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The crusade of the holy land
The crusade of the holy land
The crusade of the holy land
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According to the Medieval Sourcebook Urban II: Speech at Clermont 1095 written by Robert the Monk, he is stating Pope Urban II is trying to let the people of the Catholic Church know what is happening to Jerusalem and also to the Christians in the East. In the speech, Christians in the West began to be moved to embark on a dangerous journey to fight in the Holy Land after hearing the Pope Urban's speech at Clermont, leaving the people of the Catholic Church a deal if they go and take back the Holy Land, the pope riled them up to get them fired up to want to fight and then promised forgiveness and washing away of all the sins for all who died in the service of Christ. Pope Urban II first talks of how the peoples lands are being depopulated
In this documentary report I shall look at the account of Urban II’s speech we are given by Fulcher of Chartres and assess it’s usefulness according to it’s likely reliability and it’s concurrence with the other accounts of Urban’s speech and the evidence we have from his letters. I shall first look at who Fulcher of Chartres was, as his role in society is important for understanding how he may have come to be aware of or present at the council of Clermont. A brief look at Fulcher will also provide an insight into what his opinions may have been and how this may colour his representation of the events. I shall also look at the message as we see it in Fulcher’s version of events and then at the overall view we are given from the evidence. I shall also look at the conclusions that ‘modern’ scholars have come to. Finally I shall look at the outcomes of this council and how much the outcomes reflect the aims we are told about in the accounts of the council of Clermont.
Foss explains, “What Urban needed was an enterprise, clearly virtuous in serving the ends of Christiandome… in these moments of reflection, the popes mind turned towards Jerusalem.” Urban II reflects back on the first taking of the Holy City after the defeat of the Byzantine Empire in 1071, and begins to question what his people know about the Turkish race and really the ideology of Islamic thought. Foss goes on to examine the ignorance of westerners and needed to be “reminded [by the pope] of the infamous heathens, their cruelty and hatred of Christians,” hoping this would justify the first Holy Crusade. However, Foss identifies the creativity of the Pope’s language to persuade the knights and army of the people to embark on the Holy Crusade based on the Muslims cruel actions turned onto their fellow Christians. Claiming the Muslims “Killed captives by torture…poor captives were whipped…and others were bound to the post and used as a target for arrows.” Foss examines the Popes words as an effective effort of persuasion in creating an army of crusaders to help clean “…Holy places, which are now treated with ignominy and polluted with Filthiness” and any sacrifice in Jerusalem is a “promise of a spiritual reward… and death for
The First Crusade is often cited as one of the most damnable consequences of religious fanaticism. A careful inspection of the circumstances and outcomes, however, will reveal a resultant political restructuring of Europe under the banner of Christendom. The purpose of this investigation is to investigate Pope Urban II’s motives in initiating the First Crusade, with a particular focus on the consolidation of the Western Church’s influence in Europe. Among the primary sources that will be consulted are the letter sent by Patriach Alexios of Constantinople to Urban, and an account of Urban’s speech at Clermont. Relevant excerpts from both of these primary sources, as well as contextual evidence and a wide array of historiography, will be taken
In document 1 by Pope Urban II, he stated that the Christians in the west should defend their fellow brethren in the east. He went on to state that Romania had been conquered and had to be taken back from the Turks and Arabs. The subjects had to fight for the land that they stand on to continue being good Christians. If you died fighting for this, you would get instant remission of sins, meaning you would be forgiven for all of their sins. He was the Pope; therefore, he stood on a different level than his subjects, and did not know how they felt about this matter. He had absolute power over everyone as the leader of their religion. In document 2 by Ekkehard in his book Hierosolymita, he praises the speech that Pope Urban gave in 1095 and told of how it le...
It is amazing how much political and military supremacy the papacy position gained when the Crusades began. The First Crusade (1096-1099) was a military expedition initiated by Pope Urban the II to regain the Holy Lands in Jerusalem from the Muslim conquest. The Pope gave a speech requesting military action against Muslim takeover to the French people of Clermont. The speech eventually propagated to other nations for further recruitment. Urban’s political and military involvement helped regain the Holy Lands and save the Christian Crusaders souls. His famous speech changed the course of history in part because its dissemination was overly successful, and assembled over 40,000 Crusaders to do the will of God. Why was Pope Urban II so victorious in recruiting people for the First Crusade, and why was his influence so important?
Saint Leo the Great was the pope in the fifth century. He served as pope for twenty-one years. This century was the time in history when barbarian armies were ravaging the once mighty Roman Empire. Pope Leo strived to increase the influence of the pope. He had the hard job to defend the church from threat of heresy. When Attila the Hun who had already sacked Northern Italian cities and towns was marching toward Rome, Pope Leo headed north to meet him and try to stop the attack. Pope Leo met up with Attila the Hun in the neighborhood of the river of Mincio. It is said that Pope Leo said this to Attila "The senate and the people of Rome, once conquerors of
Other letters penned by Hadewijch seem to both respond directly to and refute the call made by Bernard of Clairvaux in the twelfth century. In his letters In Praise of the New Knighthood, Bernard openly praises the murder of the “Other”, justifying such actions as the defense of the faith: “Yet this is not to say that the pagans are to be slaughtered when there is any other way of preventing them from harassing and persecuting the faithful; but only that it now seems better to destroy them than to allow the rod of sinners to continue to be raised” (129). From Bernard’s perspective, Crusaders have no choice but to destroy
Although all five statements share commonalities, distinct differences exist amongst the recreations of Pope Urban II’s speech in 1095. Variations occur in the deliverance of his message, and the approach taken to persuade the audience for the need of the First Crusade.
In the two years of 755 and 756, Pope Stephen II, inside of what is now known as Italy, was found to be under violent and malicious attack by King Aistulf of the Lombards. Because of this, Pope Stephen II wrote a series of letters to King Pippin III that begged for immediate aid to bring an end to that attack. This series of letters later became known as Letters to King Pippin III. In these letters, Pope Stephen II described horrible interactions between the Lombards and those within the town, and begged that King Pippin III send immediate aid to save the land and those within it. While this is a brief summary, I leave out an important detail—Pope Stephen II uses minuscular blackmail and several manipulative statements in order to get what he wanted.
In 1096 the zealous Christian Crusades began in Europe. The Church wanted to have the Holy Land, ...
“…abandonment of Urban VI by the Cardinals, [and] their election of one of their own
In order for the crusades to begin, the Christians needed to gather an army to travel and fight the forces of Muslims. With all the power being held by monarchies at this time, the church needed to be cleaver in order to gain troops to put their lives on the line. To gain the support of these warriors and dedication of men, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) challenged those morals of men by telling them to grab their weapons and join the holy war to recover the land of Jerusalem. It was not the challenge that convinced men to take part in this war. The promise of “immediate remission of sins” attracted the men to stand up for their religion and beliefs while at the same time, promising them a trip to heaven when life comes to an end. With this statement, men instantly prepared for battle which in a very short period of time gave the church power which has been held by the monarchies. Men of rich and poor prepared for battle, some wearing ...
Contrary to many commonly held notions about the first crusade, in his book, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, Jonathan Riley-Smith sets out to explain how the idea of crusading thought evolved in the first crusade. In his book, Riley-Smith sets out five main arguments to show how these ideas of crusading evolved. Firstly, he argues that Pope Urban’s original message was conventional, secondly that a more positive reaction was drawn from the laity (due to the ideas surrounding Jerusalem), thirdly, that the original message of crusading had changed because of the horrible experiences of the first crusaders, fourth, that due to these experiences the crusaders developed their own concept of what a crusade was, and lastly, that these ideas were refined by (religious) writers and turned into an acceptable form of theology. Riley-Smith makes excellent points about the crusade; however, before one can delve directly into his argument, one must first understand the background surrounding the rise of the first crusade.
“Henry, king not by usurpation, but by the holy ordination of God, to Hildebrand, not pope, but false monk.” This quote from the Letter of Henry IV to Gregory VII portrays a hostile environment. It depicts two leaders, with one of the leaders refusing to acknowledge the other’s title. What was once an alliance turned into a bitter rivalry. The relationship between the popes and the rulers during the Middle Ages were at first, mutual, but as time progressed, these two sides clashed due to internal power struggles.
I follow the noise until I see some light coming from a grated window, not much bigger than a couple hands width. I crawl up on some stones that have been left from some repair work and see through the window easily enough.