To find out about the lands of England and their owners, so that everybody might be made to pay taxes, he appointed officers in all the towns to report what estates there were, who owned them, and what they were worth. The reports were copied into two volumes, called the "Domesday Book." This book showed that England at that time had a population of a little more than a million. [Illustration: DEATH OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR] William made war on Scotland, and conquered it. During a war with the king of France the city of Mantes (_mont_) was burned by William's soldiers. As William rode over the ruins his horse stumbled and the king was thrown to the ground and injured. He was borne to Rouen, where he lay ill for six weeks. His sons and even his attendants abandoned him in his last hours. It is said that in his death struggle he fell from his bed to the floor, where his body was found by his servants. PETER THE HERMIT ABOUT 1050-1115 I During the Middle Ages the Christians of Europe used to go to the Holy Land for the purpose of visiting the tomb of Christ and other sacred places. Those who made such a journey were called "pilgrims." Every year thousands of pilgrims--kings, nobles and people of humbler rank--went to the Holy Land. While Jerusalem was in the hands of the Arabian caliphs who reigned at Bagdad, the Christian pilgrims were generally well treated. After about 1070, when the Turks took possession of the city, outrages became so frequent that it seemed as if it would not be safe for Christians to visit the Savior's tomb at all. About the year 1095 there lived at Amiens (_ae-me-an'_) France, a monk named Peter the Hermit. Peter was present at a council of clergy and people held at Clermont in France when his Holiness, Pope Urban II, made a stirring speech. He begged the people to rescue the Holy Sepulchre and other sacred sites from the Mohammedans. The council was so roused by his words that they broke forth into loud cries, "God wills it! God wills it!" "It is, indeed, His will," said the Pope, "and let these words be your war-cry when you meet the enemy." Peter listened with deep attention. Immediately after the council he began to preach in favor of a war against the Turks. With head and feet bare, and clothed in a long, coarse robe tied at the waist with a rope, he went through Italy from city to city, riding on a donkey. He preached in churches, on the streets,--wherever he could secure an audience. When Peter had gone over Italy he crossed the Alps and preached to the people of France, Germany, and neighboring countries. Everywhere he kindled the zeal of the people, and multitudes enlisted as champions of the cross. Thus began the first of seven wars known as the "Crusades" or "Wars of the Cross," waged to rescue the Holy Land from the Mohammedans. It is said that more than 100,000 men, women and children went on the first Crusade. Each wore on the right shoulder the emblem of the cross.