[In the following essay, Brundage offers a brief account of the events directly preceding Pope Urban II's Council of Clermont sermon. An eyewitness report of the Pope's sermon directly follows.]

I

The fruitless efforts of Pope Gregory VII to secure military forces to fight in the East failed in stemming the Turkish threat to Byzantium. Turkish advance into Byzantine territory in Asia Minor continued apace after 1074 and the consequences for Byzantium were nearly disastrous. Provincial governors and army commanders, one after another, revolted against the governments of successive emperors at Constantinople, while the Normans, who had already ousted the Byzantines from their colonies in southern Italy and Sicily, added to the difficulties of the Greek emperors by invading the Empire's Balkan provinces. Chaos threatened to overwhelm the only powerful Christian government in the eastern Mediterranean when, in 1081, as the result of still anothe revolt, the most promising of Byzantium's military leaders, the youthful Alexius Comnenus, seized the throne.¹

The thirty-seven years of Alexius' reign were to see a gradual stabilization of the Empire's frontiers, the expulsion of the Normans from the Balkans, a halt put to the Turkish invasions, and a regeneration of the internal administration of the Empire. But Alexius, for all his great ability and administrative capacity, could not undertake, unaided, a counteroffensive against the Turks. He was able to stabilize the empire's frontiers, but he was unable to advance back into the territories which the Turks had captured in the decades prior to his accession to the Byzantine throne. Alexius had perforce to endure, since he could do nothing else about it, the presence of a Turkish sultan at Nicaea, less than a hundred miles from Constantinople itself.

The military commitments of Byzantium were heavy: there was a long Danube border which must be guarded against persistent threats by various enemies, including Oghuz, Kuman, and Pecheneg Turks, Bulgars, and Slavs. The Norman invasion of the Balkans, although successfully repulsed after more than five years of fighting, made it imperative for the Empire to remain on guard against further aggression from that quarter. And in Asia Minor, where Byzantium had already lost all but a handful of coastal towns, there was a long, ill-defined frontier to guard against a treacherous, ever threatening foe.

In 1095 Alexius determined to appeal again, as Michael Dukas had done twenty years before, for military aid from Western Christendom. His petition was prompted by his hope of securing from the West the troops he needed so badly, both to guard his present positions and to take the offensive against the Seljuk Turks who now controlled Asia Minor. One obvious avenue of approach for a Byzantine emperor searching for Western assistance was through the Pope, the spiritual leader of the West.² Accordingly, Alexius dispatched ambassadors to seek out the reigning Pontiff, Pope Urban II, a former disciple and colleague of Pope Gregory VII.

In March of 1095, Rome was held by the anti-Pope, Clement III, while Pope Urban II was presiding over an ecclesiastical council at Piacenza, in northern Italy. It was there that the Byzantine ambassadors caught up with him and presented their messages. Urban seems to have been greatly impressed by the urgency of the Byzantine requests. The ambassadors were called upon to address the council, which is said to have numbered 4,000 clerics and more than 30,000 laymen.³ The Emperor's envoys urged upon their auditors the fearful picture of a Moslem conquest of all the East, up to the very walls of Constantinople. There is good reason to believe that they stressed to their audience the fact that Jerusalem and the Lord's Sepulcher were being defiled by pagan hands. This latter fact was presented to the council as one of the principal reasons why united Christian efforts against the Turks were of major importance and of great urgency.⁴ Pope Urban II was apparently as impressed by the envoys' personal pleas as he was by the message they bore and he is said to have addressed the council himself in support of their claims.⁵

II

The claims and arguments advanced at Piacenza for Western intervention in the East doubtless led the Pope to ponder the situation there and to reflect upon the part the Papacy might play in channeling military aid to Byzantium. We have no record of Urban's thoughts during the spring and summer of 1095 as he journied through northern Italy from Piacenza to Vercelli, to Milan, Como, and Asti,⁶ but the lines along which his mind travelled are fairly obvious.

For decades the papacy had been on uneasy terms with the patriarchs of the East. Could Western response to these recent Eastern pleas for military aid be turned to good account in strengthening papal discipline over the churches of that area? For decades, too, the papacy had encouraged the Christian reconquest of Spain and to that end had granted spiritual privileges to those who took part in the wars against the Moslems. Could this technique also be applied to abate the peril which was taking shape in the East? For nearly a century the papacy had encouraged efforts to promote civil peace in Europe, to limit private feudal warfare in the West. Could a Western military expedition to the East contribute in some way to the achievement of these ends? Perhaps most pressing of all, there was the history of the past twenty years in Europe, the record of a consuming internecine strife between Empire and Papacy. Would not a successful military venture in the East, under papal auspices and papal leadership, tend to bolster papal prestige and power against the Western enemies of the Papacy? And if such a military expedition were to be organized, when, where, and how should the work begin? These and similar questions may well have occupied the pontiff's attention in the months between the closing of the Council of Piacenza and August 1095, when he entered France.

By August 15, when he was at Le Puy, Urban must have settled on some tentative plans, for from there he dispatched a summons to the French hierarchy to meet with him in council at Clermont on November 18. Urban spent the month of September travelling in Provence; October saw him in Burgundy, consecrating the high altar of the new basilica at the monastery of Cluny where he had once been a monk. By November 14, Urban had reached Clermont, in company with the bishop of that city, who had worked so strenuously preparing for the meetings of the council that he died on the night of Urban's arrival.

The sittings of the Council of Clermont opened formally on Sunday, November 18, 1095. The membership of the council is variously estimated. Whatever the exact figures may have been, it is clear that the council was attended by several hundred archbishops, bishops, abbots, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, drawn mainly from southern France. Ten days were devoted to purely ecclesiastical business, concerned for the most part with disciplinary reforms within the church. Finally it was announced that on Tuesday, November 27, the Pope would address a general gathering of both the clergy and the laity. At this meeting Pope Urban announced publicly for the first time the details of the plan which had been maturing in his mind for six months or more. An eyewitness reports his words⁷ as follows:

The Sermon of Pope Urban II at Clermont⁸

In the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 1095, a great council was held in the Auvergne region of Gaul, in the city of Clermont. Among those present at the council were the Roman bishops and cardinals and Pope Urban II. This famous council was also attended by a great number of bishops and princes from both Gaul and Germany. When the ecclesiastical business of the gathering had been disposed of, the lord Pope went out to a wide and spacious field, since the crowds could not easily be accommodated in any building. There the pope addressed the whole gathering in these words:

“Frenchmen! You who come from across the Alps; you who have been singled out by God and who are loved by him—as is shown by your many accomplishments; you who are set apart from all other peoples by the location of your country, by your Catholic faith, and by the honor of the Holy Church; we address these words, this sermon, to you!

“We want you to know the melancholy reasons which have brought us among you and the peril which threatens you and all the faithful. Distressing news has come to us (as has often happened) from the region of Jerusalem and from the city of Constantinople; news that the people of the Persian kingdom, [That is, the Seljuk Turks who had taken over the Baghdad caliphate.] an alien people, a race completely foreign to God, ‘a generation of false aims, of a spirit that broke faith with God,’⁹ has invaded Christian territory and has devastated this territory with pillage, fire, and the sword. The Persians have taken some of these Christians as captives into their own country; they have destroyed others with cruel tortures. They have completely destroyed some of God's churches and they have converted others to the uses of their own cult. They ruin the altars with filth and defilement. They circumcize Christians and smear the blood from the circumcision over the altars or throw it into the baptismal fonts. They are pleased to kill others by cutting open their bellies, extracting the end of their intestines, and tying it to a stake. Then, with flogging, they drive their victims around the stake until, when their viscera have spilled out, they fall dead on the ground. They tie others, again, to stakes and shoot arrows at them; they seize others, stretch out their necks, and try to see whether or not they can cut off their heads with a single blow of a naked sword. And what shall I say about the shocking rape of women? On this subject it would, perhaps, be worse to speak than to keep silent. These Persians have so dismembered the kingdom of the Greeks and have sequestered so much of it that it would be impossible to cross the conquered territory in a two month journey.

“Who is to revenge all this, who is to repair this damage, if you do not do it? You are the people upon whom God has bestowed glory in arms, greatness of spirit, bodily agility, and the courage to humble the ‘proud locks’¹⁰ of those who resist you.

“Rise up and remember the manly deeds of your ancestors, the prowess and greatness of Charlemagne, of his son Louis, and of your other kings, who destroyed pagan kingdoms and planted the holy church in their territories. You should be especially aroused by the fact that the Holy Sepulcher of the Lord our Savior is in the hands of these unclean people, who shamefully mistreat and sacreligiously defile the Holy Places with their filth. Oh, most valiant knights! Descendants of unconquered ancestors! Remember the courage of your forefathers and do not dishonor them!

“But if your affection for your beloved children, wives, and parents would hold you back, remember what the Lord says in the Gospel: ‘He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.’¹¹ ‘Everyone who has left house, or brothers, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.’¹² Do not allow any possession or any solicitude for family affairs to detain you.

“This land in which you live, surrounded on one side by the sea and on the other side by mountain peaks, can scarcely contain so many of you. It does not abound in wealth; indeed, it scarcely provides enough food for those who cultivate it. Because of this you murder and devour one another, you wage wars, and you frequently wound and kill one another. Let this mutual hatred stop; let these quarrels abate; let these wars cease; and let all these conflicts and controversies be put to rest. Begin the journey to the Holy Sepulcher; conquer that land which the wicked have seized, the land which was given by God to the children of Israel and which, as the Scripture says, ‘is all milk and money.’¹³

“Jerusalem is the navel of the world, a land which is more fruitful than any other, a land which is like another paradise of delights. This is the land which the Redeemer of mankind illuminated by his coming, adorned by his life, consecrated by his passion, redeemed by his death, and sealed by his burial. This royal city, situated in the middle of the world, is now held captive by his enemies and is made a servant, by those who know not God, for the ceremonies of the heathen. It looks and hopes for freedom; it begs unceasingly that you will come to its aid. It looks for help from you, especially, because, as we have said, God has bestowed glory in arms upon you more than on any other nation. Undertake this journey, therefore, for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of ‘glory which cannot fade’¹⁴ in the kingdom of heaven.”

When Pope Urban had said these and many similar things in his urbane sermon, those who were present were so moved that, as one man, all of them together shouted: “God wills it! God wills it!” When the venerable pontiff heard this, he turned his eyes toward heaven and gave thanks to God. He then waved his hand for silence, and said:

“Dearly beloved brethren! We have seen today that, as the Lord says in the Gospel, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.’¹⁵ If the Lord God had not been present in your minds, you would not all have cried out the same thing, for although all of you shouted, your cries had but one origin. I tell you, therefore, that God placed this shout in your breasts and that God brought it out. Since this shout came from God, let it be your battle cry. When you make an armed attack on the enemy, let all those on God's side cry out together, ‘God wills it! God wills it!’

“We do not ask or advise that elderly or feeble persons or those who are unable to bear arms should undertake this journey. No women should set out unless they are accompanied by their husbands, brothers, or legal guardians. Such persons are more a hindrance than an aid, more burdensome than useful. Let the rich help the poor; let them also, as their means allow, bring experienced soldiers with them to the war. Priests or clerics of whatever kind are not to come without the permission of their bishops, for the journey will be of no profit to them if they go without their bishops' authorization. [The Pope's meaning is that priests who went on Crusade without the approval of their bishops would not receive the indulgence which they would otherwise gain.] Nor, indeed, should laymen begin the pilgrimage without their priest's blessing.

“Whoever shall decide to make this holy pilgrimage and shall take a vow to God, offering himself as ‘a living sacrifice, consecrated to God and worthy of his acceptance,’¹⁶ shall wear the sign of the Lord's cross, either on his forehead or on his breast. When, after fulfilling his vow, he shall wish to return home, let him place the cross on his back, between his shoulders. By this twofold action such men will fulfill that command of the Lord which he uttered in the Gospel: ‘He who does not take up his own cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.’”¹⁷

When all these things were done, one of the Roman cardinals, Gregory by name, said the “confiteor” for the whole crowd, which now knelt on the ground. All of them, beating their breasts, begged absolution for their misdeeds. When the absolution had been given, the blessing followed; when the blessing was finished, the crowd was given leave to go home.

[Trans. James A. Brundage]

On the day following this scene, a final conference of the council was held at Clermont. At this meeting the details of the organization of the expedition were arranged. The Bishop of Le Puy, Adhemar, whom Urban had visited the previous August, was selected as Papal legate to lead the Crusade as Urban's personal representative. It was probably also at this meeting that arrangements were made to set August 15, 1096 as the official starting date for the expedition. This would give the bishops time to preach and to enlist recruits for the expedition; it would also give the knights who were to take part sufficient time to settle their affairs at home before setting out on the journey.

Pope Urban spent the next eight months in France, attending to ecclesiastical business¹⁸ there and, probably, gathering recruits himself for the glorious expedition which he had announced at Clermont. On August 15, 1096, the date set for the official beginning of the expedition, Urban was crossing the Alps on his way back to Italy, secure in the knowledge that the Crusade was well under way.

Notes

1. The fundamental source for the history of the reign of Alexius Comnenus (and, incidentally, for the Greek view of the First Crusade) is the Alexiad, by Alexius' daughter, Anna Comnena. The best edition is that by Bernard Leib, which includes the Greek text with a French translation and copious notes in three volumes (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1937-1945). There is an English translation by E. A. S. Dawes (London: Kegan Paul, French, Trubner and Co., 1928). The best general treatment of the reign of Alexius is that by Ferdinand Chalandon, Essai sur le règne d’Alexius I Comnène (1081-1118) (Paris: A. Picard, 1900). There is an interesting study by Georgina Buckler entitled Anna Comnena (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1929), which treats of a great many aspects of eleventh and twelfth century Byzantine life. There are also numerous short treatments in English of Alexius' life and work in the several general histories of Byzantium, e.g., Norman H. Baynes and H. St. L. B. Moss, Byzantium: An Introduction to East Roman Civilization (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1948); Charles Diehl, Byzantium, Greatness and Decline (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957); Jack Lindsay, Byzantium into Europe (London: The Bodley Head, 1952); George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1957); A. A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453, (2d English edition; 2 vols; Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1958).

2. The relationship between Byzantium and the Papacy at this period was complex and often is rather puzzling. The “schism” of 1054 is regarded by most recent writers as a much less clear-cut and decisive break between Rome and Constantinople that it had been considered in the past. Certainly the ties between the Eastern and Western churches were tenuous in 1095, but there is little reason to believe that Alexius and Urban II regarded one another as hopeless heretics or irretrievable schismatics. Cf. George Every, The Byzantine Patriarchate (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1947); Peter Charanis, chapter, “The Byzantine Empire in the Eleventh Century,” in Setton, Crusades, I, 177-219; Runciman, Crusades, I, 93-105; Yves Congar, “Neuf cents ans après; notes sur le 'schisme oriental,’” in 1054-1954, L’Église et les églises (2 vols.; Chevetogne: Editions de Chevetogne, 1954-1955), I, 3-95.

3. If these figures were divided by ten or fifteen, they would probably represent the council's numbers more accurately. The figures quoted are those given by Bernold of Constance, Chronicon, MGH, SS, V, 462.

4. See Peter Charanis, “A Greek Source on the Origin of the First Crusade,” Speculum, XXIV (1949), 93.

5. Bernold of Constance, Chronicon, MGH, SS, V, 462; cf. D. C. Munro, “Did the Emperor Alexius I. Ask for Aid at the Council of Piacenza, 1095?” AHR, XXVII (1921-1922), 731-33.

6. Urban's travels between Piacenza and Clermont are summarized in C. J. Hefele and H. Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles (11 vols. in 22; Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1907-1952), V¹, 396-99. For Urban's plans for the Crusade, see Frederick Duncalf, “The Pope's Plan for the First Crusade,” Munro, in Essays, pp. 44-56; A. C. Krey, “Urban's Crusade—Success or Failure?” AHR, LIII (1947-1948), 235-50; Augustin Fliche, “Les origines de l’action de la papauté en vue de la Croisade,” Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique, XXXIV (1938), 765-75.

7. Urban II's address at Clermont was reported by four contemporary writers: Fulcher of Charters, Baldric of Dol, Guibert of Nogent, and Robert the Monk. Of these four, Robert the Monk, whose report is translated here, was the only one to make a definite claim that he was present, although it is reasonable to assume that the others were there also. There are numerous discrepancies between the various accounts of the sermon; these have been analyzed by D. C. Munro, “The Speech of Pope Urban II. at Clermont, 1095,” AHR, XI (1905-1906), 231-42. English translations of the four accounts have been printed by Munro in Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, n.d.). I, no. 2.

8. Robert the Monk, Historia Hierosolimitana, I, 1-3 (RHC, Occ., III, 727-730).

9. Ps. 77:8.

10. 77:22.

11. Matt. 10:37.

12. Matt. 29:29.

13. Exod. 3:8.

14. I Peter 5:4.

15. Matt. 18:20.

16. Rom. 12:1.

17. Luke 14:27; Matt. 10:38.

18. The Pope's business in France was mainly concerned with routine administrative affairs. The seventy-five letters which he wrote during the eight months following the Council of Clermont are principally concerned with confirming grants to monasteries, dedicating churches, awarding privileges, and deciding appeals which were referred to him as chief arbiter of the ecclesiastical courts. Setton, Crusades, I, 250-52; P. Jaffé et al. (eds.,) Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVIII (2 vols.; Graz: Akademische Druck-und Verlagsanstalt, 19-56), No. 5592-5667.