COUNCIL OF CLERMONT, 1095 A.D.
To the appeal of Alexius, Urban lent a willing ear. He summoned a great council of clergy and nobles to meet at Clermont in France. Here, in an address which, measured by its results, was the most momentous recorded in history, Pope Urban preached the First Crusade. He said little about the dangers which threatened the Roman Empire in the East from the Turks, but dwelt chiefly on the wretched condition of the Holy Land, with its churches polluted by unbelievers and its Christian inhabitants tortured and enslaved. Then, turning to the proud knights who stood by, Urban called upon them to abandon their wicked practice of private warfare and take up arms, instead, against the infidel. "Christ Himself," he cried, "will be your leader, when, like the Israelites of old, you fight for Jerusalem…. Start upon the way to the Holy Sepulcher; wrench the land from the accursed race, and subdue it yourselves. Thus shall you spoil your foes of their wealth and return home victorious, or, purpled with your own blood, receive an everlasting reward."
"GOD WILLS IT!"
Urban's trumpet call to action met an instant response. From the assembled host there went up, as it were, a single shout: "God wills it! God wills it!" "It is, in truth, His will," answered Urban, "and let these words be your war cry when you unsheath your swords against the enemy." Then man after man pressed forward to receive the badge of a crusader, a cross of red cloth. [5] It was to be worn on the breast, when the crusader went forth, and on the back, when he returned.
PRELUDE TO THE FIRST CRUSADE
The months which followed the Council of Clermont were marked by an epidemic of religious excitement in western Europe. Popular preachers everywhere took up the cry "God wills it!" and urged their hearers to start for Jerusalem. A monk named Peter the Hermit aroused large parts of France with his passionate eloquence, as he rode from town to town, carrying a huge cross before him and preaching to vast crowds. Without waiting for the main body of nobles, which was to assemble at Constantinople in the summer of 1096 A.D., a horde of poor men, women, and children set out, unorganized and almost unarmed, on the road to the Holy Land. One of these crusading bands, led by Peter the Hermit, managed to reach Constantinople, after suffering terrible hardships. The emperor Alexius sent his ragged allies as quickly as possible to Asia Minor, where most of them were slaughtered by the Turks.
THE MAIN CRUSADE
Meanwhile real armies were gathering in the West. Recruits came in greater numbers from France than from any other country, a circumstance which resulted in the crusaders being generally called "Franks" by their Moslem foes. They had no single commander, but each contingent set out for Constantinople by its own route and at its own time. [6]
LEADERS OF THE CRUSADE
The crusaders included among their leaders some of the most distinguished representatives of European knighthood. Count Raymond of Toulouse headed a band of volunteers from Provence in southern France. Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin commanded a force of French and Germans from the Rhinelands. Normandy sent Robert, William the Conqueror's eldest son. The Normans from Italy and Sicily were led by Bohemond, a son of Robert Guiscard, [7] and his nephew Tancred.