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 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 "the fair" of France against Pope Boniface VIII (c. 1235–1303), to strengthen the monarchy and make the Church support the state's finances in the time of war, while the Pope demanded the privilege of exemption from tax, in spite of extreme wealth, and proclaimed that the Pope is above every king in authority, but the