now worth more than it had been TRE. As for the William mentioned here: he was
not William the Conqueror but rather a vassal of the bishop of Lincoln. No wonder
the survey was soon dubbed “Domesday Book”: like the records of people judged at
doomsday, it provided facts that could not be appealed. Domesday was the most
extensive inventory of land, livestock, taxes, and people that had as yet been
compiled anywhere in medieval Europe.
Communication with the Continent was constant. The Norman barons spoke a
brand of French; they talked more easily with the peasants of Normandy (if they
bothered) than with those tilling the land in England. They maintained their estates on
the Continent and their ties with its politics, institutions, and culture. English wool
was sent to Flanders to be turned into cloth. The most brilliant intellect of his day,
Saint Anselm of Bec (or Canterbury; 1033–1109), was born in Italy, became abbot of
a Norman monastery, and was then appointed archbishop in England. English
adolescent boys were sent to Paris and Chartres for schooling. The kings of England
often spent more time on the Continent than they did on the island. When, on the
death of William’s son, King Henry I (r.1100–1135), no male descendent survived to
take the throne, two counts from the Continent—Geoffrey of Anjou and Stephen of
Blois—disputed it as their right through two rival females of the royal line. (See
Genealogy 6.1 again.)
CHRISTIAN SPAIN
While initially the product of defeat, Christian Spain in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries turned the tables and became, in effect, the successful western counterpart
of the Crusader States. The disintegration of al-Andalus into taifas opened up
immense opportunities for the Spanish princes to the north. Wealth flowed into their
coffers not only from plundering raids and the confiscation of lands and cities but
also (until the Almoravids put an end to it) from tribute, paid in gold by taifa rulers to
stave off attacks.
But it was not just the rulers who were enriched. When Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar,
the Cid (from the Arabic sidi, lord), fell out of favor with his lord, Alfonso VI
(r.1065–1109), king of Castile and León, he and a band of followers found
employment with al-Mutamin, ruler of Zaragoza. There he defended the city against
Christian and Muslim invaders alike. In 1090, he struck out on his own, taking his
chances in Valencia, conquering it in 1094 and ruling there until his death in 1099. He
was a Spaniard, but other opportunistic armies sometimes came from elsewhere. The
one that Pope Alexander II authorized to besiege Barbastro in 1064 was made up of
