.
the confines of Jerusalem and from the city of Constantinople a
grievous report has gone forth and has been brought repeatedly to our ears;
namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race
wholly alienated from God, 'a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose
spirit was not steadfast with God,' has violently invaded the lands of those
Christians and has depopulated them by pillage and fire. They have led away a
part of the captives into their own country, and a part they have killed by cruel
tortures. They have either destroyed the churches of God or appropriated them for
the rites of their own religion. They destroy the altars, after having defiled them
with their uncleanness....The kingdom of the Greeks [the Eastern Empire] is now
dismembered by them and has been deprive of territory so vast in extent that it
I could not be traversed in two months' time.
"On whom, therefore, rests the labor of avenging these wrongs and of
recovering this territory, if not upon you....
...Enter upon the road of the Holy Sepulcher [burial chamber (of Jesus)];
wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves. That land
which, as the Scripture says, 'floweth with milk and honey' was given by God into
the power of the children of Israel. Jerusalem is the center of the earth; the land is
fruitful above all others, like another paradise of delights. This spot the Redeemer
of mankind has made illustrious by His advent, has beautified by His sojourn, has
consecrated by His passion, has redeemed by His death, has glorified by His burial.
"This royal city, however, situated at the center of the earth, is now held
captive by the enemies of Christ and is subjected, by those who do not know God,
to the worship of the heathen. She seeks, therefore, and desires to be liberated, and
ceases not to implore you to come to her aid. From you especially she asks succor,
because, as we have already said, God has conferred upon you, above all other
nations, great glory in arms. Accordingly, undertake this journey eagerly for the
remission of your sins, with the assurance of the reward of imperishable glory in
the kingdom of heaven."
--Speech of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont (1095), Ogg, Frederic
Austin, edt. A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents Illustrative of
European Life an and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance,
(New York: American Book Company) 1907.


What is the historical context?