Middle Ages Egypt and suffering from a series of internal civil wars. The Byzantines also faced a revived Bulgaria, which in the late 12th and 13th centuries spread throughout the Balkans. The crusades were intended to seize Jerusalem from Muslim control. The First Crusade was proclaimed by Pope Urban II (pope 1088–99) at the Council of Clermont in 1095 in response to a request from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) for aid against further Muslim advances. Urban promised indulgence to anyone who took part. Tens of thousands of people from all levels of society mobilised across Europe and captured
Peace and Truce of God of secular leadership, Robert the Pious (996–1031) espouses an oath that combines both religious movements: The oath is important because it shows that secular powers are now willing to show obedience to ecclesiastical powers and to rein in problematic knights and armies. Furthermore, knightly and martial violence is often subverted by ecclesiastical powers through the use of crusade. For Pope Urban II, at the Council of Clermont in 1095, the subversion of martial violence is effective in dealing with secular violence: The Peace of God and the Truce of God therefore works within the rhetorical landscape of subverting violence by