The First Crusade p.1 : Bound for the Holy Land

 In 1095, Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade. He toured France, spreading his message far and wide. At Clermont, Urban preached powerfully to the French people. But what exactly did the pope want from the Christians of Europe? Well, in a letter written to the people of Flanders, Urban made it clear. He tells of the trials and tribulations of Christians in the East from messages of woe that had been sent to him from the Eastern Roman Emperor, Alexius I Komnenos. Urban tells of churches being destroyed by the Seljuk Turks and, even more disastrously for Christianity, that Jerusalem had been seized by the Muslims. Urban made it plain in his sermons that what he asked was no easy undertaking. “Brothers, you must suffer many things in the name of Christ, wretchedness, poverty, nakedness, persecution, need, sickness, hunger, thirst and other things of this kind”, so the pope was making no pretenses of what lay ahead. But he assured his would be holy army that the spiritual benefits far outweighed any temporal suffering.

Urban’s words had the desired effect. The men of Clermont, on hearing these sermons, stitched crosses, made out of any material available, to themselves and almost immediately made preparations for the long expedition. One man, by the name of Bohemund of Taranto was busy laying siege to an Italian town when he got word of the crusading fever that was beginning to seize Europe. He began to make enquiries as to what was happening. When he learned that this was very much a serious expedition, he left the siege and returned home to prepare for his own journey to the East. Bohemund would be one of the leading figures of the Crusade. Another prominent figure in 11th century Europe to heed the call from Urban and Alexius was Robert, Duke of Normandy. He was the oldest son of William The Conqueror and brother of William II of England. To help finance his expedition, Robert effectively handed over his Duchy to William in return for payment. This didn’t go down too well in England as the king imposed a heavy tax to pay for this transaction.

Not only would the journey prove a long one for the Crusaders but it would also prove to be riddled with dangers for both them and communities of innocent people including Jewish men, women and children who felt the full force of rabid and vitriolic antisemitism as crusading fever began to sweep the continent. More on that in a moment. Hugh, brother of King Philip I of France, also made the journey. He led his forces through Bulgaria but with no due care. The army marching in a spread out formation, rather than as a tight unit, and left themselves vulnerable to hostile enemies lying in wait. And so it proved. Count Hugh was taken prisoner before eventually being taken to Alexius at Constantinople. Among the men to follow was a certain Godfrey of Bouillon who’d become the leading light on the Crusade

Accompanying Robert, Duke of Normandy was Stephen of Blois, whose son would become king of England in 1135. Counts, Dukes, nobles of all kinds, men and women, rich and poor set out on this expedition. But how righteous was it? Undoubtedly many, if not all the Crusaders, genuinely believed in their divine mission to free their Christian brothers and sisters in the East from Seljuk oppression and to liberate the Holiest of cities, Jerusalem. But it would be naive to think that, with all the dangers that lay before them, including long travel, enemy attacks, alien conditions, extreme climates and periods of want and hunger, that there was no thought of enrichment on a practical level as well..

However justified or otherwise one may consider the concept of the Crusade, what is in no doubt is some of the hideous cruelty that took place. Pope Urban was not the only voice who held sway over a great many people. A preacher named Peter The Hermit also roused Christians to take up the cross and follow him to the Holy Land. Unfortunately, Peter seemed to attract the worst type of crusader. His forces stole, plundered and murdered indiscriminately. Anna Comnena, daughter of Emperor Alexius and author of The Alexiad, considered the first female historian, refers to Peter as “the cuckoo” and it’s not hard to see why. His crusade, known as The People’s Crusade, descended into chaos. Leaders of Peter’s army argued amongst each other until The Turks had put them to the sword. The most damning aspect of the People’s Crusade though, had taken place in Europe with their hideous treatment of innocent communities of Jewish people, young and old alike. The first attack had been carried out in Cologne against a small band of Jews. Some were beheaded, others suffered terrible injuries, homes and synagogues were burned to the ground. On seeing this, others tried to flee and were massacred and robbed of their possessions, The disgraceful scenes spread. In Mainz, some tried to hide with the Bishop there but were discovered and slaughtered. The elderly, pregnant women, nobody was safe. To spare them any further suffering, parents killed children and then themselves. It’d be easy to think of the 11th century and in particular the Crusades as a time of unjustifiable violence. But it must be said the chroniclers are, almost universally, as disgusted by these scenes as you or I may be today. However, it was important to highlight the atrocities,