Directory

1149 CE

The 16-year-old Henry of Anjou, eldest son of Queen Matilda, lands in England in a second attempt to take the English throne from Stephen. He travels up via Salisbury and Gloucester north to Carlisle (Scotland). Battle of Inab: The Zangid army under Nur al-Din defeats the combined army of Raymond of Poitiers and the Assassins of Ali ibn Wafa at Inab. After the battle, Nur al-Din invades Antiochene territory and captures the fortresses of Artah and Harim. He then turns west to appear before the walls of Antioch itself and raids as far as St. Symeon. Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Barcelona, conquers Lleida from the Almoravids, after a siege of seven months (as well as Fraga and Mequinenza).

Conflict & Security

  • April – King Louis VII and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine sail homeward in separate Sicilian ships. While the fleet rounds the Peloponnese (southern Greece) it is attacked by ships of the Byzantine navy. Louis gives orders to raise the French flag and is allowed to sail on. But the ships containing many of his followers and his possessions are captured and taken as a war-prize to Constantinople.source
  • June 29 – Battle of Inab: The Zangid army under Nur al-Din defeats the combined army of Raymond of Poitiers and the Assassins of Ali ibn Wafa at Inab. After the battle, Nur al-Din invades Antiochene territory and captures the fortresses of Artah and Harim. He then turns west to appear before the walls of Antioch itself and raids as far as St. Symeon.source
  • July – King Baldwin III receives an urgent request for help from Antioch to break the incomplete Zangid blockade of the city. Meanwhile, the Crusaders fail to retake Harim. Nur al-Din strengthens his siege of Antioch, but it is too large to surround. A truce is agreed under which Harim and farther east territory remains under Seljuk dominance.source
  • October 24 – Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Barcelona, conquers Lleida from the Almoravids, after a siege of seven months (as well as Fraga and Mequinenza).source
  • Åhus, in present-day Sweden, gains city rights (approximate date).source
  • Spring – King Stephen besieges Worcester, but is unable to capture the castle due to its strong defences. He expels William de Beauchamp, lord of the city. Stephen builds two forts near the castle to assist in the attack.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • The Italian 'naval republics' of Genoa, Pisa and Venice finance their expanding trade within and outside Europe – trade which includes an arms industry for manufactures and merchants alike (approximate date).source

Religion & Belief

  • April 8 – Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Tusculum where he meets Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He attempts to reunite the couple by insisting to restore the love between them.source
  • July 15 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is consecrated, after reconstruction.source

Economy & Finance

  • Genoa grants the benefits of a part of the city's fiscal revenues to a consortium of creditors called compera, the first example of the consolidation of public debt in medieval Europe.source

Crime & Justice

  • Spring – Emperor Manuel I Komnenos recovers Corfu with the help of the Venetians, who defeat the Sicilian fleet. During the three-month siege, Byzantine admiral Stephen Kontostephanos is killed by a stone thrown by a catapult. Manuel prepares an offensive against the Normans; King Roger II sends a fleet (some 40 ships) under George of Antioch, to pillage the suburbs of Constantinople.source

Culture & Society

  • March – The 16-year-old Henry of Anjou, eldest son of Queen Matilda, lands in England in a second attempt to take the English throne from Stephen. He travels up via Salisbury and Gloucester north to Carlisle (Scotland).source
  • May 22 – Henry of Anjou is knighted at Carlisle by King David I. Henry acknowledges the Scottish king's right to Northumberland.source

Births

  • Majd al-Din ibn Athir, Zangid historian (d. 1210)source
  • Al-Fa'iz bi-Nasr Allah, Fatimid caliph (d. 1160)source
  • Shikishi, Japanese princess, poet and nun (d. 1201)source
  • Odon of Poznań, duke of Greater Poland (d. 1194)source
  • Minamoto no Michichika, Japanese nobleman (d. 1202)source
  • Margaritus of Brindisi, Sicilian admiral (d. 1197)source
  • Fujiwara no Kanezane, Japanese nobleman (d. 1207)source
  • Muhammad of Ghor, ruler of the Ghurid Empire (d. 1206)source
  • Ch'oe Ch'ung-hŏn, Korean ruler of Goryeo (d. 1219)source
  • Albert of Vercelli, patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 1214)source

Deaths

  • January 15 – Berengaria of Barcelona, queen of Castile (b. 1116)source
  • March 10 – Reginald I ("the One-Eyed"), count of Barsource
  • April 24 – Petronille de Chemillé, French abbesssource
  • May 8 – Bernard du Bec, French Benedictine abbotsource
  • June 29 – Raymond of Poitiers, prince of Antiochsource
  • August 28 – Mu'in al-Din Unur, Seljuk ruler of Damascussource
  • September 30 – Arnaud de Lévezou, French archbishopsource
  • October 8 – Al-Hafiz, caliph of the Fatimid Caliphatesource
  • Joseph ibn Tzaddik, Spanish Jewish rabbi and poetsource
  • Machig Labdrön, Tibetan Buddhist teacher (b. 1055)source
  • Qadi Ayyad, Almoravid imam and chief judge (b. 1083)source
  • Pedro Helías, archbishop of Santiago de Compostelasource
  • Stephen Kontostephanos, Byzantine aristocrat (b. 1107)source