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
Renaud II, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis Vermandois, and his wife Adele of Valois. Renaud and Adelaide had at least one child: Renaud married a second time to a woman whose name is not known; they had four children: Widowed, Renaud married for the third time, in 1129, to Clemence de Bar, daughter of Reginald I, Count of Bar, and his wife Giselle de Vaudémont. Renaud and Clemence had six children: Upon his death, Renaud was succeeded as Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis by his son Raoul. Renaud II, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis Renaud II of Clermont ("Renaud/Rainald II de Clermont"; 1075–1152), son of Hugh I, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, and