Must be 1000 words not including footnotes or bibliography

Task Description:

This assignment revolves around 5 different versions of the same historical event: Pope Urban II’s sermon at the Council of Clermont (1095). As historians, we are left with alternate interpretations, memories, representations, and physical records of this famous ‘speech’, which inspired and ignited the First Crusade to the Holy Land. There is no doubt about the sermon’s importance. But the various accounts transmitted down the centuries leave us with a number of interpretive challenges and questions. As the historian, your task is to make sense of these different accounts, with a view to demonstrating a firm understanding of the most accurate historical narrative. The aim is to examine the 5 accounts, to reconcile their similarities and differences, and ultimately, to decipher Urban’s motivations and objectives. Put another way, you need to consider the nuances and textures of the various historical accounts. Pay careful attention to the details as well as the overall context of the late 11th century, in which period the First Crusade was launched. To assist in your analysis, you may refer to the secondary scholarly literature. An extensive bibliography is not, however, required. Footnotes are not included in the word limit. I recommend the following as a bare minimum to get you started:

H.E.J Cowdrey, “Pope Urban II’s Preaching of the First Crusade,” History 55, no. 184 (1970): 177-88; and Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, 2nd edition (2009), chapter 1. the five accounts: The Gesta version, pp. 25-26; The version of Robert of Rheims, pp. 26-29; The version of Baldric of Dol, pp. 29-33; The version of Guibert of Nogent, pp. 33-37; and Fulcher of Chartres’ Chronicle, pp. 49-53.