Army of Hugh the Great on the First Crusade Army of Hugh the Great on the First Crusade The Army of Hugh the Great on the First Crusade was formed after the Council of Clermont, led by Pope Urban II in November 1095. Hugh, son of Henry I, King of France, and his wife Anne of Kiev, was Count of Vermandois, "de jure uxoris", due to his marriage to Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois, daughter of Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois, and his wife Adele of Valois. In August 1096, Hugh and his small army left France "in prima profectione", the first army of the third wave to leave France,
Pope Urban II Pope Urban II Pope Urban II (; – 29 July 1099), born Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was Pope from 12 March 1088 to his death in 1099. Urban II was a native of France. He was a descendant of a noble family in Châtillon-sur-Marne. Reims was the nearby cathedral school that Urban, at that time Eudes, began his studies at 1050. Before his papacy he was the abbot of Cluny and Bishop of Ostia under the name Eudes. As the Pope he would have to deal with many issues including the antipope Clement III, infighting of various