# Crusades

In the 12th century, the knight was above all a crusader.

The Crusades were first preached in the County of Champagne by Pope Urban II in 1095, and later by Saint Bernard for the Second Crusade.

Knights thus carried both a symbolic and a real role in defending Christian values.

Two bishops of Châlons themselves took part in the Crusades: Barthélemy de Senlis, who died there, and Guy III de Joinville, accompanied by Gui de Bazoches.

The latter, a cathedral cantor (important position whithin the canons' hierarchy) and man of letters who had traveled throughout the kingdom, may have been one of the designers of the cloister’s iconographic program and one of the patrons of the building.