A Pope should be many things. He should be pious for starters. A strong leader is definitely on the list. Forgiving, loving, generous and charitable are all up there too. But what about warmongering? In his defense, Urban II didnt have it easy when he became pope in 1088. For one thing, he had to deal with a rival anti-Pope, Clement III, whose supporters kept him out of the Vatican for several years. For another, Europe was in a state of chaos at the time. In his first few years, Urban fell out with the Holy Roman Emperor and was forced to excommunicate the King of France. To make matters worse, things were looking pretty grim in the Middle East. Some things never change. Urban eventually hit on a brilliant problem to solve all of his problems in Europe by uniting its Christian population against a common enemy. Thus began the First Crusade to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslim control. Although numbers are a bit shaky, it is estimated that around 200,000 people died in the first three years of the First Crusade. This might seem low compared to the other men on this list, but the First Crusade provided the main inspiration and justification for all of the Crusades that followed. As a result, Urban II's actions have been attributed to over 200 years of intermittent war in the Middle East. There's also the small matter of Urban being the leader of a religion that is supposed to be based on loving your neighbor rather than cutting his head off. Launching a war to solve your own political problems is definitely not what Jesus would do.
With a (nearly) useless degree in English literature and a personal trainer qualification he's never used, Freddie spends his times writing things that he hopes will somehow pay the rent. He's also a former professional singer, and plays the saxophone and ukulele. He's not really used to talking about himself in the third person, and would like to stop now, thanks.
