Speech of Urban II at the Council of Clermont, November 26, 1095

In 1094 the Byzantine emperor, Alexius I Comenus, asked Pope Urban II to assist him against the Turks who had occupied nearly all of Asia Minor, including the Holy Lands. At a council held at Clermont in France Urban addressed a crowd and urged them to aid the Greeks and to recover the Holy Lands from the Muslims, thus creating the impetus for the First Crusade.

Selection 1: Fulcher of Chartres (Source: Recueil, III, 322 ff. Bongars, I, 382-383)

Most beloved brethren, moved by the exigencies of the times, I, Urban, wearing by the permission of God the papal tiara, and spiritual ruler of the whole world, have come here to you, the servants of God, as a messenger to disclose the divine admonition. I desire that those whom I have believed to be the faithful servants of God shall show themselves such, and that there shall be no shameful dissimulation. But if there is in you, contrary to God's law, any deformity or crookedness, because you have lost the moderation of reason and justice, I will earnestly strive to root out the fault. For the Lord has placed you over His family as stewards in order that you may feed its members with pleasant tasting food suited to the time. You will be happy indeed, if when He requires of you an account, He shall find that you have been faithful in your stewardships. You are also called shepherds; be not hirelings. Be true shepherds and have your crooks always in your hands. Fall not asleep, but watch in all places over the flock committed to your charge. For if, through your carelessness or negligence, any wolf snatches away a sheep,, you will not only lose the reward prepared for you in the presence of your Lord, but also, having been first bitterly tortured by remorse for your crimes, you will be savagely hurled into the deadly abode.

In the words of the Gospel, "Ye are the salt of the earth." But if you fail in your duty, how, we ask, can it be salted? Oh, how admirable is that salting! Truly, you must strive by the salt of wisdom to correct these foolish people, hastening open-mouthed after the pleasures of this world, lest putrefied by sins and unsalted, they may be a stench in the nostrils when the Lord wills on some future day to address them. For if, through your neglect of duty, He shall find in them any worms, that is sins. He will in contempt order them to be hurled into the abyss of unclean things. And because you are unable to make good to Him so great a loss, He will certainly drive you, condemned by His judgment, from the presence of His love.

But for this reason the distributor of this salt ought to be wise, prudent, modest, pacific, learned, watchful, pious, just, equitable, pure. For how can the unlearned make others learned, the immodest make others modest, the impure make others pure? If any one hates peace, how can he be a peace-maker? Or if one's own hands are unclean, how can he cleanse the impurities of another? We read also that "if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Accordingly first correct yourselves, so that without reproach you may be able to correct those under your charge.

If you wish to be the friends of God, do willingly the things which you believe to be agreeable to Him. Look to it especially that the rules of the church are vigorously maintained, so that simoniacal heresy in no way takes root among you; take heed lest purchasers and venders alike, struck by the chastisement of the Lord, be miserably driven through narrow ways to confusion and destruction. Keep the church and those in its service entirely free from all secular power, cause the tithes due to God from all the fruits of the field to be faithfully paid; let them not be sold or held back. If any one shall lay hands on a bishop, let him be considered as wholly an outlaw. If any one shall seize or despoil monks, priests, nuns, and their servants, or pilgrims or merchants, let him be anathematized. Let robbers, incendiaries and their accomplices be shut out from the church and stricken with the anathema. Therefore we must, as Gregory says, especially consider how he, who steals the property of another, is to be punished, if he who from his own possessions does not employ a part in alms, incurs the damnation of hell. For so it befell Dives mentioned in the Gospel, who forsooth was punished not for having stolen the property of another, but because he was a bad steward of what had been intrusted to him.

By these evils, therefore, as has been said, dearly beloved brethren, you have seen the world troubled for a long time to such an extent that in some places in your provinces, as has been reported to us— mayhap through your weakness in administering justice—hardly any one can venture to travel upon the highways, by night or day, without danger of attack by thieves or robbers; and no one is sure that his property at home or abroad will not be taken from him by the violence or craft of the wicked. Therefore, let us re-enact the law made by our holy ancestors long ago and commonly called "the Truce" [of God]. I most earnestly exhort you that each one should strenuously do all in his power to have it observed in his bishopric. But if any one misled by pride or cupidity breaks it voluntarily, let him be anathematized by the authority of God and by the sanction of the decrees of this council.

(Here Urban paused and the council enacted the decrees which he desired, and which all who were present took oath to obey faithfully. The Pope then proceeded:)

Since, oh sons of God, you have promised the Lord more earnestly than heretofore to maintain peace in your midst and faithfully to sustain the laws of the church, there remains for you, newly fortified by the correction of the Lord, to show the strength of your integrity in a certain other duty, which is not less your concern than the Lord's. For you must carry succor to your brethren dwelling in the East, and needing your aid, which they have so often demanded. For the Turks, a Persian people, have attacked them, as many of you know, and have advanced into the territory of Romania as far as that part of the Mediterranean which is called the Arm of St. George; and occupying more and more the lands of those Christians, have already seven times conquered them in battle, have killed and captured many, have destroyed the churches and devastated the kingdom of God. If you permit them to remain for a time unmolested, they will extend their sway more widely over many faithful servants of the Lord.

Wherefore, I pray and exhort, nay not I, but the Lord prays and exhorts you, as heralds of Christ, by frequent exhortation, to urge men of all ranks, knights and foot-soldiers, rich and poor, to hasten to exterminate this vile race from the lands of our brethren, and to bear timely aid to the worshippers of Christ. I speak to those who are present, I proclaim it to the absent, but Christ commands. Moreover, the sins of those who set out thither, if they lose their lives on the journey, by land or sea, or in fighting against the heathen, shall be remitted in that hour; this I grant to all who go, through the power of God vested in me.

Oh, what a disgrace if a race so despised, degenerate, and slave of the demons, should thus conquer a people fortified with faith in omnipotent God and resplendent with the name of Christ! Oh, how many reproaches will be heaped upon you by the Lord Himself if you do not aid those who like yourselves are counted of the Christian faith! Let those who have formerly been accustomed to contend wickedly in private warfare against the faithful, fight against the infidel and bring to a victorious end the war which ought long since to have been begun. Let those who have hitherto been robbers now become soldiers of Christ. Let those who have formerly contended against their brothers and relatives now fight as they ought against the barbarians. Let those who have formerly been mercenaries at low wages, now gain eternal rewards. Let those who have been striving to the detriment both of body and soul, now labor for a two-fold reward. What shall I add? On this side will be the sorrowful and poor, on the other the joyful and the rich; here the enemies of the Lord, there His friends. Let not those who are going delay their journey, but having arranged their affairs and collected the money necessary for their expenses, when the winter ends and the spring comes, let them with alacrity start on their journey under the guidance of the Lord.

Selection 2: Robert the Monk (Source: Recueil, III, 727 fl. Bongars I, 31-32)

Oh, race of Franks, race from across the mountains, race chosen and beloved by God—as 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 hundred-fold 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 and devour 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 he wishes to return, let him place the cross on his back between his shoulders. Such, indeed, by the two-fold 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."

Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, vol I, no. 2 (Philadelphia: The Department of History of the University of Pennsylvania, 1902), pp. 2-8.

Submit your answers to the questions below as determined by your instructor.

1. According to these two accounts of the speech at Clermont, what was Urban exhorting all good Christians to do about the Turks?