This Troublesome Priest

The young boy from Cheapside who grew up to be the nemesis of the King of England, and later, a Saint. The life and achievements of St. Thomas Becket are impressive no matter the times. Just as famous as his deeds however, was his infamous end...

The Angevin Empire at its height
Map created by the author

The twelfth century was a tumultuous time for the young Kingdom of England. Fifty two years before 1118, the year of Thomas' birth, the Saxon dynasty had been overthrown forever, replaced with the iron rule of the Normans. The lives of many, on both sides of the Channel, were changed forever. Around this time, Gilbert Becket decided to move his family from the village of Thierville in Normandy to London, there to seek a new life in the new Norman domain. By the time his son Thomas was born, he was a wealthy and respected London merchant and landowner. Young Thomas spent many a summer on the Sussex estates of the family friend Richer de L'Aigle, whiling away the sunny days hunting and hawking, fine pursuits of a young man. Schooled at Merton Priory and later Grammar School in London, young Thomas received a fine education for the day, thanks to his father's success in business. But dark times were coming. The peaceful days of King Henry I were soon overthrown in a ruinous civil war. After the tragic shipwreck which claimed the life of Prince William Adelin, the broken hearted Henry was left with only his daughter, Matilda, as his hope for an heir. Long did the King try to persuade the English barons to accept her, the first woman to reign in her own right in the history of England. Matilda, whose husband the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V had died not long before, was soon wed to Geoffrey of Anjou, so that Henry I might gain an alliance with the mighty County of Anjou in France. To the relief of the King, the couple produced a male heir, Henry. But when the King died in 1135, the ever suspicious Norman lords refused to acknowledge Matilda, throwing in their lot for Stephen, the Count of Blois, triggering a near twenty year devastating civil war in England between the forces loyal to Matilda, and those loyal to Stephen, in a period infamously known to history as The Anarchy. The war laid waste to vast swathes of Albion, and it was in this destruction that Gilbert Becket once prosperous trade crumbled. Young Thomas took up a job as a clerk to help the family, and soon ended up in the employ of Theobald of Bec, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most powerful avatar of Christendom in the realm.

King Henry II of England
Image taken from the Manuscipt of the
Historia Anglorum of Matthew Parris

Escaping the turmoil that England had been hurled into, young Thomas marched forth as an emissary of Canterbury to Rome, spending many years in Europe learning the intricacies of many laws of the Church. After what seemed an age without end, there seemed to be hope at last for the dystopic British Isles. In December 1154, after a generation of endless war, the Norman dynasty lay in flames, when Henry the son of Empress Matilda landed on the southern coast of England. On the 19th of December, he was crowned King Henry II of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, Duke of Aquitaine and Lord of Ireland, alongside his new Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The House of Normandy was over. The House of Plantagenet, a dynasty that would rule England longer than any other, even to this day, had begun. By conquest and by marriage, King Henry now ruled one of the mightiest realms in Europe, a vast state known as the Angevin Empire. In those bygone days, the kings of England ruled more of France than the King of France did. The lawlessness of the Anarchy was over, and once again the people of England enjoyed peace. With order restored, young Thomas returned triumphantly to the British Isles, and was granted the honour of Archdeacon of Canterbury, and offices in Lincoln Cathedral and St. Paul's Cathedral. The merchant's son was rising rapidly within the ranks of Feudal England...

Thomas Becket Enthroned
Nottingham Alabaster

With all the tenacity and determination that so characterised him, Becket hurled himself into his mission, impressing Archbishop Theobald with his whirlwind efficiency. Such was his drive, within a year the Archbishop recommended Becket directly to the King himself. Further up the rungs of the ladder of state did young Thomas go, when the King appointed him Lord Chancellor, arguably the most powerful minister of the kingdom, and custodian of the Great Seal of the Realm, a spectacular honour for one of such relatively humble birth. Fro seven years Thomas shone once more as comptroller of the King's finances, gaining the King's trust to such a degree that the heir to the throne the young Prince Henry was even sent to live in Becket's household. It was once remarked that the Prince once said that Becket became more a father to him than the King himself. When Theobald died in 1162, the mightiest Bishopric in England fell vacant, and to many there was no doubt as to whom should succeed. A deeply pious man at heart, Becket cast aside the Chancellorship and took the cloth on the 3rd of June, taking vows of asceticism, and pledging to champion the cause of Christendom in England. Storm clouds began to gather between the King and his new Archbishop, dismayed as Henry was that Becket had put the Church before State. It began with the rejection of the authority of secular courts over the clergy by Becket, which challenged the power of the state. Alarmed at this sudden thinking, King Henry conspired to turn the other Bishops against him. Yet rumours of treachery ran common, and in 1164, the King decreed, near four hundred years before Henry VIII, that England would not automatically bow to the wishes of the Pope of Rome (due to his fame, one often considers Henry VIII as the man who grappled with the Pope - the truth is that the Kings of England had wrestled with Rome for centuries by the time the Reformation took place). It took all of Henry's charisma and majesty with words to sway the gathered courts at Clarendon, but carry the day he did. Archbishop Becket however, refused to sign the heretical treaty. The board was set. Thomas Becket was ordered to present himself before the royal council on charges of contempt of royal authority. The Council, jealous of Becket's upstart power, convicted him, and the Archbishop was banished from the realm.


Evading the King's men, Becket fled to France where he was given sanctuary by King Louis VII in the monastery of Pontigny. For near two years he resisted in exile, excommunicating his foes in the English Church, for no precedent existed for removing the Archbishop of Canterbury from power. Meanwhile, King Henry seethed. The looming eyes of Pope Alexander III were ever watchful, but when Becket threatened the King of England himself with excommunication (a fate worse than death in the medieval world), the King's frustration turned to anger. When the Pope agreed a truce, Becket returned to England, immune to earthly shackles, and continued to excommunicate all in his path. When he heard that Prince Henry had been crowned in his absence, an act only the Archbishop of Canterbury could perform, he excommunicated the Archbishop of York.


King Henry was in Normandy when the news reached him. As news of rifts in his vast empire fell upon his ears, a cry of rage shook the hall, with words that to this day have been in dispute:


                 " What miserable fools and traitors hath I nourished and
                    raised in my household, who grant their Lord be so trifled
                   by so low born a cleric! "
                           - KING HENRY II ON BECKET


Some say his fury was stronger still, and that the King roared in frustration:

                 " Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?! "
                          - KING HENRY II's LETHAL WISH

The Murder of Thomas Becket
English Psalter of 1250,
currently in the Walters Art Gallery,
Baltimore

Legendary was the wrath of the Plantagenet Kings, and all who looked on feared what irrational deeds anger would inspire in the King. Standing there that day were four knights, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy, Richard le Breton and Reginald FitzUrse, all eager to serve and please their King. Mistaking the King's fiery words for royal command, the four rode forth from court to carry out their terrible deed. On sunset of the fifth day of Christmas 1170, the four knights arrived in Canterbury town, their eyes set on the towering cathedral. As evening fell on Canterbury, the clergy and the Archbishop were celebrating the Vespers service. A certain Subdeacon of the cathedral beckoned the knights in, a name since blackened in history. The monks loyal to the Archbishop moved to bar the doors, but their hand was stayed by Becket. "'Tis not proper", spake he, "that a house of prayer,a church of Christ, be made a fortress". Seizing their chance, the knights burst in in full armour, sharpened swords gleaming in the failing light. "Where is Thomas Becket, traitor of the King and Kingdom", one demanded to the congregation. Silence reigned. "Where is the Archbishop!" they cried aloud. At this Becket rose to his feet and faced his foe. "The righteous will be like a bold lion and free from fear", said he. Into the evenlight he moved, "Here I am, not a traitor of the King but a priest; why do you seek me?". At the altar Archbishop Becket stopped, and turned to face the image of the holy confessor St. Benedict. The four men of steel bore down upon him, "Absolve and restore to communion those thou hast excommunicated, and reconcile those who hath been banished", the knights commanded. "No penance hath been made, so I shall not absolve them", the Archbishop coolly replied. "Then you", spake they, "will now die and will suffer what thou hast earned". "And I", said he, "am prepared to die for my Lord, so that in my blood the Church will attain liberty and peace; but in the name of Almighty God I forbid that thou striketh my men, cleric or layman should he be".


"With rapid motion they laid sacrilegious hands on him", and moved to drag him from the sanctum, for to strike down a man of the cloth was sin enough, but to do so on hallowed ground was the devil's work indeed. But Archbishop Becket was loath to release his grip upon the stone pillar. Seeing Reginald coming near, Archbishop Becket spoke his last command. "Touch me not, Reginald, you who oweth me faith and obedience, you who foolishly follow these men". A burning rage did this spark in the knight, who rounded on Becket, "I owe thee neither faith nor obedience when faced with fealty I owe my King". Seeing Doom coming now, Thomas Becket lowered in prayer when Reginald's blade sang through the air. With one mighty blow, as the heavenly crown was laid on the Archbishop's head, his earthly one was hewn by steel. A second blow met its mark, but not yet over was it. On the third strike he sank to his knees, "for the name of Jesus I am ready to embrace death", said he. So forceful was the knight's blow, the blade of the sword was shattered upon the cold stone below. An accomplice in the Church, loyal to the King, spoke the last. "We can leave this place, knights, he will rise no more".

The Becket Casket
Reliquary made c. 1180-1190,
Currently in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Soon after news of the impious deed spread like wildfire through Europe, and with it admiration for the pious Becket. Crowds across the continent chanted his name and called him martyr. two years later, Pope Alexander III declared him a saint. The four assassins fled north to Knaresborough Castle, and holed up for a year. All four were excommunicated by the Pope, yet journeyed to Rome, braving threats of lynching, to plead before the Vicar of Christ. Pope Alexander was merciful, and decreed that each man serve penance for fourteen years in the Holy Lands. To Outremer were they henceforth banished. But it was King Henry who was racked with grief and guilt at the horrible deed. Never truly meaning his death, after all, they had once been friends, the King fell into a desperate sorrow, and a fear for his immortal soul. On the 12th July, 1174, the King performed an unprecedented humility. By the Church of St. Dunstans, the King of England set out barefoot and clad in sackcloth, and undertook his pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral, whipped along the road to redemption. The monks, afraid of relic thieves, buried Becket beneath the floor in the East of the Cathedral. Fifty years later, King Henry III, grandson of Henry II, gave them a lavish new setting in pride of place within the Cathedral. There they regally sat until they were destroyed by order of King Henry VIII in 1538. The most intact relic survives today in the so called Becket Casket. Canterbury has ever since been a great pilgrimage site in Christendom, with images of the Saint all over the Christian World. Quite a legacy for the boy from Cheapside...



United Kingdom

The Biography
Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim: A 900-Year-Old Story Retold
(A grand tale of Becket's life, easy to read and with links to the original accounts)

United States

The Biography

Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel
(A grand tale of Becket's life, easy to read and with links to the original accounts)

The Crusade Grows

Today we return to the grand story of the First Crusade, one of the most grandiose operations in history, unrivalled in scope in all that had gone before it. On the 27th of November 1095, a day which shook the world, the charismatic Pope Urban II had cried out to the powers of Christendom to aid their beleaguered fellow Christians in the East against the rising power of Islam (for the story behind Urban's legendary speech, please click here). The gathered crowd of clergymen, knights and nobles were both stunned and moved. Little did the Pope realise that in that moment he had created an idea, an idea that would mobilise the nations of Europe like never before.

The Crusaders rally to the Crusade
Engraving by Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville.

When the Supreme Pontiff had finished speaking, and tears were in the eyes of all men present, one among that crowd rushed forward. His name was Adhemar, and he was also the Bishop of Puy-en-Velay in France. Kneeling before the Pope, he vowed to see God's will be done. Urban II bent down and sewed a cross onto the robes of the Bishop. Adhemar of Puy was the first man to take the cross, and the first crusader. Urban II called to the crowd once more, declaring this man to be his personal representative, as Papal legate, on the Crusade, imploring more to follow his example. Many more followed in Adhemar's wake. Many more indeed. News of the Pope's call spread quickly across the Kingdoms of Europe. Bishops and legates soon appeared in towns and cities across the land, carrying the Pope's message to the people, both lord and peasant alike. "Undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the Kingdom of Heaven!" was a potent message, particularly to the pious, yet beaten down serfs of the feudal medieval world. Tens of thousands answered the Pope's call across Europe,  from all walks of life. Men, women, monks, knights, lords, Princes, Counts, hermits, peasants - all took the cross.

Godfrey of Bouillon leads the First Crusade
Image taken from a 13th Century Illuminated Manuscript.

Soon the sheer scale of the response took the Pope by surprise. Whilst continuing his journey through France, Urban II even had to urge women, monks and the sick to stay behind, so vast were the numbers. Yet the force he unleashed was too great even for the Church to control. Royalty too, soon began to stir. Due to an unusual set of circumstances, the three most powerful monarchs in Europe were unable to personally take the crusade (however, later crusades, famously the Third Crusade, were under the direct leadership of Kings). King Philip I of France had been excommunicated for polygamy by Pope Urban II himself. The Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV had been excommunicated for scheming against the Church. In England, King William the Conqueror had been dead only eight years and the Norman mastery of England still less than thirty years old. The new King William II's hold on the throne therefore needed a strong hand, so he too was unable to go. The Spanish were locked in battle with the Moors, wrestling for control of the Iberian Peninsula, already engaged in an effort to drive Islam from Europe, an effort known as the Reconquista, and so they too were out of the picture. However, in their wake royalty would still attend. After much deliberation, representing the Kingdom of France would be Hugh of Vermandois, brother to the disgraced King. Representing the Holy Roman Empire would be numerous lords and barons of the German King, most important of whom was Godfrey, Lord of Bouillon, who would became a key leader of the Crusade. Representing the Kingdom of England would be Robert, Duke of the Normans and son of King William the Conqueror and brother to King William II. Accompanying him would be Stephen, Count of Blois, son-in-law to the Conqueror (who would also be father to the future King Stephen of England, last of the Norman Kings). From the Norman lands in Southern Italy came Bohemond, the Prince of Taranto and his nephew Tancred. Each man brought with him a sizeable contingent, though overall credit for the First Crusade was to rest largely with the Normans. As the Kingdoms of Europe prepared themselves for the Crusade, Pope Urban II set a date for its departure, August 15th 1096, on the Feast of the Assumption. However, as always there were fanatics. One contingent decided to leave without delay.




Peter the Hermit guides the people to the Holy City
Image taken from a 13th Century Illuminated Manuscript.


Pope Urban II was not the only charismatic man of the cloth at the time of the Crusade. The story too, tells us of a hermit, by the name of Peter, who was a priest of Amiens. Years before, Peter had embarked upon a pilgrimage to the Holy City, but had fallen into the hands of the Turks, who had tortured him, deep in the dungeons of Anatolia. Seizing on the chance offered by the Pope, the hermit showed the marks of his torture before the eyes of the people, crafting powerful words and speech, urging the liberation of the Holy Lands. Preaching to the people of the Low Countries (the future Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg - all vassals of the Holy Roman Empire in 1095), Peter gathered a vast following. Departing early in 1096, leading anything from forty to eighty thousands peasants, knights and nobles, this 'Crusade of the People' marched forth to Constantinople, but not before some stops on the way. Riding a donkey and dressed in simple robes, Peter led the host to the city of Cologne to preach the Crusade. But here this 'rogue crusade' hit its first troubles. Some were impatient and called for an immediate march to Jerusalem. Peter's vision was dashed with a dark new side to the Crusade which manifested early in 1096. An alarming many in Europe saw the Jews as enemies just as much as they did the Saracens. Some questioned why they should travel thousands of miles to fight a foreign foe, when another lay within. This sentiment reached boiling point in the Crusade with a bloody vengeance. Over eight hundred years before the Third Reich, Jews were systematically slaughtered throughout German towns and cities. Thousands were put to the sword, hundreds were locked inside buildings and burned alive. The People's Crusade had run amok. The Holy Roman Emperor, away in Southern Italy, was outraged when the news reached him. The Church universally condemned the anti-Semitism, denouncing all involved.

The People's Crusade in Anatolia
Image taken from a 15th Century
Illuminated Manuscript.

The First Crusade had got off to an appalling start, but things would get worse before they got better. A force loyal to none, the hermit's 'army' continued through Eastern Europe, through Hungary to the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor Alexius Comnenus had a dilemma. If the rogue crusaders attacked his lands he would have to retaliate, yet this would jeopardise the ethos of the Crusade, which was supposed to be aiding him. If they entered Constantinople, who knows what they would do? After pillaging the city of Belgrade, the crusaders entered Roman territory. But Peter's 'army' was little more than a collection of ill-equipped and uneducated vagabonds and thieves than the might of Christendom. Peter accepted the Emperor's offer of an escort through his lands, but his followers were a force of their own. Causing havoc in the city of Nis (in modern Serbia), as many as ten thousand troublemaking crusaders were slain by the Roman garrison, yet still they marched on. Passing through Sofia and reaching Constantinople at last, the Emperor was bemused by what he saw. Hardly any of the crusaders even wore armour, let alone training or organisation. Yet these brigands were to face the might of the Turks? Men who had bested the Roman army itself? Little wonder the Emperor's daughter, Anna, described them as "a host of barbarians 'bursting forth into Asia in a solid mass".  Despair though he did, the Emperor saw a good man at heart in Peter, even if he held little control over his mob. Urging him to await the leaders of the true Crusade, the Emperor begged him to wait. But his followers would have none of it. Reluctantly, the People's Crusade was quickly ferried across the Bosphorus, into the lands of the Turks.

Amongst the rabble were two groups. One, consisting largely of the Germans who had so violently slaughtered the Jews, who urged immediate action, and another more cautious. Impatient, the Germans advanced forth, finding the fortress of Xerigordon unnoccupied. In fact, the country itself seemed empty. Where were the Turks? The fortress did however, have many riches left in it, left for the taking. The Germans charged in and revelled in their luck, short lived though it was. For they had walked straight into the trap laid by Kilij Arslan, Sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire. Quickly sending forth men to surround the fortress, the Turks promptly cut the water supply to the castle. The Germans soon found that gold could not quench their thirst. So they received their justice, as they starved and died of thirst. It is said that some resorted to drinking the blood of their horses, and their own urine, before succumbing in the burning heat. The cautious crusaders had heard nothing from the Germans for some days, until a messenger arrived, telling them that they had in fact taken and looted the city of Nicaea, and plunder was all theirs! Little did the crusaders know that this man was actually a Turkish spy... All order thrown into confusion, the greedy crusaders plowed on to the city, through a narrow gorge. The Sultan once more sprang his trap. Thousands upon thousands of arrows fell upon the crusaders, and thousands fell, unarmoured as they were. Tens of thousands of crusaders were killed or sold into slavery, and barely a few hundred of the great host made it back to Constantinople. One among the survivors however, was an old hermit...

Often passed over in the story of the First Crusade, the People's Crusade is a shocking precursor to the very recent and very real persecutions of the twentieth century. The Crusades had barely begun, and the darkest sides of religious conflict had been illuminated. Though quickly eclipsed by the events of the true First Crusade, the People's Crusade is a story which must be known. It was with a heavily tarnished image that the true crusaders marched to Constantinople in August 1096, a force of Princes, knights and soldiers...

United Kingdom

Eyewitness accounts
The First Crusade: "The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres" and Other Source Materials (Middle Ages)
(A very useful collection of eyewitness accounts of the First Crusade - including the People's Crusade)

United States

Eyewitness accounts

The First Crusade: "The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres" and Other Source Materials (The Middle Ages Series)
(A very useful collection of eyewitness accounts of the First Crusade - including the People's Crusade)

November 27th 1095: A day that shook the world

"Then Jesus said to his disciples ‘If any would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever seeks to spare his own life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake will find it”

                                                                      - CHRIST ADDRESSES HIS DISCIPLES (MATTHEW 16:24-25)

At the turn of the eleventh century Anno Domini the Eastern Roman Empire, the last great remnant of the Ancient Roman Empire, was in decline, slowly worn down by relentless attack at the hands of the Turks. Yet even then, it was the great Christian superpower of the world, and Constantinople was by far the largest and richest city on Earth, the great bastion and defender of Christendom in the face of the rising power of Islam in the East. Though the days when the Caesars ruled from Rome were a distant memory, the power, prestige and the dream that was Rome lived on. Until the fateful day of the 26th of August 1071. For on that day began a chain of events culminating in a day which changed the world forever, and whose effects are felt stronger today than ever, on the 27th November 1095.



Gold Solidus of the Emperor Romanus IV
Constantinople Mint.

The Emperor Romanus IV, determined to take vengeance on Alp Arslan - Sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire - for his siege of the city of Manzikert (near the Eastern border of modern Turkey, then under Roman control), set off with a large army to confront his foe. On the road from Constantinople, the Romans were constantly harassed and demoralised by the arrows of the Turkish horse archers, yet the army held together. The Emperor reached Manzikert and took it easily, causing the Sultan to sue for peace. Determined to end the ‘Eastern threat’ once and for all with a decisive victory, Romanus refused and battle was joined. But the Turks were masters of the hit and of the run. Wherever the Roman charged, the Turk fled, showering his pursuer with arrows as he did so (A tactic known as the Parthian Shot, the bane even of the Ancient Roman Legions at their height.) Frustrated and demoralised, the Romans gave way, and the Turks pounced. The Roman soldiers, the great defenders of Christendom, were now men fleeing for their lives. The Turks captured Romanus and hurled him at the feet of Alp Arslan, who could not believe that this dirty and bloody wreck of a man before him was the mighty Emperor of the Romans. It was the worst Roman defeat since Adrianople, over six hundred years earlier, and worse was yet to come. A crippling financial crisis struck the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Imperial throne was sought by avaricious and selfish men. In the West, the Empire’s dominions in Southern Italy were the prey of the Normans. Not until the rule of the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus began in 1081 did the Empire begin to stabilise again.

A Christian Knight departs for the Crusades
Taken from the Westminster-Psalter.

Fourteen years later, Pope Urban II, a charismatic and energetic Pope, held council at Piacenza in northern Italy in 1095. Urban II was keen to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor, Pope Gregory VII, and restore the moral integrity of the Roman Church. He soon got his chance. Attending the council were representatives of the Emperor, who called upon the Bishop of Rome for aid. The Seljuk leadership was in disarray, now was the time to strike back at God’s enemies! The desperate plea struck deeply within the Supreme Pontiff’s mind, who called a Council to be held in Clermont (modern day Clermont-Ferrand) for monk and lord alike to consider the Emperor’s words. Little did the Emperor know that his call would be answered on a scale beyond his wildest dreams...


When the clergy and laymen gathered on the 18th of November 1095, all were expecting further discourse on ecclesiastical affairs and discussion of healing the rifts caused by corruption in the Church. So the Council progressed, until it came to the last item on the agenda. All assembled were struck dumb by Urban II’s closing speech. The Vicar of Christ rose and launched a scathing attack on his flock:

“Listen and learn! You, girt about with the badge of knighthood, are arrogant beyond great pride; you rage against your brothers and cut each other asunder. This, which rends asunder the sheep-fold of the Redeemer... This is not the soldiery of Christ!... You, the oppressors 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 Christ’s blood!”

                             - POPE URBAN II DENOUNCES VIOLENCE AGAINST FELLOW CHRISTIANS

Never before had a Pope so masterfully struck at the conscience of his subjects, tearing forth their guilt from the depths of their depravity. His words turned to the plight of Christendom in the East:

Pope Urban II preaches the Crusade
Taken from the Livre des Passages d'Outre-mer.

“From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople a horrible tale has gone forth... a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God... has invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by the sword, pillage and fire... it has destroyed the churches of God!”

          - POPE URBAN II TURNS TO THE PLIGHT OF THE EAST


Here Urban refers to the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, torn down at the orders of the Caliph Al-Hakim in 1009. It does not take a stretch of the imagination to see already the beginnings of the violent tensions between East and West right now in 2010. The Bishop of Rome turned his cry to Jerusalem, the land which ‘floweth with milk and honey’, given by God to the children of Israel in the Old Testament. He implores the men of Christendom to liberate the land from the infidel:

“Nay, more, the sorrowful here will be glad there, the poor here will be rich there, and the enemies of the Lord here will be His friends there!”

                                                            - POPE URBAN II SPEAKS OF THE REWARDS OF THE CRUSADE

Doubtless, even the most materialistic of those present’s ears would have pricked up at the mention of untold riches in the East. Europe was a desolate land in the 11th century, a land dominated by the right of primogeniture – a law that decreed that only the firstborn son would inherit. This left a great deal of sons destitute and envious, and ready to cause trouble at a moment’s notice. If what the Pope said was true, even a peasant here could be a lord in the Holy Lands. Then came Urban II’s dramatic finale:

“Let therefore hatred depart from among you, let your quarrels end, let wars cease, and let all dissensions slumber. Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves...Undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the Kingdom of Heaven!”

                                                               - POPE URBAN II CALLS CHRISTENDOM TO THE CRUSADE

 

The Archangel Michael casts Satan down from Heaven
Artist unknown. Taken by author in Pinacoteca Gallery
of the Vatican Museums.

Here, and now, God’s representative on Earth was offering to all who answered his call the forgiveness of Christ and a place in Heaven! One can only wonder at the intensely powerful effect this would have on the deeply pious Christian knights present. Tears flowed from many an eye, and as one, the gathered crowds bellowed what would become the famous war cry of the crusaders; “God Wills It!”

One must always leave modern ethics behind when looking at this. Life was mostly a grim affair in the 11th century. Life expectancy seldom stretched past 30, death, plague, war and famine surrounded all. Is it any wonder that men turned to God? Urban II’s speech is dramatic enough today, let alone nine hundred years ago. Not even Urban II himself was prepared for the scale of the response to his plea. Tens of thousands across the nations of Europe answered the Pope’s call, and flocked to the sign of the cross, calling upon the valour of Saint Michael the Archangel. The First Crusade had begun.

Due to the incredible importance of the First Crusade I shall, in future posts, follow the course of the great ‘armed pilgrimage’, to its cataclysmic finale. The text of Urban II's mighty speech was recorded by many authors, many of whom were actually present at the Council. A collection of all these is easily available at Amazon, which also includes material for the whole of the Crusade:

United Kingdom

The First Crusade: The Chronicle and other Materials
(Highly useful and nicely organised, containing original texts for events across the whole crusade)

United States

The First Crusade: The Chronicle and other Materials
(Highly useful and nicely organised, containing original texts for events across the whole crusade)