Vézelay Abbey unique importance in the development of the Crusades. Thirty years before the Vézelay tympanum was carved, Pope Urban II planned on announcing his call for a crusade at La Madeleine. In 1095, Urban altered his plans and preached for the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont, but Vézelay remained a central figure in the history of the crusades. The tympanum was completed in 1130. Fifteen years after its completion, Bernard of Clairvaux chose Vézelay as the place from which he would call for a Second Crusade. Vézelay was even the staging point for the Third Crusade. It is there
Guilliaume de Montfort Guilliaume de Montfort Guilliaume de Montfort () (died 27 August 1101) was a French bishop, most notably the Bishop of Paris from 1095 to 1101. Montfort's date of birth is not known, but it was some time before the death of his father, Simon I de Montfort in 1087. He was Bishop of Yves some time before becoming the Bishop of Paris. In 1095, Pope Urban II held the Council of Clermont at Clermont-Ferrand, France. It excommunicated Philip I of France and Bertrade de Montfort, William's sister, for adultery. William had been noted as a great supporter of Urban II,