Why Did Pope Urban II Encourage The Crusades

Historian Arnold J. Toynbee said, “Sooner of later, man has always had to decide whether he worships his own power or the power of God.” In regards to the Crusades, the popes in charge chose to worship their own power – yet they got thousands of Europeans to worship the power of God. The Crusades were a series of campaigns in which Europeans tried to take the Holy Land from the Muslims. Pope Urban II headed the First Crusade, which lasted from 1096 to 1099, after he received a request for military aid from Alexios I. Alexios I was the Byzantine ruler, and his empire was facing attacks from the Seljuk Turks. The Crusades soon overtook all aspects of European society, as the promise of salvation and wealth was too great to pass up. 31 years later,

with Pope Innocent III in charge, the Crusades were still going as strong as ever. While some may argue that Pope Urban II and Pope Innocent III orchestrated the Crusades to uphold Catholic values throughout Europe, thereby making their primary motivations religious, in actuality the popes were driven by political factors: they wanted to gain power over kings as well as lessen internal conflict by giving Europeans a common enemy.
One major reason why Pope Urban II so strongly encouraged the Crusades was because they were a way for him to advance politically, as they allowed him to obtain even more power than English royalty possessed.

Pope Urban II, just like many popes before him, was a part of the Investiture Controversy, which stemmed from a dispute between King Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. For the duration of the 11th and 12th centuries, religious leaders like Urban faced conflict with the ruling class of Europe, and this sense of contention impacted and fueled many of Urban’s decisions, including the choice he made to so strongly encourage the Crusades. Due to the fact that there were “political forces at work… since the Crusades were also tied to the Investiture Controversy” and because Urban attempted to and succeeded at “usurp[ing] the prerogative most secular rulers had claimed traditionally to declare an enemy and muster troops for battle,” it is undeniable that he was caught up in – and winning – a political battle, which means that he must have been acting with politics in the forefront of his mind (Crawford). Furthermore, Pope Urban II used the crusades as a way of undermining the king's authority while simultaneously increasing his own – now he was the one who was calling the shots and sending the European people off to war, when usually, that job belonged to the king. Although this may seem insignificant, the pope knew that if the king could not even control his own people, he would have no power left. The pope's decision to rally the people up for a crusade was a meticulously calculated one that effectively and purposefully resulted in him becoming the most politically powerful person in Europe, when previously almost all of his power stemmed from

religion.
Another significant political motivation for Pope Urban II when directing the First Crusade was his hope that the Crusades would help him mend the dissension within Europe at that time. In Europe during the Middle Ages, people’s lives were generally filled with poverty, the imminent possibility of death, and overall feelings of hopelessness. This translated into widespread violence and chaos amongst the different European states, which Pope Urban II was understandably very concerned about. Thankfully, he had a solution in mind: he believed that “such energy could be focused on fighting against the Muslims in the Holy Land” and sure enough, “Soon knights and soldiers left their petty quarrels and traveled to the east to fight against the infidel,” going to prove that not only was the pope politically driven – he was also politically adept (Runciman). Urban II saw that the Europeans were a greatly divided and combative people, and he thought that the Crusades would be an effective remedy for this. Just as he had predicted, the European people, when given an alternate outlet for their everyday feelings of anger and fear besides each other, were able to truly unite. All things considered, it is evident that the pope set the Crusades in motion more so to bring his country's people together than to fulfill any religious or economic agenda. After all, it is every leader’s responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of his or her people before pursuing outside opportunities, and Pope Urban II was no exception.
Although some may argue that Pope Innocent III was primarily religiously motivated when encouraging the Crusades because of his desire to massacre Cathars, in truth this desire was deeply rooted in politics. During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church refused to accept any differences in religion, even among Christians. If one did not follow the word of the pope, they could be excommunicated (doomed to Hell). For example, in the Great Schism of 1054, Pope Leo IX condemned the entire Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity. What is more, Pope Innocent III called the Albigensian Crusade, which lasted 20 years, exclusively to rid Europe of heretics. Catharism was a separate sect of Christianity within Europe at that time, and Cathars, its members, denounced all sacraments, ignored the words of popes and bishops, and believed that only the poor were true followers of good. Unfortunately for them, “The pope …would tolerate no challenge to his authority,” and because “he believed that the Cathars were heretics,” he was “determined to wipe them out,” which may lead one to believe that Pope Innocent III wanted to kill these “heretics” because he felt that they went against his religious values (Schlager). In reality, however, the pope wanted to eradicate Cathars because they went against him. He knew that he, as the leader of the Catholic Church and as a person believed to be a direct link to God, could use religion as an excuse to commit otherwise inexcusable actions. Innocent used the guise of religion as a way to eliminate every possible threat to him, the Cathars included, and by seeking out and killing Cathars during the Crusades, he ensured that they would never be able to reach the point of posing a real danger to his authority. This political action and ones like it consequently allowed the pope to remain in his position of power.
As has been noted, the popes used the Crusades chiefly as a political tool to maintain and strengthen their own power and improve relations between warring European states. By directing all of the Europeans’ internal hatred onto Muslims, Pope Urban II helped to unify Europe, which goes to show (even if it is hard for people today to accept) that wicked actions can result in positive outcomes. Furthermore, through the genocide of Cathars, which was carried out by Crusaders, Pope Innocent III ensured that there would be nobody left to challenge his command. History reveals time and time again that corrupt and bigoted leaders are often the most inspiring and most successful in their endeavors, no matter how morally objectionable those endeavors may be. Indeed, 5-6 million Jewish people never would have died if Hitler were not so charismatic. While any leader has the capacity to be vicious, without charm that leader stands alone, and one must have an especially magnetic and sly personality to be able to sell people on the mass killings of others.