1135 CE
Byland Abbey is founded in England by the Congregation of Savigny. Emperor Hui Zong dies in exile in Heilongjiang (Manchuria), having been held prisoner with his son Qin Zong since their capture in 1127. King García IV ("the Restorer") breaks with Alfonso VII, and makes common cause with the County of Portugal against Castile and León.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- September – King García IV ("the Restorer") breaks with Alfonso VII, and makes common cause with the County of Portugal against Castile and León.source
- October – Conrad III, duke of Franconia, gives up his title as King of Italy in opposition with Lothair III. He receives a pardon and recovers his estates.source
- Lothair III receives a Byzantine embassy at his court, on behalf of Emperor John II Komnenos. It offers large financial subsidies for Lothair to start a campaign against Roger II. The negotiations will last for some months.source
Conflict & Security
- Spring – Shams al-Mulk Isma'il, Seljuk ruler of Damascus, sends envoys to Imad al-Din Zengi, Seljuk ruler of Mosul, to seek his protection in exchange of Damascus. Zengi crosses the Euphrates, receiving the surrender of the city of Hama. He besieges Damascus but, due to a shortage of supplies, is forced to abandon the siege. Zengi extricates himself from Damascus, his Seljuk forces capture the fortresses at Ma'arrat and Atharib.source
- Summer – King Roger II lands with a Sicilian expeditionary force in Salerno. He splits his army, and conquers the cities of Aversa and Alife. Roger besieges Naples – but despite poor health conditions within the city, he is not able to take it, and returns again to Messina.source
- Pisans in the service of the Holy See (Diocese of Rome) sack the city of Amalfi.source
- Jin–Song War – Song forces under Yue Fei begin a counteroffensive against the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty in northern China. He defeats Jin forces, by entangling his paddle-wheel ships at the Huai River.source
- The Hammadid Emirate (modern Algeria) launches an assault against the city of Mahdia (modern Tunisia).source
Exploration & Expansion
Religion & Belief
- January 7 – King Harald IV returns with Danish reinforcements and the support of King Eric II ("the Memorable"). He captures his nephew and joint ruler Magnus IV (Sigurdsson), who is blinded, castrated – and confined in Nidarholm Abbey (located on the island of Munkholmen).source
- January – Byland Abbey is founded in England by the Congregation of Savigny.source
- May 26 – King Alfonso VII is crowned as "Emperor of All Spain" (Imperator totius Hispaniae) in the Cathedral of León. The coronation is attended by Ramon Berenguer IV (his brother-in-law), Raymond V and other Spanish nobles who recognize him as their overlord.source
- May – Council of Pisa is convened by Innocent II. The council addressed simony, schismatic clerics, heresy, as well as donations to the Templar Order.source
- August 29 – Caliph Al-Mustarshid is assassinated at Baghdad after a 17-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Al-Rashid Billah as ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate (until 1138).source
- December 26 – Stephen of Blois is crowned at Westminster Abbey in London by Archbishop William de Corbeil. Matilda (pregnant with child) and her husband Geoffrey V ("the Fair") leave for their own safety to Normandy, where she plans how to overthrow Stephen and claim the English throne for her own.source
- Buildwas Abbey is founded in England by Roger de Clinton, bishop of Coventry.source
Culture & Society
- August 15 – Emperor Lothair III receives homage from Eric II, and makes him an imperial prince at the Reichstag. His diplomatic missions to Hungary and Poland result in a tribute payment. Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth is given Pomerania and Rügen as German fiefs.source
- Queen Melisende of Jerusalem reconciles with her husband Fulk V, after a period of estrangement occasioned by her growing power, and rumors that she has had an affair with Hugh II (du Puiset), former count of Jaffa.source
Births
- Samson of Tottington, English monk and abbot (d. 1211)source
- Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani, Arabic Hanafi jurist (d. 1197)source
- Henry Fitz Eylwin, 1st Lord Mayor of London (d. 1212)source
- Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī, Persian mathematician (d. 1213)source
- Bogumilus, archbishop of Gniezno (approximate date)source
- Margaret of Navarre, queen of Sicily (approximate date)source
- Xie (Xiaozong), Chinese empress of the Song dynasty (d. 1207)source
- Maimonides, Almoravid philosopher and physician (d. 1204)source
- Magnus Haraldsson, king of Norway (approximate date)source
- Fernando Afonso, Portuguese Grand Master (d. 1207)source
- Inge I ("the Hunchback"), king of Norway (d. 1161)source
- Joachim of Fiore, Italian theologian and mystic (d. 1202)source
- André of Brienne, French nobleman (approximate date)source
- Albert of Chiatina, Italian archpriest and saint (d. 1202)source
Deaths
- February 1 – Shams al-Mulk Isma'il, Seljuk ruler (b. 1113)source
- February 6 – Elvira of Castile, queen of Sicily (b. 1100)source
- February 9 – Taizong, emperor of the Jin dynasty (b. 1075)source
- May – Rainier (or Renier), marquess of Montferrat (b. 1084)source
- June 4 – Huizong, emperor of the Song dynasty (b. 1082)source
- June 4 – Emperor Hui Zong dies in exile in Heilongjiang (Manchuria), having been held prisoner with his son Qin Zong since their capture in 1127.source
- August 9 – Wartislaw I, duke of Pomerania (b. 1091)source
- August 29 – Al-Mustarshid, Abbasid caliph (b. 1092)source
- December 1 – King Henry I dies at Lyons-la-Forêt in Normandy after a 35-year reign. He is succeeded by his nephew Stephen of Blois (grandson of William the Conqueror), who asserts his claim to the throne in opposition to claims by Henry's daughter Matilda (prolonged in a civil war known as The Anarchy).source
- Yuanwu Keqin, Chinese Chan Buddhist monk (b. 1063)source
- Gerald de Windsor, English nobleman (b. 1075)source
- Liang Hongyu ("Red Jade"), Chinese female general (b. 1102)source
- Gisela of Burgundy, marchioness of Montferrat, French noblewoman (b. 1075)source
- Harald Kesja ("the Spear"), king of Denmark (b. 1080)source