EPISTLE

Andreas son of William, Lord Iberlusi? has defeated the infidels and caused them to be converted to the faith of the true God. If the members of the body can do this, what might the head, together with the arms and the other members of the body of all united Christianity, achieve? May our Lord Jesus Christ, through the depths of His mercy original: "viscera misericordiae suae." A common biblical idiom for profound compassion., bring these Princes into harmony, so that the Christian people may increase in both merit and number.

Most Blessed Father, how can your Holiness endure the Holy City of Jerusalem and the holy places to be trampled underfoot by the most filthy enemies of the faith? Or allow the sepulcher of Christ to be defiled by the treacherous Muslims original: "maumetanis." This reflects the standard medieval and Renaissance Latin term for followers of Muhammad., and the holy Catholic Church to be persecuted by the enemies of Christ? Indeed, what did Pope Urban II Urban II (reigned 1088–1099) was the pope who initiated the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. achieve with three hundred thousand men marked with the sign of the life-giving Cross? Did he not convert both Antioch and almost the whole of Asia to the faith of Christ?

I pass over the expeditions of Lucius II, Clement, Innocent III, and Honorius of the same name, and of other Pontiffs who summoned Christian Princes and Kings to that same enterprise and finally achieved victory. This holy expedition is profitable for the soul; and if we, fighting for the holy faith with our bodies, should reach eternal glory, it would be a great reward. Furthermore, how many and what kind of temporal goods, kingdoms, and dominions we might acquire from this expedition is self-evident—and especially that land flowing with milk and honey A biblical reference to the Promised Land (Exodus 3:8)., which God promised to His people for their cultivation.

Alas, the wickedness! Alas, the disgrace of the entire Christian people! If you desire the Christian commonwealth original: "rem publicam xp̃ianam." Albertini uses the term "Republic" here in the classical sense of a "commonwealth" or unified state of all Christians. to be safe, love Christ. With what mind, with what countenance, or by what...