Directory

1185 CE

The 23-year-old Baldwin IV of Jerusalem ("the Leper King") dies of leprosy after a 10-year reign. He is succeeded by his 8-year-old nephew, Baldwin V, as the sole ruler of Jerusalem under the regency of Count Raymond of Tripoli. The child-king becomes a pawn in the politics of the kingdom, between his mother Sibylla of Jerusalem (sister of Baldwin IV) and her younger half-sister Isabella I. 12 – Isaac II Angelos leads a revolt in Constantinople and deposes Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos. Andronikos tries in vain to flee across Asia but is captured and killed by an angry mob. Isaac is proclaimed emperor, ending the Komnenos Dynasty. Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa grants Minamoto no Yoritomo the authority to form the first bakufu (shogunate) in Japan, ending the Genpei War.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • July – Treaty of Boves: King Philip II of France signs a treaty to ensure his authority over his vassals, with Amiénois, Artois and other places in northern France passing to him. Philip is given the nickname "Augustus" by the monk Rigord for augmenting French lands.source
  • September – Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, returns to Germany after being banished for three years by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor.source
  • December – Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa grants Minamoto no Yoritomo the authority to form the first bakufu (shogunate) in Japan, ending the Genpei War.source

Conflict & Security

  • March 22 – Battle of Yashima: Japanese forces (with some 140 ships, 1,000 cavalry and 30,000 horses) under Minamoto no Yoshitsune defeat the Taira clan just off Shikoku in the Seto Inland Sea.source
  • April 25 – Battle of Dan-no-Ura: The Japanese fleet (some 300 ships) led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune defeats the fleet of the Taira clan in the Shimonoseki Strait.source
  • August – King William II of Sicily ("the Good") lands in Epirus with a Siculo-Norman expeditionary force of 200 ships and 80,000 men (including 5,000 knights) and marches as far as the Byzantine city of Thessaloniki, which he takes and pillages, massacring some 7,000 Greek citizens.source
  • November 7 – Battle of Demetritzes: A reinforced Byzantine army under Alexios Branas decisively defeats William II, ending his invasion of the Byzantine Empire. Thessaloniki is recaptured, and the Normans are pushed back to Italy. Many Norman ships are lost to storms.source
  • Uprising of Asen and Peter: Peter and Ivan Asen lead a revolt of the Vlachs and Bulgars against the Byzantine Empire, eventually establishing the Second Bulgarian Empire.source
  • Igor Svyatoslavich's failed campaign against the Cumans, later immortalized in The Tale of Igor's Campaign, takes place this year.source

Religion & Belief

  • August 15 – The cave monastery of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar I of Georgia. She marries Yury Bogolyubsky, Grand Prince of Novgorod.source
  • Evidence is first uncovered that Henry II of England is using the safes of the Temple Church in London (consecrated February 10), under the guard of the Knights Templar, to store part of his treasure.source
  • The Almohad forces under Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur reconquer Béjaïa and Algiers, that have been taken by the Banu Ghaniya, descendants of the Almoravids.source

Science & Discovery

  • May 1 – The Solar eclipse of 1 May 1185, visible across Central America, Northern and Eastern Europe and Kazakhstan, occurs.source

Crime & Justice

  • September 11–12 – Isaac II Angelos leads a revolt in Constantinople and deposes Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos. Andronikos tries in vain to flee across Asia but is captured and killed by an angry mob. Isaac is proclaimed emperor, ending the Komnenos Dynasty.source

Climate & Environment

  • April 15 – 1185 East Midlands earthquake occurs. It is the first earthquake in England for which there are reliable reports indicating the damage, which includes destruction of Lincoln Cathedral.source
  • Saladin agrees to a 4-year truce due to severe drought and famine which has struck Palestine. The treaty is signed by Count Raymond of Tripoli and important nobles from Jerusalem. Commerce is renewed between the Crusader States and their Muslim neighbors. A flow of corn from the east saves the Crusaders and the population from starvation.source

Births

  • April 23 – Afonso II ("the Fat"), king of Portugal (d. 1223)source
  • Shams Tabrizi, Persian poet and writer (d. 1248)source
  • Tancred of Siena, Italian missionary (d. 1241)source
  • Alexander of Hales, English philosopher (d. 1245)source
  • Michael of Chernigov, Kievan Grand Prince (d. 1246)source
  • Patrick II, Earl of Dunbar, Anglo-Scottish nobleman (d. 1249)source
  • Raymond Roger Trencavel, French nobleman (d. 1209)source
  • Dietrich V, German nobleman (approximate date)source
  • Inge II (Bårdsson), king of Norway (d. 1217)source
  • Engelbert II, archbishop of Cologne (approximate date)source
  • Robert III, count of Dreux and Braine (d. 1234)source
  • Gerard III, count of Guelders and Zutphen (d. 1229)source
  • Angelus of Jerusalem, Israeli priest and martyr (d. 1220)source
  • Gertrude of Merania, queen of Hungary (d. 1213)source

Deaths

  • February 9 – Theodoric I, margrave of Lusatia (b. 1130)source
  • March 16 – The 23-year-old Baldwin IV of Jerusalem ("the Leper King") dies of leprosy after a 10-year reign. He is succeeded by his 8-year-old nephew, Baldwin V, as the sole ruler of Jerusalem under the regency of Count Raymond of Tripoli. The child-king becomes a pawn in the politics of the kingdom, between his mother Sibylla of Jerusalem (sister of Baldwin IV) and her younger half-sister Isabella I.source
  • April 25 – Battle of Dan-no-Ura:source
  • May 30 – Constantine Makrodoukas, Byzantine noblemansource
  • June 16 – Richeza of Poland, queen consort of Castile (b. 1140)source
  • June 19 – Taira no Munemori, Japanese samurai (b. 1147)source
  • July 18 – Stefan, archbishop of Uppsala (b. before 1143)source
  • September 11 – Stephen Hagiochristophorites, Byzantine officialsource
  • September 12 – Andronikos I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor, assassinated (b. 1118)source
  • September – John Komnenos (son of Andronikos I), Byzantine co-emperor, assassinated (b. 1159)source
  • November 25 – Pope Lucius III dies after a 4-year pontificate in exile at Verona. He is succeeded by Urban III as the 172nd pope of the Catholic Church (until 1187).source
  • November 25 – Lucius III, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1097)source
  • December 6 – King Afonso I of Portugal ("the Great") dies after a 36-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Sancho I ("the Populator") as ruler of Portugal.source
  • Ibn Tufail, Arab-Andalusian polymath and writer (b. 1105)source