Pope Urban II’s
Speech at Clermont
This Speech Launched the
Crusades
Oh, race of Franks, race from across the
mountains, race chosen and beloved by God as
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 cannot 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 sepulcher of the
Lord our Savior, 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 Sepulcher; 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
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