THE APPEAL OF ALEXIUS FOR AID IN 1095 



By Edward Tuthill 



Many historians affirm that the immediate occasion, if not the cause, 

 of the First Crusade was an appeal by the Eastern Emperor, Alexius I, 

 to Pope Urban II for aid against the Turks, who were said to be threat- 

 ening the city of Constantinople with destruction. The most convenient 

 and comprehensive version of this story appears in Gibbon's great work; 

 and an excerpt is given here because it reflects present tendencies in our 

 textbooks and reference works. At the Council of Placentia, which 

 was held in March, 1095 — 



The ambassadors of the Greek emperor, Alexius Comnenus, were introduced 

 to plead the distress of their sovereign, and the danger of Constantinople, which was 

 divided only by a narrow sea from the victorious Turks, the common enemy of the 

 Christian name. In their suppliant address they flattered the pride of the Latin 

 princes; and, appealing at once to their policy and religion, exhorted them to repel 

 the barbarians on the confines of Asia rather than to expect them in the heart of 

 Europe. At the sad tale of the misery and perils of their Eastern brethren, the 

 assembly burst into tears; the most eager champions declared their readiness to 

 march; and the Greek ambassadors were dismissed with the assurance of a speedy 

 and powerful succor. The relief of Constantinople was included in the larger and 

 most distant project of the deliverance of Jerusalem; but the prudent Urban 

 adjourned the final decision to a second synod, which he proposed to celebrate in 

 some city of France . . . .' [i.e., Clermont]. 



The purpose of this study is to show that the evidence for this famous 



appeal is very slight; that many chroniclers in Italy and France who 



heard about the council omit this incident; that the Crusaders, also, 



were apparently unaware of it; and that the eastern empire, according 



to our best authorities, had no occasion to seek aid in 1095 because the 



Turks were then engaged in fierce civil wars. We shall take up these 



points in order. 



Little Evidence to Support This Appeal 

 Only one chronicler strictly contemporary^ with the event described 

 gives definite information about this appeal. This is Bernold of Con- 



' Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. Iviii. 



' Otto of Freising, Ckronicon, VII, c. 2; Gislebert de Mons, Chron. Hannoniae (ed. Amdt), p. 56; 

 Benedictus Accoltus, circa 1470; and Guhlaume Aubert, of the sixteenth century, add nothing to the 

 earlier narratives, and are not contemporary. 



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