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.
In the 1130s, the 12th century.
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
- 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
Disasters & Accidents
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 (died 1211)source
- Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani, Arabic Hanafi jurist (died 1197)source
- Henry Fitz Eylwin, 1st Lord Mayor of London (died 1212)source
- Rudolf of Zähringen, German archbishop (died 1191)source
- Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī, Persian mathematician (died 1213)source
- Bogumilus, archbishop of Gniezno (approximate date)source
- Margaret of Navarre, queen of Sicily (approximate date)source
- William of the White Hands, French archbishop (died 1202)source
- Hafsa bint al-Hajj al-Rukuniyya, Andalusian poet (died 1190)source
- Abu Yaqub Yusuf, caliph of the Almohad Caliphate (died 1184)source
- Maimonides, Almoravid philosopher and physician (died 1204)source
- Fernando Afonso, Portuguese Grand Master (died 1207)source
- Inge I ("the Hunchback"), king of Norway (died 1161)source
- Joachim of Fiore, Italian theologian and mystic (died 1202)source
Deaths
- February 1 – Shams al-Mulk Isma'il, Seljuk ruler (born 1113)source
- February 6 – Elvira of Castile, queen of Sicily (born 1100)source
- February 9 – Taizong, emperor of the Jin dynasty (born 1075)source
- May – Rainier (or Renier), marquess of Montferrat (born 1084)source
- June 4 – Huizong, emperor of the Song dynasty (born 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 (born 1091)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
- August 29 – Al-Mustarshid, Abbasid caliph (born 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
- December 1 – Henry I, king of England (born 1068)source
- Gerald de Windsor, English nobleman (born 1075)source
- Liang Hongyu ("Red Jade"), Chinese female general (born 1102)source
- Harald Kesja ("the Spear"), king of Denmark (born 1080)source
- Bishop Ua Cattan — Archbishop of Uí CheinnsealaighIrelandsource
- Diarmaid Ua Madadhan, King of Síol Anmchadha and Uí MaineIrelandsource