Pope Urban II — "Let those who have been for a long time plunderers, now become Christian knights…"
Let those who have been for a long time plunderers, now become Christian knights.
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More from Pope Urban II
"Let those who have formerly been mercenaries at low wages, now gain eternal rewards. Let those who have been striving to the detriment both of body and soul, now labor for a two-fold reward."
"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."
"All who die in the true faith will receive the crown of life."
"This I grant to all who go, by virtue of the great authority with which I am invested by God."
"O most valiant soldiers and descendants of invincible ancestors, do not degenerate, but recall the valor of your forefathers."
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.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Stop robbing and fighting for selfish gain — redirect that same violent energy and skill toward a cause sanctioned by the Church. Become warriors in service of Christ rather than lawless bandits. The call reframes existing behavior as potentially honorable, offering former criminals a path to moral legitimacy through organized, religiously justified military service.
Relevance to Pope Urban II
Urban II was a Cluniac monk and reform-minded pope who sought to channel Europe's unruly warrior class toward ecclesiastical ends. At Clermont in 1095 he launched the First Crusade, and this phrase captures his core strategy: redirecting endemic feudal violence and brigandage into holy war, offering plenary indulgence as the spiritual reward for military obedience to Rome.
The era
Medieval Europe suffered chronic lawlessness from landless knights and mercenaries who raided and plundered between wars. The Peace of God and Truce of God movements had failed to curb this violence. Urban's Crusade call offered an ingenious solution: export it eastward under papal authority, simultaneously relieving internal disorder, reasserting Church moral leadership, and framing Jerusalem's recovery as divine imperative.
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