August –
Andronikos Komnenos, a cousin of Maria's late husband, Emperor
Manuel I (Komnenos), raises an army and enters the city, representing himself as the 'protector' of Alexios. He is proclaimed as co-emperor under the name Andronikos I, and has Maria imprisoned and later condemned to be strangled – forcing a signature from Alexios to put his mother to death.[1]
Levant
May 11 –
Saladin leads an Egyptian expeditionary force from
Cairo to
Syria. In June, he arrives in
Damascus and learns that his nephew
Farrukh Shah has raided
Galilee, and sacked the villages near
Mount Tabor. On his way back, Farrukh Shah attacks the fortress of
Habis Jaldak, carved out of the rock above the
River Yarmuk. The garrison, Christian Syrians with no great wish to die for the
Crusaders, promptly surrenders.[2]
August – Saladin sends an Egyptian fleet to blockade
Beirut and leads his forces in the
Bekaa Valley. The city is strongly fortified and Baldwin IV rushes with his army up from Galilee – only pausing to collect the ships that lay in the harbors of
Acre and
Tyre. Failing to take Beirut by assault before the Crusaders arrived, Saladin breaks off the siege and withdraws.[2]
September – Saladin invades the
Jazira Region, ending the truce between him and the
Zangids. After a feint attack on
Aleppo, he crosses the
Euphrates. The towns of the Jazira fall before him; the cities of
Edessa,
Saruj and
Nisibin are captured in October. Saladin presses on to
Mosul, and begins the siege of the city on
November 10.[4]
November –
Al-Nasir, caliph of the
Abbasid Caliphate, is shocked by the war between fellow-Muslims and tries to negotiate a peace. Saladin, thwarted by the strong fortifications of Mosul, retreats to
Sinjar. He marches to conquer
Diarbekir, the richest and the greatest fortress of the Jazira Region (with the finest library in
Islam).[4]
December – Baldwin IV raids through the
Hauran and reaches
Bosra, while
Raymond of Tripoli recaptures Habis Jaldak. A few days later, Baldwin sets out with a Crusader force to Damascus and encamps at
Dareiya in the suburbs. He decides not to attack the city and retires laden with booty, to spend
Christmas at Tyre.[5]
Winter –
Raynald of Châtillon, lord of
Oultrejordain, orders the building of five ships which are carried to the
Gulf of Aqaba at the northern end of the
Red Sea. Part of his fleet makes a raid along the coast, threatening the security of the holy cities on
Pharaoh's Island (or Île de Graye).[6]
Europe
Spring – King
Philip II (Augustus) confiscates all the lands and buildings of the
Jews and expels them from
Paris. The measures are profitable in the short-term – the ransoms alone bringing in 15,000 marks and enriching Christians at the expense of Jews. Ninety-nine Jews are burned alive in
Brie-Comte-Robert.[7]
May 12 – King
Valdemar I (the Great) dies after a 28-year reign in which he has gained independence from the
Holy Roman Empire. He is succeeded by his 19-year-old son
Canute VI, who becomes ruler of
Denmark.
Mieszko III (the Old), duke of
Greater Poland, agrees with his son
Odon of Poznań to divide the territories between them: Mieszko hold his western lands and Odon receives the eastern lands south of the
River Obra.
William Marshal, Norman knight and head of the household of
Henry the Young King, is accused of having an affair with Henry's wife, Queen
Margaret of France. Although contemporary chroniclers doubt the truth of these accusations. Henry starts the process to have his marriage annulled, William leaves the royal retinue, undergoing a period of self-imposed exile, and goes on a pilgrimage to
Cologne.[11]
Asia
May – The
Yōwa era, marked by
famine, ends during the reign of Emperor
Antoku in
Japan.
^
abSteven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 352.
ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Beeler, John (1971). Warfare in Feudal Europe, 730–1200, p. 138. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University.
ISBN0-8014-9120-7.
^
abSteven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 353.
ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 354.
ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Barber, Malcolm (2012). The Crusader States, p. 284. Yale University Press.
ISBN978-0-300-11312-9.
^Bradbury, Jim (1997). Philip Augustus: King of France 1180–1223, p. 53. The Medieval World (1st ed.). Routledge.
ISBN978-0-582-06059-3.
^Makk, Ferenc (1989). The Árpáds and the Comneni: Political Relations between Hungary and Byzantium in the 12th century, p. 116. (Translated by György Novák). Akadémiai Kiadó.
ISBN978-963-05-5268-4.
^Picard, Christophe (1997). La mer et les musulmans d'Occident VIIIe-XIIIe siècle. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
^Asbridge, Thomas (2015). The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, Power Behind Five English Thrones, pp. 140–146. London:
Simon & Schuster.