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Medieval Sourcebook:
Urban II (1088-1099):
Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095
Six Versions of the Speech
In 1094 or 1095, Alexios I Komnenos, the Byzantine emperor,
sent to the pope, Urban II, and asked for aid from the west against
the Seljuq Turks, who taken nearly all of Asia Minor from him.
At the council of Clermont Urban addressed a great crowd and urged
all to go to the aid of the Greeks and to recover Palestine from
the rule of the Muslims. The acts of the council have not been
preserved, but we have five accounts of the speech of Urban which
were written by men who were present and heard him.
Versions by:
- Fulcher of Chartres: Gesta Francorum
Jerusalem Expugnantium
- Robert the Monk: Historia Hierosolymitana
- Gesta Francorum [The Deeds of
the Franks]
- Balderic of Dol
- Guibert de Nogent: Historia quae
dicitur Gesta Dei per Francos
- Urban II: Letter of Instruction, December
1095
1. Fulcher of Chartres
[adapted from Thatcher] Here is the one by the chronicler Fulcher
of Chartres. Note how the traditions of the peace and truce of
God - aimed at bringing about peace in Christendom - ties in directly
with the call for a Crusade. Does this amount to the export of
violence?
Most beloved brethren: Urged by necessity, I, Urban, by the permission
of God chief bishop and prelate over the whole world, have come
into these parts as an ambassador with a divine admonition to
you, the servants of God. I hoped to find you as faithful and
as zealous in the service of God as I had supposed you to be.
But if there is in you any deformity or crookedness contrary to
God's law, with divine help I will do my best to remove it. For
God has put you as stewards over his family to minister to it.
Happy indeed will you be if he finds you faithful in your stewardship.
You are called shepherds; see that you do not act as hirelings.
But be true shepherds, with your crooks always in your hands.
Do not go to sleep, but guard on all sides the flock committed
to you. For if through your carelessness or negligence a wolf
carries away one of your sheep, you will surely lose the reward
laid up for you with God. And after you have been bitterly scourged
with remorse for your faults-, you will be fiercely overwhelmed
in hell, the abode of death. For according to the gospel you are
the salt of the earth [Matt. 5:13]. But if you fall short in your
duty, how, it may be asked, can it be salted? O how great the
need of salting! It is indeed necessary for you to correct with
the salt of wisdom this foolish people which is so devoted to
the pleasures of this -world, lest the Lord, when He may wish
to speak to them, find them putrefied by their sins unsalted and
stinking. For if He, shall find worms, that is, sins, In them,
because you have been negligent in your duty, He will command
them as worthless to be thrown into the abyss of unclean things.
And because you cannot restore to Him His great loss, He will
surely condemn you and drive you from His loving presence. But
the man who applies this salt should be prudent, provident, modest,
learned, peaceable, watchful, pious, just, equitable, and pure.
For how can the ignorant teach others? How can the licentious
make others modest? And how can the impure make others pure? If
anyone hates peace, how can he make others peaceable ? Or if anyone
has soiled his hands with baseness, how can he cleanse the impurities
of another? We read also that if the blind lead the blind, both
will fall into the ditch [Matt. 15:14]. But first correct yourselves,
in order that, free from blame , you may be able to correct those
who are subject to you. If you wish to be the friends of God,
gladly do the things which you know will please Him. You must
especially let all matters that pertain to the church be controlled
by the law of the church. And be careful that simony does not
take root among you, lest both those who buy and those who sell
[church offices] be beaten with the scourges of the Lord through
narrow streets and driven into the place of destruction and confusion.
Keep the church and the clergy in all its grades entirely free
from the secular power. See that the tithes that belong to God
are faithfully paid from all the produce of the land; let them
not be sold or withheld. If anyone seizes a bishop let him be
treated as an outlaw. If anyone seizes or robs monks, or clergymen,
or nuns, or their servants, or pilgrims, or merchants, let him
be anathema [that is, cursed]. Let robbers and incendiaries and
all their accomplices be expelled from the church and anthematized.
If a man who does not give a part of his goods as alms is punished
with the damnation of hell, how should he be punished who robs
another of his goods? For thus it happened to the rich man in
the gospel [Luke 16:19]; he was not punished because he had stolen
the goods of another, but because he had not used well the things
which were his.
"You have seen for a long time the great disorder in the
world caused by these crimes. It is so bad in some of your provinces,
I am told, and you are so weak in the administration of justice,
that one can hardly go along the road by day or night without
being attacked by robbers; and whether at home or abroad one is
in danger of being despoiled either by force or fraud. Therefore
it is necessary to reenact the truce, as it is commonly called,
which was proclaimed a long time ago by our holy fathers. I exhort
and demand that you, each, try hard to have the truce kept in
your diocese. And if anyone shall be led by his cupidity or arrogance
to break this truce, by the authority of God and with the sanction
of this council he shall be anathematized."
After these and various other matters had been attended to, all
who were present, clergy and people, gave thanks to God and agreed
to the pope's proposition. They all faithfully promised to keep
the decrees. Then the pope said that in another part of the world
Christianity was suffering from a state of affairs that was worse
than the one just mentioned. He continued:
"Although, O sons of God, you have promised more firmly than
ever to keep the peace among yourselves and to preserve the rights
of the church, there remains still an important work for you to
do. Freshly quickened by the divine correction, you must apply
the strength of your righteousness to another matter which concerns
you as well as God. For your brethren who live in the east are
in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to give them
the aid which has often been promised them. For, as the most of
you have heard, the Turks and Arabs have attacked them and have
conquered the territory of Romania [the Greek empire] as far west
as the shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont, which is
called the Arm of St. George. They have occupied more and more
of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in seven
battles. They have killed and captured many, and have destroyed
the churches and devastated the empire. If you permit them to
continue thus for awhile with impurity, the faithful of God will
be much more widely attacked by them. On this account I, or rather
the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere
and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and
knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians
and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I
say this to those who are present, it meant also for those who
are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it.
"All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in
battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins.
This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested.
O what a disgrace if such a despised and base race, which worships
demons, should conquer a people which has the faith of omnipotent
God and is made glorious with the name of Christ! With what reproaches
will the Lord overwhelm us if you do not aid those who, with us,
profess the Christian religion! Let those who have been accustomed
unjustly to wage private warfare against the faithful now go against
the infidels and end with victory this war which should have been
begun long ago. Let those who for a long time, have been robbers,
now become knights. Let those who have been fighting against their
brothers and relatives now fight in a proper way against the barbarians.
Let those who have been serving as mercenaries for small pay now
obtain the eternal reward. Let those who have been wearing themselves
out in both body and soul now work for a double honor. Behold!
on this side will be the sorrowful and poor, on that, the rich;
on this side, the enemies of the Lord, on that, his friends. Let
those who go not put off the journey, but rent their lands and
collect money for their expenses; and as soon as winter is over
and spring comes, let hem eagerly set out on the way with God
as their guide."
Source:
Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in
Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., A Source
Book for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905), 513-17
2. Robert the Monk
Robert perhaps 25 years after the speech, but he may have been
present at the counicl. He used the Gesta version (see below,
number 3).
Oh, race of Franks, race from across the mountains, race chosen
and beloved by Godas shines forth in very many of your works set
apart from all nations by the situation of your country, as well
as by your catholic faith and the honor of the holy church! To
you our discourse is addressed and for you our exhortation is
intended. We wish you to know what a grievous cause has led us
to Your country, what peril threatening you and all the faithful
has brought us.
From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople
a horrible tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought
to our ears, namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians,
an accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God, a generation
forsooth which has not directed its heart and has not entrusted
its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of those Christians and
has depopulated them by the sword, pillage and fire; it has led
away a part of the captives into its own country, and a part it
has destroyed by cruel tortures; it has either entirely destroyed
the churches of God or appropriated them for the rites of its
own religion. They destroy the altars, after having defiled them
with their uncleanness. They circumcise the Christians, and the
blood of the circumcision they either spread upon the altars or
pour into the vases of the baptismal font. When they wish to torture
people by a base death, they perforate their navels, and dragging
forth the extremity of the intestines, bind it to a stake; then
with flogging they lead the victim around until the viscera having
gushed forth the victim falls prostrate upon the ground. Others
they bind to a post and pierce with arrows. Others they compel
to extend their necks and then, attacking them with naked swords,
attempt to cut through the neck with a single blow. What shall
I say of the abominable rape of the women? To speak of it is worse
than to be silent. The kingdom of the Greeks is now dismembered
by them and deprived of territory so vast in extent that it can
not be traversed in a march of two months. On whom therefore is
the labor of avenging these wrongs and of recovering this territory
incumbent, if not upon you? You, upon whom above other nations
God has conferred remarkable glory in arms, great courage, bodily
activity, and strength to humble the hairy scalp of those who
resist you.
Let the deeds of your ancestors move you and incite your minds
to manly achievements; the glory and greatness of king Charles
the Great, and of his son Louis, and of your other kings, who
have destroyed the kingdoms of the pagans, and have extended in
these lands the territory of the holy church. Let the holy sepulchre
of the Lord our Saviour, which is possessed by unclean nations,
especially incite you, and the holy places which are now treated
with ignominy and irreverently polluted with their filthiness.
Oh, most valiant soldiers and descendants of invincible ancestors,
be not degenerate, but recall the valor of your progenitors.
But if you are hindered by love of children, parents and wives,
remember what the Lord says in the Gospel, "He that loveth
father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me." "Every
one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father,
or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake shall
receive an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life."
Let none of your possessions detain you, no solicitude for your
family affairs, since this land which you inhabit, shut in on
all sides by the seas and surrounded by the mountain peaks, is
too narrow for your large population; nor does it abound in wealth;
and it furnishes scarcely food enough for its cultivators. Hence
it is that you murder one another, that you wage war, and that
frequently you perish by mutual wounds. Let therefore hatred depart
from among you, let your quarrels end, let wars cease, and let
all dissensions and controversies slumber. Enter upon the road
to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and
subject it to yourselves. That land which as the Scripture says
"floweth with milk and honey," was given by God into
the possession of the children of Israel Jerusalem is the navel
of the world; the land is fruitful above others, like another
paradise of delights. This the Redeemer of the human race has
made illustrious by His advent, has beautified by residence, has
consecrated by suffering, has redeemed by death, has glorified
by burial. This royal city, therefore, situated at the centre
of the world, is now held captive by His enemies, and is in subjection
to those who do not know God, to the worship of the heathens.
She seeks therefore and desires to be liberated, and does not
cease to implore you to come to her aid. From you especially she
asks succor, because, as we have already said, God has conferred
upon you above all nations great glory in arms. Accordingly undertake
this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance
of the imperishable glory of the kingdom of heaven.
When Pope Urban had said these and very many similar things in
his urbane discourse, he so influenced to one purpose the desires
of all who were present, that they cried out, "It is the
will of God! It is the will of God!" When the venerable Roman
pontiff heard that, with eyes uplifted to heaven he gave thanks
to God and, with his hand commanding silence, said:
Most beloved brethren, today is manifest in you what the Lord
says in the Gospel, "Where two or three are gathered together
in my name there am I in the midst of them." Unless the Lord
God had been present in your spirits, all of you would not have
uttered the same cry. For, although the cry issued from numerous
mouths, yet the origin of the cry was one. Therefore I say to
you that God, who implanted this in your breasts, has drawn it
forth from you. Let this then be your war-cry in combats, because
this word is given to you by God. When an armed attack is made
upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers
of God: It is the will of God! It is the will of God!
And we do not command or advise that the old or feeble, or those
unfit for bearing arms, undertake this journey; nor ought women
to set out at all, without their husbands or brothers or legal
guardians. For such are more of a hindrance than aid, more of
a burden than advantage. Let the rich aid the needy; and according
to their wealth, let them take with them experienced soldiers.
The priests and clerks of any order are not to go without the
consent of their bishop; for this journey would profit them nothing
if they went without permission of these. Also, it is not fitting
that laymen should enter upon the pilgrimage without the blessing
of their priests.
Whoever, therefore, shall determine upon this holy pilgrimage
and shall make his vow to God to that effect and shall offer himself
to Him as a, living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, shall
wear the sign of the cross of the Lord on his forehead or on his
breast. When,' truly',' having fulfilled his vow be wishes to
return, let him place the cross on his back between his shoulders.
Such, indeed, by the twofold action will fulfill the precept of
the Lord, as He commands in the Gospel, "He that taketh not
his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me."
Source:
Dana C. Munro, "Urban and the Crusaders", Translations
and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History,
Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1895), 5-8
3. The Gesta Version
Circa 1100-1101, an anonymous writer connected with Bohemund
of Antioch wrote the Gesta francorum et aliorum Hierosolymytanorum;
(The Deeds of the Franks) This text was used by the later writers
as a source.
When now that time was at hand which the Lord Jesus daily points
out to His faithful, especially in the Gospel, saying, "If
any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me," a mighty agitation was carried
on throughout all the region of Gaul. (Its tenor was) that if
anyone desired to follow the Lord zealously, with a pure heart
and mind, and wished faithfully to bear the cross after Him, he
would no longer hesitate to take up the way to the Holy Sepulchre.
And so Urban, Pope of the Roman see, with his archbishops, bishops,
abbots, and priests, set out as quickly as possible beyond the
mountains and began to deliver sermons and to preach eloquently,
saying: "Whoever wishes to save his soul should not hesitate
humbly to take up the way of the Lord, and if he lacks sufficient
money, divine mercy will give him enough." Then the apostolic
lord continued, "Brethren, we ought to endure much suffering
for the name of Christ - misery, poverty, nakedness, persecution,
want, illness, hunger, thirst, and other (ills) of this kind,
just as the Lord saith to His disciples: 'Ye must suffer much
in My name,' and 'Be not ashamed to confess Me before the faces
of men; verily I will give you mouth and wisdom,' and finally,
'Great is your reward in Heaven."' And when this speech had
already begun to be noised abroad, little by little, through all
the regions and countries of Gaul, the Franks, upon hearing such
reports, forthwith caused crosses to be sewed on their right shoulders,
saying that they followed with one accord the footsteps of Christ,
by which they had been redeemed from the hand of hell.
Source:
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 28-30.
See also Rosalind M. Hill, ed. and trans., Gesta francorum
et aliorum Hierosolymitanorum: The Deeds of the Franks (London:
1962), [Latin text with English translation.]
4. Version of Balderic of Dol
Balderic was archbishop of Dol. He wrote in the early twelth
century and his main source was the Gesta
. . . "We have beard, most beloved brethren, and you have
heard what we cannot recount without deep sorrow how, with great
hurt and dire sufferings our Christian brothers, members in Christ,
are scourged, oppressed, and injured in Jerusalem, in Antioch,
and the other cities of the East. Your own blood brothers, your
companions, your associates (for you are sons of the same Christ
and the same Church) are either subjected in their inherited homes
to other masters, or are driven from them, or they come as beggars
among us; or, which is far worse, they are flogged and exiled
as slaves for sale in their own land. Christian blood, redeemed
by the blood of Christ, has been shed, and Christian flesh, akin
to the flesh of Christ, has been subjected to unspeakable degradation
and servitude. Everywhere in those cities there is sorrow, everywhere
misery, everywhere groaning (I say it with a sigh). The churches
in which divine mysteries were celebrated in olden times are now,
to our sorrow, used as stables for the animals of these people!
Holy men do not possess those cities; nay, base and bastard Turks
hold sway over our brothers. The blessed Peter first presided
as Bishop at Antioch; behold, in his own church the Gentiles have
established their superstitions, and the Christian religion, which
they ought rather to cherish, they have basely shut out from the
ball dedicated to God! The estates given for the support of the
saints and the patrimony of nobles set aside for the sustenance
of the poor are subject to pagan tyranny, while cruel masters
abuse for their own purposes the returns from these lands. The
priesthood of God has been ground down into the dust. The sanctuary
of God (unspeakable shamel) is everywhere profaned. Whatever Christians
still remain in hiding there are sought out with unheard of tortures.
"Of holy Jerusalem, brethren, we dare not speak, for we are
exceedingly afraid and ashamed to speak of it. This very city,
in which, as you all know, Christ Himself suffered for us, because
our sins demanded it, has been reduced to the pollution of paganism
and, I say it to our disgrace, withdrawn from the service of God.
Such is the heap of reproach upon us who have so much deserved
it! Who now serves the church of the Blessed Mary in the valley
of Josaphat, in which church she herself was buried in body? But
why do we pass over the Temple of Solomon, nay of the Lord, in
which the barbarous nations placed their idols contrary to law,
human and divine? Of the Lord's Sepulchre we have refrained from
speaking, since some of you with your own eyes have seen to what
abominations it has been given over. The Turks violently took
from it the offerings which you brought there for alms in such
vast amounts, and, in addition, they scoffed much and often 'at
Your religion. And yet in that place (I say only what you already
know) rested the Lord; there He died for us; there He was buried.
How precious would be the longed for, incomparable place of the
Lord's burial, even if God failed there to perform the yearly
miracle! For in the days of His Passion all the lights in the
Sepulchre and round about in the church, which have been extinguished,
are relighted by divine command. Whose heart is so stony, brethren,
that it is not touched by so great a miracle? Believe me, that
man is bestial and senseless whose heart such divinely manifest
grace does not move to faith! And yet the Gentiles see this in
common with the Christians and are not turned from their ways!
They are, indeed, afraid, but they are not converted to the faith;
nor is it to be wondered at, for a blindness of mind rules over
them. With what afflictions they wronged you who have returned
and are now present, you yourselves know too well you who there
sacrificed your substance and your blood for God.
"This, beloved brethren, we shall say, that we may have you
as witness of our words. More suffering of our brethren and devastation
of churches remains than we can speak of one by one, for we are
oppressed by tears and groans, sighs and sobs. We weep and wail,
brethren, alas, like the Psalmist, in our inmost heart! We are
wretched and unhappy, and in us is that prophecy fulfilled: 'God,
the nations are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have
they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps; the dead bodies
of thy servants have been given to be food for the birds of the
heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and
there was none to bury them.' Woe unto us, brethren! We who have
already become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing, and derision
to them round about us, let us at least with tears condone and
have compassion upon our brothers! We who are become the scorn
of all peoples, and worse than all, let us bewail the most monstrous
devastation of the Holy Land! This land we have deservedly called
holy in which there is not even a footstep that the body or spirit
of the Saviour did not render glorious and blessed which embraced
the holy presence of the mother of God, and the meetings of the
apostles, and drank up the blood of the martyrs shed there. How
blessed are the stones which crowned you Stephen, the first martyr!
How happy, O, John the Baptist, the waters of the Jordan which
served you in baptizing the Saviour! The children of Israel, who
were led out of Egypt, and who prefigured you in the crossing
of the Red Sea, have taken that land, by their arms, with Jesus
as leader; they have driven out the Jebusites and other inhabitants
and have themselves inhabited earthly Jerusalem, the image of
celestial Jerusalem.
"What are we saying? Listen and learn! You, girt about with
the badge of knighthood, are arrogant with great pride; you rage
against your brothers and cut each other in pieces. This is not
the (true) soldiery of Christ which rends asunder the sheepfold
of the Redeemer. The Holy Church has reserved a soldiery for herself
to help her people, but you debase her wickedly to her hurt. Let
us confess the truth, whose heralds we ought to be; truly, you
are not holding to the way which leads to life. You, the oppressers
of children, plunderers of widows; you, guilty of homicide, of
sacrilege, robbers of another's rights; you who await the pay
of thieves for the shedding of Christian blood -- as vultures
smell fetid corpses, so do you sense battles from afar and rush
to them eagerly. Verily, this is the worst way, for it is utterly
removed from God! if, forsooth, you wish to be mindful of your
souls, either lay down the girdle of such knighthood, or advance
boldly, as knights of Christ, and rush as quickly as you can to
the defence of the Eastern Church. For she it is from whom the
joys of your whole salvation have come forth, who poured into
your mouths the milk of divine wisdom, who set before you the
holy teachings of the Gospels. We say this, brethren, that you
may restrain your murderous hands from the destruction of your
brothers, and in behalf of your relatives in the faith oppose
yourselves to the Gentiles. Under Jesus Christ, our Leader, may
you struggle for your Jerusalem, in Christian battleline, most
invincible line, even more successfully than did the sons of Jacob
of old - struggle, that you may assail and drive out the Turks,
more execrable than the Jebusites, who are in this land, and may
you deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that city in
which He died for us. But if it befall you to die this side of
it, be sure that to have died on the way is of equal value, if
Christ shall find you in His army. God pays with the same shilling,
whether at the first or eleventh hour. You should shudder, brethren,
you should shudder at raising a violent hand against Christians;
it is less wicked to brandish your sword against Saracens. It
is the only warfare that is righteous, for it is charity to risk
your life for your brothers. That you may not be troubled about
the concerns of tomorrow, know that those who fear God want nothing,
nor those who cherish Him in truth. The possessions of the enemy,
too, will be yours, since you will make spoil of their treasures
and return victorious to your own; or empurpled with your own
blood, you will have gained everlasting glory. For such a Commander
you ought to fight, for One who lacks neither might nor wealth
with which to reward you.
Short is the way, little the labor, which, nevertheless, will
repay you with the crown that fadeth not away. Accordingly, we
speak with the authority of the prophet: 'Gird thy sword upon
thy thigh O mighty one.' Gird yourselves, everyone of you, I say,
and be valiant sons; for it is better for you to die in battle
than to behold, the sorrows of your race and of your holy places.
Let neither property nor the alluring charms of your wives entice
you frol going; nor let the trials that are to be borne so deter
you that you remain here."
And turning to the bishops, he said, "You, brothers and fellow
bishops; you, fellow priests and sharers with us in Christ, make
this same announcement through the churches committed to you,
and with your whole soul vigorously preach the journey to Jerusalem.
When they have confessed the disgrace of their sins, do you, secure
in Christ, grant them speedy pardon. Moreover, you who are to
go shall have us praying for you; we shall have you fighting for
God's people. It is our duty to pray, yours to fight against the
Amalekites. With Moses, we shall extend unwearied hands in prayer
to Heaven, while you go forth and brandish the sword, like dauntless
warriors, against Amalek."
As those present were thus clearly informed by these and other
words of this kind from the apostolic lord, the eyes of some were
bathed in tears; some trembled, and yet others discussed the matter.
However, in the presence of all at that same council, and as we
looked on, the Bishop of Puy, a man of great renown and of highest
ability, went to the Pope with joyful countenance and on bended
knee sought and entreated blessing and permission to go., Over
and above this, he won from the Pope the command that all should
obey him, and that he should hold sway over all the army in behalf
of the Pope, since all knew him to be a prelate of unusual energy
and industry.
Source:
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 33-36
5. Version of Guibert de Nogent
Guibert, Abbot of Nogent, attended the Council of Clermont.
His Historia quae dicitur Gesta Dei per Francos used both
his own knowledge and other sources such as the Gesta.
"If among the churches scattered about over the whole world
some, because of persons or location, deserve reverence above
others (for persons, I say, since greater privileges are accorded
to apostolic sees; for places, indeed, since the same dignity
which is accorded to persons is also shown to regal cities, such
as Constantinople), we owe most to that church from which we received
the grace of redemption and the source of all Christianity. If
what the Lord saysnamely, 'Salvation is from the Jews,' accords
with the truth, and it is true that the Lord has left us Sabaoth
as seed, that we may not become like Sodom and Gomorrah, and our
seed is Christ, in whom is the salvation and benediction of all
peoples, then, indeed, the very land and city in which He dwelt
and suffered is, by witnesses of the Scriptures, holy. If this
land is spoken of in the sacred writings of the prophets as the
inheritance and the holy temple of God before ever the Lord walked
about in it, or was revealed, what sanctity, what reverence has
it not acquired since God in His majesty was there clothed in
the flesh, nourished, grew up, and in bodily form there walked
about, or was carried about; and, to compress in fitting brevity
all that might be told in a long series of words, since there
the blood of the Son of God, more holy than heaven and earth,
was poured forth, and His body, its quivering members dead, rested
in the tomb. What veneration do we think it deserves? If, when
the Lord had but just been crucified and the city was still held
by the Jews, it was called holy by the evangelist when he says,
'Many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised;
and coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they
entered into the holy city and appeared unto many,' and by the
prophet Isaiah when be says, 'It shall be His glorious sepulchre,'
then, surely, with this sanctity placed upon it by God the Sanctifier
Himself, no evil that may befall it can destroy it, and in the
same way glory is indivisibly fixed to His Sepulchre. Most beloved
brethren, if you reverence the source of that holiness and I .
you cherish these shrines which are the marks of His footprints
on earth, if you seek (the way), God leading you, God fighting
in your behalf, you should strive with your utmost efforts to
cleanse the Holy City and the glory of the Sepulchre, now polluted
by the concourse of the Gentiles, as much as is in their power.
"If in olden times the Maccabees attained to the highest
praise of piety because they fought for the ceremonies and the
Temple, it is also justly granted you, Christian soldiers, to
defend their liberty of your country by armed endeavor. If you,
likewise, consider that the abode of the holy apostles and any
other saints should be striven for with such effort, why do you
refuse to rescue the Cross, the Blood, the Tomb? Why do you refuse
to visit them, to spend the price of your lives in rescuing them?
You have thus far waged unjust wars, at one time and another;
you have brandished mad weapons to your mutual destruction, for
no other reason than covetousness and pride, as a result of which
you have deserved eternal death and sure damnation. We now hold
out to you wars which contain the glorious reward of martyrdom,
which will retain that title of praise now and forever.
"Let us suppose, for the moment, that Christ was not dead
and buried, and had never lived any length of time in Jerusalem.
Surely, if all this were lacking, this fact alone ought still
to arouse you to go to the aid of the land and city -- the fact
that 'Out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of Jehovah
from Jerusalem!' If all that there is of Christian preaching has
flowed from the fountain of Jerusalem, its streams, whithersoever
spread out over the whole world, encircle the hearts of the Catholic
multitude, that they may consider wisely what they owe such a
well-watered fountain. If rivers return to the place whence they
have issued only to flow forth again, according to the saying
of Solomon, it ought to seem glorious to you to be able to apply
a new cleansing to this place, whence it is certain that you received
the cleansing of baptism and the witness of your faith.
"And you ought, furthermore, to consider with the utmost
deliberation, if by your labors, God working through you, it should
occur that the Mother of churches should flourish anew to the
worship of Christianity, whether, perchance, He may not wish other
regions of the East to be restored to the faith against the approaching
time of the Antichrist. For it is clear that Antichrist is to
do battle not with the Jews, not with the Gentiles; but, according
to the etymology of his name, He will attack Christians. And if
Antichrist finds there no Christians (just as at present when
scarcely any dwell there), no one will be there to oppose him,
or whom he may rightly overcome. According to Daniel and Jerome,
the interpreter of Daniel, he is to fix his tents on the Mount
of Olives; and it is certain, for the apostle teaches it, that
he will sit at Jerusalem in the Temple of the Lord, as though
he were God. And according to the same prophet, he will first
kill three kings of Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia, without doubt
for their Christian faith: This, indeed, could not at all be done
unless Christianity was established where now is paganism. If,
therefore, you are zealous in the practice of holy battles, in
order that, just as you have received the seed of knowledge of
God from Jerusalem, you may in the same way restore the borrowed
grace, so that through you the Catholic name may be advanced to
oppose the perfidy of the Antichrist and the Antichristians then,
who can not conjecture that God, who has exceeded the hope of
all, will consume, in the abundance of your courage and through
you as the spark, such a thicket of paganism as to include within
His law Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia, which have withdrawn from
the communion of our belief? And the man of sin, the son of perdition,
will find some to oppose him. Behold, the Gospel cries out, 'Jerusalem
shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled.' 'Times of the Gentiles' can be understood in two
ways: Either that they have ruled over the Christians at their
pleasure, and have gladly frequented the sloughs of all baseness
for the satisfaction of their lusts, and in all this have had
no obstacle (for they who have everything according to their wish
are said to have their time; there is that saying: 'My time is
not yet come, but your time is always ready,' whence the lustful
are wont to say 'you are having your time'). Or, again, 'the times
of the Gentiles' are the fulness of time for those Gentiles who
shall have entered secretly before Israel shall be saved. These
times, most beloved brothers, will now, forsooth, be fulfilled,
provided the might of the pagans be repulsed through You, with
the cooperation of God. With the end of the world already near,
even though the Gentiles fail to be converted t the Lord (since
according to the apostle there must be a withdrawal from the faith),
it is first necessary, according to their prophecy, that the Christian
sway be renewed in those regions either through you, or others,
whom it shall please God to send before the coming of Antichrist,
so that the head of all evil, who is to occupy there the throne
of the kingdom, shall find some support of the faith to fight
against him.
"Consider, therefore, that the Almighty has provided you,
perhaps, for this purpose, that through you He may restore Jerusalem
from such debasement. Ponder, I beg you, how full of joy and delight
our hearts will be when we shall see the Holy City restored with
your little help, and the prophet's, nay divine, words fulfilled
in our times. Let your memory be moved by what the Lord Himself
says to the Church: 'I will bring thy seed from the East and gather
thee from the West.' God has already brought our, seed from the
East, since in a double way that region of the East has given
the first beginnings of the Church to us. But from the West He
will also gather it, provided He repairs the wrongs of 1 Jerusalem
through those who have begun the witness of the final faith, that
is the people of the West. With God's assistance, we think this
can be done through you.
"If neither the words of the Scriptures arouse you, nor our
admonitions penetrate your minds, at least let the great suffering
of those who desired to go to the holy places stir you up. Think
of those who made the pilgrimage across the sea! Even if they
were more wealthy, consider what taxes, what violence they underwent,
since they were forced to make payments and tributes almost every
mile, to purchase release at every gate of the city, at the entrance
of the churches and temples, at every side journey from place
to place: also, if any accusation whatsoever were made against
them, they were compelled to purchase their release; but if they
refused to pay money, the prefects of the Gentiles, according
to their custom, urged them fiercely with blows. What shall we
say of those who took up the journey without anything more than
trust in their barren poverty, since they seemed to have nothing
except their bodies to lose? They not only demanded money of them,
which is not an unendurable punishment, but also examined the
callouses of their heels, cutting them open and folding the skin
back, lest, perchance, they had sewed something there. Their unspeakable
cruelty was carried on even to the point of giving them scammony
to drink until they vomited, or even burst their bowels, because
they thought the wretches had swallowed gold or silver; or, horrible
to say, they cut their bowels open with a sword and, spreading
out the folds of the intestines, with frightful mutilation disclosed
whatever nature held there in secret. Remember, I pray, the thousands
who have perished vile deaths, and strive for the holy places
from which the beginnings of your faith have come. Before you
engage in His battles, believe without question that Christ will
be your standard-bearer and inseparable forerunner."
The most excellent man concluded his oration and by the power
of the blessed Peter. absolved all who vowed to go and confirmed
those acts with apostolic blessing. He instituted a sign well
suited t so honorable a profession by making the figure of the
Cross, the stigma of the Lord's Passion, the emblem of the soldiery,
or rather, of what was to be the soldiery of God. This, made of
any kind of cloth, he ordered to be sewed upon the shirts, cloaks,
and byrra of those who were about to go. He commanded that
if anyone, after receiving this emblem, or after taking openly
this vow, should shrink from his good intent through base change
of heart, or any affection for his parents, he should be regarded
an outlaw forever, unless he repented and again undertook whatever
of his pledge he had omitted. Furthermore, the Pope condemned
with a fearful anathema all those who dared to molest the wives,
children, and possessions of these who were going on this journey
for God. . . .
Source:
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 36-40
6. Urban II: Letter of Instruction
to the Crusaders, December 1095
Urban, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the faithful,
both princes and subjects, waiting in Flanders; greeting, apostolic
grace, and blessing.
Your brotherhood, we believe, has long since learned from many
accounts that a barbaric fury has deplorably afflicted an laid
waste the churches of God in the regions of the Orient. More than
this, blasphemous to say, it has even grasped in intolerabe servitude
its churches and the Holy City of Christ, glorified b His passion
and resurrection. Grieving with pious concern at this calamity,
we visited the regions of Gaul and devoted ourselves largely to
urging the princes of the land and their subjects to free the
churches of the East. We solemnly enjoined upon them at the council
of Auvergne (the accomplishment of) such an undertaking, as a
preparation for the remission of all their sins. And we have constituted
our most beloved son, Adhemar, Bishop of Puy, leader of this expedition
and undertaking in our stead, so that those who, perchance, may
wish to undertake this journey should comply With his commands,
as if they were our own, and submit fully to his loosings or bindings,
as far as shall seem to belong to such an office. If, moreover,
there are any of your people whom God has inspired to this vow,
let them know that he (Adhemar) will set out with the aid of God
on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary, and that they
can then attach themselves to his following.
Source:
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 42-43
Sources for entire file:
- Fulcher of Chartres: Gesta Francorum Jerusalem Expugnantium
Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in
Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., A Source
Book for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905), 513-17
- Robert the Monk: Historia Hierosolymitana. in [RHC,
Occ III.]
Dana C. Munro, "Urban and the Crusaders", Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of
European History, Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania,
1895), 5-8
- Gesta Francorum [The Deeds of the Franks]
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 28-30
- Balderic of Dol
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 23-36
- Guibert de Nogent: Historia quae dicitur Gesta Dei per
Francos [RHC.Occ. IV]
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 36-40
- Urban II: Letter of Instruction, December
1095
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 42-43
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