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The 1090s

362 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 11th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1090 CE35 entries

  • November 3 – King William Rufus of England tries to take advantage of the unrest in Normandy and take it from his brother Robert Curthose. Though he wins over several Norman nobles to his side, his plot to capture the capital city of Rouen fails.
  • Troubadours begin playing in western Aquitaine (Poitou and Saintonge) and Gascony (approximate date).
  • Qin Guan, Chinese poet of the Song dynasty, writes the Can Shu (Book of Sericulture), which describes a silk-reeling machine that has the world's oldest known mechanical belt drive.

1091 CE29 entries

  • February 2 – King William II of England invades western Normandy with a large army. His brothers, Henry and Robert Curthose, mobilize mercenary forces to resist him during a siege at Mont-Saint-Michel. Under terms of the Treaty of Caen, estates on the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy are surrendered to William, matters being concluded in August.
  • February – Norman conquest of Sicily: The Normans conquer Noto and complete the 30-year-long conquest of Sicily from the Moorish rulers. Duke Roger Borsa (a son of Robert Guiscard) surrenders his share in the castles of Calabria, and receives his inheritance of Palermo. He grants charters to various towns and encourages urban planning in Apulia and Calabria.
  • October 17 – London tornado: A T8 tornado (roughly equal to an F4 on the Fujita scale) occurs in London. The wooden London Bridge is demolished and the church of St. Mary-le-Bow is badly damaged.

1092 CE29 entries

  • May 11 – Lincoln Cathedral, one of England's finest Gothic buildings, is consecrated.
  • May 21 – Synod of Szabolcs: King Ladislaus I of Hungary assembles a council of the prelates of his kingdom at the fortress of Szabolcs.
  • November 19 – Sultan Malik-Shah I dies after a 20-year reign while hunting. The Seljuk Empire falls into chaos: his brother Tutush I and rival successors carve up their own independent sultanates in the Middle East. Malik-Shah is succeeded by his son Mahmud I, but he does not gain control of the empire.

1093 CE31 entries

  • April 13 –The Grand Prince of Kiev Vsevolod I Yaroslavich dies, after a 15-year reign. He is succeeded by Sviatopolk II, who is acknowledged by other princes as the senior son of Iziaslav I, and ascends the Kievan throne as ruler of the Kievan Rus'. His cousin Vladimir II, prince of Chernigov, becomes a bitter rival.
  • September 22 – King Olaf III of Norway ("the Peaceful") dies after a 26-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Magnus Barefoot who is proclaimed ruler of Norway at the Borgarting (or the Thing), an assembly of lawspeakers, in the region of Viken.
  • November 13 – Battle of Alnwick: King Malcolm III of Scotland invades Northumberland, but is killed by English forces under Earl Robert de Mowbray while besieging Alnwick Castle. He is succeeded by his brother Donald III ("the Fair") as ruler of Scotland.

1094 CE29 entries

  • May–June – Duncan, son of the late King Malcolm III of Scotland, gathers a substantial army, chiefly Anglo-Normans from England, and challenges his uncle Donald III ("the Fair") for the Kingdom of Scotland. Duncan is crowned king at Scone.
  • May – El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar) completes his conquest of Valencia in Al-Andalus (modern Spain) and begins his rule (in the name of King Alfonso VI) there. The Almoravid campaign to regain the city fails.
  • October – Seljuk sultan Mahmud I dies after a 2-year reign. He is succeeded by his brother Barkiyaruq (one of the Seljuk princes who claim the throne) as ruler of the Seljuk Empire.

1095 CE39 entries

  • January – After attacking four Norwegian merchant ships lying in the River Tyne, Robert de Mowbray, earl of Northumberland, is called for by King William II of England to explain his actions. Instead, Mowbray rises up in rebellion against William along with other Norman nobles. William leads an army and besieges Bamburgh Castle; de Mowbray is captured after fleeing the stronghold.
  • March – Emperor Alexios I Komnenos send envoys to Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza and appeals to the Christian states of Western Europe for military aid against the Seljuk Turks. Urban responds favourably, hoping to heal the Great Schism of 40 years earlier, and to reunite the Catholic Church under papal primacy by helping the Eastern churches.
  • November 18 – The Council of Clermont begins. The synod is called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land.

1096 CE61 entries

  • May – The Rhineland massacres: Members of the People's Crusade led by Count Emicho destroy most of the Jewish communities along the Rhine in a series of large pogroms in France and Germany. Thousands of Jews are massacred, driven to suicide, or forced to convert to Christianity. Estimates of the number of Jewish men, women and children murdered are 2,000 to 12,000.
  • May – The People's Crusade, under Peter the Hermit, arrives at Sopron. Coloman, King of Hungary ("the Learned") gives them permission to pass through Hungary, and to use the markets. Peter and his followers (some 20,000 men and women) travel from Budapest southwards supported by knights, while lumbering wagons carry stores and a chest of money that he has collected for the journey.
  • October – Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy (a brother of King William II of England), sets off to join the First Crusade. He assembles his army at Pontarlier and travels through Italy to Rome. To raise money for the Crusade Robert mortgages the Norman duchy to William, for the sum of 10,000 pennies.

1097 CE34 entries

  • April/May – Battle of Gvozd Mountain: In an attempt to win the crown of the Kingdom of Croatia, the Hungarian army crosses the Drava River and invades Croatia. King Peter II of Croatia moves his residency at Knin Castle to defend his kingdom. The two armies meet each other near Gvozd Mountain (modern-day Mala Kapela). After a fierce battle Peter, the last Croatian king, is defeated and killed by the Hungarians.
  • May 14 – Siege of Nicaea: The Crusaders begin their campaign with the siege of Nicaea (the capital of the Sultanate of Rum), assigning their forces to different sections of the walls, which are well-defended with 200 towers. Towards the end, an advance party of the Seljuk Turks is defeated by troops of Raymond IV of Toulouse ("Saint-Gilles") and Robert II.
  • October 21 – Siege of Antioch: The Crusaders arrive outside the city and begin the siege. They can not impose a complete blockade on Antioch. The Seljuk garrison comes out of the city to harass Crusader siege-lines and intercept supply convoys (supported by a Genoese fleet of 12 galleys) from Saint Symeon and Alexandretta (modern Turkey).

1098 CE33 entries

  • June 3 – Siege of Antioch: The Crusaders under Bohemond I capture Antioch after a 8-month siege. He established secret contact with Firouz, an Armenian guard who controlled the "Tower of the Two Sisters". He opened the gates and Bohemond entered the city. Thousands of Christians are massacred along with Muslims. Bohemond is named Prince of Antioch (under protest) and creates the Principality of Antioch.
  • August 1 – Adhemar of Le Puy (or Aimar), French bishop and nominal leader of the First Crusade, dies during an epidemic (probably typhus). With this, Rome's direct control over the Crusade effectively ends.
  • August – Fatimid forces under Caliph Al-Musta'li recapture Jerusalem and occupy Palestine. The Crusaders threaten the borders of the Fatimid Caliphate which already has lost the Emirate of Sicily (see 1091).

1099 CE42 entries

  • January 16 – The Crusaders, under Raymond IV, count of Toulouse (Raymond of Saint-Gilles), leave Antioch, and head south towards Jerusalem. They are joined by forces of Tancred (a nephew of Bohemond I) and Robert II, duke of Normandy. Raymond is given free passage and supplies, and accepts guides from the Emir of Shaizar (modern Syria), who conducts the army (6,000 men) across the Orontes River (between Shaizar and Hama).
  • February – The Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon set out from Antioch to Latakia. They are joined by forces of Bohemond I and Robert II, count of Flanders. On their arrival, Bohemond decides to turn back to consolidate his power in Antioch. Godfrey and Robert move on to besiege the small sea-port of Jabala. After two weeks, the Emir of Jabala makes a truce, and accepts the suzerainty of the Crusaders.
  • July 22 – The Kingdom of Jerusalem is established in the Middle East. Godfrey of Bouillon is named king (but refuses to be crowned) and takes the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri.