Urban II (pope)
1035 – 1099 French Pope (1088-1099)
Pope who launched the First Crusade at Clermont in 1095.
- Religion
- Catholic; Bishop of Rome
- Affiliations
- The papacy
Urban II preached the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095, calling on Western knights to march east and take Jerusalem from Muslim rule. The crowd is said to have answered God wills it, and thousands took the cross. The crusaders captured Jerusalem in July 1099, though Urban died before the news reached him. The crusades he set in motion shaped relations between Europe and the Middle East for centuries.
In the timeline
- 1095 Council of Clermont preached the crusade
- 1095 Council of Clermont launches the First Crusade mentioned
- 1095 Byzantium's appeal helps launch the First Crusade mentioned
- 1096 – 1099 First Crusade called it