Who Called for the First Crusade?

The First Crusade was called by Pope Urban II, who delivered the call at the Council of Clermont in November 1095. Urban was a Frenchman, born Odo of Châtillon around 1035, a former monk of Cluny, a former Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, and a refugee in France at the moment of the call. His election as pope in 1088 had been contested by the antipope Clement III, supported by the Emperor Henry IV, and Urban spent most of his early pontificate in exile from Rome. The speech that Urban gave on 27 November 1095 launched the entire Crusading movement, leading directly to the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 and the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

For the broader story, see the main article on the First Crusade and the causes of the Crusades. For the council itself, see what happened at the Council of Clermont.

Who Was Urban II?

Urban II, born Odo of Châtillon around 1035, was a French monk and churchman who rose through the ranks of the Cluniac reform movement. He had been Bishop of Ostia, a Cardinal, and a papal legate before being elected pope on 12 March 1088. His election was contested by the antipope Clement III, supported by Emperor Henry IV, and Urban spent much of his early pontificate in exile from Rome. His call for the First Crusade in 1095 was made in part to strengthen his political position.

Urban was a brilliant orator, a skilled politician, and a deeply devout monk. He was, by all accounts, a charismatic figure who could move an audience to tears. His speech at Clermont, although we do not have the exact text, is described in several contemporary sources. The most important is the account of Fulcher of Chartres, who heard the speech in person.

What Did Urban Say?

The exact text of Urban’s speech is not preserved, but several versions were recorded by chroniclers. The most famous is that of Fulcher of Chartres, who heard the speech firsthand. According to Fulcher, Urban spoke of:

Urban also reportedly referred to the troubled state of the West, where knights were fighting and killing each other, and the need to redirect this violence against external enemies. He promised that those who died on the expedition would receive immediate entry to heaven, and those who returned would receive honor and indulgence.

The speech electrified the audience. According to the chroniclers, the crowd interrupted the pope with cries of “Deus vult! Deus vult!”—“God wills it!”—which would become the slogan of the entire Crusading movement. The date 27 November 1095 is usually given for the speech, although the council ran for several days.

What Happened After the Speech?

After the speech at Clermont, Urban continued to preach the Crusade in France and Italy. He did not live to see the result: he died on 29 July 1099, two weeks after the capture of Jerusalem, without ever learning of the success. His successor, Paschal II, received the news and continued to support the new Crusader States.

The preaching of the Crusade spread rapidly across Western Europe. Bishops and wandering preachers, most famously Peter the Hermit, took up the message. By the time the main armies gathered in 1096, the response was beyond anything Urban had anticipated. The causes of the Crusades include the religious enthusiasm that Urban’s preaching helped to unleash.

Why Did Urban Call the Crusade?

Urban’s motives were complex. He was responding to a direct appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos for military help against the Seljuk Turks. He was also trying to strengthen his own position against the antipope Clement III and the German emperor. He wanted to reassert papal authority over the violent feudal nobility of Western Europe, channeling its energies in a direction that enhanced the Church’s prestige. And he was deeply concerned about the disruption of Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land, especially after the Seljuk capture of Jerusalem in 1076.

The fact that the call was so successful surprised even Urban. The response was far beyond anything he had anticipated, and the People’s Crusade of 1096 was a sign of how powerful the popular appeal had become. The expedition that followed, the First Crusade, was the largest military operation mounted in Western Europe since the collapse of the Roman Empire.

A Note on the Sources

The principal source for Urban’s speech at Clermont is Fulcher of Chartres, who heard the speech in person and recorded it in his Historia Hierosolymitana. Other versions are preserved in the accounts of Robert the Monk, Baldric of Bourgueil, and Guibert of Nogent. Each of these chroniclers wrote several years after the event, and each shaped the speech to fit his own purposes. The most famous version, in which Urban describes the suffering of Christians in the East, is Fulcher’s. Modern historians use all the versions to reconstruct what Urban actually said, but the differences between the accounts are not very large. The basic message is the same: a call to march to the defense of the Holy Land, with the promise of spiritual reward.