May 5: Lunar eclipse, in which the moon becomes totally dark (according to the Peterborough Chronicle), due to an earlier volcanic eruption putting aerosols into the upper atmosphere of the earth, thus cutting off the earthlight.[1]
Spring – Mawdud ibn Altuntash, Turkic ruler (atabeg) of Mosul, leads an expedition to capture the territories of the Crusaders (belonging to the County of Edessa) east of the river Euphrates. He besieges the fortress city of Edessa, but is forced to retreat when King Baldwin I of Jerusalem (with the support of Armenian forces sent by Kogh Vasil) intervenes with a Crusader relief force.[2]
February–May – Crusaders under Baldwin I besiege Beirut. Genoese and Pisan ships blockade the harbour; Fatimid ships from Tyre and Sidon try in vain to break the blockade. The Fatimid governor flees by night through the Italian fleet to Cyprus. On May 13, Baldwin captures the city by assault and the Italians carry out a massacre among the inhabitants.[3]
October–December – Crusaders under Baldwin I (supported by King Sigurd I) besiege Sidon. Norwegian ships blockade the harbour, but are nearly dispersed by a powerful Fatimid flotilla from Tyre. They are saved by the arrival of a Venetian squadron under Doge Ordelafo Faliero. On December 4, the city capitulates (under notable terms) to Baldwin.[4]
Henry V, King of Germany, invades Italy with a large army and concludes an agreement with Pope Paschal II at Sutri. Henry renounces the right of investiture (a dispute with the former Henry IV). In return, Paschal promises to crown him emperor and to restore to the Holy Roman Empire all the lands given to the German church (since the time of Charlemagne).[5]
July 25 – Henry V marries 8-year-old Matilda (daughter of King Henry I of England). She is crowned Queen of the Romans in a ceremony at Mainz. After the betrothal Matilda is placed into custody of Bruno, archbishop of Trier, who is tasked with educating her in German culture, manners and government.[6]
The dukedom of Bohemia is secured for Vladislaus I following the death of Svatopluk ("the Lion") who is assassinated. Vladislaus receives support from Henry V and will rule until 1125.
Winter – Crusaders, led by Baldwin I, besiege Tyre, without a supporting fleet. While besieging the town, a Byzantine embassy arrives in the Crusader camp. The Byzantines try to persuade Baldwin to join a coalition against Tancred, Italo-Norman prince of Galilee, but he refuses.[9]
July 24 – Matilda, margravine of Tuscany, dies at Bondeno. During her reign she waged an intermittent war with Emperor Henry IV over the inheritance rights of her fiefs in Lombardy and Tuscany.
Asia
The Jin Dynasty (or Great Jin) is created by the Jurchen tribal chieftain Taizu (or Aguda). He establishes a dual-administration system: a Chinese-style bureaucracy to rule over northern and northeast China.
The 19-year-old Minamoto no Tameyoshi, Japanese nobleman and samurai, gains recognition by suppressing a riot against Emperor Toba at a monastery near Kyoto (approximate date).
Autumn – Battle of Philomelion: Emperor Alexios I (Komnenos) leads an expedition into Anatolia and meets the Seljuk army under Sultan Malik Shah (near Philomelium). The Byzantines introduce a new battle formation of Alexios' devising, the parataxis (a defensive formation, consisting of a hollow square, with the baggage in the centre). During the battle, the Seljuk Turks mount several attacks on the formations, but all are repulsed. The Byzantine cavalry makes two counterattacks; the first is unsuccessful. But a second attack, led by Nikephoros Bryennios (the Younger), breaks the Seljuk forces, who then turn to flight. The following day Malik Shah again attacks, his army completely surrounding the Byzantines from all sides. The Seljuk Turks are once more repulsed, with many losses. Alexios claims the victory, and Malik Shah is forced to accept a peace treaty, in which he promises to respect the frontiers of the Byzantine Empire.[28][29]
Levant
Summer – The Crusaders under King Baldwin I of Jerusalem undertake an expedition to Egypt and march as far as Akaba on the Red Sea. After the local inhabitants flee from the town, Baldwin constructs castles in Akaba and on a nearby island. He leaves a garrison in both fortresses. The three Crusader strongholds – Montréal, Eilat and Graye – secure the control of the caravan routes between Syria and Egypt.[30]
Autumn – Baldwin I hastens to Tyre (modern Lebanon) and begins the construction of a new fortress, known as Scandelion Castle, at the Ladder of Tyre, which completes the blockade of the town from the mainland.[31]
Europe
February 3 – King Coloman (the Learned) dies after a 21-year reign in which he has consolidated the feudal system in Hungary and expanded the frontier (partly by overthrowing King Peter II of Croatia).
Portuguese forces under Countess Theresa take two Galician cities, Tui and Ourense. In reply, the sister of Theresa, Queen Urraca (the Reckless), attacks Portugal.
Aak music is introduced to the Korean court, through a large gift of 428 musical instruments as well as 572 costumes and ritual dance objects from China, by Emperor Hui Zong of the Song dynasty.
King Stephen II of Hungary regains Dalmatia from Venice while the Venetians are on a naval expedition. Doge Ordelafo Faliero dies in battle (near Zadar) against the Hungarians. Faliero is succeeded by Domenico Michiel, who reconquers more territory and agrees to a 5-year truce with Hungary.
The Crusaders led by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem raid Pelusium in Egypt and burn the city to the ground. Baldwin marches back to Palestine and strengthens the fortifications of the southern frontier.
Asia
King Mahaabarana Adeettiya (Koimala) from the Theemuge Dynasty becomes the first king to rule over the whole Maldives. He reclaims the northern atolls from the Indian invaders.
August 14 – Battle of Hab: The Crusaders under King Baldwin II of Jerusalem (supported by forces of Count Pons of Tripoli) defeat Ilghazi's army at Ariha in Syria. Baldwin manages to re-capture all of the Crusader castles and returns to Antioch in triumph. He stabilizes the frontiers and prevents Ilghazi from marching on Antioch.[50]
August 20 – Battle of Brémule: King Henry I of England defeats King Louis VI (the Fat) of France and his 400 knights in Normandy. A skirmish that begins with the French launching a fierce but disordered attack, and ends with the French turning tail. Louis agrees to make peace and formally recognizes William Adelin as duke of Normandy.
Zhu Yu, a Chinese historian, writes his book Pingzhou Table Talks (published this year), the earliest known use of separate hull compartments in ships. Zhu Yu's book is the first to report the use of a magnetic compass for navigation at sea. Although the first actual description of the magnetic compass is by another Chinese writer Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays (published in 1088).
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of the Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 74. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of the Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, pp. 74–75. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Comyn, Robert (1851). History of the Western Empire, from its Restoration by Charlemagne to the Accession of Charles V. Vol I.
^Chibnall, Marjorie (1991). Matilda of England (1102–1167), Empress, Consort of Henry V. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, retrieved 22 December 2013.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of the Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 75. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Picard, Christophe (2000). Le Portugal musulman (VIIIe-XIIIe siècle. L'Occident d'al-Andalus sous domination islamique. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose. p. 109. ISBN2-7068-1398-9.
^de Oliveira Marques, António Henrique (1998). Histoire du Portugal et de son empire colonial. Paris: Karthala. p. 44. ISBN2-86537-844-6.
^Moody, T. W.; Martin, F. X., eds. (1967). The Course of Irish History. Cork: Mercier Press. p. 116.
^Marjorie Chibnall (1991). The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English, p. 27. London, UK: Basil Blackwell, ISBN978-0-631-15737-3.
^Gilbert Meynier (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte; p. 86.
^McGrank, Lawrence (1981). "Norman crusaders and the Catalan reconquest: Robert Burdet and te principality of Tarragona 1129-55". Journal of Medieval History. 7 (1): 67–82. doi:10.1016/0304-4181(81)90036-1.
^"Fires, Great", in The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance, Cornelius Walford, ed. (C. and E. Layton, 1876) p. 25.
^"Fires, Great", in The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance, p. 25. Cornelius Walford, ed. (C. and E. Layton, 1876)
^Meynier, Gilbert (2010). L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique: De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte. p. 84.
^G. Solinas (1981), Storia di Verona (Verona: Centro Rinascita), 244. The late eight- or early ninth-century Versus de Verona contains a now indispensable description of Verona's early medieval architecture, including Roman ruins.
^Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges, p. 391. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN978-0-313-33538-9.
^Gilbert Meynier (2010) L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte; pp.86.
^McGrank, Lawrence (1981). "Norman crusaders and the Catalan reconquest: Robert Burdet and te principality of Tarragona 1129-55". Journal of Medieval History. 7 (1): 67–82. doi:10.1016/0304-4181(81)90036-1.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, pp. 123–124. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Stratton, J.M. (1969). Agricultural Records. John Baker. ISBN0-212-97022-4.
^McGrank, Lawrence (1981). "Norman crusaders and the Catalan reconquest: Robert Burdet and te principality of Tarragona 1129-55". Journal of Medieval History. 7 (1): 67–82. doi:10.1016/0304-4181(81)90036-1.
^Weber, N. "Petrobrusians". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
^D'Abadal, R. La formació de la Catalunya independent. Barcelona, 1970.
