Which of the following events most directly inspired Urban’s invocation of Constantinople in the first paragraph?

(A) The conquest of Constantinople by the armies of the Abbasid Caliphate (B) The invasion of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks (C) The invasion of the Balkans by the Avars and Bulgars (D) The conversion of the people of Constantinople to Catholic ChristianityExplanation: The Crusades were initiated in no small part by calls from the Byzantine emperor for help fighting the Seljuk Turks. Eliminate (A) because the Abbasids failed to conquer Constantinople. Eliminate (C) because the Avars and the Bulgars were not Muslims. Eliminate (D) because although the emperors of the Byzantine Empire in later years made strides in patching up religious differences between West and East, the majority of the Byzantine population remained staunchly Orthodox. The answer is (B).