12th century

Eastern Hemisphere at the beginning of the 12th century.

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and is sometimes called the Age of the Cistercians. In Song Dynasty China an invasion by Jurchens causes a political schism of north and south. The Khmer Empire of Cambodia flourished during this century, while the Fatimids of Egypt were overtaken by the Ayyubid dynasty.

See also: Renaissance of the 12th century

Events

The temple complex of Angkor Wat, built during the reign of Suryavarman II in Khmer era Cambodia.

• 1102, King Coloman unites Hungary and Croatia under the Hungarian Crown.
• 1107-1111, Sigurd I of Norway becomes the first king in Europe to embark on a crusade to the Holy Land. He fought in Lisbon, various Mediterranean isles and helped the King of Jerusalem to take Sidon from the Muslims.
• 1108, By the Treaty of Devol, Bohemond I of Antioch has to submit to the Byzantine Empire, becoming the vassal of Alexius I.
• 1109, On June 10, Bertrand of Toulouse captures the County of Tripoli.
• 1109, In the Battle of Naklo, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats the Pomeranians and re-establishes Polish access to the sea.
• 1109, On August 24, in the Battle of Hundsfeld, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats Emperor Henry V and stops German expansion eastward.
• 1110-1111, Henry VI's expedition to Rome to secure the imperial crown.
• 1111. Morning of November 11: Had sufficiently accurate clocks existed, the time 11:11:11 on 11/11/1111 would have occurred. A comparable event will not occur until 2222 (22:22:22 on February 22).
• 1116, The Byzantine army defeats the Turks at Philomelion.
• c.1119, Foundation of the Knights Templar
• c.1121, Battle of Didgori, the greatest military victory of Georgia. King David the Builder with 40,000 Georgians, 15,000 Kipchak auxiliaries, 500 Alan mercenaries and 300 French Crusaders defeated Seljuk led Muslim coalition army of 400 000.
• 1121, On December 25, St. Norbert and 29 companions made their solemn vows, the beginning of the Premonstratensian Order.
• 1122, Battle of Beroia results in the disappearance of the Pechenegs as an independent force.
• 1122, On September 23, the Concordat of Worms was drawn up between Emperor Henry V and Pope Calixtus II.
• 1123, The Jurchen dynasty forces Koryo to recognize their suzerainty.
• 1125, On June 11, in the Battle of Azaz, the Crusader States, led by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, defeat the Seljuk Turks.
• 1125, Lothair of Supplinburg, duke of Saxony, is elected Holy Roman Emperor instead of the nearest heir, Frederick of Swabia, beginning the great struggle of Guelf and Ghibelline.
• 1127, The Northern Song dynasty loses power over Northern China to the Jurchens of Manchuria.
• 1128, On June 24, Portugal gains independence from the kingdom of León at the Battle of São Mamede (recognised by León in 1143).
• 1130-1180, Fifty-year drought in the American Southwest.
• 1130-1138, Papal schism, Pope Innocent II vs. Antipope Anacletus II.
• 1130, Sigurd I of Norway dies. A golden era of 95 years comes to an end for Norway as civil wars between the members of Harald Fairhair's family line rage for the remainder of the century.
• 1130, On Christmas Day, Roger II is crowned King of Sicily, the royal title being given to him by the Antipope Anacletus II.
• 1132, The Southern Song Dynasty establishes China's first permanent standing navy, although China had a long naval history prior. The main admiral's office was stationed at the port of Dinghai.
• 1132–1183, the Chinese navy increases from a mere 3000 marine soldiers to 52,000 marine soldiers stationed in 20 different squadrons. Between this time, hundreds of treadmill-operated paddle wheel craft are assembled for the navy, in order to combat the Jurchen's Jin Dynasty in the north.
• 1135–1154, The Anarchy is a period of civil war in England.
• 1136, Suger begins rebuilding abbey church at St Denis north of Paris, which is regarded as the first major Gothic building.
• 1137, On July 22, the future King Louis VII of France marries Eleanor, the Duchess of Aquitaine.
• 1139, On July 5, Pope Innocent II confirms Roger II as King of Sicily in the Treaty of Mignano.
• 1139, On July 26, the Portuguese defeat the Almoravids led by Ali ibn Yusuf in the Battle of Ourique; Prince Afonso Henriques is acclaimed King of Portugal by his soldiers.
• 1139, the Second Lateran Council ends the papal schism.
• 1140–1150, Collapse of the Ancestral Puebloan culture at Chaco Canyon
• 1143, Afonso Henriques is proclaimed King of Portugal by the cortes.
• 1144, On December 24, Edessa falls to the Atabeg Zengi.
• 1145–1148, The Second Crusade is launched in response to the fall of the County of Edessa.
• 1147, A new Berber dynasty, the Almohads, led by Emir Abd al-Mu'min, takes North Africa from the Almoravides and soon invades the Iberian Peninsula. The Almohads began as a religious movement to rid Islam of impurities.
• 1147, The Wendish Crusade against the Polabian Slavs (or "Wends") of what is now northern and eastern Germany.
• 1150, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona marries Petronilla, the queen of Aragon.
• 1154, the Moroccan-born Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi publishes his Geography.
• 1155, Pope Adrian IV grants overlordship of Ireland to Henry II of England in the bull Laudabiliter.
• 1158, Duke Vladislav II is rewarded with an hereditary crown by Frederick Barbarossa for his aid against the Italian cities.
• 1161, the Song Dynasty Chinese navy, employing gunpowder bombs launched from trebuchets, defeat the enormous Jin Dynasty navy in the East China Sea in the Battle of Tangdao and on the Yangtze River in the Battle of Caishi.
• 1161, Khilij Arslan IV, sultan of Rum, makes peace with the empire, recognizing the emperor's primacy.

Richard I of England, or Richard the Lionheart.

• 1162, Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire, born as Temüjin.
• 1163, The Norwegian Law of Succession takes effect.
• 1168, King Valdemar I of Denmark conquers Arkona on the Island of Rügen, the strongest pagan fortress and temple in Northern Europe.
• 1169, start of the conquest of Ireland. Richard fitzGilbert de Clare ('Strongbow') makes an alliance with the exiled Irish chief, Dermot MacMurrough, to help him recover his kingdom of Leinster.
• 1170, Thomas Becket is murdered.
• 1171, Saladin deposes the last Fatimid Caliph Al-'Āḍid, initiating the Ayyubid dynasty.
• 1171, On November 11, Henry II of England lands in Ireland to assert his claim of Lord of Ireland.
• 1174, William I of Scotland, is captured in a raid by the English, accepts the feudal lordship of the English crown and does ceremonial allegiance at York.
• 1175, Hōnen Shōnin (Genkū) founds the Jōdo shū (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism.
• 1178, Chinese writer Zhou Qufei, a Guangzhou customs officer, wrote of an island far west in the Indian Ocean (possibly Madagascar), from where people with skin "as black as lacquer" and with frizzy hair were captured and purchased as slaves by Arab merchants.
• 1180-1185, the Genpei War in Japan.
• 1182, revolt of the people of Constantinople against the Latins, whom they massacred, proclaiming Andronicus I Comnenus co-emperor.
• 1183 Andronicus I Comnenus has his nephew Alexius II Comnenus strangled.
• 1183, the final Peace of Constance between Frederick Barbarossa, the pope, and the Lombard towns.
• 1185 Andronicus I Comnenus is deposed and executed as a result of the Norman massacre of the Greeks of Thessalonika.
• 1185, Founding of the cathedral school (Katedralskolan) in Lund, Sweden. The school is the oldest in northern Europe, and one of the oldest in Europe as a whole.
• 1185, beginning in this year the Kamakura Shogunate deprives the Emperor of Japan of political power.

Eastern Hemisphere at the end of the 12th century.

• 1186, On January 27, the future emperor Henry VI marries Constance of Sicily, the heiress to the Sicilian throne.
• 1187, Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats the king of Jerusalem.
• 1187 The Swedish royal and commercial center Sigtuna was attacked by Baltic-Finnish raiders from Couronia and Estonia
• 1189-1192, The Third Crusade was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin.
• 1192, Battle of Jaffa, King Richard the Lionheart defeats Saladin.
• 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo is appointed Sei-i Taishōgun, "barbarian-subduing great general, shōgun for short, the first military dictator to bear this title.
• 1193, Nalanda, the great Indian Buddhist educational centre, is destroyed.
• 1193, the first known merchant guild.
• 1198, the brethren of the Crusader hospital in Acre are raised to a military order of knights, the Teutonic Knights, formally known as the Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St. Mary of the Teutons in Jerusalem.
• 1199, Pope Innocent III writes to Kaloyan, inviting him to unite the Bulgarian Church with the Roman Catholic Church.
• c. 1200, The Toltec Empire collapses.
• Renaissance of the 12th century in Europe.
• Gothic Architecture begins in France.
• Conflict between the Khmer Empire and Champa. Angkor Wat is built under the Hindu king Suryavarman II. At the end of the century the Buddhist Jayavarman VII becomes ruler.
• The medieval Serbian state formed by Stefan Nemanja and continued by the Nemanjić dynasty.
• Pierre Abelard teaches.
• Expansion of the Tu'i Tonga Empire.

Significant people

A 15th century depiction of Saladin

Illumination from the Liber Scivias showing Hildegard von Bingen receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe and secretary

• Adrian IV, pope
• Aelred, Saint, English monk and spiritual writer
• Afonso I Henriques, first king of Portugal
• Alan IV, Duke of Brittany
• Albert of Jerusalem, Saint, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
• Albert of Louvain, Saint, Bishop of Liège
• Alexander I of Scotland, king
• Alexius I Comnenus, emperor
• Alexius II Comnenus, emperor
• Alexius III Angelus, emperor
• Alfonso II of Aragon, king
• Alfonso VI of Castile, king
• Alfonso VII of Castile, king
• Alfonso VIII of Castile, king
• Amadeus of Lausanne, Blessed, Bishop of Lausanne
• Andrei Bogoliubski, Prince of Suzdal
• Andronicus I Comnenus, emperor
• Anselm, Saint, Abbot of Bec and Archbishop of Canterbury
• Anthelm, Saint, Abbot of the Grand Chartreuse
• Arthur I, Duke of Brittany
• Averroes Ibn Rushd, Spanish Islamic polymath
• Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, king
• Bela II, king of Hungary
• Bela III, king of Hungary
• Bernard, Saint, Abbot of Clairvaux, preacher and reformer
• Bertha, Duchess of Brittany
• Berthold, Saint, found of the Carmelite Order
• Bhaskara II, Indian mathematician and astronomer
• Bohemund I of Antioch, prince
• Boleslaus III Wrymouth, king of Poland
• Boleslav IV the Curly, high duke of Poland
• Bruno of Segni, Saint, bishop
• Calixtus II, pope
• Canute V of Denmark, king
• Canute VI of Denmark, king
• Coloman I, king of Hungary
• Conan IV, Duke of Brittany, the Younger
• Constance, Duchess of Brittany
• David I of Scotland, king
• David the Builder, King of Georgia
• Dominic de Guzmán, Saint, founder of the Order of Preachers
• Edgar of Scotland, king
• Edmund of Abingdon, Saint, theologian, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen consort of France and later of the Kingdom of England
• Emeric I of Hungary, king
• Engelbert II of Berg, Saint, Archbishop of Cologne
• Eric I of Denmark, king
• Eric II of Denmark, king
• Eric III of Denmark, king
• Eric IX of Sweden, Saint, king
• Erik Gnupsson, Bishop of Greenland
• Eugene III, Blessed, pope
• Eystein I of Norway, king
• Eystein II of Norway, king
• Eysteinn Erlendsson, Saint, Bishop of Nidaros
• Felix of Valois, Saint, co-founder of the Order of the Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives
• Francis of Assisi, Saint, founder of the Order of Friars Minor
• Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor
• Galdino della Sala, Saint, Archbishop of Milan
• Gelasius II, pope
• Genghis Khan, Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
• Geoffrey V, Count of Anjouand Duke of Normandy
• Geza II, king of Hungary
• Gilbert of Sempringham, Saint, founder of the Gilbertines.
• Haakon II of Norway the Broad-shouldered, king
• Harald IV of Norway, king
• Henry (Bishop of Uppsala), Saint
• Henry, Count of Portugal
• Henry I of England, king and Duke of Normandy
• Henry II of England, king and Duke of Normandy
• Henry IV of Germany, king and emperor
• Henry V of Germany, king and emperor
• Henry VI of Germany, king and emperor
• Hildegard of Bingen, Saint, polymath and first Western musical composer known by name
• Hōnen Shōnin (Genkū), religious founder
• Honorius II, pope
• Hugh II, Duke of Burgundy
• Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy
• Hugh of Grenoble, Saint, bishop
• Hugh of Lincoln, Saint, bishop
• Huizong, Emperor of China
• Humbert III, Count of Savoy, Blessed
• Ida of Boulogne, Saint, countess
• Inge I of Norway Hunchback, king
• Innocent II, pope
• Innocent III, pope
• Isaac II Angelus, emperor
• Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria, king
• Ivo of Chartres, Saint, bishop
• Jayavarman VII, Khmer emperor
• John II Comnenos, emperor
• John of England, king and Duke of Normandy
• John of Matha, Saint, co-founder of the Order of the Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives
• Kaloyan of Bulgaria, king
• Khilij Arslan IV, sultan of Rûm
• Lawrence O'Toole, Saint, Archbishop of Dublin
• Leopold III, Margrave of Austria, Saint
• Lin Tinggui, Chinese painter of Buddhist themes
• Louis VI of France, king
• Louis VII of France, king
• Lucius II, pope
• Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, Saint
• Magnus III of Norway, king
• Magnus IV of Norway the Blind, king
• Magnus V of Norway, king
• Maimonides, Jewish philosopher
• Malachy O'More, Saint, Archbishop of Armagh
• Malcolm IV of Scotland, king
• Manuel I Comnenus, emperor
• Matilda of Tuscany, countess
• Mechtildis, Saint, abbess
• Minamoto no Yoritomo, shōgun of Japan, founder of the Kamakura Shogunate
• Muhammad of Ghor, Afghan ruler
• Nerses of Lambron, Saint, Archbishop of Tarsus, theologian
• Niels of Denmark, king
• Norbert of Xanten, Saint, founder of the Premonstratensian Order of canons regular, Archbishop of Magdeburg
• Odo I, Duke of Burgundy
• Odo I, Duke of Burgundy
• Odo I, Duke of Burgundy
• Odo of Cambrai, Saint, bishop, theologian
• Olaf Magnusson of Norway, king
• Olegarius, Saint, Archbishop of Tarragona
• Omar Khayyám, Persian poet and astronomer
• Otto of Bamberg, Saint, bishop, chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire
• Paschal II, pope
• Peter Abelard, philosopher
• Peter Nolasco, Saint, co-founder of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom
• Peter, Bishop of Poitiers, Saint
• Peter IV of Bulgaria, king
• Philip I of France, king
• Philip II of France, Augustus, king
• Prithviraj Chauhan, king of Ajmer in India
• Raymond of Fitero, Saint, founder of the Order of Calatrava
• Raymond of Peñafort, Saint, canon lawyer
• Richard I of England, king and Duke of Normandy
• Richard of Chichester, Saint, bishop
• Richard of St. Victor, theologian
• Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy
• Roger II of Sicily, king
• Saladin, ruler of Egypt and Syria
• Sancho I of Portugal, king
• Sava, Saint, organizer and liberator of the Serbian Orthodox Church
• Shao Yong, Chinese poet, historian, and philosopher
• Sigurd I of Norway, king
• Sigurd II of Norway, king
• Stefan Nemanja, king of Serbia
• Stefan Nemanjić, king of Serbia
• Stephen II, king of Hungary
• Stephen Harding, Saint, abbot, co-founder of the Cistercian Order
• Stephen of England, king and Duke of Normandy
• Suger, Abbot of St.-Denis
• Suryavarman II, Khmer emperor
• Sverker I of Sweden, king
• Sverre of Norway, king
• Sweyn III of Denmark
• Tamar of Georgia, queen
• Thomas Becket, Saint, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England
• Valdemar I of Denmark, the Great, king
• Vladimir II Monomakh, prince of Kiev
• Vladislav I Herman of Poland, king
• William I of Scotland, the Lion, king
• William I of Sicily, king
• William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, knight and statesman
• William of Malmesbury, English historian
• Yue Fei, Chinese general
• Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Almoravid ruler of North Africa and Spain
• Zhang Zeduan, Chinese painter
• Zhou Jichang, Chinese painter
• Zhu Xi, Neo-Confucian Chinese philosopher
• Zhu Yu, Chinese maritime author

Inventions, discoveries and introductions

• List of 12th century inventions

The Liuhe Pagoda of Hangzhou, China, 1165

• Beginning of the Gothic architecture style in France.
• Building of Angkor Wat in Khmer empire.
• First European universities founded.
• Christian humanism becomes a self-conscious philosophical tendency in Europe.
• Earliest record of a miracle play, in Dunstable, England.
• Beginning of trouvère music and poetry in France.
• Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli composes his epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin
• Beginning of the Ars antiqua period in the history of Western European music.
• The Madrid Skylitzes manuscript illustrates the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes.
• Earliest Western account of a mariner's compass, by Alexander Neckam is "De utensilibus" (see Shen Kuo).
• Although known in China since the 5th century BC, the blast furnace for smelting cast iron first appears in Europe, in and around Lapphyttan, Sweden, as early as 1150.
• First fire and plague insurance (in Iceland).
• First authenticated influenza epidemics.
• Invention of the Kente cloth.
• Start of Middle English.
• Hoysala architecture reaches a peak.
• Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi (1155–1191) founder of school of illumination (Ishraq).
• 1165 — The Liuhe Pagoda of Hangzhou, China, is built.
• 1111 — The Chinese Donglin Academy is founded
• 1107 — The Chinese engineer Wu Deren combines the mechanical compass vehicle of the South Pointing Chariot with the distance-measuring odometer device.
• The Durham Cathedral of England is completed.
• The kasbah of Marrakesh is built, city gate Bab Agnaou and the Koutoubia mosque.
• 1104 — The Venice Arsenal of Venice, Italy, is founded. It employed some 16000 people for the mass production of sailing ships in large assembly lines, hundreds of years before the Industrial Revolution.
• 1185 First record of windmills.

Decades and years