Why did People go on Crusade?

Aim: To explain and analyse the interpretations of the different reasons people went on Crusade

The Council of Clermont, 1095

• November 1095.• Pope Urban II used this to call the

First Crusade.• First in a Council Session.• Then preached to the public.• What reason(s) did he give for why

people should sign up?• How similar/different are these

accounts?• Does this surprise us? Why/why not?

“Urban, Urban, he’s the man. If he can’t call it, no-one can”Reported Medieval chant,

translated from the original Latin…

Calling a Crusade

• Task: Create a propaganda resource to encourage the right people to go on Crusade.• Consider: who are the right

people? How many reasons should I include? How do I make the most important one stand out?• Time: 20 minutes

Your Pope needs YOU!

How Persuasive?Rank Content

King Focuses explicitly on the Pope’s target group, discarding information irrelevant to them.Discounts any unimportant reasons by separating the inaccurate information and discarding it. This should not be included in the propaganda.

Noble Analyses the most important reasons (the reason that would motivate the most people) by making this clearly stand out in the propaganda.

Knight Explains why people should go on Crusade

Peasant – I’ll go because you told me to…..

Describes a few things that might interest you. No explanation (implicit or explicit) of why you should go on crusade…

The main reason?

• Who was Urban II really interested in getting to go on Crusade?• What was the most important

reason people were persuaded to go on Crusade?• Which reasons were less

important? Why do you think modern historians are suggesting them? It’s like a main road, but it’s a reason (not a road).

It’s definitely main though….