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URBAN II

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 790 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

URBAN II . (See also:Odo or See also:Otho or Eudes de Lagary), See also:pope from the 12th of See also:March ,o88 to the 29th of See also:July 1099, was See also:born of knightly See also:rank at Lagary (or Lagery or Lagny), near See also:Reims. He studied for the See also:church, became See also:archdeacon of See also:Auxerre, and later joined the See also:congregation of See also:Cluny. Displaying See also:great ability as reformer and theologian, he was chosen subprior of the celebrated monastery. He was created See also:cardinal-See also:bishop of See also:Ostia in 1078 by See also:Gregory VII., to whom he displayed such See also:loyalty, especially as papal See also:legate in See also:Germany (1084), that he was imprisoned for a See also:time by See also:Henry IV. He was designated by Gregory as one of four men most worthy to succeed him, and, after a vacancy of more than five months following the decease of See also:Victor III., he was elected pope on the 12th of March ro88 by See also:forty cardinals, bishops, and abbots assembled at See also:Terracina, together with representatives of the See also:Romans and of Countess See also:Matilda. He frankly took up the policy of Gregory VII., but, while pursuing it with equal determination, showed greater flexibility and See also:diplomatic skill. Throughout the See also:major See also:part of his pontificate he had to reckon with the presence of the powerful antipope See also:Clement III. (See also:Guibert of See also:Ravenna) in See also:Rome; but a See also:series of well-attended synods at Rome, See also:Amalfi, See also:Benevento and See also:Troia, supported him in renewed declarations against See also:simony, See also:lay See also:investiture, and clerical marriages, and in a policy of continued opposition to Henry IV. He maintained an See also:alliance with the See also:Norman See also:Duke See also:Roger, See also:Robert Guiscard's son and successor, and See also:united the See also:German with the See also:Italian op-position to the See also:emperor by promoting the See also:marriage of the Countess Matilda with See also:young Well. of See also:Bavaria. He aided See also:Prince See also:Conrad in his See also:rebellion against his See also:father and crowned him See also:king of the Romans at See also:Milan in 1093, and likewise encouraged the Empress Praxedis in her charges against her See also:husband. By excommunicating See also:Philip I. of See also:France for matrimonial infidelity in 1095, Urban opened a struggle which was not terminated until after his See also:death.

Invited to See also:

Tuscany by the Countess Matilda, he convoked a See also:council at See also:Piacenza in March 1095, attended by so vast a number of prelates and laymen that its sessions were held in the open See also:air, and addressed by ambassadors of See also:Alexis, the See also:Byzantine emperor, who sought aid against the Mussulmans. Urban crossed the See also:Alps in the summer, and remained over a See also:year in France and See also:Burgundy, being everywhere reverently received. He held a largely attended council at Clermont in See also:November 1095, where the See also:preaching of the First Crusade marked the most prominent feature of Urban's pontificate. Thenceforth until his death he was actively engaged in exhorting to See also:war against the infidels. Crusaders on their way through See also:Italy drove the antipope Clement III. finally from Rome in 1097, and established Urban firmly in the papal see. With a view to facilitating the crusade, a council was held at See also:Bari in See also:October 1098, at which religious See also:differences were debated and the exiled See also:Anselm of See also:Canterbury combated the Eastern view of the Procession of the See also:Holy See also:Ghost. Urban died suddenly at Rome on the 29th of July 1099, fourteen days after the See also:capture of See also:Jerusalem, but before the tidings of that event had reached Italy. His successor was See also:Paschal II. It is well established that Urban preached the See also:sermon at Clermont which gave the impetus to the See also:crusades. The sermon was written out by Bishop See also:Baudry, who heard it, and is to be found in full in J. M. Watterich, Pontif.

See also:

Roman. Vitae. Letters of Urban are published in J. P. See also:Migne, See also:Patrol. See also:Lat., vol. 151. See J. See also:Langen, Geschichte der romischen Kirche von Gregor VII. bis Innocenz III. (See also:Bonn, 1893) ; F. See also:Gregorovius, Rome in the See also:Middle Ages, vol. 4, trans. by Mrs G.

W. See also:

Hamilton (See also:London, 1900–2); K. J. von See also:Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vol. 5 (2nd ed., I873—go); Jaffe-See also:Wattenbach, Regesta pontif. Roman. vol. i (1885–88); H. H. See also:Milman, See also:History of Latin See also:Christianity, vol. 3 (London, 1899); M. F. See also:Steen, Zur Biographie See also:des Papstes Urbans II. (See also:Berlin, 1883); A. de Brimont, Un Pape au moyen See also:age—Urbain II. (See also:Paris, 1862); W.

See also:

Norden, Das Papsttum and Byzanz (Berlin, 1903); Gigalski, " See also:Die Stellung des Papstes Urbans II. zu den Sacramentshandlungen der Simonisten, Schismatiker and Haretiker," in the Tiibinger theol. Quartalschrift (1897).

End of Article: URBAN II

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