Crusades In 1095, Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade in a sermon at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for the Byzantine Empire and its Emperor, AlexiosI, who needed reinforcements for his conflict with westward migrating Turks colonizing Anatolia. One of Urban's aims was to guarantee pilgrims access to the Eastern Mediterranean holy sites that were under Muslim control but scholars disagree as to whether this was the primary motive for Urban or those who heeded his call. Urban's strategy may have been to unite the Eastern and Western branches of Christendom, which had been divided since
Pope Urban X Pope Urban X Pope Urban X is a fictional pope created by French writer Voltaire in his book "Candide". Voltaire did this in order to avoid any consequences that would be incurred upon him, for in "Candide" Pope Urban X has an illegitimate child. In Chapter 11 an old woman declares herself to be the daughter of Pope Urban X and the Princess of Palestrina. (Voltaire was being particularly cautious, since at the time and now the highest numbered Pope Urban was the eighth). An 1829 edition of "Candide" was the first to add a posthumous footnote by Voltaire to