First Crusade 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 as the Princes' Crusade, not only re-captured Anatolia but went on to conquer the Holy Land (the Levant), which had fallen to Islamic expansion as early as the 7th century, and culminated in July 1099
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