Urban II: Call to Crusade (1095) Commentary by Michael Lower, University of Minnesota

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

It is natural to wonder how close the four authors come to what Urban said at Clermont. They are excellent sources in some respects. At least two and probably three of them (Robert, Baldric, and likely Fulcher) attended the Council of Clermont. The fourth, Guibert of Nogent, had access to eyewitness accounts. Despite being well positioned to record Urban’s words, the authors present different versions of the sermon. While Guibert of Nogent, for example, has Urban describe the Crusade as a prelude to the Last Judgment, the others do not. We might expect eyewitness accounts to agree more closely, but even here there are variations. Urban speaks at length about Jerusalem in Robert’s and Baldric’s versions but says nothing about it in Fulcher’s. Such differences among equally well-placed eyewitnesses make it impossible to declare one version more authentic than any other. Moreover, all of the versions are colored by the fall of Jerusalem...