First Crusade in Asia Minor — Nicaea and Antioch — required large numbers of soldiers with experience in siege warfare, precisely the type of force recruited by Urban in France in his call to arms of 1095/6. First Crusade The First Crusade (1095–1099) was the first of a number of crusades that attempted to recapture the Holy Land, called for by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095. Urban called for a military expedition to aid the Byzantine Empire, which had recently lost most of Anatolia to the Seljuq Turks. The resulting military expedition of primarily Frankish nobles, known
Simon II of Clermont-Nesle the famous Robert VIII Bertrand , a Marshal of France. His brothers were famous French generals, Raoul of Clermont, Viscount of Châteaudun and Seigneur of Nesle, Constable and Grand Chamberlain of France, and Guy I of Clermont, Marshal of France, Seigneur of Offemont and Ailly, both killed 1302 in the Battle of the Golden Spurs. Simon II of Clermont-Nesle Simon II of Clermont-Nesle (born after 1250 – died 22 December 1312 or c. February 1313), Peer of France and bishop of Noyon (1297–1301) and Bishop-count of Beauvais (1301–c. 1312). Simon was one of few bishops that supported King Philip IV