St. Bernard Preaching the Second Crusade
People of the Crusades
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St. Bernard of Clairvaux was instrumental in getting European leaders to commit to the Second Crusade. His most famous call was at at Vezelay, France. Bernard writes in a letter to the Templars: "The Christian who slays the unbeliever in the Holy War is sure of his reward, the more sure if he himself is slain.The Christian glories in the death of the pagan, because Christ is thereby glorified." Bernard would later blame the failure of the Crusade on the sins of the Crusaders themselves.
