Vézelay Abbey unique importance in the development of the Crusades. Thirty years before the Vézelay tympanum was carved, Pope Urban II planned on announcing his call for a crusade at La Madeleine. In 1095, Urban altered his plans and preached for the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont, but Vézelay remained a central figure in the history of the crusades. The tympanum was completed in 1130. Fifteen years after its completion, Bernard of Clairvaux chose Vézelay as the place from which he would call for a Second Crusade. Vézelay was even the staging point for the Third Crusade. It is there
Peace and Truce of God of secular leadership, Robert the Pious (996–1031) espouses an oath that combines both religious movements: The oath is important because it shows that secular powers are now willing to show obedience to ecclesiastical powers and to rein in problematic knights and armies. Furthermore, knightly and martial violence is often subverted by ecclesiastical powers through the use of crusade. For Pope Urban II, at the Council of Clermont in 1095, the subversion of martial violence is effective in dealing with secular violence: The Peace of God and the Truce of God therefore works within the rhetorical landscape of subverting violence by