Why did the pope call for a crusade?
• to establish trading empires in the Middle East
• to free Jerusalem from the Turks
• to convert Muslims to Christianity
• to establish a new base for the Roman Catholic Church
The correct answer is: to free Jerusalem from the Turks.
In 1095, Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade with the primary objective of capturing Jerusalem and freeing it from the rule of the Seljuk Turks. The Byzantine Emperor Alexios I had requested assistance from the Pope against what he saw as Muslim encroachment in the Byzantine Empire, particularly in Anatolia. The Pope responded by proclaiming a Christian holy war, urging European knights and soldiers to join the crusade to reclaim Jerusalem and the Holy Land.