URBAN II, POPE, blessed. — Oddone di Lagery, a Benedictine, born ca. 1040 at Châtillon-sur-Marne. His election took place at Terracina according to the prescriptions dear to the reformers of the Church: it was presided over by the cardinal-bishops, who gathered the consent of the clergy of Rome and of the laity, at least of those who were hostile to the antipope Clement III (12 March 1088).
U. had been a monk at Cluny, then cardinal of Ostia (ca. 1078), and Gregory VII had entrusted him with the office of legate in Germany (1084–85). Entry into Rome was impossible, because Clement III held it tenaciously and had taken the offensive against U. during a schismatic council. If the Pope entered it in 1089, he did not at all feel secure there and went to Melfi, where on 10 Sept. he held a Council at which reform decrees were issued. Without in any way renouncing any of the principles of his program, U. II nevertheless showed himself, in practice, extremely conciliatory in order to win the episcopate and the ruling princes to his cause. Thus he sent the pallium to Anselmo, who had become bishop of Milan by the will of the emperor Henry IV, from whom he had received his investiture. He himself consecrated Ivo bishop of Chartres, although Ivo too had accepted investiture from the King of France; he also recognized, under certain conditions, the validity of ordinations conferred by schismatic bishops; he was content with extremely fragile testimony in order to hold prelates innocent of the accusations brought against them; finally, he no longer appointed permanent legates, except in Germany, and delegated temporary powers to his representatives.
Although the Pope demonstrated a pliability that no one censured, he nevertheless sacrificed nothing of his pre-eminence; on the contrary, he affirmed it by willingly granting dispensations from canonical prescriptions, which had the effect of gradually detaching his opponents from Clement III.
Toward the kings of the West U. II adopted an equally conciliatory tactic. When the king of England, William the Red, shamelessly pillaged the property of the Church, he did not protest. Against the king of France, Philip I, who caused scandal through his adulterous union with Bertrada di Montfort, he delayed pronouncing excommunication. The Pope’s skill was shown in the way he managed to undermine the antipope’s intrigues with the Greek Church. In short, U. II won the sympathy of the princes, which enabled him to attack Henry IV. At first the struggle appeared under an ill star. The offensive launched by the emperor against the possessions of Countess Matilda in northern Italy promised to be victorious; masters of the castles, which fell one after another into their hands, the imperial forces seemed ready to invade Tuscany. U. II could not count on the help of the Normans against the invaders and had no other resource than to take refuge in southern Italy. But Countess Matilda saved the situation, which had seemed desperate, through her courage; the resistance she offered in the castle of Canossa forced Henry IV to withdraw. Meanwhile Rome still remained occupied by the schismatics, and the Pope had no money with which to win over the captain guarding the Lateran. The necessary funds were provided by the abbot of Vendôme (1094), and his surrender was thereby facilitated.
Victorious, U. II completely changed his tactics. He restored the permanent legates, convened conciliar assemblies, and restored ecclesiastical discipline. In the autumn he excommunicated Henry IV, Clement III, and also the King of France (16 Oct. 1094). He himself traveled throughout France to supervise the application of the reforms proclaimed at the Council of Piacenza. Then, on 18 Nov. 1095, he opened a great assembly of the bishops of Christendom at Clermont. After promulgating legislation consonant with Gregorian ideas, the Pope suddenly took a decision: since the lords did not cease declaring fratricidal wars against one another, he urged them to conquer the Holy Land. Thus the idea of the Crusade was launched in the West. Its command would not be assumed by a king, but by Ademaro di Montell, bishop of Le Puy, a good expert on Palestine, in his capacity as legate. U. II went further still: he organized the expedition himself, negotiated with the Genoese so that they would provide their ships for the crossing, and traveled through southern France and Italy, preaching and having the Crusade preached. He died on 29 July 1099, in the Palazzo di Pierleone, beside the church of S. Nicola in Carcere, without having been able to learn the news of the capture of Jerusalem (15 July). His cult was confirmed by Leo XIII on 14 July 1881.