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This year the Pope, the head of the
Christian Church, declared war on people who had captured Jerusalem. The only reason I am telling you that now is because the following year Robert set off
for Jerusalem with loads of other leaders and left William II in charge of Normandy, thereby briefly uniting the two kingdoms again.
The Pope, Urban II, wanted to be able to guarantee pilgrims access to sites in and around Jerusalem that were under Muslim control. Needless to
say this resulted in a long series of wars that went on for over 200 years and in which a future English King was seriously involved: more later.
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