What Happened at the Council of Clermont (1095)?
The Council of Clermont was a church council convened by Pope Urban II in the city of Clermont in the Auvergne region of central France. It opened on 18 November 1095 and ran for about ten days, and it is one of the most thoroughly studied events of the 11th century. The most famous event of the council was Urban’s speech on 27 November 1095, in which he called for the First Crusade. The response to the speech was so enthusiastic — Fulcher of Chartres records the crowd shouting “Deus vult!” (“God wills it!”) until the Pope had to gesture for silence — that it is usually considered the formal beginning of the Crusading movement.
For the broader story, see the main article on the First Crusade and the question of who called for the First Crusade. For the aftermath, see the Timeline of the Crusades.
The Context of the Council
Pope Urban II had spent the early years of his pontificate in exile from Rome, contending with the antipope Clement III, who was supported by the Holy Roman Emperor. By 1095, Urban’s position had improved, and he was free to travel in France and Italy. The Council of Clermont was one in a series of councils that the pope had held to address various issues of church reform, including the prohibition of lay investiture, the reform of clerical morals, and the relationship between the papacy and the secular powers.
The Council was also convened to address an appeal from the Byzantine Empire. In March 1095, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos had sent envoys to Pope Urban, asking for Western military help against the Seljuk Turks, who had overrun most of Anatolia since the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The appeal was a major factor in Urban’s decision to call the Council.
The Council’s Other Business
The Council of Clermont dealt with a number of other issues, which are usually overshadowed by the Crusade speech but were significant in their own right. The Council reaffirmed the Church’s position against lay investiture, the practice by which secular rulers appointed church officials. It also addressed the issue of clerical marriage, the holding of multiple benefices, and the discipline of the clergy.
The Council also passed a resolution that has been described as a “truce of God,” urging knights to refrain from fighting on certain days and in certain places. This is part of a long effort by the Church to limit feudal violence, and it is sometimes seen as a precursor to the Crusade ideal of channeling knightly energy in a positive direction.
The Speech of 27 November 1095
The most famous event of the Council of Clermont was Urban’s speech on 27 November 1095, calling for the First Crusade. The exact text of the speech is not preserved, but several versions were recorded by contemporary chroniclers. The most important is that of Fulcher of Chartres, who heard the speech in person and recorded it in his Historia Hierosolymitana.
According to Fulcher, Urban spoke of:
- The suffering of Christians in the East, who had been attacked and oppressed by the Seljuk Turks.
- The desecration of the holy places, especially the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
- The need to march to the defense of the Byzantine Empire, which had appealed for help.
- The spiritual reward: remission of sins for those who took the cross.
- The troubled state of the West, where knights were fighting and killing each other.
Urban reportedly ended with a powerful appeal: “Let whoever wishes to save his soul, and the souls of his ancestors, set out at once for the Holy Land, to fight the enemies of God.” The crowd, according to the chroniclers, responded with cries of “Deus vult! Deus vult!”—God wills it.
The Response
The response to the speech was overwhelming. According to the chroniclers, the assembly was so moved that the pope had difficulty finishing his speech. Bishops and nobles of France came forward to take the cross, including Adhémar of Le Puy, who would become the papal legate to the First Crusade, and Raymond of Saint-Giles, Count of Toulouse, who would become one of the principal leaders of the expedition.
The Council of Clermont did not, however, fix a date for the expedition. Urban continued to preach the Crusade in the months that followed, and the main army of the First Crusade did not set out until the summer of 1096. The People’s Crusade, led by Peter the Hermit, set out earlier in 1096 and was largely destroyed in Anatolia.
The Long-Term Significance
The Council of Clermont is one of the most important church councils in medieval history. It launched a movement that would shape the medieval world for centuries. It established the principle that the pope could call a war in the name of God, and it offered the spiritual reward of indulgence to those who took the cross. It also set in motion the process by which the papacy, the lay nobility, and the rising merchant class of Europe would come together in a long series of military and political ventures.
The Council of Clermont is also significant for what it did not do. Urban did not give a detailed plan for the expedition, and he did not appoint a single commander. The First Crusade was, in this sense, a remarkably decentralized operation, with regional armies making their own way to Constantinople and then to Jerusalem. The success of the expedition, against considerable odds, is a testament to the determination of the Crusaders and to the disorganization of their Muslim opponents.