1148

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	11th century 12th century 13th century
Decades:	1120s 1130s 1140s 1150s 1160s
Years:	1145 1146 1147 1148 1149 1150 1151

1148 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1148 MCXLVIII
Ab urbe condita	1901
Armenian calendar	597 ԹՎ ՇՂԷ
Assyrian calendar	5898
Balinese saka calendar	1069–1070
Bengali calendar	555
Berber calendar	2098
English Regnal year	13 Ste. 1 – 14 Ste. 1
Buddhist calendar	1692
Burmese calendar	510
Byzantine calendar	6656–6657
Chinese calendar	丁卯年 (Fire Rabbit) 3845 or 3638 — to — 戊辰年 (Earth Dragon) 3846 or 3639
Coptic calendar	864–865
Discordian calendar	2314
Ethiopian calendar	1140–1141
Hebrew calendar	4908–4909
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1204–1205
- Shaka Samvat	1069–1070
- Kali Yuga	4248–4249
Holocene calendar	11148
Igbo calendar	148–149
Iranian calendar	526–527
Islamic calendar	542–543
Japanese calendar	Kyūan4 (久安4年)
Javanese calendar	1054–1055
Julian calendar	1148 MCXLVIII
Korean calendar	3481
Minguo calendar	764 before ROC 民前764年
Nanakshahi calendar	−320
Seleucid era	1459/1460 AG
Thai solar calendar	1690–1691
Tibetan calendar	阴火兔年 (female Fire-Rabbit) 1274 or 893 or 121 — to — 阳土龙年 (male Earth-Dragon) 1275 or 894 or 122

By place

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Second Crusade

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January 1 – The French crusaders under King Louis VII defeat a Turkish ambush next to the Meander River. Three days later they arrive at Laodicea – passing the spot where the German contingent led by Otto of Freising has been so disastrously ambushed (see 1147). The Crusaders are badly mauled as they cross Mount Cadmus (around January 8) before reaching AdaliaonJanuary 20.^[1]
January 8 – Battle of Mount Cadmus: The French crusaders under Louis VII are defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The vanguard led by Geoffrey de Rancon ignores orders to pause and moves too far ahead, losing touch with the main army. The French are attacked by the Turks with the baggage train (almost 10 km long) unprotected. Louis is able to escape the fray under cover of the darkness.^[2]
March – The French crusaders are left in Adalia; lack of available shipping obliges Louis VII to divide his forces – the knights and best troops accompany him to St. Symeon. Large numbers of pilgrims and non-combatants try to continue along the coastal road. Continually harassed by the Turks many French and Germans are killed. Less than half of them arrive in the late spring at Antioch.^[3]
March 7 – King Conrad III recovers from his wounds and leaves Constantinople with his household. He is well supplied with money by Emperor Manuel I Komnenos and uses these funds to recruit pilgrims to augment the forces that remain to him. Conrad and his re-equipped Crusaders sail with a Byzantine fleet to Palestine. The fleet is scattered by storms and lands in different ports.^[4]
March 19 – Louis VII and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, are welcomed at St. Symeon by Eleanor's uncle Raymond of Poitiers and all his household. Raymond escorts the French crusaders to Antioch, where for the next days festivities are held. He urges Louis to accompany him on a expedition against Aleppo but Louis refuses and prefers instead to finish his pilgrimagetoJerusalem.^[5]
April – Southern French crusaders under Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse arrive by sea at Acre. Alfonso dies suddenly at Caesarea, resulting in the accusation that he has been poisoned by Raymond II, Count of Tripoli. Most of the Provençal forces turn back and return home. Meanwhile, an unknown proportion of northern European naval crusaders (from England and Germany) arrive at Acre.^[6]
April–May – Louis VII and the French crusaders remain in Antioch, but there are rumours of an incestuous affair between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Raymond of Poitiers. Louis, alarmed for his honour, departs with his army to Jerusalem in late May. Meanwhile, Conrad III with his chief nobleman are welcomed by Queen Melisende and her 18-year-old son, co-ruler Baldwin III at Jerusalem.^[7]
June – Mu'in ad-Din Unur, Seljuk ruler (atabeg) of Damascus, prepares for war and strengthens the fortifications of the city. He sends an urgent request for military assistance to the Zangid ruler Sayf al-Din. Unur orders his troops to destroy the water sources in areas that the Crusaders must cross. Seljuk governors of frontier provinces station scouting parties along the road to Damascus.^[8]
June 24 – Council of Acre: Conrad III, Louis VII, Melisende and many other nobles join in a war council near Acre. They decide that Damascus rather than Edessa will be the primary target of the Second Crusade.^[9]
July – The Crusaders under Baldwin III join forces with the Crusader armies of Louis VII and Conrad III (all together some 50,000 men) at Tiberias. They march up the Jordan Valley and cross into Zangid territory.^[10]
July 24 – Zangid forces under Sayf al-Din arrive at Homs. Mu'in al-Din Unur sends a letter of ultimatum to the Crusader leaders to lift the siege of Damascus. Meanwhile, guerrilla attacks demoralise the Crusaders.^[11]
July 28 – Siege of Damascus: The Crusaders are forced to withdraw from their siege of Damascus after only four days. First Conrad III, then the rest of the Crusader army, decides to retreat to Jerusalem.^[12]
September – The French crusaders raid the province of Damascus, in reprisal for the failure of their siege. Mu'in al-Din Unur takes his forces to the Hawran to protect the harvest and its transport to Damascus.^[13]
September 8 – Conrad III sails from Acre to Thessaloniki and forms an alliance with Manuel I against King Roger II of Sicily. During his visit Henry II, Duke of Austria ('Jasomirgott') marries Manuel's niece, Theodora Komnene.^[14]

Europe

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February 1 – A small Crusader fleet of Genoese and English ships sets sail from Lisbon for the Holy Land.^[15] The Anglo-Flemish Crusader fleet takes Oran.^[16]
Siege of Tortosa: A multinational force under Ramon Berenguer IV besieges the Almoravid city of Tortosa. After a 7-month siege the garrison surrenders.^[17]
King Afonso I ("the Great") of Portugal takes Abrantes from the Almoravids. Ramon Berenguer IV conquers the lower Ebro plain (between 1148–1149).^[15]

England

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October – Queen Matilda returns to Normandy, partially due to her difficulties with the Catholic Church. Without the support of Robert of Gloucester her personal fight for the English throne is over.^[18]

Seljuk Empire

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Battle of Ghazni: Ghurid forces under Sayf al-Din Suri defeat the Ghaznavid sultan Bahram-Shah and capture the capital Ghazni. Bahram-Shah is forced to flee to India.^[19]

Africa

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Taking advantage of internal strife and a famine episode, George of Antioch takes Mahdia (June 22), Susa (July 1) and Sfax (July 12) in Tunisia, in the name of Roger II.^[20]
Following the uprising of other cities in the region of Meknes (modern Morocco) under al-Massati, the population of Ceuta rebels against the Almohads.^[21]

By topic

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Literature

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Anna Komnene writes the Alexiad, a biography of her father, the late Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.

Religion

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Hildegard of Bingen founds a new monastery at Rupertsberg in the Rhine Valley near Bingen am Rhein.

Technology

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An Italian silk industry is started at Palermo by Roger II, who takes numbers of silk workers back from Greece.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, pp. 50–51. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 51. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 37. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 226. ISBN 978-0-241-29876-3.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 54. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 227. ISBN 978-0-241-29876-3.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 55. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 228. ISBN 978-0-241-29876-3.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 56. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 71. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ Baldwin, M. W. (1969). The First Hundred Years, p. 510. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

^ David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 83. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, pp. 231–232. ISBN 978-0-241-29876-3.

^ ^a ^b David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 16. ISBN 978-1-84603-354-4.

^ Picard C. (1997). La mer et les musulmans d'Occident au Moyen Age. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, p. 73.

^ McGrank, Lawrence (1981). "Norman crusaders and the Catalan reconquest: Robert Burdet and the Principality of Tarragona 1129–55". Journal of Medieval History. 7 (1): 67–82. doi:10.1016/0304-4181(81)90036-1.

^ Chibnall, Marjorie (1991). The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English, p. 148. London, UK: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-15737-3.

^ Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges, p. 391. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0313-33538-9.

^ Abulafia, David (1985). The Norman kingdom of Africa and the Norman expeditions to Majorca and the Muslim Mediterranean. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-416-6.

^ Picard C. (1997). La mer et les musulmans d'Occident au Moyen Age. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, p. 77.

Contents

Events

By place

Second Crusade

Europe

England

Seljuk Empire

Africa

By topic

Literature

Religion

Technology

Births

Deaths

References

Languages