It is difficult or impossible to assess the motives of the thousands of poor for whom there is no historical record, or even those of important knights, whose stories were usually retold by monks or clerics.
Urban je do konca leta 1095 in leta 1096 širil svoje sporočilo po Franciji in pritiskal na svoje škofe in legate, naj v svojih škofijah po Franciji, Nemčiji in Italiji pridigajo za križarski pohod.