 This had the full support of Pope Alexander II, a Truce of God was declared in Catalonia and indulgences were granted to the participants.It was a holy war but differed from the First Crusade as there was no pilgrimage, no vow and no formal authorisation by the church.Shortly before the First Crusade, Pope Urban II had encouraged the Iberian Christians to take Tarragona, using much of the same symbolism and rhetoric that was later used to preach the crusade to the people of Europe.