Pope Urban II — "We, by the authority of Almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul,…"
We, by the authority of Almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, grant to all who undertake this expedition remission of sins.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Pope Urban II
"This land which as the Scripture says 'floweth with milk and honey,' was given by God into the possession of the children of Israel. Jerusalem is the navel of the world; the land is fruitful above oth…"
"You are called shepherds; see that you do not act as hirelings."
"We exhort and command you, brethren, to strive with all your might to drive out the Turks from the confines of the Christians, and to aid the Christians, who are now subjected to their yoke."
"The land which you inhabit is too narrow for your large population; it scarcely furnishes food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder and devour one another."
"The land of the Saracens is fertile and rich."
About Pope Urban II (c. 1042-1099)
Pope (1088-1099) whose Council of Clermont speech (November 1095) launched the First Crusade — the founding event of nine centuries of Christian-Muslim military conflict. Closely associated with Pope Gregory VII (his predecessor on papal-imperial reform). For an intellectual contrast, see Saladin, Kurdish-Muslim Sultan of Egypt and Syria (1138-1193) — Saladin recaptured Jerusalem in 1187, undoing the First Crusade Urban II launched 92 years earlier. Saladin's chivalrous treatment of Christian prisoners became the canonical Muslim counter-image to Crusader brutality. The cleanest before/after pairing of the Crusades' moral arc.
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
This proclamation offers complete forgiveness of sins to anyone who joins the armed expedition to recapture Jerusalem. In plain terms: fight in this holy war and your spiritual debt to God is cancelled. The pope acts as divine intermediary, converting military service into spiritual currency. For medieval Christians terrified of divine judgment and purgatorial suffering, this was an irresistible offer — eternal salvation exchanged for earthly sacrifice on the battlefield.
Relevance to Pope Urban II
Urban II, a Cluniac monk turned pope, built his career on church reform and papal supremacy. His invocation of Peter and Paul directly channels apostolic succession doctrine — popes as God's earthly representatives. He saw the Crusade as solving two problems: redirecting Europe's violent feudal knights toward a holy purpose, and reasserting Rome's authority over Christendom after decades of power struggles with secular rulers and the destabilizing 1054 Great Schism with Eastern Christianity.
The era
At the 1095 Council of Clermont, Seljuk Turks controlled Jerusalem and blocked Christian pilgrimages. Byzantine Emperor Alexios I had pleaded for Western military aid against them. Europe's feudal knights waged constant internecine warfare with no sanctioned outlet. The Church, fresh from Gregorian Reform asserting clerical independence from kings, needed a unifying cause. Urban's indulgence weaponized medieval theology — the Church's monopoly on sin forgiveness — into a recruitment tool that mobilized tens of thousands within months.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].