Urban+II

Ben Chung The Blessed Urban II Words: 623 4/11/12

Being great simply means being a higher caliber than the average, so greatness can even be used to describe terrible things, for example the Crusades, which were created by Pope Urban the second. Pope Urban the second’s greatness comes mostly from his lasting legacy of the Crusades, but also from his reforms of the Catholic Church he tried before and while he was Pope in the 1000s.1 However, he did have a few failures. His main failure was his unsuccessful attempt of unifying the Catholic Church. Overall, Pope Urban the second accomplishments are his legacy of starting the crusades, his reforms, and his high status as pope of the Catholic Church.

Pope Urban the second, originally known as Odo of Lagery, was born to noble Christian parents in around 1035 in France, where his studies led him to an occupation as archdeacon in the diocese of Reims, which he held probably till around 1067 AD.2 Later he went to Rome, where he was created cardinal and bishop of Ostia.3 After the previous pope’s death and the cardinal’s unsuccessful attempt to regain control of Rome from Guilbert of Ravenna, the antipope, Urban was then elected actual pope in Terracina on March 12, 1088.4 As pope, he was very popular among nobles and monks, and tried reconciliation with the antipope and other church states using tolerance and moderation. As pope he also tried to push the controversial question of lay investiture – the act whereby a temporal ruler granted title and possession to a church office, which he was successful in doing by softening the punishments pertaining to it.5 Additionally, Urban participated in many church councils and made many reforms within them, and in 1059 in France, he gave a speech starting the first Crusades, which would be military charges to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims and other barbarians occupying it.6 The Crusades were basically the European Christian version of Manifest Destiny, for it was used as an excuse to conquer a land that they perceived as theirs, and is one of the many reasons why the Middle East is in such turmoil today. From then on Pope Urban’s crusades and reforms were mostly a success. For example in 1099, his crusades took Jerusalem, which helped bring the Greek and Latin Christians a little together, which was one of his goals as pope.7 However, not all his plans succeeded. For example in southeastern Europe, Muslims attacked and the unification of the churches eventually failed. He eventually died on July 29, 1099 in Rome of natural causes.8 Overall, Pope Urban the second had a very successful life where he obtained the highest title in the Catholic church and made a huge impact with his actions, which repercussions can even be felt today in Catholicism and the Middle East.

Overall, Pope Urban the second is the greatest leader of all time because of the tremendous impact his actions have had and of his great ideas. The Crusades, his lasting legacy, some may argue were bad, but that does not mean they were not great. As mentioned before, greatness is used to describe anything of a higher caliber than the average, so the murderous Crusades can be categorized as great. Also, Pope Urban’s vision of a unified Christian Church would have been a great thing for all of Christian Europe, but it was the other peoples selfishness and greed, which stopped his dream of being realized. Simply, Pope Urban the second’s ideas were all good ideas, for they would have all benefited the his people; however only some of them were endorsed, like the Crusades, and the ones that were not, like the church unification, are only failures because of their lack of popularity.

Bibliography: Halsall, Paul, Medieval Sourcebook: Urban II (1088-1099):Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095, Five versions of the Speech, Internet Medieval Source Book. Dec 1997. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html. Score: 15

Wikipedia Contributors, Pope Urban II, Wikipedia, last updated April 1, 2012, []. Score: 12

Becker, Alfons, Encyclop æ dia Britannica Online, s. v. "**Urban** II," accessed April 10, 2012, ** []  **. Score: 14

Citation _______________________________________

1. Alfons Becker, Encyclop æ dia Britannica Online, s. v. "**Urban** II," accessed April 10, 2012, ** []  **.

2. Ibid

3. Wikipedia Contributors, Pope Urban II, Wikipedia, lasted updated April 1, 2012, [].

4. Alfons Becker, Encyclop æ dia Britannica Online, s. v. "**Urban** II," accessed April 10, 2012, ** []  **.

5. Ibid

6. Paul Halsall, Medieval Sourcebook: Urban II (1088-1099):Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095, Five versions of the Speech, Internet Medieval Source Book. Dec 1997. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html.

7. Alfons Becker, Encyclop æ dia Britannica Online, s. v. "**Urban** II," accessed April 10, 2012, ** []  **.

8. Ibid