This plea did not fall on deaf ears and in 1095 Pope Urban II delivered his great speech to the Council of Clermont in which he exhorted Christendom to go to war for the Sepulcher, promising that the journey would count as full penance.
The battle cry of the Christians, he urged, should be Deus volt [God wills it].
The Christian army was woefully ill-prepared for battle and lacked even the water needed to quench their thirst.
THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
A new wave of Moslem aggression by the Seljuk Turks led to Christian persecution in the Holy Land and the invasion of the Byzantine Empire.
The defeat of the Byzantines at the decisive Battle of Manzikert in 1071 gave the Seljuk Turks possession of Asia Minor.
Following a victory at Dorylaeum which routed the Turks, the Crusaders faced the arduous task of crossing the mountainous terrain of Anatolia (modern Turkey) in Asia Minor.
