The Council of Clermont — Urban II Calls the Crusade
At Clermont, Pope Urban II urges the knights of Europe to march east — a sermon whose exact words are lost but whose consequences lasted centuries.
In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in France, Pope Urban II called on Western knights to aid Eastern Christians and take back Jerusalem, after the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos had requested military help. Chroniclers like Fulcher of Chartres and Robert the Monk wrote down versions of the speech only years later, and they all differ. The crowd's reported cry — "Deus vult," God wills it — became the crusading motto.
Perspective
We don't actually know what Urban said — every surviving version was written after Jerusalem fell, with the ending already known. That's the historiographical lesson of Clermont: the sources for one of history's most consequential speeches are all retrofits. What is certain is the response, which wildly exceeded anything Urban or Alexios wanted — the emperor asked for mercenaries and got migrating armies.
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What was The Council of Clermont — Urban II Calls the Crusade?
In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in France, Pope Urban II called on Western knights to aid Eastern Christians and take back Jerusalem, after the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos had requested military help. Chroniclers like Fulcher of Chartres and Robert the Monk wrote down versions of the speech only years later, and they all differ. The crowd's reported cry — "Deus vult," God wills it — became the crusading motto.
When did The Council of Clermont — Urban II Calls the Crusade happen?
The Council of Clermont — Urban II Calls the Crusade: 1095 CE.
Why does The Council of Clermont — Urban II Calls the Crusade matter?
We don't actually know what Urban said — every surviving version was written after Jerusalem fell, with the ending already known. That's the historiographical lesson of Clermont: the sources for one of history's most consequential speeches are all retrofits. What is certain is the response, which wildly exceeded anything Urban or Alexios wanted — the emperor asked for mercenaries and got migrating armies.