Pope Urban II

Rome was alluded to as the “mother of the world” because it was a center of civilization, erudition and administration, but the Western Roman Empire fell because of many reasons, such as poor administration in the 2nd and 3rd century, disease, foreign protectors, reduced Roman population and foreign invasion. After it fell in 410 A.D., the empire went into a time period known as the Dark Ages, where there were many downshifts in society. Some examples of the downshift in society’s progress…

of income for them, the emperor began writing to western princes and to the pope seeking people to help to regain lost territories. In addition, stories of alleged Turkish mistreatments of the pilgrims began spreading throughout Europe, even though there has been evidence that these stories were marketing, they enraged the Christians and affected the public opinion of the Turks throughout the community. In 1095 Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade to regain the Holy Land. He did this…

The First Crusade and the idea of crusading was not as much a rupture in a way of thinking as much as it was an evolution of the ideas which originated from the Cluniac papal reforms began by Pope Gregory VII and continued by his successor, Pope Urban II. The response to Pope Urban II’s call for the crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095 was a large mobilization of both knights as well as clerical and lay noncombatants. However, there were numerous impetuses of both spiritual and…

independant Benedictine monasteries prior to this time. Sixty-seven Cluny daughter houses, called Cluniac priories, were established by 1049. The papacy began to reform as well around 1046. Beginning with Leo IX who reigned as pope from 1049-54). He was appointed pope by his relative Henry III, the German Emperor. “Leo and his supporters took control of the papal court and…

mandated in order to bring swift justice to the infidels. A guilty verdict would render fines, persecution, imprisonment, torture or even death. After hundreds of years of crusades, tribunals and killings, the world was still infected with heretics. Pope Gregory IX conjured up a…

The concept of purgatory was pushed by Pope Gregory, and he explained it as a way of removing people’s postbaptismal sins which had not been forgiven before their death. According to Pope Gregory, along with acts of penance, additional penance could be received if it was given to them by a priest. This additional assigned penance would allow that individual to work off time that would otherwise be spent in purgatory. This concept, with the help of Pope Urban II, soon evolved into the exchange of…

ideas (between Gregory II and Leo III). Next, the Sunni and the Shia Muslims show a great conflict between one another to succeed as ecclesiastical rulers. Theodosius’ and Gelasius’ primary texts both show specific conflicts between religion and secular powers. The Great Schism is an…

prominent religion in medieval Europe. The church and the many political leaders throughout Europe were in a constant power struggle. The church established a hierarchy of clergy throughout this time period as well. Pope Gregory the Great basically created the position of medieval pope. He was once a political figure in Rome, but departed from that path and entered a monastery. Gregory realized the purpose for his life and “by God’s grace, he turned his aptitude for worldly success wholly to…

conflicts can be seen as early as the Carolingian dynasty after Pope Stephen II recognized Pepin the Short as King of the Franks. The Carolingians saw themselves as saviors of the Christian Gaul, yet they would ransack monasteries to pay their soldiers. Pepin the Short then gave power to his son, Charlemagne, who was truly concerned with education, government, and religion. Shortly after his rise to power Charlemagne was crowned Augustus by Pope Leo III, and by taking this title the Carolingian…

travel long distances and go to holy sites. But, according to Document 5, the Turks and Arabs had taken over Jerusalem, a very holy site. The Crusades were a war over Jerusalem between Christians with the Byzantines and the Turks with the Arabs. Pope Urban II commanded Christians to fight for the land so they could go to the many holy sites there. Christians from all over would come and fight for Jerusalem, and that affected many people’s lives and showed that the church had a powerful…