10 Most Evil People of the 11th Century CE

Key Facts

Other names	Zotto de Landalf, Odo, Peter the Hermit, Pope Urban II
Born	1042
Location	Benevento, Italy
Bloodline	Princes of Benevento
Married	Yes.
Children	Yes. Pope Paschal II
Position	Pope (1086-1099)
Died	July 1099

Background

Zotto was born the eldest son of Landalf, son of Prince Landulf V of Benevento. His father was the first of the Beneventians to be Pope. Zotto was named after Zotto, the mythical first "Duke of Benevento" and family hero. Later his name was deliberately changed from Zotto of Landalf to "Otto of Largery" to deliberately hide his heritage and connection to the Roman Cult.

He is the only person mentioned twice- once as antiPope Urban II and again as "Peter the Hermit."

In 1084, a massive force of 36,000 finally broke the siege of Roman Cult Leader Antipope Gregory VII in Rome who had been protected by the mercenary army of Basque native Robert Borga (the Guiscard--which means "sly, crafty"). Robert Borga managed to escape with some of his men, but Antipope Gregory VII was not so lucky and was promptly tried, excommunicated and executed as a heretic of the Catholic Church. Later this historic event was deliberately misconstrued to claim that it was the mercenary army of Robert Borga (the Guiscard), not Emperor Henry IV that liberated Rome from the heretical Roman Cult.

Robert Borgia then fled to Benevento and the father of Zotto, who promptly claimed himself Pontifex Maximus as the heretical Roman Cult AntiPope Victor III (1084–86) against the reign of the true Catholic Pope Clement III (1080, 1084–1100). The elite Norman troops of Henry IV then beseiged Benevento until finally the well fortified city fell in 1086/7 and AntiPope Victor III along with Robert Borga were executed as heretics against the Catholic faith.

Zotto and the few remaining Roman Cult priests along with the remnants of the Borga mercenary army managed to escape and around 1086 they named Zotto as the new heretical AntiPope Urban II -- Pontifex Maximus of the Roman Cult.

A hunted man, supported by only a handful of loyal mercenaries, all might have been lost for antiPope Urban II if not for his bold and audacious strategy. Firstly, Urban completely changed his appearance into that of a poor hermit, calling himself Peter. Next, he began to rally support, not just from nobles but from common people on the notion of stories of horror and torture by the Byzantine Emperors against "good christians" as well as vast treasures kept in their vaults. As proof, Urban used the seized booty and trinkets taken by Robert Borga from the Byzantines in Sicily.

Until this time, the wars between the Catholic Church and the Imperial Christian Church based at Constantinople had been focused on the Italian Peninsula. Urban as "Peter the Hermit" was the first to suggest taking the fight directly to Constantinople --a complete heresy against the very home of Christianity itself. Urban disguised as Peter the Hermit rallied hundreds and then thousands to the cause of a "Holy War" a Crusade to save the soul of Christianity.

So brazen had antipope Urban become in his disguize as a holy man "Peter the Hermit" that he travelled as far as the Council of Clermont to plead his case for a Holy Crusade.

Following the final and complete destruction of the Holy Roman Empire by the heretical Roman Cult armies in the 15th Century, the history of this 1st Crusade was changed to claim the target was Jerusalem and the Muslims -- a complete and utter lie. The target was always the capture of Constantinople and to outflank the Catholic Church by seizing the most damning library of evidence in the world against this religion established in 741- The Imperial Archives of Constantinople.

Brilliantly using the Catholic doctrine against itself, by 1095 antipope Urban had amassed a large enough rag-tag army to begin their march eastward into the ancient territories of the Holy Roman Empire.

By 1096, Urban and his army had beseiged and overwhelmed Belgrade, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent Christians along the way in arguably one of the greatest bloodbaths in history. The sheer terror his army wrought was enough to empty towns in his way so that in the same year (1096), the heavily fortified Constantinople fell relatively easily. Urban immediately ordered the Imperial Archives to be removed back to his Italian base with much of Constantinople burned. In all Urban's army slaughtered over 50,000 people in Constantinople alone.

Strengthened by his success, Urban now moved on to the capture of Jerusalem. Over confident, he moved across Turkey, Syria and down to Antioch killing tens of thousands more Christians along the way. However, the Muslims retaliated and Urban found himself beseiged in Antioch in 1098-- cut off from the rest of his army. It is said Urban continued to demonstrate extraordinary oratory skills of persuasion during the seige convincing starving and injured Crusader militia they could defeat a superior and better disciplined Muslim enemy- which they failed to achieve.

He was caught and beheaded by the Muslims at the end of the seige in 1099. In retaliation, his son antipope Paschall II (1099-1118) rallied the army and took Jerusalem in the same year.

Most Evil Crimes

List of most evil crimes

Type	Year	Crime


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