The 12th century

In 1101, a second wave of crusaders was destroyed in Anatolia, and the loss ended reinforcement of the new states (Anatolia).

In 1102, Coloman of Hungary was crowned king of Croatia, a union that lasted eight centuries (Eastern Europe).

In 1103, Norway's church province was organised under Lund, giving Scandinavia its own archbishopric (Northern Europe).

In 1104, fire destroyed much of the arsenal at Venice, the state shipyard that built its fleet (Italy).

In 1105, Henry IV was forced to abdicate by his son (Central Europe).

In 1106, Henry I's victory at Tinchebray reunited England and Normandy under one ruler (Normandy).

In 1107, the Compromise of London settled the English investiture dispute ahead of the empire's (England).

In 1108, Louis VI became king and spent his reign subduing the barons of the Ile-de-France (France).

In 1109, Tripoli fell to the crusaders after a siege of seven years, completing the four crusader states (Levant).

In 1110, Sidon surrendered to Baldwin I with Norwegian naval help (Levant).

In 1111, al-Ghazali died, having turned much of Islamic theology against the philosophers (Persia).

In 1112, Bernard of Clairvaux entered Citeaux with thirty companions, and Cistercian expansion followed (France).

In 1113, the Knights Hospitaller were recognised by the papacy as a religious order (Jerusalem).

In 1114, Chichester Cathedral was consecrated (England).

In 1115, the Jurchen proclaimed the Jin dynasty in the north (China).

In 1116, Peter Abelard was teaching at Paris, drawing students from across Europe to the schools that became its university (France).

In 1117, the Abelard and Heloise affair ended in his mutilation and their retreat to religious houses (France).

In 1118, the Knights Templar were founded to protect pilgrims, and became medieval Europe's first international banking network (Jerusalem).

In 1119, the Premonstratensian order was founded at Premontre (Europe).

In 1120, the White Ship sank with the heir to the English throne aboard, leading to nineteen years of civil war (English Channel).

In 1121, Abelard's book on the Trinity was condemned and burned at Soissons (France).

In 1122, the Concordat of Worms ended the Investiture Controversy by separating spiritual from secular appointment (Europe).

In 1123, the First Lateran Council became the first general council held in the West (Europe).

In 1124, David I became king and introduced Norman feudal tenure and burghs to Scotland (Scotland).

In 1125, Lothair III was elected emperor over the hereditary claimant, asserting the electors' independence (Central Europe).

In 1126, Averroes was born at Cordoba, whose commentaries on Aristotle shaped Latin philosophy for three centuries (Iberia).

In 1127, Jin forces captured Kaifeng and the Northern Song dynasty fell, driving the court south (China).

In 1128, Afonso Henriques won at Sao Mamede, setting Portugal on the path to independence (Portugal).

In 1129, the Council of Troyes gave the Knights Templar their rule, drafted with Bernard of Clairvaux (Europe).

In 1130, Roger II was crowned king of Sicily, uniting the Norman conquests in the south (Sicily).

In 1131, Ramiro II of Aragon began the arrangements that joined Aragon to Catalonia (Iberia).

In 1132, Fountains Abbey was founded in Yorkshire and became the wealthiest Cistercian house in England (England).

In 1133, Lothair III was crowned emperor at Rome (Central Europe).

In 1134, fire destroyed much of Chartres and Rochester in the same period of urban fires across northern Europe (England).

In 1135, Stephen's seizure of the throne began the civil war known as the Anarchy (England).

In 1136, Geoffrey of Monmouth's history gave Europe the Arthurian legend in written form (Britain).

In 1137, the union of Aragon and the county of Barcelona created the Crown of Aragon (Iberia).

In 1138, an earthquake devastated Aleppo, among the deadliest recorded (Syria).

In 1139, Afonso Henriques took the title of king, and Portugal's borders have changed less since than almost any in Europe (Portugal).

In 1140, the rebuilt choir of Saint-Denis combined the pointed arch, rib vault and flying buttress, and Gothic architecture dates from it (France).

In 1141, Stephen was captured at Lincoln and Matilda briefly held London (England).

In 1142, Peter Abelard died at Cluny (France).

In 1143, the Treaty of Zamora recognised Portugal as a kingdom independent of Leon (Iberia).

In 1144, Edessa fell to Zengi, the first crusader state to be lost (Levant).

In 1145, Eugene III called the Second Crusade after the fall of Edessa (Europe).

In 1146, Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade at Vezelay (France).

In 1147, Lisbon was captured with the help of a passing crusader fleet (Portugal).

In 1148, the Second Crusade failed before Damascus after a siege of four days (Levant).

In 1149, the rebuilt Church of the Holy Sepulchre was consecrated by the crusaders (Jerusalem).

In 1150, the schools of Paris were operating as a studium that became its university (France).

In 1151, Abbot Suger died, having rebuilt Saint-Denis and governed France during the Second Crusade (France).

In 1152, Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry Plantagenet, bringing a third of France to the English crown (France and England).

In 1153, Bernard of Clairvaux died with the Cistercian order grown to over three hundred houses (France).

In 1154, Henry II became king, beginning the Angevin empire and the common law (England).

In 1155, Frederick Barbarossa was crowned emperor at Rome (Europe).

In 1156, the Hogen rebellion drew the warrior clans into court politics, beginning the rise of the samurai (Japan).

In 1157, Castile and Leon separated again on the death of Alfonso VII (Iberia).

In 1158, Munich was founded at a bridge over the Isar (Central Europe).

In 1159, a disputed papal election set Alexander III against imperial antipopes for eighteen years (Europe).

In 1160, Notre-Dame de Paris was planned by Bishop Maurice de Sully (France).

In 1161, gunpowder bombs were used at the naval battle of Caishi, among the earliest recorded (China).

In 1162, Genghis Khan is traditionally held to have been born about this year (Central Asia).

In 1163, construction began on Notre-Dame de Paris (France).

In 1164, the Constitutions of Clarendon tried to bring clergy under royal courts, and set Henry II against Becket (England).

In 1165, the forged Letter of Prester John circulated, shaping European ideas of Asia and Africa for centuries (Europe).

In 1166, the Assize of Clarendon established juries of presentment, an ancestor of the grand jury (England).

In 1167, English scholars expelled from Paris gathered at Oxford, and its university dates from about then (England).

In 1168, the Lombard League founded Alessandria as a fortress against the emperor (Italy).

In 1169, Saladin became vizier of Egypt under nominal Fatimid authority (Egypt).

In 1170, Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, and the shrine became northern Europe's chief pilgrimage (England).

In 1171, Saladin ended the Fatimid caliphate and returned Egypt to Sunni allegiance (Egypt).

In 1172, Henry II received the submission of Irish kings, beginning eight centuries of English involvement (Ireland).

In 1173, the campanile at Pisa began to lean during construction, and work stopped for a century (Italy).

In 1174, Henry II did public penance at Becket's tomb (England).

In 1175, the Treaty of Falaise made the Scottish king a vassal of the English crown for fifteen years (Britain).

In 1176, the Lombard League defeated Frederick Barbarossa at Legnano, establishing that the Italian cities could resist the emperor (Italy).

In 1177, the Peace of Venice reconciled Frederick Barbarossa with the papacy (Italy).

In 1178, Canterbury monks recorded a disturbance on the Moon, one of the few medieval lunar observations still discussed (England).

In 1179, the Third Lateran Council fixed a two-thirds majority of cardinals as the requirement for electing a pope, a rule still in use (Europe).

In 1180, the Genpei War began between the Taira and Minamoto clans (Japan).

In 1181, Francis of Assisi was born at Assisi (Italy).

In 1182, the massacre of the Latin residents of Constantinople poisoned relations with the West (Constantinople).

In 1183, the Peace of Constance granted the Lombard cities self-government under nominal imperial authority (Italy).

In 1184, the Diet of Mainz was remembered as the largest court festival of the medieval empire (Central Europe).

In 1185, the sea battle of Dan-no-ura ended the Genpei War and the Taira clan (Japan).

In 1186, Guy of Lusignan became king of Jerusalem, a disputed succession that preceded its loss (Levant).

In 1187, Saladin destroyed the crusader army at Hattin and recovered Jerusalem (Levant).

In 1188, the Saladin tithe was levied to fund the Third Crusade, an early general tax on income and movables (England and France).

In 1189, the Third Crusade set out in response to the loss of Jerusalem (Levant).

In 1190, the Teutonic Order was founded at Acre (Levant).

In 1191, Acre was recaptured after a two-year siege (Levant).

In 1192, Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed shogun, beginning seven centuries of military government (Japan).

In 1193, the monastic university at Nalanda was destroyed, ending an institution of some seven centuries (South Asia).

In 1194, Chartres Cathedral was rebuilt after fire, and its stained glass survives largely intact (France).

In 1195, the Almohad victory at Alarcos halted the Castilian advance for a generation (Iberia).

In 1196, Alfonso VIII refortified the Castilian frontier after Alarcos (Iberia).

In 1197, Henry VI died at thirty-two, and the empire fell into a disputed succession (Central Europe).

In 1198, Innocent III became pope, and the medieval papacy reached its greatest political reach under him (Europe).

In 1199, Richard I died of a crossbow wound at Chalus (France).

In 1200, Philip Augustus chartered the University of Paris, giving its masters legal standing (France).