1057

William the Conqueror grants Scotsman William Saint Clair (a.k.a. Sinclair) the lands of Roslin, Scotland, in perpetuity.

Isaac I Comnenus starts the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople.

1065

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (a.k.a. Rashi, 1040-1105), Jewish expert on the Bible and the Talmud, founds a school of Kabbala and other esoteric subjects in the Court of Champagne at Troyes, long a haven for Jews and other non-Catholics fleeing persecution.  The school lasts over 200 years.  As a Jew and a scholar, he was protected from persecution by various Counts in exchange for his exceptional translation abilities, including translating Hebrew into French. Due to his intellect, years of study, and access to ancient texts, Rashi was the foremost expert on the Holy Land in his day. A winemaker by trade, Rashi taught his daughters to read and write in an age when educating women was rare. Rashi's commentary became the world's first dated book printed in Hebrew and was widely distributed among Jewish scholars.

During Rashi's lifetime, Jewish religious scholars believed the Ark of the Covenant and other religious treasure are buried beneath the Shetiyyah (foundation stone) of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem prior to the Babylonian invasion of 587 BC.

Over 1200 arrive on pilgrimage at Jerusalem -- including the Count of Barcelona, the Count of Luxemburg, the Count of Flanders, Bringer-Raymond of Barcelona, William IV de Toulouse, and Gunther, Bishop of Bamberg (Germany).

1066

Alp Arslän (1029-1072), second Sultan of the Seljuk Turks, unsuccessfully attacks Constantinople, the city of Byzantine Christians who centuries earlier separated from the Catholic Church based in Rome. The Roman Pope expresses support for the victims but does not commit any military resources to help them.

1070

On February 9, future Templar Hugues de Payns is born in the town of Payns, 10 km from Troyes along the river Seine in France.  Wallace-Murphy in Custodians of Truth says de Payns had quite the pedigree:  he was a descendant of Mohammed, a cousin of both Bernard of Clairvaux and Count Hugues de Champagne, and a member of the Jesus bloodline as well.

Peter the Hermit serves as a tutor to the young Godfroi de Bouillon (born 1060) as a minor noble connected to Eustace de Boulogne, Godfroi’s father.  He later becomes a monk at Orval, home to a mysterious order from Calabria in northern Italy who avidly researched the bloodline of Godfroi's family. 

1071

On August 19, Seljuk Turks under Sultan Alp Arslän kidnap and defeat Byzantine Emperor Romanus IV.  Later that fall, Sultan Alp Arslän’s forces take control of Jerusalem and begin plans for taking Constantinople.

1072

Sultan Alp Arslän‘s son, third Sultan Jalal al-Din Malikshah (1055-1092), prohibits European Catholics from making pilgrimages to Jerusalem, a ban which enrages Pope Alexander II.  Al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah, a childhood friend of Malikshah’s senior minister Nizari Islam, is appointed a minister and becomes a close advisor to the Sultan.  Soon afterwards, Nizari causes al-Sabbah to be exiled.  Enraged, his begins planning revenge and the idea for the cult of the Assassins begins.

1073

Pope Gregory VII (1020-1085) takes office and institutes Catholic reforms against simony, clerical marriage, and lay investiture, a process transferring Abbeys and other Church properties to secular powers.  He issues Dictatus papae, an edict which proclaims the supremacy of the Pope over all others, starting a long running conflict with Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (1050-1108).

1076

Pope Gregory VII calls for a crusade against the Seljuk Turks for closing off Jerusalem but, because of continuing conflicts with both the Byzantine Church and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, he fails to get enough support to organize a military response.  During the Synod at Worms, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV deposes Pope Gregory VII who in turn excommunicates him.  They reconcile in 1077 but split again three years later.

1079

Castrum Sepulchri (later the principality of Seborga) becomes a principality of the Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Henry IV. 

1081

Alexius I Comnenus (born 1048) becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

1084

Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV conquers Rome and replaces Pope Gregory VII with his own man, Clement III, in Rome.

1085

Seljuk Turks capture Antioch, expelling the Byzantine Empire  from Syria.

King Alfonso VI of Castille (1030–1109) captures Toledo in Spain from the Moors.

Catholic troops force the Jewish population in Spain into France, despite the fact Jews in Spain had lived peacefully with their Muslim rulers for centuries,

1086

Berber Muslim leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin of the al-Morovids defeats King Alfonso VI of Castille and retakes Spain for the Moors. 

1087

Death of Pope Gregory VII.

1088

Urban II (1042-1099) becomes Pope but is kept from Rome by Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and his appointee, Clement III.

Peter the Hermit (1050~1115) travels from Jerusalem to meet Pope Urban II.  He brings an impassioned plea from Simeon, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, for aid and an offer of reconciliation between the Eastern and Western churches. 

Death of Berengar de Tours (born 1000), a Catholic theologian who believes that while Jesus is present spiritually at the time of communion, literal transformation of wine into blood defies common sense. 

1089

At the Council of Melfi, Pope Urban II and Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus (born 1048) lift their excommunications of each other.

1090

Al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah starts the Order of the Devoted of Assassins, a Shiite Ismaili sect of Islam which will become known simply as the Assassins.  A classmate of the Persian poet and scientist Omar Khyyam, he bases the Assassins at the Persian fortress of Alamut.  Combining the ideas of a strategic military facility with a resort, he attracts followers to the beautiful and nearly impregnable fortress.  The Assassins successfully use strategic murder (assassination, named after them) to gain power, land, and wealth, starting with the Seljuk Turks. 

Birth of Bernard de Fontaine (later Bernard de Clairvaux).

1091

The Seljuk Turks establish a capital at Baghdad and expand their empire into Syria and Asia Minor.

1092

After the assassination of Sultan Malikshah by an Assassin sent by al-Sabbah, the Seljuk Turk empire breaks up into smaller sultanates plus independent principalities of the Atabegs in Syria, upper Mesopotamia and Azarbaijan.

1093

French King Philippe grants the young Count Hugues de Champagne (1077-1126) his daughter Constance in marriage.

1094

Pope Urban II returns to Rome.