1 The First Crusade Narratives from several contemporary western Christian sources CHAPTER 1 THE SUMMONS TO GO ON CRUSADE The Council of Clermont was held in November 1095 and lasted for ten days the famous address of Urban being delivered on the day before the close of the Council The four writers who were presumably present wrote their versions of the speech several years after it occurred that of Fulcher being perhaps the earliest Each may have preserved notes taken at the time but it is extremely interesting to observe that each stresses that part of the speech that especially appealed to him Enough has been added by the writers to indicate that most of Urban s audience which consisted principally of the clergy became unofficial preachers of the Crusade when they returned to their own districts Urban himself spoke at other places in France before returning to Italy to stir up the people there but he did not go to Germany The appeal there though indirect was powerful 1 Conditions in Europe at the beginning of the Crusades Fulcher of Chartres1 In the year of our Lord 1095 in the reign of the so called Emperor Henry in Germany and of King Philip in France throughout Europe evils of all kinds waxed strong because of vacillating faith Pope Urban II then ruled in the city of Rome He was a man admirable in life and habits who always strove wisely and energetically to raise the status of Holy Church higher and higher Pope Urban saw moreover the faith of Christendom greatly degraded by all and peace totally disregarded for the princes of the land were incessantly engaged in armed strife now these now those quarreling among themselves He saw the goods of the land stolen from the owners many who were unjustly taken captive and most barbarously cast into foul prisons he saw ransomed for excessive sums or tormented there by the three evils starvation thirst and cold or allowed to perish by unseen death He also saw holy places violated monasteries and villas destroyed by fire and not a little human suffering both the divine and the human being held in derision When he heard too that interior parts of Romania Anatolia were held oppressed by the Turks and that Christians were subjected to destructive and savage attacks he was moved by compassionate pity prompted by the love of God he crossed the Alps and came into Gaul He there called a council at Clermont in Auvergne which council had been fittingly proclaimed by envoys in all directions It is estimated that there were 310 bishops and abbots When they were assembled on the day appointed for the council Urban in an eloquent address full of sweetness made known the object of the meeting With the plaintive voice of the afflicted Church he bewailed in a long discourse the great disturbances which as has been mentioned above agitated the world where faith had been undermined Then as a supplicant he exhorted all to resume the fullness of their faith in good earnest to try diligently to withstand the deceits of the devil and to raise to its pristine honor the status of Holy Church now most unmercifully crippled by the wicked 1 Fulcher wasn t at the Council of Clermont but he went with Stephen of Blois and Robert of Normandy on crusade In 1097 he was appointed chaplain to Baldwin of Boulogne and Fulcher went with Baldwin to Jerusalem when Baldwin became King of Jerusalem in 1100 Fulcher died in Jerusalem around 1127 2 2 The immediate response Fulcher After this speech those present were very enthusiastic in the cause and many thinking that nothing could be more laudable than such an undertaking at once offered to diligently exhort the absent Among these was the Bishop of Puy Adhemar by name who later acting as the Pope s vice regent prudently and wisely led the whole army of God and vigorously inspired them to accomplish the undertaking So when those things that have been mentioned were determined upon in the council and unanimously approved of and after the papal blessing was given they withdrew to their homes to make known to those who were not present at the council what had been done When these tidings were proclaimed throughout the provinces they agreed under oath that the peace that was called the Truce should be kept by all Finally then many persons of every class vowed after confession that they were going with a pure intent whither they were ordered to go Oh how fitting and how pleasing to us all to see those beautiful crosses whether of silk woven gold or any kind of cloth which these pilgrims by order of Pope Urban sewed on the shoulders of their mantles cassocks or tunics once they had made the vow to go It was indeed proper that soldiers of God who prepared to fight for His honor should be signed and fortified by this fitting emblem of victory since they thus marked themselves with this symbol under the acknowledgment of faith finally they very truly obtained the Cross of which they carried the symbol They adopted the sign that they might follow the reality of the sign It is evident that a good intention brings about the achievement of a good work and that good work earns the soul s salvation Urban a man prudent and revered conceived a work by which later the whole universe prospered For he restored peace and reestablished the rights of the church in their pristine condition And with a lively determination he also made an effort to drive out the pagans from the Christian lands Therefore since he endeavored in every way to glorify everything that was God s almost all voluntarily submitted themselves to his paternal direction CHAPTER II THE MARCH TO CONSTANTINOPLE Despite Urban s efforts to maintain some degree of organization the enthusiasm he aroused was too great to be restrained Without waiting for the appointed day various bands commonly known as the Peasants Crusade started from the Rhine eager to be the first to gain great rewards They had all started before the main body and the excesses they committed probably led to the difficulties of the main army in these same regions The main armies followed separate routes to Constantinople the march of Bohemund described by an anonymous clergyman who accompanied him is given here 1 Bohemund s march to Constantinople October 26 1096 April 10 1097 Gesta Francorum2 But Bohemund powerful in battle who was engaged in the siege of Amalfi on the sea of Salerno heard that a countless host of Christians from among the Franks had come to go to the Sepulcher of the Lord and that they were prepared
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