Christianity in the 11th century when the Seljuk Turks closed Christian pilgrimages and assailed the Byzantines, defeating them at the Battle of Manzikert. Emperor Alexius I asked for aid from Pope Urban II for help against Islamic aggression. Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom in a speech made at the Council of Clermont on 27 November 1095, combining the idea of pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against infidels. The First Crusade captured Antioch in 1099 and then Jerusalem. A traditional numbering scheme for the crusades totals nine during the 11th to 13th centuries. Elements of the
Pope Urban II declarations against simony, lay investitures, clerical marriages (partly via the "cullagium" tax), and the emperor and his antipope. He facilitated the marriage of Matilda, countess of Tuscany, with Welf II, duke of Bavaria. He supported the rebellion of Prince Conrad against his father and bestowed the office of groom on Conrad at Cremona in 1095. While there, he helped arrange the marriage between Conrad and Maximilla, the daughter of Count Roger of Sicily, which occurred later that year at Pisa; her large dowry helped finance Conrad's continued campaigns. The Empress Adelaide was encouraged in her charges of sexual coercion against