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The Crusades >> The
First Crusade >> The Council of Clermont
Pope Urban II arrived in France in August 1095, to see to the reform of
the Church there. He sent letters from Le Puy, calling for a general Church
council in November at Clermont. He spent September and October visiting and
reforming in various towns, arriving in Clermont in mid-November.
The Council met 18 through 28 November, 1095 with three hundred clerics
attending. The Council passed reforming decrees in keeping with the Cluniac
reform movement, including ones concerning simony and clerical marriage. At
this Council, too, King Philip of France was excommunicated for adultery.
The pope also made an announcement that a public session would be held
Tuesday 27 November at which the pope would make an important speech to the
general public. This created a good deal of interest, and many people from
the surrounding areas came to Clermont to hear the pope's words.
On the day of Urban's speech, the assembled crowd was so large that they
could not fit everyone into the cathedral, so
the papal throne was set up in
an empty field outside the eastern gate of the town. Those in attendance
included many commoners in addition to local nobility. The great nobles of
Europe, however, the kings and dukes etc., were not there. Urban's
invitation had only gone out locally.
Pope
Urban II talks -->
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