1156 CE
Freeholder Lalli slays the English missionary-bishop Henry with an axe, on the ice of Lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland (according to legend). The Hōgen rebellion, a dispute between Emperor Go-Shirakawa and his half-brother retired-Emperor Sutoku, erupts in Japan. King Sverker I (the Elder) is murdered on his way to church. He is succeeded by his rival, Eric IX (the Holy), as ruler of Sweden.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- September 17 – Frederick I makes the Margraviate of Austria a duchy and gives the Babenberg Dynasty special privileges (the Privilegium Minus).source
Conflict & Security
- May 28 – King William I (the Bad) lands with a Sicilian expeditionary force in Apulia. He defeats the Byzantine army at Brindisi and recaptures Bari.source
- July 28 – The Hōgen rebellion, a dispute between Emperor Go-Shirakawa and his half-brother retired-Emperor Sutoku, erupts in Japan.source
- The independent city-state Sfax revolts against Norman occupation. Almohad forces conquer the city and massacre the Christian citizens.source
Religion & Belief
- January 20 – Freeholder Lalli slays the English missionary-bishop Henry with an axe, on the ice of Lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland (according to legend).source
- June 18 – Pope Adrian IV comes to terms, and signs the Treaty of Benevento. He recognises the suzerainty of William I as ruler of Sicily and Italy.source
Crime & Justice
Culture & Society
- June 9 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) marries Beatrice I, daughter of Reginald III, adding the County of Burgundy to the Holy Roman Empire.source
- Yuri Dolgorukiy, Grand Prince of Kiev, founds and fortifies the town of Moscow and erects a wooden Kremlin within the settlement (approximate date).source
Births
- January 6 – Matilda of England, daughter of Henry II (d. 1189)source
- October 27 – Raymond VI, French nobleman (d. 1222)source
- Sayf al-Din al-Amidi, Ayyubid jurist (d. 1233)source
- Robert of Auxerre, French chronicler (d. 1212)source
- Hōjō Masako, Japanese noblewoman (d. 1225)source
- Gaucelm Faidit, French troubadour (d. 1209)source
- Isaac II Angelos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1204)source
- Abu Said al-Baji, Almohad Sufi scholar (d. 1231)source
- Magnus V Erlingsson, king of Norway (d. 1184)source
- Zhang Congzheng, Chinese physician (d. 1228)source
Deaths
- January 17 – André de Montbard, French noblemansource
- January 20 – Henry, English bishop and missionarysource
- January 31 – Herman van Horne, bishop of Utrechtsource
- February – Domenico Morosini, doge of Venice (House of Morosini), dies after an 8-year reign. He is succeeded by Vitale II Michiel as ruler of Venice.source
- July 20 – Toba, Japanese emperor (b. 1103)source
- August 4 – Otto IV, German nobleman (b. 1083)source
- August 12 – Blanca of Navarre, queen of Castilesource
- November 20 – Henry I, German nobleman (b. 1115)source
- December 2 – William IX, count of Poitiers (b. 1153)source
- December 25 – Sverker I (the Elder), king of Swedensource
- December 25 – Peter the Venerable, French monk and abbotsource
- Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, Irish king (b. 1088)source
- Atsiz, Persian ruler of the Khwarazmian Empiresource
- Domenico Morosini, doge of Venice (House of Morosini)source