Background
Urban II, original name Otho de Lagery or Odo of Châtillon-sur-Marne was born in 1035 in Champagne, France. Odo’s parents were dignified farmers.
1090
France
Pope Urban II (1042? - 1099). He launched the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont.
1094
Peter the Hermit (c1050-.1115) French monk, presenting Urban II (Pope 1088-1099) with a petition on his return from the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Urban commissioned Peter to preach the First Crusade. Engraving
1095
Pope Urban II announcing the First Crusade, miniature taken from this history of the Crusades by Guillaume de Tyr, 15th-century French manuscript. History of the Crusades, 11th century.
1095
Peter the Hermit (1050-1115), Priest of Amiens, Preaching the First Crusade by Peter the Hermit and pope Urban II, Philippoteaux Engraving (nineteenth century).
1595
Rome, Italy
Portrait of Pope Urban II (1040 ca-1099), engraving from Effigies Pontificum Romanorum (Portraits of the Roman Pontiffs), by Giovanni Battista Cavalieri.
1800
Clermont, France
Pope Urban appeals for the crusade 27 November 1095 at the synod of Clermont, France. Steel engraving made around 1800.
1847
Portrait of Pope Urban II (1040-1099), engraving from L'album, Giornale Letterario e di Belle Arti, year 14.
This illustration is from The Lives and Times of the Popes by Chevalier Artaud de Montor, New York: The Catholic Publication Society of America, 1911. It was originally published in 1842.
A 19th-century stained-glass depiction of Urban receiving St Anselm, exiled from England by William the Red amid the Investiture Controversy.
Clermont-Ferrand, France
Statue of Urban II in Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand, France
Pope Urban II preaching the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont.
Peter the Hermit (1050-1115) priest of Amiens and a key figure during the First Crusade.
Claremont, France
Pope Urban II preaching the First Crusade in Claremont, France.
Urban II, original name Otho de Lagery or Odo of Châtillon-sur-Marne was born in 1035 in Champagne, France. Odo’s parents were dignified farmers.
Odo completed his studies from Soissons and Reims cathedral. He expressed his desire to become a monk in Cluny.
After completing his studies from Reims and Soissons, he took the post of the priest in the district of Reims. Reims was then one of the most prominent areas of France. As a priest or archdeacon, he was given responsibilities by the bishop in church administration. Odo continued his profession as an archdeacon from 1055 to 1067. Later he decided to become a monk. He also gave from time in Cluny where he held the higher post in the church activities. It was from his time in Cluny and Reims where he learned about the church policies and administration and got in touch with the two most important reform groups at the time viz. the monks of Cluny and the canons regular. The canons regular were clergymen who dedicated themselves to the service of the church and lived a firm life in the population.
In 1079, Odo went to Rome for his activities of the abbot of Cluny. It was during his time in Rome that he was made the bishop of Ostia by Gregory VII. He was nominated as one of the potential popes after the death of Gregory. Odo visited Germany as a representative of George VII in 1085. He continued his service to George VII until his death in 1085. Victor III became the pope and Odo didn’t fall back serving the new pope. Victor III succumbed to death in 1087. It was after a long haul that Odo was elected as a pope on 12th of March 1088 in Terracina in Rome.
Becoming Pope Urban II
After becoming a Pope, Urban II brought about reforms in the policies and administrations which were strongly supported by the groups including the canons regular, the monks, the bishops whom Urban II knew very well mentally.
Urban II knew that the most important activity to be undertaken by him included making his position as a pope legal and to secure himself from antipope. He started bringing about new reforms in the church and state relationships with his priestly knowledge. He retained reform legislation while pushing the matter of investiture in the backdrop. He tried to handle issues in peace and avoided conflicts at all ends. In 1095 in France, Urban II called the First Crusade and also presented his concept of putting off feudalization of church and state by banning the clergy from taking oaths to laymen. Urban II left Rome and went to Italy for a meeting of more than 60 bishops. Urban II attended several councils in France, Germany and Italy for various reforms and this represents his efforts to bring in the changes throughout European churches.
Urban II tried to maintain harmony with all the secular rulers in Europe and through his preachings tried to bring them under Roman Catholic Church. Urban II visited Sicily to restore the association with Roger Guiscard and to establish a new relation with the Greek Emperor. This helped in keeping good relations between Rome and Byzantium.
In the First Crusade, Urban II made the most effective speech by asking all Christians from Europe to come together and fight against the Muslims to gain back their holy land. After the Muslim Seljuk Turk took over Jerusalem which was a pilgrimage spot for many Christians from the 6th century, Urban II made efforts from his end to get the holy land back for the Christians. While Urban II was trying to unite the Christians in Europe, Byzantine Emperor Alexis called for help from the threats of the Turks who had challenged them for invading Byzantine Empire.
During one of his speech Urban II complained about the non-Christian acts of the Muslims. Based on the ranching speech made by Urban II, more than 10, 00,000 people responded and started a crusade to Jerusalem to get their holy land back from the Muslims. Though Christians were victories due to their high numbers, hundreds of peasants died during the campaign against the trained Muslim armies.
He followed the path of Pope Gregory VII in bringing about church and policy reforms in the countries and tried his best in keeping the antipope away and making them weak.
Even though Urban II made great attempts to bring about peace through his policies, much of it was not accepted by Henry IV and major members of the church. The relationship between Urban II and the King of England William II was particularly strained with a theologist Anselm who was also made the archbishop of Canterbury. Urban II received support from the south of France, majorly from Sicily and Italy. He was able to restructure the organization in Spain and was able to bring in major reforms in southern France and Italy.
Urban II wanted unity of all Christians for which he made additional efforts to bring about reconciliation in Greek and Roman churches in 1098. He became popular from 1095 wherein he joined several church councils including the one in Italy wherein the reform legislation was passed. Also in the same year, Urban II lectured on the First Crusade in Clermont. Urban II wanted all the Christian churches to get together to fight against the struggles from Muslim which had initiated in Italy and Spain. Urban II was unsuccessful in attaining the confidence of the Greek Church. Urban II during his career was able to expand the church administration and also bring about centralization of Roman churches. This coming together of the Catholic Roman Churches resulted in the buildup of the Roman Curia which became the papacy managerial body.
Pope Urban II died in the year 1099. He was consecrated by Pope Leo XIII in 1881. Though there were still many issues pending to get resolved, the reformation of papacy brought about a big change.
Odo began his life in a small family and soon with his accomplishments and service to the church, was promoted to being a bishop from being a priest. Odo’s loyalty was very well observed by the then pope Gregory VII who also expressed his wish to make Odo the next Pope. After the death of Gregory VII, even though Victor III became the pope, Odo was not discouraged and continued his service with dedication. His contact with the two reform societies made him aware of the changes and the reform initiatives by Gregory VII helped him move further in making major reformation in the church and state relationships. He was made pope Urban II after the death of Victor III.
Though a preacher of harmony, after many talks of peace with the Muslims, when pope Urban II saw that the Muslims kept on expanding their control, he decided to break the peace and fight with them. Muslims who had then taken over Jerusalem which is the holiest of land for Christians, Urban II initiated the first crusade against Muslim to gain back Jerusalem. His crusade was supported by thousands of Christians in Europe. These were laymen who weren’t trained to fight or use weapons. Many wealthy landlords took advantage of this situation and by the time the crowd reached Jerusalem for the fight, hundreds were already dead. This crusade was the first of the seven crusades that were to take place in the following years. Thousands of poor men lost their lives under the weapons of trained Muslim soldiers. The only advantage of the Christians was their number in large. They lost and in the end won the fight with the Muslims and were able to take back control over Jerusalem.
Urban II traveled most of the Europe to expand and the Roman Catholic Church. He was successful for the most part and is known for the reforms he brought in and the development of a common administration body for all Christian churches in Europe.
Pope Urban II, through his various efforts, was accomplished in strengthening the political status of the papacy. He tried to establish policies in harmony and was successful in his work. He made sure that he could help strengthen the state and people relationship. This can be easily seen from the influence he made on the people through his speech for initiation of the first crusade at the Council of the Clermont in France.
“Christians, hasten to help your brothers in the East, for they are being attacked. Arm for the rescue of Jerusalem under your captain Christ. Wear his cross as your badge. If you are killed your sins will be pardoned.”
“I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persue all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it is meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it.”
“Let those who once fought against brothers and relatives now rightfully fight against barbarians.”
Pope Urban II is characterized as being holy and noble which comes as a hereditary trait from his parents. His life took a turn when he became the bishop and through his service and dedication to the church activities became pope. Though he wanted peace and ensured that all of the problems that came to him were tackled in harmony, he was the one to initiate the First Crusade in 1095 and motivate the entire European Christians to come together to get Jerusalem back that had then come under the control of the Muslims. Pope Urban II was loyal to his land and was there to serve the people. This is understood from his attempts to bring about peace and reconciliation among all the churches in Europe.
Being a monk, Pope Urban II never got married.