To the appeal of Alexius, Urban lent a willing ear. He
summoned a great council of clergy and nobles to meet at Clermont in France.
Here, in an address which, measured by its results, was the most momentous
recorded in history, Pope Urban preached the First Crusade. He said little
about the dangers which threatened the Roman Empire in the East from the Turks,
but dwelt chiefly on the wretched condition of the Holy Land, with its churches
polluted by unbelievers and its Christian inhabitants tortured and enslaved.
Then, turning to the proud knights who stood by, Urban called upon them to
abandon their wicked practice of private warfare and take up arms, instead,
against the infidel. "Christ Himself," he cried, "will be your
leader, when, like the Israelites of old, you fight for Jerusalem.... Start
upon the way to the Holy Sepulcher; wrench the land from the accursed race, and
subdue it yourselves. Thus shall you spoil your foes of their wealth and return
home victorious, or, purpled with your own blood, receive an everlasting
reward."
"GOD WILLS IT!"
Urban's trumpet call to action met an instant response.
From the assembled host there went up, as it were, a single shout: "God
wills it! God wills it!" "It is, in truth, His will," answered
Urban, "and let these words be your war cry when you unsheath your swords
against the enemy." Then man after man pressed forward to receive the
badge of a crusader, a cross of red cloth. [5] It was to be worn on the breast,
when the crusader went forth, and on the back, when he returned.
[5] Hence the name "crusades," from Latin crux,
old French crois, a "cross".
