2/3. The Council of Clermont and the Launch of the First Crusade. The story of meetings that changed the world, whose consequences still reverberate today. In 1095 Pope Urban II launched the First
Crusade, inspiring thousands of Christians to set out on an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The setting for this dramatic speech was the French town of Clermont, where Urban met with senior clergy for ten days of debate and decree as they struggled to resolve the problems besetting Christian Europe. Saunders travels to the Auvergne to explore this meeting of minds and the changing notions of violence, sin and salvation which led to the launch of the Crusade. Producer Julia Adamson