Why did pope urban ii call the first cr essay

Why did Pope Urban II call the first Crusade ? There are three main reasons as to why Pope Urban II called the first Crusade. These reasons being ; Improving conditions in the west , Power to the church and the reunification of the Christian church. Although there are many reason that could have been said, I valued the three above to be the most important deciding factors to crusade. Improving conditions in the west was a significant reason to call a crusade. The fear of hell and purgatory shaped the lives of Christians. Christian teachings were widely accepted even f their lives were not holy.

They believed that Chrism’s death and resurrection opened the way to heaven and would be granted forgiveness if they took penance. Images of hell were placed all over churches as a constant reminder of what was to come if they did not repent. Violence in society and sinful behavior was at an all time high. In such a brutal society filled with violence this caused a big problem for the church. Calling a crusade would solve the issue of violence in the west as a need for vengeance was familiar to nobles of feud filled society and sending them off on a crusade would send the violence elsewhere. Knights were told that if they crusaded they would be guaranteed place in heaven and as a society which feared damnation. This was the opportunity many had been waiting for.

The purpose of pilgrimage was penitential: suffering a long hard journey was worth the pain if it would help the soul to pass more quickly to the greatest prize – heaven. However the power of the popes was soon to be called into question. Many priests were sinful and corrupt, reformers always spoke of regaining liberty for the hurt. Priests took part in simony. This was wrong and enraged many people of the church.

Pope Gregory VII was head of the reform movement and set to change the ways of the priest and people. Pope Gregory restored power to the church with many new regimes. He improved the education of the clergy and tightened discipline over their sexual behavior and their leading of worship. Churches were built all over Europe and better priests and more churches gradually led to more piety amongst lay people. Although the reform papacy displayed how much power the church actually had Pope Gregory took on anyone who challenged their power. This was soon to lead to the investiture crisis years down the line. The German Emperor, Henry VI claimed that he had the power to appoint popes and that other kings and lords should control the appointment or investiture of new bishops, 1075 Gregory declared it was wrong -? only people can appoint leaders of the church. This led to prolonged war between the papacy and German Emperor.

This was known as the investiture contest. Pope Gregory VII faced a paradox: if the reform movement was to survive and to restore order to western society, it needed an armed support from Kings and Lords – the eve people who they were hoping to restrain from inflicting violence onto one another. As the church was on the up there was just one last problem they need to fix…..

Urban wanted to take church reform even further. There was division between the Latin church in the west and the Greek church in the east. This was known as the Great Schism. Urban II sent messages of goodwill to Alexis . This eased the tensions been the east and the west and weakened the German Emperor. Unfortunately Urban was exiled from Rome by the German Emperor and however used noble classes and church leaders and soon built up a power base mostly in France.

Urban offered spiritual rewards to Norman in Southern Italy if they would drive the German army out of Rome. By 1 094 Urban had the upper hand in the investiture contest. The plea from Alexis at Pizzazz in Italy was the driving force behind the crusade. Alexis’ plea was for help against the Useless Turks. In conclusion it can be said that all these reasons somehow contributed to an increase in power for the church. And all these reasons pushed forward increasing power to the church.