Crusade

that had been gained when his army was destroyed at the Battle of the Field of Blood in 1119, Antioch remained a Christian city until 1260.

Following his bravery during its capture, Godfrey of Bouillon took the greatest prize of all: Jerusalem. But he soon became ill and died in 1100.

Baldwin of Boulogne achieved remarkable success in his avaricious campaign into Mesopotamia in 1097. All cowered before his fearsome Norman knights, and he soon received an invitation from an Armenian named Bagrat to move eastwards towards the Euphrates, where he occupied Turbessel. Another invitation came from Thoros of Edessa, who adopted Baldwin as his son and successor. When Thoros was assassinated in March of 1098, Baldwin became the first Count of Edessa, thus creating the first Crusader city in the east. He ruled the county until 1100, marrying Arda, the daughter of Thoros of Marash. When Godfrey of Bouillon died, Baldwin ceded Edessa to his cousin and rushed south to grab the spoils of Jerusalem. He was crowned the first Christian King of Jerusalem on Christmas Day 1100. His ruthlessness built a powerful Christian domain throughout Palestine and beyond and guaranteed the legacy of the Crusade, until his death in 1118. Edessa remained a Christian city until 1144 and Jerusalem stayed under Christian control until it was taken by Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, in 1187.

The reign of Henry I brought a period of peace and prosperity in England and Normandy, notable for its judicial and financial reforms. He established the biannual Exchequer to reform the treasury. He used itinerant officials to curb the abuses of power at the local and regional level that had characterized Rufus’s unpopular reign. The differences between the English and Norman populations began to break down during his reign, and he made peace with the Church after the disputes of his brother’s reign. But he could not solve the issue of his succession after the loss of his eldest son, William, in the wreck of the White Ship.

Henry’s Queen, Edith/Matilda (the niece of Edgar the Atheling and a pure Anglo-Scot) had a great interest in architecture and instigated the erection of many buildings, including Waltham Abbey (interestingly, the resting place of King Harold). She also had the first arched bridge in England built, at Stratford-le-Bow, as well as a bathhouse with piped-in water and public lavatories at Queenhithe. Her court was filled with musicians and poets. She commissioned a biography of her mother, Saint Margaret, was an active queen and, like her mother, renowned for her devotion to religion and to the poor. William of Malmesbury describes her as attending church barefoot at Lent, and washing the feet and kissing the hands of the sick. She also administered extensive dower properties and was known as a patron of the arts, especially music. Matilda died on 1 May 1118 at Westminster Palace; she was buried at Westminster Abbey.

Henry I died on 1 December 1135 at Saint-Denis-en-Lyons (now Lyons-la-Foret) in Normandy. According to legend, he died of food poisoning, caused by eating ‘a surfeit of lampreys’, of which he was excessively fond. His remains were sewn into the hide of a bull, to preserve them on the journey, and taken back to England to be buried at Reading Abbey, which he had founded fourteen years earlier. The abbey was later destroyed during the Protestant Reformation. No trace of his tomb has survived.

By the time of King John, Henry’s great-great-grandson, much of what Henry had delivered in the Charter of Liberties became enshrined in Magna Carta. The ‘Great Charter’ was signed by John in a meadow at Runnymede on 15 June 1215 and became the first milestone on the road to modern democracy.