History of literature honor, while poems such as Dante's "Divine Comedy" and Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" take much different stylistic directions. In November 1095 - Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. The crusades would affect everything in Europe and the Middle East for many years to come and literature would, along with everything else, be transformed by the wars between these two cultures. For instance the image of the knight would take on a different significance. Also the Islamic emphasis on scientific investigation and the preservation of the Greek philosophical writings would eventually affect European literature.
Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II (; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was Pope from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Cluniac order, he created the Cardinal-Priest of San Clemente by Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) in 1073. He was consecrated as pope in succession to Pope Urban II (1088–99) on 19 August 1099. His reign of almost twenty years was exceptionally long for a pope of the Middle Ages. He was born in Bleda, near Forlì, Romagna. During the long struggle of the papacy with the Holy Roman Emperors over investiture,