Baldwin I of Jerusalem fought for their brother, Godfrey of Bouillon, against Albert III, Count of Namur and Theoderic, Bishop of Verdun at Stenay in 1086. The childless Godfrey, who became duke of Lower Lotharingia in 1087, mentioned Baldwin in most of his charters of grant, indicating that Baldwin was regarded as his heir. Baldwin regularly visited the fortress of his wife's family at Conches-en-Ouche. Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont on 27November 1095. Godfrey of Bouillon decided to join the military campaign and sold or mortgaged his inherited domains to raise funds. One of his domains, the
History of the papacy (1048–1257) held the possibility of a reunion between the eastern and western Churches after almost four decades of schism, thereby strengthening the western Church in general and the papacy in particular. On November 27, 1095, Urban II made one of the most influential speeches in the Middle Ages at the Council of Clermont combining the ideas of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against infidels. The pope called for a “War of the Cross,” or Crusade, to retake the holy lands from the unbelievers. France, the pope said, was already overcrowded and the