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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Urban II Biography URBAN II, Pope 1088-99, originally Otho by name. He was Archdeacon of Auxerre, and then entered the monastery of Cluny, where he became prior. In 1078 Gregory VII called him to Rome and made him Bishop of Ostia. During almost his entire pontificate, his position was endangered by the presence in Rome of the powerful antipope, Guibert of Ravenna, called Clement III. Urban carried on the policies of his predecessor, Gregory VII, vigorously prosecuting the struggle with Henry IV, and attacking such evils as simony, lay investiture, and clerical marriage. In 1094 he excommunicated Philip I of France for his matrimonial infidelity. He presided at the famous Council of Clermont in 1095, which gave the impulse to the Crusades. On this occasion he himself preached a famous sermon in favor of the Crusade. In 1098 a council was held at Bari, at which many Greek bishops were present, and in which the addition of the word filioque to the creed was discussed. He died at the close of 1099, just at the time when the First Crusade, which he had organized, terminated in the successful occupation of Jerusalem. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 801-802. |