Why did Pope Urban II initiate the first crusade?

Question

Why did Pope Urban II initiate the first crusade? Please be specific in answer, I know he did it to capture the holy land but why? Was their a hidden agenda. I would appreciate it if you also provided a source.

Answer 1

The Crusades were provoked after German pilgrims were attacked.

Answer 2

Pope Urban had received a letter - call for help from the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus. The Seljuk Turks (Muslims) had taken over Anatolia (present day Turkey) in the 1070s after the Battle of Manzikert and by the 1090s were threatening Constantinople. In response, Urban called for the First Crusade on November 27, 1095. He had several agendas: 1. He wanted to expand the influence of the Roman church to the eastern Mediterranean. 2. He wanted unmolested travel for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. 3. He had a problem at home in Europe with knights constantly fighting amongst each other - but also attacking priests, nuns, and church property. Promising these ruffians forgiveness of their sins (rape, murder, stealing) if they went on the crusade, the pope would be well rid of these men fighting far away against Muslim Turks or Arabs. It was a win win situation for the Church.

Answer 3

Muslim armies had conquered much of northern Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Spain, which had been some of the most heavily Christian areas in the world.

Thousands, and possibly millions, of Christians died during this drive to eventually bring the entire world under Islam.

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II to check the advance of the Muslims and regain control of the city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

I am sure that some atrocities were committed by both sides during this war but by most people's judgment this was a just war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

Emperor Alexius I asked Pope Urban II for help in defeating the seljuk turks. Pope Urban II called upon all Christians to join the war by saying that it was God's will, and that it will be a full penance.

^um, i'm not good in translating it in english

Answer 5

Urban II initiated his crusade when received a formal request for assistance against the Muslims from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in March, 1095. At the Council of Clermont, held in November of that year Urban II summoned the nobility who attended to retrieve the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks. Robert the Monk, who chronicled the first crusade in his work Gesta Francorum, recorded Urban II's appeal to the nobility at the Council of Clermont:

"I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it...this land which you inhabit, shut in on all sides by the seas and surrounded by the mountain peaks, is too narrow for your large population; nor does it abound in wealth; and it furnishes scarcely food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder one another, that you wage war, and that frequently you perish by mutual wounds. Let therefore hatred depart from among you, let your quarrels end, let wars cease, and let all dissensions and controversies slumber. Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves. [...] God has conferred upon you above all nations great glory in arms. Accordingly undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the kingdom of heaven."

The reality of European politics that lay behind this summons was that Urban II was also heavily involved in regaining Catholic control over the Campagna and Sicily from the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Emirs in Sicily. The Crusade helped to strengthen sentiment against the Arab Emirs and, as the Byzantine Empire weakened and needed to defend itself against the Seljuk Turks, it allowed Urban recruit the Norman, Roger I, to rule Sicily as virtual papal legate after the Siege of Capua in 1098. This gave the papacy effective control of the Campagna and Sicily while Roger's military skills easily removed the weakened Byzantines and forced out the Arab Emirs. Papal control was further strengthened as Roger's consort, Adelaide, then brought settlers from the Po to eastern Sicily, virtually guaranteeing the extension of papal lands and control.

The crusade also helped to strengthen Urban II's credentials as pope and to bolster his support at the various synods as he battled against the powerful antipope Clement III (1084-1100). It gave Urban the military support he required in Europe, making him a potentially more powerful rival to Clement III were military force to be required and giving Urban II the moral authority he needed to defeat Clement III at the various synods at Rome, Amalfi, Benevento and Troia. The crusade also helped Urban II in his struggle against the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, who supported the antipope Clement III and prevented Urban II from entering Rome in his own right until 1094.

These links will give you more detailed discussions of the First Crusade and its consequences than there is room for here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade, the text of his speech at the Council of Clermont http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html, and http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15210a.htm.

Answer 6

Because Christian factions were fighting amongst themselves and needed a common enemy.