Urban II Preaches the First Crusade at Clermont
"Deus vult": the pope calls on Christian knights to march east, promising forgiveness of sins
Quick facts
- Location
- Clermont, central France
- Pope
- Urban II (r. 1088-1099)
- Attendance
- 13 archbishops, 82 bishops, 90 abbots, plus a large lay crowd
- Key promise
- Full remission of sins for participants
What happened
At a council in Clermont, France, attended by 13 archbishops, 82 bishops, and 90 abbots, Pope Urban II delivered an open-air sermon calling on Western Christians to march to Jerusalem and free it from Muslim rule. According to Robert the Monk's version of the speech, Urban told the crowd to make the phrase "It is the will of God" their war cry in battle, and the assembly reportedly answered back with the shout that would become the crusaders' rallying cry, recorded in Latin as "Deus vult! Deus vult!" Urban promised that anyone who took up the cross would receive a full remission of their sins, an indulgence that no earlier pope had offered on this scale. The offer proved enormously popular with nobles and knights across Europe, tens of thousands of whom "took the cross" within months.
Why it matters
The Clermont indulgence became the template every later crusade copied, tying military service directly to the forgiveness of sin. It also set off a chain of consequences Urban never intended: a mass popular movement of poor pilgrims traveling alongside the knights he had actually wanted, with disastrous results within the year.
How we know
No single verbatim transcript of Urban's speech survives. Historians rely on several independent chronicle versions written within a decade or two of the event, including those by Robert the Monk, Fulcher of Chartres, Baldric of Dol, and Guibert of Nogent, which agree on the core content but differ in wording and detail.
Sources
- Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University. Urban II: Speech at Clermont, 1095 (Robert the Monk version) · Primary source (author-declared)sourcebooks.fordham.edu · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Council of Clermont · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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