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N0KFQ > TODAY 27.11.15 17:16l 70 Lines 3270 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 75629_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Nov 27
Path: IW8PGT<IW7BFZ<I3XTY<IR0AAB<VE3UIL<N0KFQ
Sent: 151127/1607Z 75629@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1095
Pope Urban II orders first Crusade
On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II makes perhaps the most
influential speech of the Middle Ages, giving rise to the
Crusades by calling all Catholics in Europe to war against
Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with a cry of "Deus
vult!" or "God wills it!"
Born Odo of Lagery in 1042, Urban was a protege of the great
reformer Pope Gregory VII. Like Gregory, he made internal reform
his main focus, railing against simony (the selling of church
offices) and other clerical abuses prevalent during the Middle
Ages. Urban showed himself to be an adept and powerful cleric,
and when he was elected pope in 1088, he applied his statecraft
to weakening support for his rivals, notably Clement III.
By the end of the 11th century, the Holy Land_the area now
commonly referred to as the Middle East_had become a point of
conflict for European Catholics. Since the 6th century, Catholics
frequently made pilgrimages to the birthplace of their religion,
but when the Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem, Catholics
were barred from the Holy City. When the Turks then threatened to
invade the Byzantine Empire and take Constantinople, Byzantine
Emperor Alexius I made a special appeal to Urban for help. This
was not the first appeal of its kind, but it came at an important
time for Urban. Wanting to reinforce the power of the papacy,
Urban seized the opportunity to unite Catholic Europe under him
as he fought to take back the Holy Land from the Turks.
At the Council of Clermont, in France, at which several hundred
clerics and noblemen gathered, Urban delivered a rousing speech
summoning rich and poor alike to stop their in-fighting and
embark on a righteous war to help their fellow Catholics in the
East and take back Jerusalem. Urban denigrated the Muslims,
exaggerating stories of their anti-Christian acts, and promised
absolution and remission of sins for all who died in the service
of Christ.
Urban's war cry caught fire, mobilizing clerics to drum up
support throughout Europe for the crusade against the Muslims.
All told, between 60,000 and 100,000 people responded to Urban's
call to march on Jerusalem. Not all who responded did so out of
piety: European nobles were tempted by the prospect of increased
land holdings and riches to be gained from the conquest. These
nobles were responsible for the death of a great many innocents
both on the way to and in the Holy Land, absorbing the riches and
estates of those they conveniently deemed opponents to their
cause. Adding to the death toll was the inexperience and lack of
discipline of the Catholic peasants against the trained,
professional armies of the Muslims. As a result, the Catholics
were initially beaten back, and only through sheer force of
numbers were they eventually able to triumph.
Urban died in 1099, two weeks after the fall of Jerusalem but
before news of the Catholic victory made it back to Europe. His
was the first of seven major military campaigns fought over the
next two centuries known as the Crusades, the bloody
repercussions of which are still felt today. Urban was beatified
by the Roman Catholic Church in 1881.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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