1126 CE
Emperor Hui Zong of the Song Dynasty abdicates in favour of his eldest son, Qin Zong after a 24-year reign. Hui Zong assumes the honorary title of Taishang Huang (or "Retired Emperor"). Battle of Chlumec: Duke Soběslav I defeats a German army under King Lothair III and his Moravian ally, Duke Otto II the Black. Soběslav becomes the head of the Bohemian Principality. Rutherglen (located in South Lanarkshire) becomes one of the first of the Royal Burghs in Scotland.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- January 18 – Emperor Hui Zong of the Song Dynasty abdicates in favour of his eldest son, Qin Zong after a 24-year reign. Hui Zong assumes the honorary title of Taishang Huang (or "Retired Emperor").source
- Summer – Emperor John II Komnenos re-confirms the treaty of 1082. This ends the hostilities with Hungary and Venice. John secures Braničevo, and recovers the region of Sirmium on the Danube, but is forced by Venice to renew the exclusive commercial privileges.source
- Shrewsbury Castle is granted by King Henry I to his second wife, Queen Adeliza of Louvain (or Adelicia). The command of the castle is given to William FitzAlan.source
Conflict & Security
- January 31 – Jurchen forces lay siege to Kaifeng. Qin Zong negotiates the terms of surrender, agreeing an annual indemnity. He orders Song forces to defend the prefectures of the Northern Song.source
- February 18 – Battle of Chlumec: Duke Soběslav I defeats a German army under King Lothair III and his Moravian ally, Duke Otto II the Black. Soběslav becomes the head of the Bohemian Principality.source
- Spring – The Crusaders under Pons, count of Tripoli, attack the fortress of Rafaniya (once held by Pons' grandfather Raymond IV), which dominates the entry of the Buqaia from the Orontes Valley. They besiege the fortress for 18 days and capture it on March 31.source
- Jin–Song War: Jurchen forces reach the Yellow River Valley, two days after New Year. Remnants of the court flee south, including much of the populace, and communities such as the Kaifeng Jews.source
- Autumn – Bohemond II takes over his inheritance of the Principality of Antioch. He sails from Otranto with a Norman fleet of 24 ships, carrying a number of troops and horses. Bohemond lands at the port of St. Symeon early in October and is welcomed at Antioch.source
- Spring – In China, scholars and farmers demonstrate around the capital city of Kaifeng, for the restoration of a trusted military official, Li Gang (李綱). Small conflicts erupt between the protestors and the government.source
- Summer – King Alfonso the Battler of Aragon and Navarre launches a campaign raid into Granada in Andalusia (modern Spain) against the Almoravids. In the aftermath, the Almoravid deport Jews and Christians from Andalusia to Morocco.source
Religion & Belief
- Olegarius, archbishop of Tarragona, creates a community of knights (known as the "Confraternity of Tarragona"), to combat the Almoravids in Catalonia.source
Science & Discovery
- Adelard of Bath, an English philosopher, translates Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī's arithmetic and astronomical works into Latin.source
Health & Medicine
- Two previously written Chinese pharmaceutical works, one by Shen Kuo and one by Su Shi, are combined into one written work.source
Crime & Justice
- Ragnvald Knaphövde, pretender to the Swedish throne, is killed by upset peasants at a local thing. Sweden is without a ruler, but Magnus Nielsen ("the Strong") claims sovereignty over Götaland.source
Culture & Society
- Rutherglen (located in South Lanarkshire) becomes one of the first of the Royal Burghs in Scotland.source
Births
- Mieszko III the Old, duke of Greater Poland (d. 1202)source
- Muneko, Japanese princess and empress (d. 1189)source
- Taira no Tokiko, Japanese Buddhist nun (d. 1185)source
- Averroes ibn Rushd, Andalusian judge and physician (d. 1198)source
- Sviatoslav III, Grand Prince of Kiev (d. 1194)source
- Eynion de Tilston, Norman knight and lord of Tilston (approximate date)source
- Michael the Syrian ("the Great"), Syriac patriarch (d. 1199)source
- Abu Madyan, Andalusian mystic and Sufi master (d. 1198)source
- Peter I of Courtenay, French nobleman (d. 1183)source
- Fan Chengda, Chinese politician, poet and geographer (d. 1193)source
- Sibylla of Burgundy, queen of Sicily (d. 1150)source
Deaths
- February 10 – William IX of Aquitaine (b. 1070s)source
- February 18 – Otto II the Black, Moravian prince (b. 1085)source
- March 8 – Urraca, queen regnant of León and Galicia (b. 1079)source
- March 8 – Queen Urraca of León ("the Reckless") dies after a 17-year reign. She is succeeded by her 21-year-old son Alfonso VII el Emperador who becomes king of León (until 1157).source
- July 30 – Cecilia of Normandy (or Cecily), English princesssource
- September 1 – Świętosława of Poland, queen of Bohemiasource
- October 1 – Morphia of Melitene, queen of Jerusalem (or 1127)source
- December 4 – Omar Khayyam, Persian mathematician (b. 1048)source
- December 13 – Henry IX the Black, duke of Bavaria (b. 1075)source
- December 29 – Wulfhilde of Saxony, duchess of Bavaria (b. 1072)source
- Al-Tutili ("Blind Poet of Tudela"), Andalusian Muwallad poetsource
- Edgar the Ætheling, uncrowned king of England (b. c. 1052)source
- Vikramaditya VI, king of the Western Chalukya Empiresource
- Winter – King Lothair III makes Henry X ("the Proud"), duke of Bavaria to succeed his late father, Henry IX ("the Black"), who has died on December 13.source