Dbq Pope Urban II Analysis

When Pope Urban II had gave his speech in the clermont concerning the First Crusade he wanted to gather along people for the power that came along with the land by misusing the name of religion and God. suggested in Document 1,”God has conferred upon you above all nations great glory in arms. Accordingly undertake this journey for the remission of your sins,” Pope Urban II had convinced his people a place in heaven and the forgiveness of all sins. There is no religion which allows an individual or a religious army killing of women, children, innocent and unarmed people in the name of God in a so called holy war or just in general. For example, in The Holy Quran (Chapter 5, Verse 32) it states, “…if anyone killed a person, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind; and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if

he saved the life of the whole of mankind…” And also states in The Bible Exodus 20:13 “Thou shalt not kill.” As Pope Urban II is giving the people the false hope to a paradise he is also misleading them into manslaughter and granting more sins among them.

In the perspective of the Pope if the land is won over he gains more authority, wealth, and property. The Crusade for the Pope was more of the land then the ideology. The spiritual preference was the way of manipulating the people into agreeing and joining.
In the Fourth Crusade the birth reason had seemed to flip due to the actions of the soldiers. In that period of time if “God” and the Pope had call for help their would be no other choice than to take part in their mission for the people. In the peasant's perspective you had to bow down to the higher power in this case Pope Urban II however, they joined the Crusade more for the wealth and a better life. Since the peasants

are the lowest class on the chain they had took a part to gain the power they missed out for all those years they were servants for. It states in the text that, “Not only did the crusaders rape and massacre, they made a party of it” As you can see the peasants never really had a sense of authority due to their worth and their poverty but as they joined the Crusade they got whatever they longed for. This caused them to misuse the power and go against the original reason of the Crusade, which was to gain back the holy land from the muslims. Instead they made it into a war of wealth and money hurting and affecting the innocent people around them even the devoted crusaders. “...these men went to fight not only against the enemies of Christ’s cross but even against their friends, wherever the opportunity appeared. In order to relieve their poverty.” Cause of how the peasants had been treated to roughly and inhumane at home they had taken their bitterness out on the helpless people they use to be like. They became into thieves and merciless killers. You would've assumed that the people who have suffered and were once hard working would understand the pain of an innocent person little did you know the Crusade would bring out the worst of them. Power, wealth, and the means of a stable life is what the peasants wanted from this war.