Ursula, Saint, and her companions, legend of 711and the support of the NORMANSin ITA LY, he was able to
return to Rome in 1093.
The major event of Urban’s reign was his call to
CRUSADElaunched at the Council of CLERMONTbetween
November 18 and November 28 of 1095. Urban had earlier
sponsored a Truce of God on CHRISTENDOMat the Council
of Melfi in 1089, at Troia in 1093, and finally at Clermont.
Violence could be legitimate when it was employed for the
glory of GODas in the RECONQUESTalready under way in
SPAIN and SICILY. Christendom was to unite with the
BYZANTINEEMPIREto free the Holy Land or PALESTINEfrom
the Muslims. He succeeded beyond what he must have
expected but died before the capture of JERUSALEMin 1099.
In the meantime he had to deal with the marital problems
of the king of France, Philip I (r. 1060–1108), and a dis-
pute between the king of ENGLAND,WILLIAMII RUFUS, and
the archbishop of CANTERBURY,ANSELM. He died at Rome
on July 29, 1099, in the Palace of the Pierleone in Rome
two weeks after the crusaders took Jerusalem. He was
buried in Saint Peter’s and was beatified in 1881.
See alsoPEACE ANDTRUCE OFGOD.
Further reading:Francis J. Gossman, Pope Urban II
and Canon Law(Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of
America Press, 1960); Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Cru-
sade and the Idea of Crusading(Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1986); Robert Somerville and Stephan
Kuttner, Pope Urban II, the Collectio Britannica, and the
Council of Melfi (1089)(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996).
Urban VI(Bartolomeo Prignano)(1318–1389)men-
tally disturbed and brutal pope
Bartolomeo, later Urban VI, was descended from an influ-
ential Neapolitan family and was pontifical chancellor of
Pope Gregory XI (r. 1371–78) and archbishop of BARIon
his election in 1377. On the death in 1378 of Gregory XI,
who had moved the papacy back to Rome, the Roman
populace was fearful that the election of a French pope
would mean the transfer of the PAPACYback to the city of
AVIGNON. Six cardinals remained in Avignon and did not
even attend the conclave to elect a new pope. The
Romans raised such a threatening riot that the CARDINALS
meeting to elect the new pope were forced to elect an Ital-
ian rapidly. A mob had actually entered the meeting place
to try to influence the election. On April 8, 1378, Bar-
tolomeo was viewed as a competent administrator and
seemed to be a well-known commodity to the cardinals
who intimidated again by a crowd, elected him pope as
Urban VI. He was the last noncardinal to be elected pope.
Urban’s wild tirades and threats to appoint a majority
of Italian cardinals soon scared the French cardinals, who
withdrew to Anagni outside Rome during the summer of- By August 9, 1378, they had called a new election
and then designated Cardinal Robert of Geneva as Pope
Clement VII (r. 1378–94). Robert was a tough and expe-
rienced soldier who had been involved in the slaughter of
4,000 rebels against papal rule in Cesena in 1377. Urban
VI naturally persisted in considering himself as the sole
legitimate pope. He quickly formed a new College of Car-
dinals, though he soon fell out even with them, con-
demning five of them to death a few years later. These
dual questionable elections and events led to the Great
SCHISM, which lasted until 1417.
Urban proved to be a very authoritarian and ineffec-
tive reformer of a now seriously divided church. Needing
money and seeking to solidify his support in the tourist-
based industry of Rome, he proclaimed a HOLYYEARfor - To accomplish that, he had to change the interval
between jubilee celebrations to 33 years, the length of
Christ’s life. He paid special attention during his reign to
securing the throne of NAPLESfor one of his nephews,
Charles of Durazzo (1345–86), and very little indeed to
settling the election question. Eventually he went to war
with his own nephew. He seems to have actually led
armies in the field. With the PAPALSTATESin chaos, he
died, probably poisoned, on October 15, 1389.
See alsoCATHERINE OFSIENA, SAINT.
Further reading:Welbore St. Clair Baddeley, Charles
III of Naples and Urban VI: Also Cecco d’Ascoli, Poet,
Astrologer, Physician, Two Historical Essays(London: W.
Heinemann, 1894); Guillaume Mollat, The Popes at Avi-
gnon, 1305–1378,trans. Janet Love (1949; reprint, New
York: T. Nelson 1963); Yves Renouard, Avignon Papacy,
1305–1403,trans. Dennis Bethell (London: Faber, 1970).
Ursula, Saint, and her companions, legend of The
legend of Ursula and her companions originated in a sin-
gle Latin inscription from about 400 in the church of Saint
Ursula in COLOGNEthat recorded the BURIALof some local
virgin-martyrs. By the ninth century this became a tale of
a princess and her companions who were martyred in theArrival of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in France,
miniature from Roman de Godefroi de Bouillon(1337), Ms.
fr. 22495, fol. 15, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Giraudon /
Art Resource)