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How did the Council of Clermont connect the Peace of God with the First Crusade?

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Crusades Crusaders departing for the Holy Land, chromolithograph of a 15th-century illuminated manuscript.

At the Council of Clermont in 1095, Pope Urban II connected the Peace of God movement to the First Crusade by using the council to simultaneously renew the peace movement and authorize a holy war.12

While it may appear paradoxical to promote peace while sanctioning military action, the church framed the Crusade as a redirection of violence. The Peace of God was designed to protect noncombatants, such as clergy, pilgrims, and the poor, from the internal violence of European knights. During the council, Urban II urged those who had been guilty of disturbing the peace at home to instead channel their warlike energies toward a "holy cause"—defending fellow Christians in the East and protecting holy sites.234

By granting a plenary indulgence to those who joined the expedition, the church transformed the act of fighting into a form of penance. This effectively integrated the Crusades into the broader ecclesiastical effort to establish order, framing the defense of Christendom as a righteous work pleasing to God.142