Timeline of English History 1101-1151

[Cearnach]

1101
• Ranulf Flambard, Bishop of Durham, escapes from the Tower of London where he has been imprisoned, and flees to Normandy. There, he incites Robert Curthose, newly returned from the Crusades, to try to take the throne from his brother.
• Robert lands with an army at Portsmouth, but is defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Alton, where he surrenders his claim to the throne.

1102
• St. Anselm convenes the Council of London, which bans sodomy (probably as a way to further denigrate the memory of William Rufus), as well as the sale of Christian slaves to non-Christian countries.
• King Henry orders the tomb of Edward the Confessor to be opened. When the body is found undecayed, the monks of Westminster begin the process of recognizing the former king as a saint.
• Henry strips Robert of Belleme, Earl of Shrewsbury and his brothers of all of their English lands, keeping some for himself and distributing others to his allies.

1103
• King Magnus III of Norway and the Isles is killed by the Irish in Ulster.
• St. Anselm, caught in a dispute with Henry Beauclerc over investiture--that is to say, who gets to name bishops to various sees within England--chooses exile a second time.
• Queen Matilda gives birth to Prince William Adelin at Winchester.

1105
• Tensions between King Henry and Robert Curthose again erupt into open conflict. Henry invades Normandy, seizing Bayeux and Caen. Robert withdraws to Falaise and starts negotiations with Henry.
• Under threat of excommunication, Henry meets with St. Anselm to resolve their disputes.

1106
• Battle of Tinchebray: King Henry defeats and imprisons his older brother Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy in Devizes Castle. Edgar Atheling, the last Anglo-Saxon claimant of the English throne, and Robert's 3 year old son are also taken prisoner.
• A great comet is seen in the heavens for 40 days and nights.

1107
• King Edgar of Scotland dies and is succeeded by Alexander the Fierce, who is married to Henry Beauclerc's illegitimate daughter Adela.
• Henry and St. Anselm resolve the Investiture Controversy in the pope's favor. Anselm returns to England and re-consecrates all of the bishops of England.

1108
• Chichester Cathedral is consecrated.

1109
• St. Anselm dies. The Archbishopric of Canterbury remains vacant for the next five years.

1110
• Princess Matilda, age 8, is betrothed Emperor Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire. She is crowned Queen of the Romans at Mainz, and then sent away to be taught the German language and manners.
• Henry I makes improvements to Windsor Castle so that he can make it a formal residence.

1111
• The people of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man ask the Kingdom of Munster to send them a leader to replace Magnus III, and so Domhnall ua Briain becomes King of the Isles.

1112
• The Knights Hospitaller are established in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

1114
• Ralph d'Escures is named Archbishop of Canterbury
• Princess Matilda, age 11, marries Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire at Worms.
• Chichester Cathedral burns to the ground.

1115
• Aubrey de Vere, son of the eponymous Great Chamberlain, and who will become 1st Earl of Oxford, is born.

1116
• The Welsh under King Gruffydd ap Rhys of Deheubarth attack Llandovery and Swansea castles, the latter owned by the de Beaumonts. Swansea is seriously damaged.
• Peterborough monastery is destroyed by fire.

1117
• Gilbert fitzRichard de Clare dies.

1118
• King Gruffudd ap Cynan of Gwynedd begins to expand his territory by adding the cantrefs of Rhos and Rhufoniog
• The Archbishop of York is no longer considered subordinate to the Archbishop of Canterbury
• Reconstruction of Peterborough Cathedral begins.
• A rebellion breaks out in Normandy
• Death of Queen Matilda of England
• Death of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester

1119
• Battle of Bremule: Henry I Beauclerc defeats Louis VI the Fat in Normandy. Louis recognizes Henry's son Prince William Adelin as Duke of Normandy.
• Pope Callixtus II issues a papal bull asserting that Jews are permitted their lawful liberty, and are not to be harmed in person or property, or be forcefully converted, or to have their ceremonies disrupted on pain of excommunication.
• The Knights Templar are founded in Jerusalem

1120
• The White Ship disaster. After a lengthy revel off the coast of Normandy, Prince William Adelin and his sister join other young nobles from several great houses on a glorious white ship to set sail to England. The ship sinks, and while the prince is initially saved, the drunken young man dives back into the Channel to save his sister. Both are lost, as are many of the scions of the best houses in England and Normandy. This leaves Empress Matilda as the only surviving legitimate heir of King Henry Beauclerc.
• Cornwall, as a national identity distinct from that of England, is attested to for the first time in the Croyland Chronicle.
• Construction of Llandaff cathedral begins.

1121
• Desperate for a male heir, 53 year old King Henry Beauclerc marries 17 year old Adeliza of Louvain.
• Henry founds Reading Abbey

1122
• Eleanor of Aquitaine is born
• Ralph d'Escures, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies. He is succeeded by William de Corbeil after a few months.

1123
• The city of Lincoln burns to the ground.
• The First Lateran Council convenes in Rome. Among its pronouncements is a requirement that all priests remain celibate.
• Stephen of Blois, the King's nephew, establishes Furness Abbey in England.

1124
• Henry Beauclerc defeats yet another Norman rebellion at Bourgtheroulde
• David I Canmore succeeds Alexander the Fierce to become King of Scotland

1125
• Emperor Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire dies of cancer. Empress Matilda, now a childless widow and the only surviving legitimate child of the King of England, is recalled to Normandy by Henry Beauclerc to be betrothed to the young Geoffrey V Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, to protect his southern borders.
• Henry Beauclerc compels his court to swear an oath to uphold Empress Matilda's right to inherit the throne of England as Queen Regnant upon his death.
• Henry also arranges the marriage of Stephen of Blois to the Countess of Boulogne, which he rules be right of marriage.

1126
• King Henry gives Shrewsbury Castle to his wife as a gift. She was into it.
• Adelard of Bath translates the arithmetical and astronomical works of Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi into Latin, introducing algebra to the western world.
• Edgar Aetheling, the rightful but uncrowned King of England, dies in peaceful obscurity in the English countryside.

1127
• The Count of Flanders is murdered, and Robert Curthose's son William Clito is named his successor. This claim is rejected by several Flemish cities, however, and it is rumored that they are backed by Henry Beauclerc's money. William and his companions march to Flanders to take the county by force.
• Henry Beauclerc again compels his court to swear an oath to acknowledge her claim to the throne and his will that she be his heir.

1128
• King Louis VI the Fat of France backs Thierry of Alsace against William Clito as Count of Flanders. William dies during the siege of Aast after a light wound on his arm turns gangrenous.
• Empress Matilda marries Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou.
• Hugues de Payens, Grandmaster of the Knights Templar, visits England and Scotland to raise money for the Order. The London Temple is established as a facility for the Order in England.
• Holyrood Abbey is established in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• Waverley Abbey is established in England

1129
• Henry of Blois, Stephen of Blois' brother, become Bishop of Winchester, a powerful position at the royal court.

1130
• Stephen of Blois's son Eustace of Boulogne is born.

1131
• Tintern Abbey, which will go on to be important to Wordsworth, is established.
• Queen Matilda of Scotland dies.

1133
• Geoffrey of Monmouth writes Historium Regum Britanniae
• Empress Matilda and Geoffrey Plantagenet's son Henry Curtmantle is born, seemingly securing the English succession.

1134
• The Gothic period of architecture begins when abbot Suger begins to rebuild the abbey of Saint Denis in France, which had been gutted by fire.
• Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror, dies in prison.

1135
• Henry of Beauclerc dies at Lyons-la-Foret in Normandy. On his deathbed, he begs the Archbishop of Canterbury to ensure that Empress Matilda is crowned. The Archbishop agrees, but after the King's death, the court acclaims Stephen of Blois King of England.
• Stephen of Blois is crowned at Westminster Abbey on the day after Christmas. Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou flee England for Normandy, where they declare their intention to depose Stephen, declaring him an usurper.

1136
• King David of Scotland invades northern England, capturing Newcastle and Carlisle. Stephen raises an army, supplemented with Flemish mercenaries, and marches to Durham. David agrees to negotiate a peace, in which Scotland is given Carlisle and portions of Cumbria in exchange for stopping their advance. David rejects the possibility of swearing an oath of allegiance to Stephen as other Kings of Scotland had done to other Kings of England, because, as David puts it, his only overlord is the Empress.
• In Wales, King Owain Gwynedd declares himself Prince of Wales and defeats Norman and Flemish troops under Robert fitzMartin, securing Ceredigion.
• Melrose Abbey is established in Scotland.
• William fitzEmpress, third son of Empress Matilda and Geoffrey Plantagenet, is born in Normandy.
• Richard fitzGilbert de Clare, 3rd Lord of Clare, dies.
• William de Corbeil, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies. The see remains vacant for 3 years.

1137
• William X, Duke of Aquitaine, dies on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. On his deathbed, he entrusts his daughter Eleanor to the charge of the King Louis the Fat of France to raise and find a suitable spouse. Eleanor inherits an enormous territory in her own right.
• 3 months later, Prince Louis of France arrives at Bordeaux to marry Eleanor. 6 days after that, Louis the Fat dies, and Prince Louis becomes King Louis VII.
• King Stephen sails to Normandy to confront the Angevins, but he is unable to pacify the Duchy.
• King Gruffudd ap Cynan of Gwynedd dies, having established an essentially independent state in Wales. His sons continue to expand the domain of Gwynedd at the expense of the Normans to the south and east.
• Fires consume large portions of York and Bath.
• King Stephen's second son, William of Boulogne is born.

1138
• Adeliza of Louvain, the young widow of Henry Beauclerc, marries William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel.
• Earl Robert fitzRoy, the illegitimate son of Henry Beauclerc, together with several other Norman lords, rebels against Stephen and throws his support behind Empress Matilda. Matilda comes to England and is placed under the protection of Adeliza d'Aubigny at Arundel. Geoffrey Plantagenet invades Normandy. The Anarchy begins.
• David of Scotland invades the north of England again in support of Matilda, this time reaching Lincolnshire before he is defeated by Earl William le Gros d'Aumale, leading an army raised by Archbishop Thurstan of York, at the Battle of the Standard. He returns to Carlisle and reforms his army.
• King Stephen creates the Earldom of Pembroke to give Gilbert de Clare
• William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey, dies.

1139
• Theobald of Bec becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.
• Adeliza d'Aubigny betrays Empress Matilda when King Stephen's army arrives at Arundel. She hands her over to the King, but successfully persuades him to send her to her half-brother in Bristol.

1140
• Stephen appoints Geoffrey of Mandeville Earl of Sussex in exchange for his support against the Empress.
• Archbishop Thurstan of York dies.

1141
• The Battle of Lincoln: Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester and Empress Matilda capture King Stephen and wrest control of England from him.
• The Rout of Winchester: Robert of Gloucester is captured when his army is caught between the garrison of Winchester and a relief army commanded by King Stephen's wife (also named Matilda).
• Empress Matilda exchanges King Stephen for her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester. Stephen returns to the throne, but is unable to exert control over much of England. Stalemate ensues.
• Aubrey de Vere, Great Chamberlain of England, is killed by a London mob.

1142
• Henry of Anjou, at 9 years old, arrives in England for the first time in the company of his uncle, Robert of Gloucester. He travels to Bristol, the center of the resistance to King Stephen, to be educated. Robert continues the wars, seizing several castles.
• King Stephen lays siege to Oxford while the Empress is inside. She manages to escape the city across the frozen Thames dressed all in white to blend in with the snow. She reaches Abingdon safely sometime later. Meanwhile, the Oxford surrenders to Stephen.
• William the Lion, future King of Scotland, is born.

1143
• Battle of Wilton: Robert of Gloucester launches a surprise attack on King Stephen's army at Wilton Abbey. Stephen escapes while his steward fights a rearguard action.
• Stephen arrests Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, on suspicion of treason. He is given his freedom in exchange for his title and castles. De Mandeville becomes an outlaw and seizes Ramsey Abbey with some loyalists. Together, they begin to plunder the countryside of Ely.

1144
• Geoffrey de Mandeville is killed by a stray arrow during a skirmish. Because he is an outlaw, his burial is forbidden at most institutions. Eventually, the Knights Templar bury him within the Temple at London.
• The first instance of a Blood Libel is recorded in England.
• In the Levant, the County of Edessa falls to Imad ad-Din Zengi.

1145
• Pope Eugene III preaches the 2nd Crusade to recover Edessa from the Seljuks.

1146
• Bernard of Clairvaux lends his voice to calls for a 2nd Crusade, and a new wave of Crusading fervor sweeps France and the Rhinelands. King Louis of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine take up the cross, as does King Conrad III of the Germans. Edessa is briefly retaken by local forces, but without immediate support they are overcome.
• Allen the Black is named Earl of Richmond for his support of King Stephen, continuing a process of reward for service that is repeated again and again on both sides of the Anarchy.

1147
• English and Scottish participants of the 2nd Crusade help the Portuguese to take Lisbon from the Moors. This is the only appreciable military success of the 2nd Crusade.
• William Marshal, 1st Earl Marshal of Pembroke, who will later be recognized as the greatest knight ever to have lived, is born.

1148
• The French Crusaders arrive at Antioch, but rumors of an incestuous affair between Eleanor of Aquitaine and her uncle Raymond, Prince of Antioch, send King Louis into a rage. He marches south to Jerusalem, bringing Eleanor with him.
• The Crusaders march on Damascus, but are forced to abandon the siege after supply lines are cut by the clever Turks. The Crusade peters out an almost unmitigated disaster.
• Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey, die.

1150
• Castle Rising is built by William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel.
• The Sorbonne is founded in Paris

1151
• Geoffrey Plantagenet dies and is succeeded as Count of Anjou by Henry fitzEmpress, aged 18.
• Adeliza d'Aubigny dies. She is buried next to Henry Beauclerc at Reading Abbey.