Spring – Emperor Manuel I (Komnenos) sends an embassy led by John KontostephanostoJerusalem, to ask King Baldwin III to nominate one of the princesses of the Crusader States, as a bride for the widowed emperor. Their two candidates are 15-year-old Maria of Antioch, and Melisende of Tripoli. Baldwin suggests Melisende, and her brother Count Raymond III sets about gathering an enormous dowry. The ambassadors are not satisfied, and delay the marriage for over a year. They hear rumours about Melisende's birth, based on her mother's (Countess Hodierna of Jerusalem) infidelity, and therefore Melisende's possible illegitimacy.[1]
January 25 – King Frederick I (Barbarossa) captures Crema after a 6-month siege, as part of his campaign against the independent Italian city-states. Some 20,000 survivors are allowed to leave the city with whatever they could carry before Crema is looted and burnt to the ground.[2] The expense of the siege (over 2,000 silver marks) and Frederick's determination to enforce it over the winter, demonstrates his ability to hold troops in the field and to keep his allies on side.[3]
May 18 – Erik Jedvardsson (Eric IX) is murdered, after which his murderer Magnus Henriksen proclaims himself king of Sweden as Magnus II. He is murdered in turn the following year, however. Erik is soon worshipped as a saint. Though never formally canonized by Pope Alexander III, he eventually becomes the patron saint of Sweden.
A plot of land at Miholjanec is donated to the Knights Templar, who build a monastery in nearby Zdelia. This is the earliest historical mention of the Templars in Croatia and Hungary.[4]
Autumn – Raynald of Châtillon, prince of Antioch, makes a plundering raid in the valley of the EuphratesatMarash to seize cattle, horses and camels from the local peasants. On his way back to Antioch, he and his retinue are attacked by Zangid warriors. Raynald is unhorsed and captured, and sent to Aleppo where he is put in jail.[6]
The Almohads conquer Mahdia (modern Tunisia) from the Normans after an important naval success near the city, against Christian reinforcements coming from Sicily.[7]
February 3 – Battle of Oslo: King Inge I (the Hunchback) is defeated and killed, while fighting the forces of Haakon II (the Broadshouldered). He is succeeded by Haakon with the 5-year-old Magnus V as co-ruler, but not without challenges to his sovereignty.
Magnus II (Henriksson), pretender to the Swedish throne, is murdered by Charles VII (orKarl), who becomes king of Sweden (until 1167).
Spring – Theobald of Bec, archbishop of Canterbury dies after an illness. King Henry II is informed and he expresses the wish to have his friend Thomas Becket elected as his successor.
March 6 – German forces, led by Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), capture Milan; much of the city is destroyed three weeks later, on the emperor's orders. The fortifications are demolished, and the churches are destroyed. The population is dispersed, and the commune abolished.[11] The fate of Milan leads to the submission of Brescia, Piacenza, and many other northern Italian cities.[12]
July 7 – Norwegian forces under the pretender Magnus V (Erlingsson) defeat the 15-year-old King Haakon II (Sigurdsson), who is killed in battle in Romsdal after a 5-year reign.
The Almohad emir, Abd al-Mu'min, prepares a gigantic fleet of some four hundred ships to invade Al-Andalus (modern Spain). He dies the following year, before the fleet is completed.[13]
July 24 – Emperor Gao Zong becomes embroiled in war again as hostilities resume with the Jurchen-led Jin Dynasty (orGreat Jin) after 21 years of peace. Another peace treaty is signed, Gao abdicates the throne in favor of his adopted son Xiao Zong. The smaller Southern Song empire becomes richer than the Song Dynasty.
Venice secures its loans against fiscal revenues, to obtain lower interest rates. In the first operation of this kind, the Republic obtains 1150 silver marci, for 12 years of the taxes levied on the Rialto market.[33]
Otto II (the Rich), margrave of Meissen, grants Leipzig city and market privileges. The city is located at the crossways of the Via Regia and Via Imperii trade routes.
Battle of Crogen: King Henry II invades Wales, but is defeated and forced to retreat. After Welsh forces under Owain ap Gruffydd inflict an unknown number of casualties on the English army.
September 5 – Emperor Nijō abdicates the throne and dies after a 7-year reign. He is succeeded by his 1-year-old son Rokujō as the 79th emperor of Japan.
Eskil, Danish archbishop of Lund, appoints Fulco as the first Bishop of Estonia, marking the early beginning of the introduction of Christianity to the country. He will visit Estonia for the first time in 1169or1170.
Emperor Manuel I (Komnenos) asks Venice to help pay the costs of defending Sicily, whose Norman rulers have had good relations with Venice. Doge Vitale II Michiel refuses to pay the requested subsidy. Manuel begins to cultivate relationships with the main commercial rivals of Venice: Genoa and Pisa. He grants them their own trade quarters in Constantinople, very near the Venetian settlements.
Autumn – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) begins his fourth Italian campaign, hoping to secure the claim of Antipope Paschal IIIinRome and the coronation of his wife Beatrice I as Holy Roman Empress.
Diarmaid mac Murchadha is exiled and goes to Normandy, and the court of King Henry II to ask for assistance in retaking his kingdom. Henry gives him permission to find a willing army from either EnglandorWales.
May 29 – Battle of Monte Porzio: The army of the Commune of Rome is defeated by German forces under Frederick I and the local princes; Alexander III leaves Rome.[37] Frederick proceeds to Rome, where he is crowned by Antipope Paschal III for the second time. A sudden outbreak of pestilence kills many of his advisors and knights.[38]
May–June – Saladin leads the defence of Alexandria against the Crusader-Fatimid forces. He takes command over the garrison (plus some 1,000 cavalry), and the army's sick and wounded.[40]
August 4 – Amalric I accepts a peace treaty and enters Alexandria at the head of the Crusader army. Saladin and his troops are escorted out with full military honours, and retreats to Syria.[41]
Absalon, Danish archbishop and statesman, leads the first synodatLund. He is granted land around the city of "Havn" (modern-day Copenhagen) and fortifies the coastal defence against the Wends.
Autumn – William IV, count of Nevers, arrives in Palestine with a contingent of elite knights. In Jerusalem he is present during a council with Amalric and other nobles to decide on an expedition to Egypt.
October 20 – Amalric I invades Egypt again from Ascalon, sacking Bilbeis and threatening Cairo. In November, a Crusader fleet sails up the Nile and arrives in Lake Manzala, sacking the town of Tanis.[43]
Nur al-Din, Zangid ruler (atabeg) of Aleppo, sends an expedition under General Shirkuh to Egypt on request of the Fatimid caliph Al-Adid. He offers him a third of the land, and fiefs for his generals.[44]
December 22 – Afraid that the Egyptian capital Fustat (modern-day Old Cairo) will be captured by Crusader forces, its Fatimid vizier, Shawar, orders the city set afire. The capital burns for 54 days.
April 9 – Emperor Rokujō is deposed by his grandfather, retired-Emperor Go-Shirakawa, after an 8-month reign. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old uncle, Takakura, as the 80th emperor of Japan.
Late Summer – Emperor Manuel I (Komnenos) sends an embassy to Egypt to demand tribute, and threatens the country with war when they refuse to pay it. The Byzantine fleet under Admiral Andronikos Kontostephanos sets out from the Hellespont; 60 war galleys are sent to Palestine with money for "the knights of Jerusalem". Andronikos with the rest of the fleet sails to Cyprus, at which he defeats a patrolling squadron of 6 Fatimid ships.[48]
Spring – Gerald the Fearless, Portuguese warrior and knight, receives the support of King Afonso I (the Great). The Almohad caliph, Abu Yaqub Yusuf, manages to broker an alliance with King Ferdinand II against Afonso. The allies manage to besiege Badajoz, and finally take both Afonso and Gerald prisoner.[49]
During the Swedish power struggle, Boleslaw is killed, but his brother Kol continues as ruler of Östergötland (until 1173), in opposition to King Knut I (Eriksson) of Sweden.
February 4 – 1169 Sicily earthquake: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of around 7 strikes the eastern coast of Sicily, causing an estimated 15,000 deaths.
Spring – A Zangid expedition under General Shirkuh accompanied by his nephew Saladin invades Egypt. King Amalric I of Jerusalem orders his fleet to return to Acre and retreats with the Crusaders back to Palestine.
January 8 – Shirkuh enters Cairo, leaving the Zangid army encamped outside the city. He goes to the palace, where the 18-year-old Fatimid caliph Al-Adid welcomes him with ceremonial gifts and promised money.[53]
January 18 – Shawar, Fatimid vizier and de facto ruler, is invited to join Shirkuh on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Al-Shafi'i. Underway he and his escort are taken prisoner; on orders from Al-Adid, Shawar is decapitated.[54]
March 23 – Shirkuh dies from over-eating after a 2-month reign.[55] He is succeeded by Saladin, who is appointed chief vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate. He takes over as commander of Nur al-Din's forces in Egypt.[56]
Summer – Saladin invites his brother Turan-Shah to join him in Cairo. He brings his family and retinue with him but also a substantial army provided by Nur al-Din. Turan-Shah is welcomed by Al-Adid as a friend.[57]
August 21–23 – At the Battle of the Blacks, Saladin crushes a rebellion by Sudanese forces (50,000 men) of the Fatimid army, along with a number of Egyptian emirs and commoners. He never again has to face a military uprising from Cairo.[58]
Winter – Saladin supported by reinforcements from Nur al-din, defeats a Crusader-Byzantine force under Amalric I near Damietta. During the 3-month siege, the Crusaders are forced to retreat to Palestine.[59]
Eleanor of Aquitaine leaves the English court of Henry II, to establish her own court in Poitiers. It will become known as a center of courtly love. Richard I accompanies his mother and is made heir to Aquitaine.
^Bradbury, Jim (1992). The Medieval Siege, p. 92. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. ISBN978-0-851-15357-5.
^Andrew Roberts (2008). Great Commanders of the Medieval World (454–1582), p. 134. ISBN978-0-85738-589-5.
^Hunyadi, Zsolt; Laszlovszky, József. The Crusades and the Military Orders. Central European University. Dept. of Medieval Studies. p. 246. ISBN978-963-9241-42-8.
^Picard, Christophe (2000). Le Portugal musulman, VIIIe-XIIIe siècle: L'Occident dál-Andalus sous domination islamique. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose. p. 110. ISBN2-7068-1398-9.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 291. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Picard, Christophe (1997). La mer et les musulmans d'Occident VIIIe-XIIIe siècle. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
^Samson, George (1958). A History of Japan to 1334, pp. 256–258. Standford University Press. ISBN08-0470-523-2.
^Picard, Christophe (2000). Le Portugal musulman, VIIIe-XIIIe Siècle: L'Occident d'al-Andalus sous domination islamique. Paris: maisonneuve & Larose. p. 110. ISBN2-7068-1398-9.
^Makk, Ferenc (1989). The Árpáds and the Comneni: Political Relations between Hungary and Byzantium in the 12th century (Translated by György Novák). Akadémiai Kiadó. p. 75. ISBN963-05-5268-X.
^Andrew Roberts (2011). Great Commanders of the Medieval World (454–1582), p. 135. ISBN978-0-85738-589-5.
^Comyn, Robert (1851). History of the Western Empire, from its Restoration by Charlemagne to the Accession of Charles V, p. 246.
^Picard C. (1997). La mer et les musulmans d'Occident au Moyen Age. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, p. 77.
^Malone, Patricia (2008). ""Se Principem Nominat:" Rhetorical Self-Fashioning and Epistolary Style in the Letters of Owain Gwynedd". Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium. 28: 169–184. ISSN1545-0155. JSTOR41219622. We know from Thomas Becket's letter to Pope Alexander that Owain had begun to refer to himself as princeps by at least 1163
^Hartshorne, Richard (1933-12-01). "Geographic and Political Boundaries in Upper Silesia". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 23 (4): 195–228. doi:10.1080/00045603309357073. ISSN0004-5608. The separation of Silesia from Poland dates, for practical purposes perhaps from 1163
^HARRINGTON, JOSEPH F. (1974). "Upper Silesia and the Paris Peace Conference". The Polish Review. 19 (2): 25–45. ISSN0032-2970. JSTOR25777197. Upper Silesia had not been Polish since 1163
^Vandvik, Eirik (2010-06-29). "Donatio Constantini and early Norwegian church policy". Symbolae Osloenses: Norwegian Journal of Greek and Latin Studies. 31 (1): 131–137. doi:10.1080/00397675508590469.
^Clark, William W.; Mark, Robert (1984-03-01). "The First Flying Buttresses: A New Reconstruction of the Nave of Notre-Dame de Paris". The Art Bulletin. 66 (1): 47–65. doi:10.1080/00043079.1984.10788136. ISSN0004-3079. The traditional starting date is associated with the visit of Pope Alexander III to Paris between March 24 and April 25, 1163, during which time he dedicated the "new" chevet at St.-Germain-des-Pres and is said to have laid the cornerstone of Notre-Dame
^Picard, Christophe (1997). La mer et les musulmans d'Occident VIIIe-XIIIe siècle. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
^Munro, John H. (2003). "The Medieval Origins of the Financial Revolution". The International History Review. 15 (3): 506–562.
^Vallvé Bermejo, Joaquín (1972). "La división territorial en la España musulmana (II): la cora de『Tudmīr』(Murcia)". Al-Andalus, p. 171.
^Shatzmiller, Joseph (1998). "Jews, Pilgrimage, and the Christian Cult of Saints: Benjamin of Tudela and his Contemporaries", p. 338. ISBN978-0-8020-0779-7.
^Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 67–69. ISBN0-7126-5616-2.
^Vigueur, Jean-Claude Maire (2010). L'autre Rome: Une histoire des Romains à l'époque communale (XIIe-XIVe siècle). Paris: Tallandier. p. 315. ISBN978-2-84734-719-7.
^Andrew Roberts (2011). Great Commanders of the Medieval World (454–1582), pp. 135–136. ISBN978-0-85738-589-5.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 311. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Asbridge, Thomas (2015). The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, Power Behind Five English Thrones, p. 87. London: Simon & Schuster.
^Hywell Williams (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History, p. 126. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN0-304-35730-8.
^Vigueur, Jean-Claude Maire (2010). L'autre Rome: Une histoire des Romains à l'époque communale (XIIe-XIVe siècle). Paris: Tallandier. p. 314.
^Picard, Christophe (2000). Le Portugal musulman, VIIIe-XIIIe siècle: L'Occident d'al-Andalus sous domination islamique. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose. p. 110. ISBN2-7068-1398-9.
^Warren, W. L. (1961). King John. University of California Press. p. 37.
^Makk, Ferenc (1989). The Árpáds and the Comneni: Political Relations between Hungary and Byzantium in the 12th century (Translated by György Novák). Akadémiai Kiadó. pp. 105–106. ISBN963-05-5268-X.
^Moody, T. W.; Martin, F. X., eds. (1967). The Course of Irish History. Cork: Mercier Press. p. 370.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 311. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, pp. 311–312. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 312. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Brownlee, John (1975). "Crisis as Reinforcement of the Imperial Institution. The Case of the Jōkyū Incident, 1221". Monumenta Nipponica. 30 (2): 193–201. doi:10.2307/2383842. ISSN0027-0741. JSTOR2383842.
^Ibn al-Sha'ar al-Mawsili (2005). عقود الجمان في شعراء هذا الزمان (in Arabic). Vol. V, Part VI (First ed.). Damascus, Syria: DKI (Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyah ). pp. 308–311.
^Burgtorf, Jochen (2015). "Antioch, Principality of". In Murray, Alan V. (ed.). The Crusades to the Holy Land: The Essential Reference Guide: The Essential Reference Guide. Santa Barbara, CA, Denver, CO: ABC-CLIO. p. 10. ISBN9781610697804.
^Share, Robert H. (2007). "How to Think with Chan Gong'an". In Furth, Charlotte; Zeitlin, Judith T.; Hsiung, Ping-chen (eds.). Thinking With Cases: Specialist Knowledge in Chinese Cultural History. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. p. 231. ISBN9780824830496.
