While reading a version of the speech given by Urban II at Clermont in 1095, I wondered why a pope would want to start a war. So I did some research found a few reliable sources on the internet about the same speech and including my textbook. My objective in this paper is to find out why would any Christian be willing to go to war for a piece of property and or did the pope have an ulterior motive? As it turns out, that piece of property I was wondering about is actually the holy land called Jerusalem (the birthplace of their religion) to which Christians have been making the sojourn for centuries. Well, they did until the Seljuk Turks took over Jerusalem banned them from the city. As if that was not bad enough, now those same Turks want to invade and take over Constantinople as well as the rest of the Byzantine Empire. Fearing the worst Emperor Alexius I made a plea to Pope Urban II for help against the Turk’s proposed invasion (Pope Urban II). …show more content…
While at the Council of Clermont, the pope made this encouraging speech full of exaggerations about the Turks and what they were doing to Jerusalem to all that were in attendance (Ancient History). The pope encouraged all of the Christians with the exception of women, elderly, the feeble, and clergy (unless they had permission) to launch a crusade to take back the holy land in the name of GOD (The Council). In exchange for their service to the Lord our God, Pope Urban II made the following promises to those that chose to go on this endeavor: the absolution of their sins and everlasting life in heaven for their ultimate sacrifice (Ancient History). He asked those at the council to spread his