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)

The War in Heaven

So the Archangel Lucifer revealed his true nature openly at last (for the course of events leading up to this, click here). The loyal angel Abdiel tore through the night to the vault of Heaven, bearing the gravest of news, that one third of the angelic host had declared open rebellion against God’s mastery of the cosmos. Reaching the most high, Abdiel found that word of his grim tidings had already found the ears of God, as his eyes fell upon the angelic host arming itself as though for war. There was acclamation and shouts of joy at his return, as the loyal host had feared the worst. The angels led him forth with applause to the high, and from a golden cloud was heard a voice, the voice of God. God honours Abdiel for his loyalty in the face of the revolted multitude, before commanding his two remaining Archangels who remain loyal:

                                “ Go Michael of celestial armies prince,

                                  And thou in military prowess next,

                                  Gabriel, lead forth to battle these my sons

                                  Invincible, lead forth my armed saints

                                  By thousands and by millions ranged for fight... ”

                                             - GOD  GIVES HIS COMMAND

The sovereign voice of Heaven spoke, and condemned the traitorous legions to be cast into the fiery chaos of Hell. The clouds began to darken, and smoke rose in Heaven and the ethereal trumpets sounded in the sky, as the loyal host drew forth its battle line. Then, on the northern horizon, the fallen angels appeared, bent on winning the Mount of God, and setting the Morning Star upon his immortal throne. Spears bristled, helmets thronged and proud shields bore witness to the coming field of war. Eclipsing all, the Apostate himself rode forth “High in the midst exalted as a god... Idol of majesty divine”. Beholding the Fallen one resplendent in his vast chariot of fire, clad in adamant and gold, Abdiel could bare to stand idle no longer. Stepping forth from the loyal lines, the angel marched alone against Satan, meeting him before each host. Trying once more to dissuade him from his ways, Abdiel rebukes Satan “Fool, not to think how vain against th’ Omnipotent to rise in arms”. Satan strikes back in anger, disgusted that none before him will join him “I see that most through sloth had rather serve, Minist’ring Spirits, trained up in feast and song”. Despairing, Abdiel declares Satan a traitor to God, and condemns him to reign in Hell. Raising his blade, Abdiel lands the first blow. The Fallen Archangel raises his shield of gold, but is forced on to one knee. Shock spreads through the rebel ranks, though soon replaced with impious rage at the exultation in the angelic host. The Archangel Michael sounds his battle horn, blasting through the vastness of Heaven:

Battle is joined in Heaven
Engraving by Gustave Doré

“ Now storming fury rose,

  And clamour such as heard in Heav’n

  Was never; arms on armour clashing bray

  Horrible discord, and the madding wheels

  Of brazen chariots raged dire was the noise

  Of conflict... ”

           - THE WAR BEGINS

St. Michael the Archangel wounds Satan
Painting by Luca Giordano 

All Heaven rang and shook to the sound of the very first war. Millions marched on millions, each alone able to wield the power of the elements. The battle hung in the balance, and Satan “who that day prodigious power had shown, and met in arms no equal”, smote battalion after battalion of fighting Seraphim, finding at last the Archangel Michael within his grasp. Michael denounces Satan for disturbing the blessed peace of Heaven, and giving birth to misery. Satan swears to conquer the field of Heaven, Heaven which under the tyranny of God would only become true Hell. Words failing them both now, they circle each other and duel, their blazing shields as though suns in the sky. But the fiery sword of Michael was blessed by God, that no force may resist its edge. Michael breaks Satan’s blade, driving the point into the Traitor’s flesh, and Satan first knew pain. Nectarous humour spat forth from the wound, staining his armour, as Satan gnashed in pain and anger to find himself not matchless. Fallen angels rush to his side and bear him on their shields to his chariot to recover. Meanwhile, Moloch, Adramelech and Asmodai, all powerful among the rebel host, are conquered by the Archangels Uriel, Gabriel and Raphael, and the fallen armies fall back in rout.

Falling back to their encampment for the night, the rebel angels hold council. Nisroch, a former prince of Heaven, laments the sensation of pain, one never felt before that day, deplored as the worst of evils. Satan urges more violent battle, and in his malice, conceives a terrible new weapon – gunpowder. All looked on in admiration at the Traitor’s craft, and their hope revives. Satan curses mankind to one day discover his dread contraption:

                                        “ In future days, if malice should abound,

                                          Someone intent on mischief, or inspired

                                          With dev’lish machination might devise

                                          Like instrument to plague the sons of men... ”

                                                          - SATAN CURSES MANKIND

The next day, the Heavenly host watches as the rebel host advances, in slow but firm order. Zophiel warns his loyalist comrades to hold firm in face of Satan’s devilry, as an ominous feeling grips his side. At last, suddenly revealed, Satan was heard commanding aloud his fallen brethren to stand proud and visible, opening fire. Fire and smoke engulf the plain, and the ground trembles at the unholy barrage. Devastation abounds in the heavenly ranks, as they too discover the feeling of pain. Satan beheld their plight, delighting at his work, as Belial too joins his master in scoffing at this army of God. Hearing the taunts, the loyal Seraphim cast aside their weapons, and tear up the mountains themselves and hurl them upon the Fallen ones. Some are trapped, other cry out in pain, though they cannot die, yet Satan’s infernal machines are destroyed. Enraged, the betrayers imitate, and launch the very stuff of Heaven in defiance.

The Messiah casts the Fallen angels from Heaven
Engraving by Gustave Doré

Thus would Heaven have been ruined utterly, had God himself not decided to intervene, resigned to forgo His pledge of free will. Turning to his Son, he transfers upon him all his power and bids him know mastery of Heaven and Hell, and drive out the accursed angels from incorruptible Heaven. As the banner of the Messiah rises in the angelic ranks, the Son of God rides forth, bestriding His brilliant chariot, framed with the glory of Heaven, as thunder breaks the sky around, Victory seated eagle winged at His right hand. Ten thousand thousand saints follow in his wake, and bear down upon the Satanic forces. Their spirit restored and fired anew, the host of Heaven bore down upon the Traitor’s legions, “God’s indignation on these Godless poured”. Full of wrath bent on His enemies, the Messiah crashed into the impious ranks, all but the throne of God itself shaking. Grasping ten thousand bolts of flaming thunder, He blasts the rebel angels through the crystal walls of Heaven, hurling them and their dread commander headlong into a fall to the fiery pit of Hell:

The rebel host falls into the Pit of Hell
Engraving by Gustave Doré

“ Nine days they fell; fell Chaos roared,

  And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

  Through his wide anarchy, so huge a rout

  Encumbered him with ruin: Hell at last

  Yawning received them whole,

  And on them closed... ”

            - THE TRAITORS FALL TO HELL

So the order of the world, and birth of good and of evil, was born. The blissful paradise and peace of Heaven lay tattered and broken, reeling in shock at the audacious revolution of the Morning Star. Once the greatest of all the Archangels of Heaven now lay in the Pit of Fire with his impious kin, defeated and broken. Or so it seemed. Though condemned to eternal damnation, however broken down they might be, they were immortal and could not die. Where steel and sword had failed, other designs now emerged in Satan's dark thoughts. Heaven was too strong to be sieged again, for now. The rule of God must be weakened first, he thought. A dark smile broke the Morning Star's face as he realised God's propensity for boundless compassion was both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. Scheming anew, the fallen angels began to plan a new war to drive the Most High from the Heavenly Mount, though this time, Satan's target was no angel nor heavenly deity, but a new creation - Man.

Paradise Lost, a true classic of the English language, deserves to be read and its story told. Perhaps you too will be inspired by Milton's words, and pick up a copy. You will not regret it. Copies are easily found for a mere couple of pounds at Amazon:

United Kingdom

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

United States

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

The Fall

           

The Angelic Host rejoices
Engraving by Gustave Doré

“ Here all ye angels, progeny of Light,

  Thrones, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,

  Hear my decree, which ever shall stand.

  This day I have begot whom I declare

  My only Son, and on this holy hill

  Him have anointed, whom ye now behold

  At my right hand; your head I him appoint;

  And by myself have sworn to him shall bow

  All knees in Heav’n,

  And shall confess him Lord. ”

       - GOD COMMANDS THE ANGELS

And so unto the angelic host God gave his command. Rejoice abounded in the heavenly choirs it seemed, as the winged Seraphim greeted the news of the Son of God. All seemed well, but all was not well. For within the crowds on high was one who fell silent of praise, one who did not greet this command with joy at all... We look today to the story of Lucifer’s fall from grace, turning once more to the pages of Paradise Lost (for the first post on this, please click here), and read of the beginning of Evil.

Raphael tells the story of Lucifer
Engraving by Gustave Doré

Some time after Satan (the name Lucifer assumed after his rebellion against God) was hurled to the Pit of Hell, God sent down to the Garden of Eden one of the most trusted of Archangels, Raphael, to bear a message to Adam and Eve. After sharing joyous company and dining, Adam questions the angel of the Lord as to his coming. With a heavy heart, Raphael tells them that God has sent him to warn them of their Enemy, whose ever present threat of deceit and trickery pervades the Blessed Paradise of Eden. Little do they know that Satan himself has already broken into the Garden, and even now torments Eve with nightmares. Sighing, the Archangel sets the scene, of a time before the World and Man were created. Raphael speaks of the ecstasy in Heaven at the announcement of the arrival of the Son of God, and the honouring of the Messiah, how the angels danced and sang and made merry at the wondrous tidings. Until that day, highest in the favour of the Most High and the bright Morning Star, Lucifer was the shining prodigy of the celestial plains. If there was any imperfection within that which seemed perfect, it was that He bore within his frame that most terrible of vices – pride. The command to bow before the new and young Son of God, so honoured by the Almighty, Lucifer - whose name “Is heard no more in Heav’n” -  could not bear the sight.  Deepest malice, envy and rage radiated from his dark mind. As midnight fell on the Heavens, “he resolved with all his legions to dislodge, and leave unworshipped, unobeyed the throne supreme”.

Awakening, Satan turns to his lieutenant and bids him summon all loyal angels under their banners to his side. Satan’s dark thoughts go not unnoticed within the wisdom of the Almighty, who warns his Son “such a foe is rising, who intends to erect his throne equal to ours”. But Satan, “far advanced on winged speed”, flies to his palace in Heaven, raised on a Mount in imitation of that Mount upon which the Messiah was declared. He calls to him the summoned angels, feigning council to appraise the new Son of God. Speaking of bowing before the Son of God, Satan dares to question God’s command:

                                          “ But what if better counsels might erect

                                            Our minds and teach us to cast off this yoke?

                                            Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend

                                            The supple knee? Ye will not if I trust

                                            To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves

                                            Natives and sons of Heav’n possessed before  

                                            By none, and if not equal all, yet free... ”

                                                   - SATAN REFUSES TO BOW TO MAN

Divided were the angels who stood before the Morning Star, some falling to his heresy, others shocked:

Abdiel rebukes Satan
Engraving by Gustave Doré

“ Thus far his bold discourse without control

  Had audience, when among the Seraphim

 Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored

 The Deity, and divine commands obeyed,

 Stood up, and in a flame of zeal severe

 The current of his fury thus opposed.

 ‘Oh argument blasphemous, false and proud!

 Words which no ear ever to hear in Heav’n

 Expected, least of all from thee, ingrate

 In place thyself so high above thy peers'...”

      - ABDIEL DEPLORES SATAN

Abdiel orders Satan to bow before the Will of God at once, and pray for the mercy of forgiveness for his impious words. Dismayed and enraged that no other rises to second his order, Abdiel turns to the Fallen Angel, who rejoices in the power of his words. The loyal angel reminds Satan that God created all things, even him. Eyes burning with malice, Satan’s heresy goes deeper still, as he questions the very authority of God himself:

                                           “ Who saw when this Creation was?

                                              Remember’st thou thy making,

                                              While the Maker gave thee being?

                                              We know no time when we were not as now...

                                              Our puissance is our own, our own right hand

                                              Shall teach us highest deeds...”

                                                         - SATAN RENOUNCES GOD

His words echoed with impassioned applause around the vault of Heav’n, as the rebellion is proclaimed. Abdiel looks on in horror to see such betrayal in the faultless plains of Heaven. Turning to the Morning Star one last time, he declares him a traitor to God, warning him of the Almighty’s wrath:

Satan rouses the rebel angels to War
Engraving by Gustave Doré

“ O alienate from God, O Spirit accursed,

  Forsaken of all good; I see thy fall

  Determined, and thy hapless crew involved

  In this perfidious fraud, contagion spread

  Both of thy crime and punishment: henceforth

  No more be troubled how to quit the yoke

  Of God’s Messiah; those indulgent laws

  Will not be now vouchsafed, other decrees

  Against thee are gone forth without recall;

  That golden sceptre which thou didst reject

  Is now an iron rod to bruise and break

  Thy disobedience...”

            - ABDIEL UNVEILS SATAN'S TREACHERY

Alone among the faithless, faithful only was Abdiel, “unmoved, unshaken, unseduced and unterrified”. Taking to flight, and jeered at by the treacherous legions, the angel fled at once, desperately bearing word of the rebellion of the greatest of the Archangels to the Most High. Through the unyielding expanse of the Heavens, the lone angel sped, yet not far behind marched the traitor legions. War was declared in Heaven...

Thus was Lucifer re'christened' Satan ('The Adversary') and Evil was first born. Act One of Satan's rebellion was complete. The time for words was now over, and now He dared to lead a war to dethrone God himself from Heaven. The gripping account of the First Traitor will be continued next time, as the celestial plains of Heaven witness the First War. Here Milton really gets into his stride, as the tension in Paradise Lost begins to build to a new height. Herein lies the beginning of suffering, that curse which Satan lays upon mankind, one already underway within the First Woman, even as Raphael tells his story...


                                      For Part Two, please click here...

Paradise Lost is a rite of passage. With nothing else like it written in the English language, it occupies a special place in literature, and indeed theology. I strongly recommend anyone to give it a read - you will not be disappointed. It is available in many translations, all available cheaply and easily on Amazon:

United Kingdom

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

United States

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

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)