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A.C.

1140

Count Alphonsus the First, of the house of Burgundy, defeated and slew five Moorish kings at the battle of Castroverdo; when he was proclaimed king by his troops, and in his person began the monarchy of Portugal.

The canon law was first introduced into England.

1141 The empress Matilda, being determined to oppose the usurpation of king Stephen, of England, landed, and was accompanied by Robert of Gloucester, natural son of the late king, who had opposed the accession of Stephen. A battle was, in consequence, fought at Lincoln, when the king was made prisoner and loaded with irons. Matilda was, in consequence, recognised queen of England in a national synod, and the nation took the oath of allegiance.

1142

Robert, earl of Gloucester, being made prisoner by Stephen's adherents, the latter was, in consequence, exchanged for his rival who was set at liberty.

Matilda, having disgusted many of the nobles by her arbitrary measures, sought refuge at Oxford after being deposed, when a civil war was kindled which raged with great fury.

Stephen, after a long siege, possessed himself of Oxford, when Matilda escaped, and, subsequently, retired to Nor. mandy (in 1147), whither she had despatched her son Henry; at which period the death of Robert, earl of Gloucester, took place, proving a dreadful blow to her interests, as he had uniformly stood forward the staunch advocate for her cause.

During this year, occurred the death of the famous Abelard, whose body was conveyed and interred at the monastery of the Paraclete, of which Eloisa, so famed for her misfortunes, was then the abbess.

1148

1145

TENTH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL.

Pope Innocent the Second convened the Tenth General Council at Saint John of Latran, against the Anti-Pope, Anacletus.

Fulk, third king of Jerusalem, died, and was succeeded in that dignity by his eldest son, Baldwin the Third.

John Comnenus, emperor of the East, died on the 24th of April, in the 25th year of his reign, and was succeeded by his son, Manuel Comnenus.

Nouraddin, sultan of Aleppo, having taken possession of Aleppo, menaced the kingdom of Jerusalem with the greatest evils, when Pope Eugenius the Third exhorted the

Christians to march and succour the Holy Land, commission- A.C. ing St. Bernard to preach a crusade.

The following year a monk, named Ralph, preached to the crusaders, exhorting them, ere they marched to the Holy Land, to assassinate all the Jews, as being greater enemies to Christ than the Mahometans themselves. Saint Bernard also exhorted to the new crusade, but forbade the Christians of France and Bavaria from injuring the Jewish race. An assembly was convened at Veszelay (Nivernois) when Louis, and his wife Eleonora, together with a long retinue of lords, repaired thither for the purpose of receiving crosses from the hands of St. Bernard.

Louis the Younger had strongly opposed the election of an archbishop of Bourges, constituted by the chapter, without having been consulted. Pope Innocent the Second, who approved of the nomination, placed the realm under an interdict, upon which Theobald, count of Champaine, declared himself against Louis. The French monarch, having cause for personal complaint against Theobald his vassal, penetrated into his territories, and gave up the town of Vitri to pillage, setting fire to the church, into which more than 1300 persons had fled as an asylum. It was for the purpose of expiating that crime, that after the council held by Saint Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, the most eloquent churchman of his day, the monarch made a vow to repair in person to the war in the Holy Land.

Louis the Younger convened the principal nobles of his 1147 realm on the subject of the expedition to Palestine; when the regency was conferred upon Suger, abbot of St. Denis, conjointly with Ralph, count of Vermandois.

Pope Eugenius the Third visited France for the purpose of inviting the ecclesiastics to contribute in defraying the expenses of the crusade.

Conrad the third, emperor of Germany, set forward in the month of May for the Holy Land, at the head of an army consisting of more than 100,000 men, and arrived safely at Constantinople, the place appointed for the general rendezvous.

Louis of France gained that city at the beginning of October, when the emperor Manuel Comnenus repaired to welcome the monarch with every demonstration of friendship, tendering him all the service in his power; a few days after, however, he exerted the most direful perfidy against both armies; by either refusing supplies of provisions, or retarding their arrival, causing lime and plaster to be mixed

A.C. with the flour destined to make bread; and giving them perfidious guides, through whose means they were betrayed into the snares laid for them by the Mahometans; the army of Manuel at the same time making the latter acquainted with all the movements of the Christians. Conrad accompanied the French king as far as Ephesus, and then returned to Constantinople.

The ensuing year, the emperor Conrad left Constantinople and repaired to Jerusalem.

Louis obtained an advantage over the infidels in passing the Meander; but his after-guard was cut in pieces, owing to the perfidy of the Greek emperor; when he arrived at Jerusalem with the remnants of his army. An assembly was then held, which was attended by the emperor Conrad, the kings of France and Jerusalem, and the leading nobility attached to those three princes; upon which it was resolved, that siege should be laid to Damascus, which was, however, soon abandoned, owing to a scarcity of provisions; after which the emperor Conrad marched back to his territories, passing through Constantinople in his route. Louis also embarked on his return to France, but his fleet was attacked by the emperor of the East; nor would he have escaped being captured, had he not been protected by the admiral Roger, king of Sicily. He landed at Calabria with the wretched remains of his army, having lost upwards of 100,000 men.

Louis, king of France, being dissatisfied with the conduct which his wife, Eleonora, had adopted in the Holy Land, determined to divorce himself from her; for which purpose he convened a provincial council at Baugency, and a separation was pronounced, when Louis ceded to Eleanor Guienne and Poitou, which had constituted her dowry. Six weeks after she re-married with prince Henry, afterwards second of that name, king of England.

Henry Plantagenet*, by that marriage, united to Normandy, of which he was duke, the territories of Guienne, Poitou, Maine, and Anjou, and thus became a very formidable rival to the French monarchs; which power was subsequently augmented by the marriage of his son Geoffery, with Constance, daughter of the duke of Brittany.

Conrad the Third, emperor of Germany, died at Bamberg, when the principal nobility of the empire assembled at

* According to Mr. Mentelle, a French writer, the surname Plantagenet, was derived from that prince being accustomed to decorate his cap with a branch of genet (broom).

Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where they elected Frederick, sur- A.C. named Barberousse (red-beard, such being its colour), who was son of Frederick the one-eyed, king of the Suevi.

Prince Henry, son of the empress Matilda, arrived in 1149 England, and endeavoured to recover his right from Stephen. The study of the civil law was revived at Bologna, and, 1150 in the course of the following year, the canon law was collected by Gratian, a monk of the same city, after a lapse of 24 years.

Louis, king of France, espoused Constance Elizabeth, 1152 daughter of Alphonsus, king of Castile.

The ensuing year, Malcolm the Fourth ascended the Scottish throne.

Anastasius the Fourth was nominated to the papal chair. Peace was concluded between king Stephen and Henry, son of the empress Matilda, it being agreed that the former should keep quiet possession of the throne during his life, on condition that the latter should succeed him.

Some months after the ratification of the treaty between 1154 Stephen and prince Henry, the former died on the 25th of October, and was interred at Canterbury. He was succeeded to the throne of England by Henry the Second, surnamed Short Mantle, fifth king from the Norman conquest, and first of the race of Plantagenets*, being grandson of Henry the First, by his daughter Maude or Matilda: he was crowned, with Eleanor his queen, at London, on the 10th of December, by Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury. Henry the Second of England convened an assembly or 1155 parliament of the leading men at Wallingford, who swore to maintain the successions of his sons William and Henry, and confirmed the Great Charter.

Adrian the Fourth succeeded to the popedom.

At this period, the Guelphs and Ghibellines raised great commotions in Italy.

The bank of Venice was instituted.

Henry the Second subdued the Welch, who did homage, and swore allegiance to him.

The emperor, Frederick Barbarossa,' convened an assembly at Ratisbon, at which Ladislaus was recognised king of Bohemia, of which he was duke. He then passed the Alps, to suppress the flame of rebellion which had broken out at Rome and Milan; when he made himself master of the

*

According to M. Mentelle, a French writer, the surname of Plantagenet was derived from that prince being accustomed to decorate his cap with a branch of Genet, (Broom.)

1157

A.C. latter city, and pardoned the inhabitants at the entreaty of the leading nobility.

1160

1161

1163

The following year, Pope Adrian the Fourth excommunicated the emperor, and died soon after; when the election of his successor gave rise to great disputes. The majority of the cardinals sanctioned Alexander the Third; but Octavian (the anti-pope) took the surname of Victor the Fourth. Alexander was upheld by the kings of France and England, while the emperor, and the clergy of Rome, espoused the pretensions of Victor; both parties, in consequence, appealed to Frederick, in order to procure his support; when the emperor signified his pleasure that they should assemble at Pavia, in order to be judged by a general council.

Peace was ratified between the kings of England and France, when the former married his son, Henry, then only 7 years of age, to Margaret, daughter of the latter monarch, 3 years old.

The Albigenses, at this period, maintained their religious tenets, which were deemed heretical by the papal see.

Louis, king of France, after the demise of Constance, was married a third time to Alice, daughter of Theobald, count of Champaine.

The kings of England and France performed the offices of yeomen, by holding the stirrup of pope Alexander the Third. The following year, Baldwin the Third, king of Jerusalem died, and was succeeded by his brother Amauri.

A sect, calling themselves Publicans, rejecting baptism, the eucharist, and marriage, arrived in England from Germany during this year, who were pronounced heretics, and condemned to be branded on the forehead and whipped.

The emperor proposed that a conference should be held at Avignon, for the purpose of deciding respecting the schism that desolated the church. The French king repaired thither; but the conference did not take place, in consequence of pope Alexander refusing to attend. The emperor, enraged that the king of France should not have conducted that ecclesiastic thither, and relying on his forces, formed the project of seizing his person; the king of France, however, escaped the danger, owing to the advance of the army of the king of England, which marched to his assistance.

The emperor became master of the city of Milan, from whence he expulsed the inhabitants, razed the walls, and burned all the public edifices, with the exception of the

churches.

London Bridge, consisting of 19 small arches, was first built of stone.

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