Creating the Cruscades

The crusades, which have caused much controversy over the centuries, were heavily influenced by the
support of religious leaders such as Pope Urban II. The various accounts of Pope Urban II’s speeches reveal his
compelling argument in support of the crusades. By appealing to his audience through his choice of diction, Pope
Urban effectively inspires Christians throughout Europe to go fight a political and ideological war. Furthermore, Pope Urban II’s diction reveals the social tensions and religious influences upon people in the eleventh century which further promoted the popularity of the crusades.
Pope Urban II carefully uses the diction within his speeches to unite and inspire his audience of Catholic Europeans. By simply referring to his audience as “brethren” (Baldric, 42), Pope Urban unites his audience under one faith; this action appeals to the lower classes by eliminating social barriers. Instead of distinguishing between social classes, Pope Urban emphasizes the fact that everyone has equal cause and right to join the crusades; even women were allowed to go on the crusades. By including women in his call to arms, the Pope carefully avoids excluding and offending his listeners. Although the inclusion of women suggests that women might have been gaining some authority and power in society, Pope Urban emphasizes the patriarchal social order of that time; women were still subject to the laws of men and could not go on the crusades “without their husbands, or brothers, or proper companions” (Robert, 42). Furthermore, the Pope acknowledges the pre-existing tension and strife among European nations by asking his audience “to restrain [their] murderous hands from the destruction of [their] brothers, and in behalf of [their] relatives in the faith oppose [themselves] to gentiles” (Baldric, 44). The Pope condemns Europeans for uselessly “kill[ing]…and mutually destroy[ing] each other” (Robert, 41) but praises their “military spirit, courage, agile bodies, and bravery” (Robert, 41). This description of wars within Europe not only emphasizes the prominence of violence within society but also allows the Pope to unite his audience together as Europeans without the distinction of nationality. Throughout his speech, Pope Urban II reveals this political strife and social tension within Europe by appealing to people of different social rank, gender, and ethnicity.
Pope Urban II’s depiction of the crusades also reflects the overwhelming power which religion held over people’s lives. In fact, Pope Urban describes the crusades as an attack on Christendom (Fulcher, 40); thus, all Christians including those in Europe are threatened and have a duty to fight this “righteous” war (Baldric, 44). This not only makes the crusades seem like a response to personal attacks against his audience, but it also further emphasizes the notion that people during the eleventh century strongly identified with their religion instead of more modern ideas of nationalism. In fact, Pope Urban continues to de-emphasize nationalism by explaining that all Catholic Europeans are brothers in Christ and that it is an honor to fight the for Christendom. This particularly stands out as he is uniting all Christians of both Eastern and Western churches despite their differences. Furthermore, Pope Urban offers “immediate remission of sins” (Fulcher, 40) or salvation to any who die fighting for Christianity in the crusades. This bold offering emphasizes the religions concerns and fears of his audience as well as the Pope’s authority. It is apparent that the Pope’s power was absolute and not meant to be doubted; Pope Urban begins his speech by invoking the power of God by introducing himself and his words as those of “the Lord” (Fulcher, 39). Based on the popularity of the crusades as well as the devotion to the Pope’s requests, it is evident that many people in the eleventh century embraced religion and the Pope without question. Additionally, Pope Urban’s description of Islam further emphasizes his audiences’ blind trust in him as well as their lack of education. For example, Pope Urban refers to Muslims as idolaters who “worship demons” (Fulcher, 40). Although these descriptions do not reflect the principles of Islam, Pope Urban intentionally misleads his audience in order to further unite them under their hatred for “paganism” (Baldric, 43) and “infidels” (Fulcher, 40). Furthermore, Pope Urban uses his audience’s mistrust and dislike for Islam to distract from his political agenda; his multiple motives for the crusades can be seen as he mentions that as Christians it is their duty to reclaim the Holy land “from that wicked people” (Robert, 41) despite the fact that many religions other than Christianity have claims to it. These diction choices not only reveal the complicated power religion held over people during the eleventh century, they also explain some of the different ideological and political motives for the crusades.
Pope Urban II’s skills as an orator are reflected in his ability to rally the masses and convince people to join the crusade; through his careful use of diction and persuasion, he successfully appeals to the basic human desire to unite under a common cause. Although people today dislike the crusades, their overwhelming support at the time reflects the different values and evolution of society. Though our society is still heavily influenced by religion and social tension, the spread of education, globalization, and ideas have introduced different values into society. This evolution of values has proved that as history progresses the motivations for war are constantly changing; however, methods of rallying and inspiring the masses have remained the same.

Bibliography
Baldric and Guibert: trans: A.C. Krey. The First Crusades: The Accounts of Eye-witnesses and Participants.Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1931. pp. 33-40

Fulcher and Robert: trans. O.J. Thatcher and E.H. McNeal, A Source Book for Medieval History: Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Ages. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905. Pp. 514 516-21