The Great Turning Points of British History by Michael Wood Read Free Book Online Page A

question, though in 1152 the early death of King David’s son Henry weakened Scottish power.
    In 1136 also the Welsh gained a number of victories over the Norman settlers, and in 1139 the empress landed and established control over the West Country.
    The battle of Lincoln was of short-term significance in England, but it led inexorably to the king’s losing control over Normandy. The take-over of the duchy by the empress’s husband, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, completed in 1144, drew upon the lessons of what had happened in England in 1141, with the securing of a political consensus, and a leading role being taken by the citizens of Rouen, who were growing rich from trade along the Seine.

OTHER KEY DATES IN THIS PERIOD
    1100 Marriage of Henry I . When William Rufus was killed hunting in the New Forest on 2 August, his younger brother, Henry, moved swiftly, being crowned at Westminster just three days later. He married Matilda (Maud, also known as Edith), daughter of Malcolm Canmore, king of Scots, and Margaret, daughter of Edward the Ætheling, later in the year. Their children would thus claim descent both from the Norman and the Anglo-Saxon kings of England.
    1110 Betrothal of Henry’s daughter . Matilda’s marriage to the German emperor, Henry V, was secured at the cost of a huge dowry of 10,000 marks, raised by a special geld taken at three shillings on the hide. The couple were married in 1114, when Matilda was not quite 12, but she was widowed in 1125. There were no children of this marriage.
    1120 Wreck of the
White Ship . The court returned from Barfleur to England on 25 November. One of the boats, the
White Ship
, ran aground on rocks close to the shore. Henry’s only legitimate son, William Ætheling (aged 17), was lost, along with two of the king’s illegitimate children and many of the nobility. The king’s plans for a peaceful succession went down with the ship.
    1124 Accession of King David I of Scotland . The Scottish king succeeded Alexander I to the throne. He is credited with moving Scottish society more towards the Anglo-Norman model and extending the reach of royal authority. A strong and capable king, he took advantage of the turmoil in England to expand his realm into Northumbria.
    1132 Foundation of Rievaulx Abbey . The spread of the Cistercian order, the ‘white monks’, was a particular feature of the first half of the twelfth century. Rievaulx in North Yorkshire would become the largest of these monasteries, growing under its superior, St Ailred (abbot 1147–67), to a community of 140 choir monks and 500 lay brothers.
    1135 Death of Henry I of England . The king died during the night of 1 December at the hunting lodge of Lyons-la-Forêt, near Rouen, having – according to Henry of Huntingdon – disobeyed his doctors and eaten a dish of lampreys, a fish delicacy. He was buried at Reading Abbey, which he had founded, on 5 January 1136, in the presence of his successor, Stephen, an outcome that would have disappointed but not surprised him.
    1138 Battle of the Standard . A Scottish army, invading in support of the empress, was stopped and defeated soon after it crossed the river Tees (the point at which a raid became an invasion in English eyes). The northern baronage and local militias, mustered by Thurstan, archbishop of York, fought under the banners of their saints: these were stacked up to form a ‘standard’, which gave the battle its name.
    1147 The Second Crusade . The English played a significant though a supportive role in the crusade – preached by St Bernard – whose armies set out in the spring of 1147. British forces shared in the capture of Lisbon but shared also in failure in the Holy Land. The wealthy William, third earl of Surrey (earl de Warenne) was killed in the defiles of Laodicea.
    1149 Knighting of Henry fitz Empress . Henry (1133–89), the eldest of Empress Matilda’s sons, was knighted at the age of 16 on Whitsunday at Carlisle by his uncle, David, king of