1101 CE

Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham, escapes from the Tower of London and flees to Normandy. There he joins Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, who has just returned from the Crusades. Battle of Ramla: A Crusader force (some 1,100 men) under Baldwin I defeats the invading Fatimids at Ramla (modern Israel). Baldwin plunders the Fatimid camp and the survivors flee to Ascalon. Autumn – Countess Mathilda of Tuscany leads a successful expedition in northern Italy and takes Ferrara.

In the 1100s, the 12th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • August 2 – By the Treaty of Alton, ratified at Winchester, Robert abandons his claim to the throne, recognising Henry as King of England.source
  • The county of Berg in Germany is established.source
  • Muirchertach Ua Briain of the Dál gCais proclaims himself High King of Ireland.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • July 20 – Robert Curthose lands at Portsmouth with an army in an effort to take the English throne from his younger brother, Henry I.source
  • September 7 – Battle of Ramla: A Crusader force (some 1,100 men) under Baldwin I defeats the invading Fatimids at Ramla (modern Israel). Baldwin plunders the Fatimid camp and the survivors flee to Ascalon.source
  • Crusade of 1101 – A second wave of European crusaders attempts to cross Anatolia, to reach the Kingdom of Jerusalem. They are defeated by the Seljuk troops under Sultan Kilij Arslan I, at Heraclea. A handful of crusaders under Raymond IV of Toulouse manage to reach the Byzantine port of Bafra, at the mouth of the River Halys.source
  • Spring – King Baldwin I concludes an alliance with the Genoese fleet, offering them commercial privileges and booty. He captures the towns of Arsuf and Caesarea. Baldwin's crusaders pillage Caesarea and massacre the majority of the local population.source
  • Summer – Almoravid forces under Sultan Yusuf ibn Tashfin besiege Valencia, which is defended by Jimena Díaz, widow of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar. The city holds out until May 1102.source
  • Muirchertach Ua Briain destroys the ringfort at Grianan of Aileach.Irelandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • Autumn – Countess Mathilda of Tuscany leads a successful expedition in northern Italy and takes Ferrara.source
  • Summer – The Byzantine fleet under Admiral Eustathios recaptures the ports of western Cilicia, Seleucia and Corycus. Eustathios extends his power over Cilician territory (belonging to Bohemond I) further east – occupying Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra.source
  • Sailors from overseas raid Scattery Island.Irelandsource

Religion & Belief

  • February 3 – Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham, escapes from the Tower of London and flees to Normandy. There he joins Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, who has just returned from the Crusades.source
  • April 19 – King Canute IV of Denmark is canonized as a saint under the name San Canuto.source
  • Fontevraud Abbey is founded by the French preacher Robert of Arbrissel.source
  • At the Synod of Cashel, Muirchertach Ua Briain grants Cashel to the church as the seat of a metropolitan bishop.Irelandsource

Culture & Society

  • A vast compilation of Liao, Korean, and Song Buddhist writings is completed (approximate date).source

Births

  • September – Ibn Bashkuwal, Andalusian biographer (died 1183)source
  • Artaldus, bishop of Belly-Ars (died 1206)source
  • Abu al-Bayan ibn al-Mudawwar, Jewish physician (died 1184)source
  • Helena of Skövde, Swedish noblewoman and saint (died 1160)source
  • Stephen II, king of Hungary and Croatia (died 1131), and his twin Ladislaussource
  • Arslan Shah I, Seljuk sultan of Kerman (died 1142)source
  • Fujiwara no Tamako, Japanese empress consort (died 1145)source

Deaths

  • February 12 – Daozong of Liao, Chinese emperor (born 1032)source
  • April 24 – Vseslav of Polotsk, Kievan princesource
  • June 22 – Roger I, Norman noblemansource
  • June 22 – Roger I, count of Sicily, dies at Mileto in Calabria after a 30-year reign. He is succeeded by his 8-year-old son Simon of Hauteville, while his mother, Adelaide del Vasto, acts as his regent.source
  • July 27 – Hugh d'Avranches, Norman noblemansource
  • July 27 – Conrad II, king of Germany and Italy (born 1074)source
  • August 24 – Su Shi, Chinese statesman and poet (born 1037)source
  • September – Ida of Formbach-Ratelnberg, Bavarian-born Margravine of Austria and crusader (k. in battle) (born c.1055)source
  • October 5 – Uicheon, Korean Buddhist monk (born 1055)source
  • October 6 – Bruno of Cologne, founder of the Carthusian Order (born c.1030)source
  • October 18 – Hugh I, crusader, son of Henry I of France (born 1057)source
  • November 6 – Welf I, Duke of Bavaria, German noblemansource
  • December 12 – Al-Musta'li, Fatimid caliph (born 1074)source
  • Su Song, Chinese statesman and scientist (born 1020)source
  • Gilla na Naemh Ua Dunabhra, Chief Poet of Connacht.Irelandsource
  • Gillafin mac Coulahan, King of Síol Anmchadha, is killed and succeeded by his predecessor's son, Diarmaid Ua Madadhan.Irelandsource
  • Anselm IV (archbishop of Milan)Italysource