The 1120s

1120 CE43 entries

• June 17 – Reconquista: Battle of Cutanda: The combined forces of Aragon and Navarre under King Alfonso the Battler crush the Almoravid army near Calamocha. Alfonso recaptures the fortified towns of Calatayud and Daroca.
• August–September (the eighth month of the Chinese calendar) – Wanyan Xiyin, a Jurchen nobleman and minister, completes the design of the first version of the Jurchen script.
• November 25 – The White Ship sinks in the English Channel off Barfleur. Henry I's only legitimate son, William Adelin, is among 300 (many of them Anglo-Norman nobility) who drown.

1121 CE32 entries

• March 2 – Petronilla of Lorraine becomes regent of Holland (Low Countries) after her husband, Floris II ("the Fat") dies. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old son Dirk VI (Theodoric).
• August 12 – Battle of Didgori: King David IV ("the Builder") of Georgia with a Georgian army of 55,600 men) defeats the 300,000-strong Seljuk coalition forces at Mount Didgori.
• December 25 (Christmas Day) – The Praemonstratensian Order (Norbertines) is formed, when a group of canons make solemn vows at Prémontré.

1122 CE28 entries

• February 13 – Al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi is formally proclaimed vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate by Caliph al-Amir.
• August 8 – A Venetian fleet under Doge Domenico Michiel with well over a hundred ships sets sail from Venice, carrying an army of around 15,000 men and siege-material on the Venetian Crusade. The fleet departs for Palestine – but the Venetians pause to attack Corfu (this in retaliation for the refusal of John II to renew exclusive trading privileges). For six months, throughout the winter of 1122–23, the Venetians lay siege to the Byzantine island.
• September 23 – The Concordat of Worms: Emperor Henry V recognizes freedom of election of the clergy and promises to restore all Church property. This brings an end to the power struggle between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, known as the Investiture Controversy. In the aftermath, Cappenberg Abbey is founded by Count Gottfried II for the new order of Premonstratensians.

1123 CE37 entries

• March 18 – The First Council of the Lateran convenes in Rome; it confirms the 1122 Concordat of Worms and demands clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church.
• March 25 – St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, commonly known as Barts, is founded by Rahere, a favourite courtier of King Henry I; it is now the oldest hospital in the United Kingdom operating on its original site.
• April 18 – King Baldwin II of Jerusalem is captured by Turkish forces under Belek Ghazi – while preparing to practice falconry near Gargar on the Euphrates. Most of the Crusader army is massacred, and Baldwin is taken to the castle at Kharput. To save the situation the Venetians are asked to help. Doge Domenico Michiel lifts the siege of Corfu (see 1122) and takes his fleet to Acre, arriving at the port in the end of May.

1124 CE9 entries

1125 CE40 entries

• May 23 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, dies of cancer in Utrecht after leading an expedition against King Louis VI ("the Fat") of France and then against the citizens of Worms. Having no legitimate children, Henry leaves his possessions to his nephew, Frederick II ("the One-Eyed"), duke of Swabia. At the Hoftag diet in Regensburg, Lothair, duke of Saxony, is elected King of Germany and crowned at Aachen on September 13.
• October 3 – Al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi, the vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate, is dismissed and imprisoned by Caliph al-Amir.
• November – Jin–Song War: Emperor Taizong of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty declares war on the Chinese Song dynasty – and orders his armies to invade Song territory. He sends the Western army to the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi province and the Eastern army to Bianjing (modern-day Kaifeng), the Song capital. The Song forces are not expecting an invasion and are caught off guard.

1126 CE40 entries

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

1127 CE32 entries

• January 9 – Jin–Song Wars: Jurchen forces sack the Chinese capital of Kaifeng of the Northern Song dynasty during the Jingkang incident. They capture Emperor Qinzong, along with his father, Huizong, and members of the House of Zhao.
• March 2 – Charles the Good, count of Flanders, is murdered by a band of knights while praying in church; he leaves no children. King Louis VI of France appoints William Clito (son of Robert Curthose) as new ruler. But the Flemish towns of Bruges, Ghent, Saint-Omer and Ypres recognize (with English financial support) Thierry of Alsace as rival count.
• December 18 – Conrad III (with support of the imperial cities, Swabia and Austria) is elected and crowned as anti-king of Germany at Nuremberg.

1128 CE42 entries

• June 24 – Battle of São Mamede: Count Alfonso I (Henriques) defeats the forces led by his mother, Queen Theresa of Portugal, near Guimarães, and gains control of the county. Alfonso styles himself "Prince of Portugal".
• June 29 – Conrad III, anti-king of Germany, is crowned "King of Italy" by Archbishop Anselmo della Pusterla at Monza in Lombardy.
• November 24 – Waverley Abbey is founded by Bishop William Giffard in the south of England. The first abbot and 12 Cistercian monks are brought from L'Aumône Abbey in Normandy.

1129 CE26 entries

• January 23 – Henry of Blois becomes bishop of Winchester after the death of William Giffard (who was also Lord Chancellor to King Henry I) in England.
• April 14 – Following the Capetian tradition, King Louis VI (the Fat) has his eldest son Philip crowned as co-ruler of France at Rheims Cathedral. Louis himself becomes the national protector of all France.
• April 20 – Gao Zong regains the throne (with the support of the imperial army led by General Han Shizhong). Zhao Fu is forced to abdicate with Meng having ruled for 25 days.