An accursed race has invaded the lands of the East. Come now to the defense of Christ. But now you are swollen with pride and cut each other to pieces. Forget feuds and fight infidels. For nine months after Clermont, Urban traveled in southern and central France urging the cause.
Estimates vary from a few hundred thousand to a million.
In the name of Christ, Urban exhorted men of all ranks, rich and poor, to exterminate the infidels. If a man were killed doing this work of God, he would automatically be absolved of his sins and assured of salvation. Throngs of volunteers took a solemn oath, and sewed crosses of cloth onto their clothes. They came by diverse routes from France, Normandy, Flanders, England, Southern Italy, and Sicily, and the will and power of them were the Normans. From the beginning to the end the first crusade was marked by bickering among the princes and their vassals.