1095. Urban II. preached the first Crusade at Clermont in Auvergne, and induced several of the princes of Europe to take part in the enterprise.
The object of the Crusades was to recover Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Turks, who treated the Christian pilgrims with great harshness and cruelty. These wars lasted about 174 years, and exercised great political influence on the Continent. The only Crusade in which the English played an important part was that undertaken by Richard I.
1096. Robert mortgaged his duchy to William, in order that he might join the Crusade.
1097. William built a wall round the Tower, a bridge over the Thames, and a great hall at Westminster.
1098. Magnus, king of Norway, made a descent on the Isle of Anglesea, but was repulsed. This was the last attempt made by the Northmen upon England.
1099. Jerusalem taken by the Crusaders.
1100. It is said that the Goodwin Sands were formed this year by an inundation of the sea, which overflowed 4,000 acres of land, off the coast of Kent, which had formerly belonged to earl Godwin.
Henry I., surnamed Beauclerk.
D. He was the brother of William II. B. at Selby, in Yorkshire, 1070. M. (1) Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III. of Scotland, and of Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling; (2) Adelicia, daughter of the duke of Louvaine, and niece to Pope Calixtus. Dd. at Rouen, Dec. 1, 1135. R. 35 years (1100 to 1135).
1101. Robert, who had returned from the Crusade, landed in England to assert his claim to the crown. He renounced his pretensions on condition of receiving 3,000 marks a year.