1O sons of God! You have obligated yourselves to maintain peace among yourselves and to be faithful to the Church. Now it is time for you to prove your faith by a work of great virtue.
2A grave report has come from the lands around Jerusalem and from the city of Constantinople: a race utterly alienated from God has violently invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by pillage and fire.
3They have either destroyed the churches of God or appropriated them for the rites of their own religion.
4On whom, therefore, does the task of avenging these wrongs fall, if not upon you — you upon whom above all nations God has conferred remarkable glory in arms, great courage, bodily energy, and the strength to humble those who resist you?
5Let the deeds of your ancestors encourage you and incite your minds to manly achievements: the greatness of Charlemagne, and of his son Louis, and of your other rulers.
6Set out on this journey and you will obtain the remission of your sins and be sure of the incorruptible glory of the Kingdom of Heaven.
7Let none of your possessions keep you back, nor anxiety for your family affairs. For this land which you now inhabit, shut in on all sides by the sea and the mountain peaks, is too narrow for your large population.
8Undertake this journey eagerly for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the reward of imperishable glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. God wills it!
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