"For centuries, historians have debated the origins of the First Crusade, typically tracing it to 1095, when Emperor Alexios I Komnenos appealed to Pope Urban II for military aid against the Seljuks. But a newly published study suggests that the seeds of the Crusades may have been planted far earlier-more than thirty years before Urban's famous call to arms. In a paper published in History: The Journal of the Historical Association,"
"According to Benzo, the Byzantine envoys arrived in Rome clad in magnificent purple and gold garments, carrying a letter from the emperor himself. The message, written in Latin, expressed friendship toward Henry IV and offered the emperor's son as a hostage to seal an alliance. It also contained a puzzling reference to a campaign to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This strange mixture of diplomacy, politics, and piety has long puzzled scholars."
"A Forgotten Embassy The story begins in 1062, when Constantine X-who ruled Byzantium from 1059 to 1067-supposedly sent envoys to Honorius II, a rival (and ultimately illegitimate) pope backed by the German court of Henry IV. The embassy is known only from a single source: Benzo of Alba, a bishop and supporter of Honorius II, who recorded the event in his Ad Henricum Imperatorem Libri VII."
Evidence indicates that plans to seek Western military aid may date to the 1060s rather than 1095. In 1062 Constantine X Doukas reportedly sent envoys to Honorius II carrying a Latin letter that offered friendship to Henry IV and offered the emperor's son as hostage. The letter included a reference to a campaign to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The account survives only in Benzo of Alba's Ad Henricum Imperatorem Libri VII and has long been dismissed as fabrication; alternatively, the text could be a rendering of a genuine Byzantine letter corrupted by errors and misunderstandings.
Read at Medievalists.net
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