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"). 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). Rutherglen (located in South Lanarkshire) becomes one of the first of the Royal Burghs in Scotland.

In the 1120s, the 12th century.

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
  • Diarmaid mac Murchadha becomes King of MunsterIrelandsource

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

Culture & Society

  • Adelard of Bath, an English philosopher, translates Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī's arithmetic and astronomical works into Latin.source
  • Two previously written Chinese pharmaceutical works, one by Shen Kuo and one by Su Shi, are combined into one written work.source
  • 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 (died 1202)source
  • Muneko, Japanese princess and empress (died 1189)source
  • Taira no Tokiko, Japanese Buddhist nun (died 1185)source
  • Averroes ibn Rushd, Andalusian judge and physician (died 1198)source
  • Sviatoslav III, Grand Prince of Kiev (died 1194)source
  • Eynion de Tilston, Norman knight and lord of Tilston (approximate date)source
  • Michael the Syrian ("the Great"), Syriac patriarch (died 1199)source
  • Abu Madyan, Andalusian mystic and Sufi master (died 1198)source
  • Peter I of Courtenay, French nobleman (died 1183)source
  • Fan Chengda, Chinese politician, poet and geographer (died 1193)source
  • Sibylla of Burgundy, queen of Sicily (died 1150)source

Deaths

  • February 10 – William IX of Aquitaine (born 1070s)source
  • February 18 – Otto II the Black, Moravian prince (born 1085)source
  • March 8 – Urraca, queen regnant of León and Galicia (born 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 (born 1048)source
  • December 13 – Henry IX the Black, duke of Bavaria (born 1075)source
  • December 29 – Wulfhilde of Saxony, duchess of Bavaria (born 1072)source
  • Edgar the Ætheling, uncrowned king of England (born c. 1052)source
  • 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
  • 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
  • Mael Ísa Ua Coinne, Irish lawyerIrelandsource