Urban II Quotes


You have seen for a long time the great disorder in the world caused by these crimes. It is so bad in some of your provinces, I am told, and you are so weak in the administration of justice, that one can hardly go along the road by day or night without being attacked by robbers; and whether at home or abroad one is in danger of being despoiled either by force or fraud.


Context

Odo of Chatillon-Sur-Marne. The Pope was addressing officials of Christian counties throughout Europe. Crime control then seems to have been a hot political issue as it is today.


Citations

Urban II, 1035-1099, Catholic Pope, Speech, Council of Clermont, 1095

Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations

Related Quotes

In the quoted passage, it describes Diogenes as observing a thief being arrested in one of the religious temples by the officials of the temple. He had pilfered one of the temple treasures. Not unlike modern times, most religious organizations raised money be getting donations from the public. Some of the means of many of the religious groups are and have been of dubious morality and if used in commerce would generally be considered fraud. This quotation shows that this is not a new phenomenon nor was it limited to monotheistic religions.


The “thieves” won in the sense that TR was the choice of the vast majority of the Republican voters of the time, yet the party bosses manipulated the convention to deny Roosevelt the nomination. Taft was nominated, and Roosevelt ran on the Bull Moose Party and outpolled Taft, but they split the Republican vote and lost to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.


The editor had discovered that she and her husband had had an affair before they were married and she was still married to another man. This would have ruined her husband’s political career and she decided to prevent that by killing the editor with the information. She was tried for murder and acquitted on the grounds that this was not a rationally premeditated murder but the uncontrollable emotional reaction of a woman who was so weak that she had no control over her actions. This was the excuse that the jury needed, as the personal slandering of politicians for things unrelated to their political activity was becoming very unpopular. This affair was the beginning of the tendency of the French media to not write about the personal and sexual activities of politicians which became a strong cultural tradition.


Dodge was a hotbed of violence, gun-fighting, drinking, gambling and prostitution. At one point they had 19 saloons serving liquor for a total population of only 1200. The Governor wrote this letter to the mayor to get things under control. The mayor, also one of the town’s successful business men, was doing very well and was apposed to changing the status quo. He wrote a return letter {587195} to the mayor to get things under control. The mayor, also one of the town’s successful business men, was doing very well and was apposed to changing the status quo. He wrote this return letter trying to convince the governor to let him deal with things. Others accused him of being in cahoots with the violent element of town and an apologist for the worst elements of the community.


There violence was extreme on both sides. However, the Fascist / Nationalists had a firm policy of violence and terrorism. The institutions of society had so broken down that vigilantism and revenge drove the Republicans to almost the level of atrocities as the Nationalists.


There were anti-Vietnam war protests going on throughout the country that year. In many of them, especially at universities, protesters took over buildings, and shut down operations. Most Republicans and many Democrats wanted the protests to end, mostly because they feared the spread of the anti-Vietnam war sentiment would catch on and become a position held by most Americans (which it did just as they feared,) They were restrained in what they could do legally by the 1st Amendment. However, there was much breaking of minor laws in many of the demonstrations and that was the focus of the effort to suppress the demonstrations. But in the tradition of civil disobedience, it was the lawbreaking that tended to get the press attention and coverage, so the leaders of the anti-war movement advocated even more lawbreaking, hence Dirksen’s statement to the convention.


Urban II
Urban II
  • Born:
  • Died: July 29, 1099
  • Nationality: French
  • Profession: Pope

Pope Urban II, otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for initiating the Crusades.