In 1095, this Pope proclaimed the First Crusade to regain the Holy Land. He urged Christians to take up the cross and strive for a cause that promised not merely spiritual rewards but material gain as well. Urban appealed for crusaders in the name of the church; the purpose of the Crusades was the conquest of the infidels in the Holy Land; and this high calling excused somehow the total disregard for noncombatants and prisoners.
[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Crusades, history, Pope-Urban-II[/tags]
