Η Σύνοδος στην Κλερμόν της Γαλλίας τον Νοέμβριο του 1095
υπήρξε η απαρχή των Σταυροφοριών και ειδικότερα απετέλεσε το προοίμιο της Α'
Σταυροφορίας (1096-1099). Σε αυτή την Σύνοδο ο Πάπας Ουρβανός ο Β' κήρυξε τον
πόλεμο κατά των Μουσουλμάνων για την απελευθέρωση των Αγίων Τόπων από αυτούς. Ο
Ουρβανός, για να δώσει ιδιαίτερη βαρύτητα στο σταυροφορικό εγχείρημα μίλησε για
το "θέλημα του Θεού" (Deus vult).
Είχαν προηγηθεί οι εκκλήσεις του Βυζαντινού αυτοκράτορος
Αλεξίου Α' (1081-1118) προς τον Πάπα για την αποστολή βοήθειας από την Δύση
ώστε να αντιμετωπίσει τους Σελτζούκους, οι οποίοι είχαν καταλάβει, σταδιακά, το
μεγαλύτερο μέρος της Μικράς Ασίας μετά την ατυχή, για τους Βυζαντινούς, Μάχη
του Μαντζικέρτ στα τέλη του καλοκαιριού του 1071 εναντίον αυτών. Οι καλές
σχέσεις μεταξύ του αυτοκράτρος και του Πάπα αποδεικνύουν ότι οι επιπτώσεις από
το Σχίσμα του 1054 δεν ήταν ακόμη ιδιαίτερα σοβαρές. Η δραματική επιδείνωση των
δυτικοβυζαντινών σχέσεων θα ξεκινήσει κατά το τέλος του 11ου με αρχές του 12ου
για να κορυφωθεί στο τελευταίο τέταρτο του 12ου και στις αρχές του 13ου με την
άλωση της Κωνσταντινουπόλεως το 1204 από τους "Σταυροφόρους".
Στο παρακάτω απόσπασμα παρουσιάζονται οι 5 εκδοχές για τον
λόγο του Πάπα Ουρβανού του Β' στην Κλερμόν:
Urban II (1088-1099)
Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095,
Five versions of the Speech
In 1094 or 1095, Alexios I Komnenos, the Byzantine emperor, sent to the pope,
Urban II, and asked for aid from the west against the Seljuq Turks, who taken
nearly all of Asia Minor from him. At the council of Clermont Urban addressed a
great crowd and urged all to go to the aid of the Greeks and to recover
Palestine from the rule of the Muslims. The acts of the council have not been
preserved, but we have five accounts of the speech of Urban which were written
by men who were present and heard him.
Versions by: 1. Fulcher of Chartres: Gesta Francorum Jerusalem Expugnantium2.
Robert the Monk: Historia Hierosolymitana3. Gesta Francorum [The Deeds of the
Franks]4. Balderic of Dol5. Guibert de Nogent: Historia quae dicitur Gesta Dei
per Francos6. Urban II: Letter of Instruction, December 1095
1. Fulcher of Chartres[adapted from Thatcher] Here is the
one by the chronicler Fulcher of Chartres. Note how the traditions of the peace
and truce of God - aimed at bringing about peace in Christendom - ties in
directly with the call for a Crusade. Does this amount to the export of
violence?Most beloved brethren: Urged by necessity, I, Urban, by the permission
of God chief bishop and prelate over the whole world, have come into these
parts as an ambassador with a divine admonition to you, the servants of God. I
hoped to find you as faithful and as zealous in the service of God as I had
supposed you to be. But if there is in you any deformity or crookedness
contrary to God's law, with divine help I will do my best to remove it. For God
has put you as stewards over his family to minister to it. Happy indeed will
you be if he finds you faithful in your stewardship. You are called shepherds;
see that you do not act as hirelings. But be true shepherds, with your crooks
always in your hands. Do not go to sleep, but guard on all sides the flock
committed to you. For if through your carelessness or negligence a wolf carries
away one of your sheep, you will surely lose the reward laid up for you with
God. And after you have been bitterly scourged with remorse for your faults-,
you will be fiercely overwhelmed in hell, the abode of death. For according to
the gospel you are the salt of the earth [Matt. 5:13]. But if you fall short in
your duty, how, it may be asked, can it be salted? O how great the need of
salting! It is indeed necessary for you to correct with the salt of wisdom this
foolish people which is so devoted to the pleasures of this -world, lest the
Lord, when He may wish to speak to them, find them putrefied by their sins
unsalted and stinking. For if He, shall find worms, that is, sins, In them,
because you have been negligent in your duty, He will command them as worthless
to be thrown into the abyss of unclean things. And because you cannot restore
to Him His great loss, He will surely condemn you and drive you from His loving
presence. But the man who applies this salt should be prudent, provident,
modest, learned, peaceable, watchful, pious, just, equitable, and pure. For how
can the ignorant teach others? How can the licentious make others modest? And
how can the impure make others pure? If anyone hates peace, how can he make
others peaceable ? Or if anyone has soiled his hands with baseness, how can he
cleanse the impurities of another? We read also that if the blind lead the
blind, both will fall into the ditch [Matt. 15:14]. But first correct
yourselves, in order that, free from blame , you may be able to correct those
who are subject to you. If you wish to be the friends of God, gladly do the
things which you know will please Him. You must especially let all matters that
pertain to the church be controlled by the law of the church. And be careful
that simony does not take root among you, lest both those who buy and those who
sell [church offices] be beaten with the scourges of the Lord through narrow
streets and driven into the place of destruction and confusion. Keep the church
and the clergy in all its grades entirely free from the secular power. See that
the tithes that belong to God are faithfully paid from all the produce of the
land; let them not be sold or withheld. If anyone seizes a bishop let him be
treated as an outlaw. If anyone seizes or robs monks, or clergymen, or nuns, or
their servants, or pilgrims, or merchants, let him be anathema [that is,
cursed]. Let robbers and incendiaries and all their accomplices be expelled
from the church and anthematized. If a man who does not give a part of his
goods as alms is punished with the damnation of hell, how should he be punished
who robs another of his goods? For thus it happened to the rich man in the
gospel [Luke 16:19]; he was not punished because he had stolen the goods of
another, but because he had not used well the things which were his."You
have seen for a long time the great disorder in the world caused by these
crimes. It is so bad in some of your provinces, I am told, and you are so weak
in the administration of justice, that one can hardly go along the road by day
or night without being attacked by robbers; and whether at home or abroad one
is in danger of being despoiled either by force or fraud. Therefore it is
necessary to reenact the truce, as it is commonly called, which was proclaimed
a long time ago by our holy fathers. I exhort and demand that you, each, try
hard to have the truce kept in your diocese. And if anyone shall be led by his
cupidity or arrogance to break this truce, by the authority of God and with the
sanction of this council he shall be anathematized."After these and
various other matters had been attended to, all who were present, clergy and
people, gave thanks to God and agreed to the pope's proposition. They all
faithfully promised to keep the decrees. Then the pope said that in another
part of the world Christianity was suffering from a state of affairs that was
worse than the one just mentioned. He continued:"Although, O sons of God,
you have promised more firmly than ever to keep the peace among yourselves and
to preserve the rights of the church, there remains still an important work for
you to do. Freshly quickened by the divine correction, you must apply the
strength of your righteousness to another matter which concerns you as well as
God. For your brethren who live in the east are in urgent need of your help,
and you must hasten to give them the aid which has often been promised them.
For, as the most of you have heard, the Turks and Arabs have attacked them and
have conquered the territory of Romania [the Greek empire] as far west as the
shore of the Mediterranean and the Hellespont, which is called the Arm of St.
George. They have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and
have overcome them in seven battles. They have killed and captured many, and
have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire. If you permit them to
continue thus for awhile with impurity, the faithful of God will be much more
widely attacked by them. On this account 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."All who die by the way, whether by
land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission
of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested. O
what a disgrace if such a despised and base race, which worships demons, should
conquer a people which has the faith of omnipotent God and is made glorious
with the name of Christ! With what reproaches will the Lord overwhelm us if you
do not aid those who, with us, profess the Christian religion! Let those who
have been accustomed unjustly to wage private warfare against the faithful now
go against the infidels and end with victory this war which should have been
begun long ago. Let those who for a long time, have been robbers, now become
knights. Let those who have been fighting against their brothers and relatives
now fight in a proper way against the barbarians. Let those who have been
serving as mercenaries for small pay now obtain the eternal reward. Let those who
have been wearing themselves out in both body and soul now work for a double
honor. Behold! on this side will be the sorrowful and poor, on that, the rich;
on this side, the enemies of the Lord, on that, his friends. Let those who go
not put off the journey, but rent their lands and collect money for their
expenses; and as soon as winter is over and spring comes, let hem eagerly set
out on the way with God as their guide."
Source:Bongars, Gesta Dei per
Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal,
eds., A Source Book for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905),
513-17
2. Robert the MonkRobert perhaps 25 years after the speech,
but he may have been present at the counicl. He used the Gesta version (see
below, number 3). Oh, race of Franks, race from across the mountains, race
chosen and beloved by Godas shines forth in very many of your works set apart
from all nations by the situation of your country, as well as by your catholic
faith and the honor of the holy church! To you our discourse is addressed and
for you our exhortation is intended. We wish you to know what a grievous cause
has led us to Your country, what peril threatening you and all the faithful has
brought us.From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople a
horrible tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought to our ears,
namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race
utterly alienated from God, a generation forsooth which has not directed its heart
and has not entrusted its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of those
Christians and has depopulated them by the sword, pillage and fire; it has led
away a part of the captives into its own country, and a part it has destroyed
by cruel tortures; it has either entirely destroyed the churches of God or
appropriated them for the rites of its own religion. They destroy the altars,
after having defiled them with their uncleanness. They circumcise the
Christians, and the blood of the circumcision they either spread upon the
altars or pour into the vases of the baptismal font. When they wish to torture
people by a base death, they perforate their navels, and dragging forth the
extremity of the intestines, bind it to a stake; then with flogging they lead
the victim around until the viscera having gushed forth the victim falls
prostrate upon the ground. Others they bind to a post and pierce with arrows.
Others they compel to extend their necks and then, attacking them with naked
swords, attempt to cut through the neck with a single blow. What shall I say of
the abominable rape of the women? To speak of it is worse than to be silent.
The kingdom of the Greeks is now dismembered by them and deprived of territory
so vast in extent that it can not be traversed in a march of two months. On
whom therefore is the labor of avenging these wrongs and of recovering this
territory incumbent, if not upon you? You, upon whom above other nations God
has conferred remarkable glory in arms, great courage, bodily activity, and
strength to humble the hairy scalp of those who resist you.Let the deeds of
your ancestors move you and incite your minds to manly achievements; the glory
and greatness of king Charles the Great, and of his son Louis, and of your
other kings, who have destroyed the kingdoms of the pagans, and have extended
in these lands the territory of the holy church. Let the holy sepulchre of the
Lord our Saviour, which is possessed by unclean nations, especially incite you,
and the holy places which are now treated with ignominy and irreverently
polluted with their filthiness. Oh, most valiant soldiers and descendants of
invincible ancestors, be not degenerate, but recall the valor of your
progenitors.But if you are hindered by love of children, parents and wives,
remember what the Lord says in the Gospel, "He that loveth father or
mother more than me, is not worthy of me." "Every one that hath
forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or
children, or lands for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold and shall
inherit everlasting life." Let none of your possessions detain you, no
solicitude for your family affairs, since 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. That land which as the Scripture says "floweth with milk and
honey," was given by God into the possession of the children of Israel
Jerusalem is the navel of the world; the land is fruitful above others, like
another paradise of delights. This the Redeemer of the human race has made
illustrious by His advent, has beautified by residence, has consecrated by
suffering, has redeemed by death, has glorified by burial. This royal city,
therefore, situated at the centre of the world, is now held captive by His
enemies, and is in subjection to those who do not know God, to the worship of
the heathens. She seeks therefore and desires to be liberated, and does not
cease to implore you to come to her aid. From you especially she asks succor,
because, as we have already said, 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.When Pope Urban had said these and very many similar things in his
urbane discourse, he so influenced to one purpose the desires of all who were
present, that they cried out, "It is the will of God! It is the will of
God!" When the venerable Roman pontiff heard that, with eyes uplifted to
heaven he gave thanks to God and, with his hand commanding silence, said:Most
beloved brethren, today is manifest in you what the Lord says in the Gospel,
"Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the
midst of them." Unless the Lord God had been present in your spirits, all
of you would not have uttered the same cry. For, although the cry issued from
numerous mouths, yet the origin of the cry was one. Therefore I say to you that
God, who implanted this in your breasts, has drawn it forth from you. Let this
then be your war-cry in combats, because this word is given to you by God. When
an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the
soldiers of God: It is the will of God! It is the will of God!And we do not
command or advise that the old or feeble, or those unfit for bearing arms,
undertake this journey; nor ought women to set out at all, without their
husbands or brothers or legal guardians. For such are more of a hindrance than
aid, more of a burden than advantage. Let the rich aid the needy; and according
to their wealth, let them take with them experienced soldiers. The priests and
clerks of any order are not to go without the consent of their bishop; for this
journey would profit them nothing if they went without permission of these.
Also, it is not fitting that laymen should enter upon the pilgrimage without
the blessing of their priests.Whoever, therefore, shall determine upon this
holy pilgrimage and shall make his vow to God to that effect and shall offer
himself to Him as a, living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, shall wear
the sign of the cross of the Lord on his forehead or on his breast. When,'
truly',' having fulfilled his vow be wishes to return, let him place the cross
on his back between his shoulders. Such, indeed, by the twofold action will fulfill
the precept of the Lord, as He commands in the Gospel, "He that taketh not
his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me."
Source:Dana C.
Munro, "Urban and the Crusaders", Translations and Reprints from the
Original Sources of European History, Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania, 1895), 5-8
3. The Gesta VersionCirca 1100-1101, an anonymous writer
connected with Bohemund of Antioch wrote the Gesta francorum et aliorum
Hierosolymytanorum; (The Deeds of the Franks) This text was used by the later
writers as a source.When now that time was at hand which the Lord Jesus daily
points out to His faithful, especially in the Gospel, saying, "If any man
would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,"
a mighty agitation was carried on throughout all the region of Gaul. (Its tenor
was) that if anyone desired to follow the Lord zealously, with a pure heart and
mind, and wished faithfully to bear the cross after Him, he would no longer
hesitate to take up the way to the Holy Sepulchre.And so Urban, Pope of the
Roman see, with his archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priests, set out as
quickly as possible beyond the mountains and began to deliver sermons and to
preach eloquently, saying: "Whoever wishes to save his soul should not
hesitate humbly to take up the way of the Lord, and if he lacks sufficient
money, divine mercy will give him enough." Then the apostolic lord
continued, "Brethren, we ought to endure much suffering for the name of
Christ - misery, poverty, nakedness, persecution, want, illness, hunger,
thirst, and other (ills) of this kind, just as the Lord saith to His disciples:
'Ye must suffer much in My name,' and 'Be not ashamed to confess Me before the
faces of men; verily I will give you mouth and wisdom,' and finally, 'Great is
your reward in Heaven."' And when this speech had already begun to be
noised abroad, little by little, through all the regions and countries of Gaul,
the Franks, upon hearing such reports, forthwith caused crosses to be sewed on
their right shoulders, saying that they followed with one accord the footsteps
of Christ, by which they had been redeemed from the hand of
hell.
Source: August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of
Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 28-30. See also Rosalind
M. Hill, ed. and trans., Gesta francorum et aliorum Hierosolymitanorum: The
Deeds of the Franks (London: 1962), [Latin text with English translation.]
3. Version of Balderic of DolBalderic was archbishop of Dol.
He wrote in the early twelth century and his main source was the Gesta. . .
"We have beard, most beloved brethren, and you have heard what we cannot
recount without deep sorrow how, with great hurt and dire sufferings our
Christian brothers, members in Christ, are scourged, oppressed, and injured in
Jerusalem, in Antioch, and the other cities of the East. Your own blood
brothers, your companions, your associates (for you are sons of the same Christ
and the same Church) are either subjected in their inherited homes to other
masters, or are driven from them, or they come as beggars among us; or, which
is far worse, they are flogged and exiled as slaves for sale in their own land.
Christian blood, redeemed by the blood of Christ, has been shed, and Christian
flesh, akin to the flesh of Christ, has been subjected to unspeakable
degradation and servitude. Everywhere in those cities there is sorrow,
everywhere misery, everywhere groaning (I say it with a sigh). The churches in
which divine mysteries were celebrated in olden times are now, to our sorrow,
used as stables for the animals of these people! Holy men do not possess those
cities; nay, base and bastard Turks hold sway over our brothers. The blessed
Peter first presided as Bishop at Antioch; behold, in his own church the
Gentiles have established their superstitions, and the Christian religion,
which they ought rather to cherish, they have basely shut out from the ball
dedicated to God! The estates given for the support of the saints and the
patrimony of nobles set aside for the sustenance of the poor are subject to
pagan tyranny, while cruel masters abuse for their own purposes the returns
from these lands. The priesthood of God has been ground down into the dust. The
sanctuary of God (unspeakable shamel) is everywhere profaned. Whatever
Christians still remain in hiding there are sought out with unheard of
tortures."Of holy Jerusalem, brethren, we dare not speak, for we are
exceedingly afraid and ashamed to speak of it. This very city, in which, as you
all know, Christ Himself suffered for us, because our sins demanded it, has
been reduced to the pollution of paganism and, I say it to our disgrace,
withdrawn from the service of God. Such is the heap of reproach upon us who
have so much deserved it! Who now serves the church of the Blessed Mary in the
valley of Josaphat, in which church she herself was buried in body? But why do
we pass over the Temple of Solomon, nay of the Lord, in which the barbarous
nations placed their idols contrary to law, human and divine? Of the Lord's
Sepulchre we have refrained from speaking, since some of you with your own eyes
have seen to what abominations it has been given over. The Turks violently took
from it the offerings which you brought there for alms in such vast amounts,
and, in addition, they scoffed much and often 'at Your religion. And yet in
that place (I say only what you already know) rested the Lord; there He died
for us; there He was buried. How precious would be the longed for, incomparable
place of the Lord's burial, even if God failed there to perform the yearly
miracle! For in the days of His Passion all the lights in the Sepulchre and
round about in the church, which have been extinguished, are relighted by
divine command. Whose heart is so stony, brethren, that it is not touched by so
great a miracle? Believe me, that man is bestial and senseless whose heart such
divinely manifest grace does not move to faith! And yet the Gentiles see this
in common with the Christians and are not turned from their ways! They are,
indeed, afraid, but they are not converted to the faith; nor is it to be
wondered at, for a blindness of mind rules over them. With what afflictions
they wronged you who have returned and are now present, you yourselves know too
well you who there sacrificed your substance and your blood for God."This,
beloved brethren, we shall say, that we may have you as witness of our words.
More suffering of our brethren and devastation of churches remains than we can
speak of one by one, for we are oppressed by tears and groans, sighs and sobs.
We weep and wail, brethren, alas, like the Psalmist, in our inmost heart! We
are wretched and unhappy, and in us is that prophecy fulfilled: 'God, the
nations are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled;
they have laid Jerusalem in heaps; the dead bodies of thy servants have been
given to be food for the birds of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the
beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about
Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.' Woe unto us, brethren! We who have
already become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing, and derision to them
round about us, let us at least with tears condone and have compassion upon our
brothers! We who are become the scorn of all peoples, and worse than all, let
us bewail the most monstrous devastation of the Holy Land! This land we have
deservedly called holy in which there is not even a footstep that the body or
spirit of the Saviour did not render glorious and blessed which embraced the
holy presence of the mother of God, and the meetings of the apostles, and drank
up the blood of the martyrs shed there. How blessed are the stones which
crowned you Stephen, the first martyr! How happy, O, John the Baptist, the
waters of the Jordan which served you in baptizing the Saviour! The children of
Israel, who were led out of Egypt, and who prefigured you in the crossing of
the Red Sea, have taken that land, by their arms, with Jesus as leader; they
have driven out the Jebusites and other inhabitants and have themselves
inhabited earthly Jerusalem, the image of celestial Jerusalem."What are we
saying? Listen and learn! You, girt about with the badge of knighthood, are
arrogant with great pride; you rage against your brothers and cut each other in
pieces. This is not the (true) soldiery of Christ which rends asunder the
sheepfold of the Redeemer. The Holy Church has reserved a soldiery for herself
to help her people, but you debase her wickedly to her hurt. Let us confess the
truth, whose heralds we ought to be; truly, you are not holding to the way
which leads to life. You, the oppressers of children, plunderers of widows;
you, guilty of homicide, of sacrilege, robbers of another's rights; you who
await the pay of thieves for the shedding of Christian blood -- as vultures
smell fetid corpses, so do you sense battles from afar and rush to them
eagerly. Verily, this is the worst way, for it is utterly removed from God! if,
forsooth, you wish to be mindful of your souls, either lay down the girdle of
such knighthood, or advance boldly, as knights of Christ, and rush as quickly
as you can to the defence of the Eastern Church. For she it is from whom the
joys of your whole salvation have come forth, who poured into your mouths the
milk of divine wisdom, who set before you the holy teachings of the Gospels. We
say this, brethren, that you may restrain your murderous hands from the
destruction of your brothers, and in behalf of your relatives in the faith
oppose yourselves to the Gentiles. Under Jesus Christ, our Leader, may you
struggle for your Jerusalem, in Christian battleline, most invincible line,
even more successfully than did the sons of Jacob of old - struggle, that you
may assail and drive out the Turks, more execrable than the Jebusites, who are
in this land, and may you deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that
city in which He died for us. But if it befall you to die this side of it, be
sure that to have died on the way is of equal value, if Christ shall find you
in His army. God pays with the same shilling, whether at the first or eleventh
hour. You should shudder, brethren, you should shudder at raising a violent
hand against Christians; it is less wicked to brandish your sword against
Saracens. It is the only warfare that is righteous, for it is charity to risk
your life for your brothers. That you may not be troubled about the concerns of
tomorrow, know that those who fear God want nothing, nor those who cherish Him
in truth. The possessions of the enemy, too, will be yours, since you will make
spoil of their treasures and return victorious to your own; or empurpled with
your own blood, you will have gained everlasting glory. For such a Commander
you ought to fight, for One who lacks neither might nor wealth with which to
reward you.Short is the way, little the labor, which, nevertheless, will repay
you with the crown that fadeth not away. Accordingly, we speak with the
authority of the prophet: 'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh O mighty one.' Gird
yourselves, everyone of you, I say, and be valiant sons; for it is better for
you to die in battle than to behold, the sorrows of your race and of your holy
places. Let neither property nor the alluring charms of your wives entice you
frol going; nor let the trials that are to be borne so deter you that you
remain here."And turning to the bishops, he said, "You, brothers and
fellow bishops; you, fellow priests and sharers with us in Christ, make this
same announcement through the churches committed to you, and with your whole
soul vigorously preach the journey to Jerusalem. When they have confessed the
disgrace of their sins, do you, secure in Christ, grant them speedy pardon.
Moreover, you who are to go shall have us praying for you; we shall have you
fighting for God's people. It is our duty to pray, yours to fight against the
Amalekites. With Moses, we shall extend unwearied hands in prayer to Heaven,
while you go forth and brandish the sword, like dauntless warriors, against
Amalek."As those present were thus clearly informed by these and other
words of this kind from the apostolic lord, the eyes of some were bathed in
tears; some trembled, and yet others discussed the matter. However, in the
presence of all at that same council, and as we looked on, the Bishop of Puy, a
man of great renown and of highest ability, went to the Pope with joyful
countenance and on bended knee sought and entreated blessing and permission to
go., Over and above this, he won from the Pope the command that all should obey
him, and that he should hold sway over all the army in behalf of the Pope,
since all knew him to be a prelate of unusual energy and
industry.
Source:August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of
Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 33-36
4. Version of Guibert de Nogent Guibert, Abbot of
Nogent, attended the Council of Clermont. His Historia quae dicitur Gesta Dei
per Francos used both his own knowledge and other sources such as the
Gesta. "If among the churches scattered about over the whole world
some, because of persons or location, deserve reverence above others (for
persons, I say, since greater privileges are accorded to apostolic sees; for
places, indeed, since the same dignity which is accorded to persons is also
shown to regal cities, such as Constantinople), we owe most to that church from
which we received the grace of redemption and the source of all Christianity.
If what the Lord saysnamely, 'Salvation is from the Jews,' accords with the
truth, and it is true that the Lord has left us Sabaoth as seed, that we may
not become like Sodom and Gomorrah, and our seed is Christ, in whom is the
salvation and benediction of all peoples, then, indeed, the very land and city
in which He dwelt and suffered is, by witnesses of the Scriptures, holy. If
this land is spoken of in the sacred writings of the prophets as the
inheritance and the holy temple of God before ever the Lord walked about in it,
or was revealed, what sanctity, what reverence has it not acquired since God in
His majesty was there clothed in the flesh, nourished, grew up, and in bodily
form there walked about, or was carried about; and, to compress in fitting
brevity all that might be told in a long series of words, since there the blood
of the Son of God, more holy than heaven and earth, was poured forth, and His
body, its quivering members dead, rested in the tomb. What veneration do we
think it deserves? If, when the Lord had but just been crucified and the city
was still held by the Jews, it was called holy by the evangelist when he says,
'Many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised; and coming forth
out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered into the holy city and
appeared unto many,' and by the prophet Isaiah when be says, 'It shall be His
glorious sepulchre,' then, surely, with this sanctity placed upon it by God the
Sanctifier Himself, no evil that may befall it can destroy it, and in the same
way glory is indivisibly fixed to His Sepulchre. Most beloved brethren, if you
reverence the source of that holiness and I . you cherish these shrines which
are the marks of His footprints on earth, if you seek (the way), God leading
you, God fighting in your behalf, you should strive with your utmost efforts to
cleanse the Holy City and the glory of the Sepulchre, now polluted by the
concourse of the Gentiles, as much as is in their power."If in olden times
the Maccabees attained to the highest praise of piety because they fought for
the ceremonies and the Temple, it is also justly granted you, Christian
soldiers, to defend their liberty of your country by armed endeavor. If you,
likewise, consider that the abode of the holy apostles and any other saints
should be striven for with such effort, why do you refuse to rescue the Cross,
the Blood, the Tomb? Why do you refuse to visit them, to spend the price of
your lives in rescuing them? You have thus far waged unjust wars, at one time
and another; you have brandished mad weapons to your mutual destruction, for no
other reason than covetousness and pride, as a result of which you have
deserved eternal death and sure damnation. We now hold out to you wars which
contain the glorious reward of martyrdom, which will retain that title of
praise now and forever."Let us suppose, for the moment, that Christ was
not dead and buried, and had never lived any length of time in Jerusalem.
Surely, if all this were lacking, this fact alone ought still to arouse you to
go to the aid of the land and city -- the fact that 'Out of Zion shall go forth
the law and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem!' If all that there is of
Christian preaching has flowed from the fountain of Jerusalem, its streams,
whithersoever spread out over the whole world, encircle the hearts of the
Catholic multitude, that they may consider wisely what they owe such a
well-watered fountain. If rivers return to the place whence they have issued
only to flow forth again, according to the saying of Solomon, it ought to seem
glorious to you to be able to apply a new cleansing to this place, whence it is
certain that you received the cleansing of baptism and the witness of your
faith."And you ought, furthermore, to consider with the utmost
deliberation, if by your labors, God working through you, it should occur that
the Mother of churches should flourish anew to the worship of Christianity,
whether, perchance, He may not wish other regions of the East to be restored to
the faith against the approaching time of the Antichrist. For it is clear that
Antichrist is to do battle not with the Jews, not with the Gentiles; but,
according to the etymology of his name, He will attack Christians. And if
Antichrist finds there no Christians (just as at present when scarcely any
dwell there), no one will be there to oppose him, or whom he may rightly
overcome. According to Daniel and Jerome, the interpreter of Daniel, he is to
fix his tents on the Mount of Olives; and it is certain, for the apostle
teaches it, that he will sit at Jerusalem in the Temple of the Lord, as though
he were God. And according to the same prophet, he will first kill three kings
of Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia, without doubt for their Christian faith: This,
indeed, could not at all be done unless Christianity was established where now
is paganism. If, therefore, you are zealous in the practice of holy battles, in
order that, just as you have received the seed of knowledge of God from
Jerusalem, you may in the same way restore the borrowed grace, so that through
you the Catholic name may be advanced to oppose the perfidy of the Antichrist
and the Antichristians then, who can not conjecture that God, who has exceeded
the hope of all, will consume, in the abundance of your courage and through you
as the spark, such a thicket of paganism as to include within His law Egypt,
Africa, and Ethiopia, which have withdrawn from the communion of our belief?
And the man of sin, the son of perdition, will find some to oppose him. Behold,
the Gospel cries out, 'Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until
the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.' 'Times of the Gentiles' can be
understood in two ways: Either that they have ruled over the Christians at
their pleasure, and have gladly frequented the sloughs of all baseness for the
satisfaction of their lusts, and in all this have had no obstacle (for they who
have everything according to their wish are said to have their time; there is
that saying: 'My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready,' whence
the lustful are wont to say 'you are having your time'). Or, again, 'the times
of the Gentiles' are the fulness of time for those Gentiles who shall have
entered secretly before Israel shall be saved. These times, most beloved
brothers, will now, forsooth, be fulfilled, provided the might of the pagans be
repulsed through You, with the cooperation of God. With the end of the world
already near, even though the Gentiles fail to be converted t the Lord (since
according to the apostle there must be a withdrawal from the faith), it is
first necessary, according to their prophecy, that the Christian sway be
renewed in those regions either through you, or others, whom it shall please
God to send before the coming of Antichrist, so that the head of all evil, who
is to occupy there the throne of the kingdom, shall find some support of the
faith to fight against him."Consider, therefore, that the Almighty has
provided you, perhaps, for this purpose, that through you He may restore
Jerusalem from such debasement. Ponder, I beg you, how full of joy and delight
our hearts will be when we shall see the Holy City restored with your little
help, and the prophet's, nay divine, words fulfilled in our times. Let your
memory be moved by what the Lord Himself says to the Church: 'I will bring thy
seed from the East and gather thee from the West.' God has already brought our,
seed from the East, since in a double way that region of the East has given the
first beginnings of the Church to us. But from the West He will also gather it,
provided He repairs the wrongs of 1 Jerusalem through those who have begun the
witness of the final faith, that is the people of the West. With God's
assistance, we think this can be done through you."If neither the words of
the Scriptures arouse you, nor our admonitions penetrate your minds, at least
let the great suffering of those who desired to go to the holy places stir you
up. Think of those who made the pilgrimage across the sea! Even if they were
more wealthy, consider what taxes, what violence they underwent, since they
were forced to make payments and tributes almost every mile, to purchase
release at every gate of the city, at the entrance of the churches and temples,
at every side journey from place to place: also, if any accusation whatsoever
were made against them, they were compelled to purchase their release; but if
they refused to pay money, the prefects of the Gentiles, according to their
custom, urged them fiercely with blows. What shall we say of those who took up
the journey without anything more than trust in their barren poverty, since
they seemed to have nothing except their bodies to lose? They not only demanded
money of them, which is not an unendurable punishment, but also examined the
callouses of their heels, cutting them open and folding the skin back, lest,
perchance, they had sewed something there. Their unspeakable cruelty was
carried on even to the point of giving them scammony to drink until they
vomited, or even burst their bowels, because they thought the wretches had
swallowed gold or silver; or, horrible to say, they cut their bowels open with
a sword and, spreading out the folds of the intestines, with frightful
mutilation disclosed whatever nature held there in secret. Remember, I pray,
the thousands who have perished vile deaths, and strive for the holy places
from which the beginnings of your faith have come. Before you engage in His
battles, believe without question that Christ will be your standard-bearer and
inseparable forerunner."The most excellent man concluded his oration and
by the power of the blessed Peter. absolved all who vowed to go and confirmed
those acts with apostolic blessing. He instituted a sign well suited t so
honorable a profession by making the figure of the Cross, the stigma of the
Lord's Passion, the emblem of the soldiery, or rather, of what was to be the
soldiery of God. This, made of any kind of cloth, he ordered to be sewed upon
the shirts, cloaks, and byrra of those who were about to go. He commanded that
if anyone, after receiving this emblem, or after taking openly this vow, should
shrink from his good intent through base change of heart, or any affection for
his parents, he should be regarded an outlaw forever, unless he repented and
again undertook whatever of his pledge he had omitted. Furthermore, the Pope
condemned with a fearful anathema all those who dared to molest the wives,
children, and possessions of these who were going on this journey for God.
Source:August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and
Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 36-40
5. Urban II: Letter of Instruction to the Crusaders,
December 1095Urban, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the
faithful, both princes and subjects, waiting in Flanders; greeting, apostolic
grace, and blessing.Your brotherhood, we believe, has long since learned from
many accounts that a barbaric fury has deplorably afflicted an laid waste the
churches of God in the regions of the Orient. More than this, blasphemous to
say, it has even grasped in intolerabe servitude its churches and the Holy City
of Christ, glorified b His passion and resurrection. Grieving with pious
concern at this calamity, we visited the regions of Gaul and devoted ourselves
largely to urging the princes of the land and their subjects to free the
churches of the East. We solemnly enjoined upon them at the council of Auvergne
(the accomplishment of) such an undertaking, as a preparation for the remission
of all their sins. And we have constituted our most beloved son, Adhemar,
Bishop of Puy, leader of this expedition and undertaking in our stead, so that
those who, perchance, may wish to undertake this journey should comply With his
commands, as if they were our own, and submit fully to his loosings or
bindings, as far as shall seem to belong to such an office. If, moreover, there
are any of your people whom God has inspired to this vow, let them know that he
(Adhemar) will set out with the aid of God on the day of the Assumption of the
Blessed Mary, and that they can then attach themselves to his following.
Source:August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of
Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 42-43
Sources for entire file:
1. Fulcher of Chartres: Gesta Francorum Jerusalem
Expugnantium Bongars, Gesta Dei per Francos, 1, pp. 382 f., trans in
Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., A Source Book for Medieval
History, (New York: Scribners, 1905), 513-172. Robert the Monk: Historia
Hierosolymitana. in [RHC, Occ III.]Dana C. Munro, "Urban and the
Crusaders", Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of
European History, Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1895),
5-83. Gesta Francorum [The Deeds of the Franks]August. C. Krey, The First
Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton: 1921),
28-304. Balderic of DolAugust. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of
Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 23-365. Guibert de Nogent:
Historia quae dicitur Gesta Dei per Francos [RHC.Occ. IV]August. C. Krey, The
First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton:
1921), 36-406. Urban II: Letter of Instruction, December 1095August. C. Krey,
The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton:
1921), 42-43
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