christians there; Urban's speech, in Nogent's version, emphasized the sanctity of the Holy Land, which must be in Christian possession so that prophecies about the end of the world could be fulfilled. An angel blows a trumpet into Guiberts ear, declaring moral truths. ... For other uses, see Prophecy (disambiguation). ... Many religious faiths teach that the end of the world will occur at some point in the future. ...

On the last day of the council, a general call was sent out to the knights and nobles of France. Urban apparently knew in advance of the day that Raymond IV of Toulouse, exemplary for courage and piety, was fully prepared to take up arms. Urban himself spent a few months preaching the Crusade in France, while papal legates spread the word in the south of Italy, during which time the focus presumably turned from helping Alexius to taking Jerusalem; the general population, upon hearing about the Council, probably understood this to be the point of the Crusade in the first place. For other uses, see Knight (disambiguation) or Knights (disambiguation). ... Raymond IV of Toulouse (c. ...

Urban's own letter, addressed to the faithful "waiting in Flanders," does not mention Jerusalem at all; he only calls for help for the Eastern Churches, and appoints Adhemar of Le Puy to lead the Crusade, to set out on the day of the Assumption of Mary, August 1 A mitred Adhemar carrying the Holy Lance in battle. ... The Assumption has been a subject of Christian art for centuries. ...

External links

• Medieval Sourcebook: Five versions of Urban's sermon