Christianity in the 11th century when the Seljuk Turks closed Christian pilgrimages and assailed the Byzantines, defeating them at the Battle of Manzikert. Emperor Alexius I asked for aid from Pope Urban II for help against Islamic aggression. Urban II called upon the knights of Christendom in a speech made at the Council of Clermont on 27 November 1095, combining the idea of pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against infidels. The First Crusade captured Antioch in 1099 and then Jerusalem. A traditional numbering scheme for the crusades totals nine during the 11th to 13th centuries. Elements of the
Pope Urban X the page where this child is mentioned. ""Notice how exceedingly discreet our author is. There has so far been no Pope called Urban X. He hesitates to ascribe a bastard to an actual Pope. What Discretion! What a tender conscience he shows!"" This issue may have been slightly distorted in the BBC's 1973 dramatisation of "Candide", where Voltaire says ironically "Observe that the name of the Pope has been chosen completely at random", which viewers may have taken as implying that this was a genuine Pope who was a womaniser. Pope Urban X Pope Urban X is a fictional pope