Browse Historical Events by Month: What Happened in April?

Pope Urban II presides over the Council of Piacenza, calling for the First Crusade.

Bishop Anselm of Bec becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.

Magnus III Barefoot, King of Norway, dies in an expedition to Ireland.

Maghribi geographer and cartographer al-Idrisi is born in what is now modern-day Morocco.

Pope Paschal II crowns Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.

The Pisan fleet sacks the North African city of Mahdia.

Battle of Bremule: Henry I of England defeats Louis VI of France. More

David I becomes King of Scotland.

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, dies.

Wars of the Investitures: The Concordat of Worms is signed, ending the investiture controversy between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire.

The Second Council of the Lateran, presided over by Pope Innocent II, begins.

The Battle of Lincoln sees King Stephen of England captured by forces loyal to Empress Matilda.

The Second Crusade is formally announced by Pope Eugene III in Vézelay, France.

Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry Plantagenet, who later becomes King Henry II of England.

Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, theologian, and physician, is born in Córdoba.

Frederick I Barbarossa is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV.

Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland at the age of 12 after the death of his grandfather David I.

Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, escapes from Northampton and flees to France.

Saladin becomes the emir of Egypt.

Construction begins on the Campanile (Leaning Tower of Pisa).