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The 1140s

381 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 12th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1140 CE43 entries

  • June 3 – Pierre Abelard, a French theologian, is condemned for heresy by the Council of Sens. He sets out for Rome to present his defense to Pope Innocent II.
  • September 8 – Sephardi Jewish philosopher Judah Halevi, having completed the Kuzari, arrives in Alexandria on a pilgrimage to Palestine.
  • December 21 – Siege of Weinsberg: Conrad III captures the castle at Weinsberg during the civil war between the Staufers and the Welfs in Germany.

1141 CE26 entries

  • February 2 – The Anarchy in the Kingdom of England – Battle of Lincoln: Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester and Empress Matilda wrest control of the throne of England from King Stephen, who is captured and imprisoned.
  • February 13 – Géza II is crowned King of Hungary and Croatia at age 11, succeeding his father.
  • May 14 – Sephardi Jewish philosopher Judah Halevi sets off from Alexandria on a pilgrimage to Palestine.

1142 CE39 entries

  • January 5 – Emperor Sutoku abdicates the throne after a 19-year reign and becomes a monk. He is succeeded by his 3-year-old brother Konoe, who accedes as the 76th emperor of Japan.
  • October 11 – Treaty of Shaoxing: The northern Jin Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty sign a peace treaty, this ending the Jurchen campaigns against the Song Dynasty in China.
  • December – Stephen lays siege to Oxford Castle, trapping Matilda and her supporters inside the city. Just before Christmas she manages to escape across the snow and ice of the frozen Thames River – dressed in white (to get past Stephen's pickets), and safely reaches Abingdon. The next day Oxford Castle surrenders to Stephen, Matilda rides with an escort to Wallingford Castle, where she seeks refuge.

1143 CE31 entries

  • April 8 – Emperor John II Komnenos Komnenos dies of a poisoned arrow wound while hunting wild boar on Mount Taurus in Cilicia. He is succeeded by his 24-year-old son Manuel I, who is chosen as his successor, in preference to his elder surviving brother Isaac. Manuel dispatches John Axouchos, his commander-in-chief (megas domestikos), to Constantinople ahead of him – with orders to arrest Isaac in the Great Palace.
  • October 5 – Treaty of Zamora: The Kingdom of Portugal is recognized by King Alfonso VII ("the Emperor") of León and Castile in the presence of his cousin, King Afonso I of Portugal and papal representatives.
  • November 13 – King Fulk of Jerusalem dies after a hunting accident in Acre. He is succeeded by his 13-year-old son Baldwin III – who is crowned as co-ruler alongside his mother, Queen Melisende on Christmas Day. Due to the political situation the Crusader States of Tripoli, Antioch and Edessa assert their independence. Raymond of Antioch demands the return of Cilicia to his principality and invades the province.

1144 CE32 entries

  • March 22 – The first example of an anti-Semitic blood libel is recorded in England, in connection with the murder of William of Norwich.
  • June 11 – The Basilica of St. Denis near Paris is completed, and consecrated in the presence of Louis VII – as the first Gothic church.
  • December 24 – Siege of Edessa: Seljuk forces led by Imad al-Din Zengi conquer the fortress city of Edessa after a four-week siege. Thousands of inhabitants are massacred – only the Muslims are spared. The women and children are sold into slavery. This eliminates the Crusader principality of Outremer. Lacking the forces to take on Zengi, Joscelin II retires to his fortress at Turbessel. There, he requests reinforcements from the Byzantines and Queen-Regent Melisende of Jerusalem. This will lead to the Pope preaching a Second Crusade.

1145 CE36 entries

  • February 15 – Pope Lucius II dies at Rome after having been hit by a stone missile during the fighting against Senatorial forces led by Giordano Pierleoni. He is succeeded after an 11-month pontificate by Eugene III who becomes the 167th pope of the Catholic Church. Eugene is forced into exile by Arnold of Brescia.
  • December 1 – Eugene III issues the bull Quantum praedecessores, calling for the Second Crusade. At Christmas, King Louis VII announces his intention of making a pilgrimage which becomes part of the Crusade.
  • Construction begins on Notre-Dame de Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France.

1146 CE31 entries

  • March 31 – Bernard of Clairvaux, commissioned by Pope Eugene III, preaches the Second Crusade at Vézelay, in Burgundy. King Louis VII of France and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, take up the cross. In a repeat of the events of 1096, Crusaders attack and massacre Jewish communities along the Rhine. Encouraged by his success, Bernard undertakes a tour in Burgundy, Lorraine and Flanders – preaching the Crusade as he goes.
  • December 25 – Diet of Speyer: King Conrad III takes the cross and secures the election of his 10-year-old son Henry as his successor in Germany.
  • The city of Bryansk (modern Russia) is first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex.

1147 CE54 entries

  • June – The Wendish Crusade: An expedition of Crusaders – composed of Germans, Saxons and Danes – expels the Obotrites from Wagria (Schleswig-Holstein). Two Danish fleets led by King Canute V in alliance with co-ruler Sweyn III, ravage the northern coast. The countryside of Mecklenburg and Pommerania is plundered and depopulated with much bloodshed, especially by German forces under Henry the Lion.
  • July 1–October 25 – Siege of Lisbon: King Afonso I of Portugal conquers Lisbon from the Taifa of Badajoz after a four-month siege, with support of English, Flemish and German Crusaders. The garrison surrenders on the guarantee that their lives will be spared. The Crusaders break the terms and take part in a bloody massacre. Afonso rules from his capital at Coimbra, takes Sintra and Santarém, and sacks Palmela.
  • October 4–5 – Louis VII arrives at Constantinople and joins with forces from Savoy under Amadeus III (his uncle) – who have taken the land route through Italy. Louis crosses the Bosporus, and leads the French crusader army into Asia Minor – where he hears in Nicaea of Conrad's defeat at the end of October. Louis sends a military escort for Conrad and agrees to rendezvous at Lopardium. The German crusaders under Otto of Freising follow the coastal road before turning inland, up the Gediz River valley to Philadelphia. Otto's force is ambushed by the Seljuk Turks, just outside Laodicea, losing many men killed or taken prisoner. Otto and the survivors struggle on to Adalia, from where they sail for the Holy Land. Others attempt to continue along the southern coast of Anatolia.

1148 CE50 entries

  • April – Southern French crusaders under Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse arrive by sea at Acre. Alfonso dies suddenly at Caesarea, resulting in the accusation that he has been poisoned by Count Raymond II of Tripoli. Most of the Provençal forces turn back and return home. Meanwhile, an unknown proportion of northern European naval crusaders (from England and Germany) arrive at Acre.
  • July – The Crusaders under Baldwin III join forces with the Crusader armies of Louis VII and Conrad III (all together some 50,000 men) at Tiberias. They march up the Jordan Valley and cross into Zangid territory.
  • October – Queen Matilda returns to Normandy, partially due to her difficulties with the Catholic Church. Without the support of Robert of Gloucester her personal fight for the English throne is over.

1149 CE39 entries

  • March – The 16-year-old Henry of Anjou, eldest son of Queen Matilda, lands in England in a second attempt to take the English throne from Stephen. He travels up via Salisbury and Gloucester north to Carlisle (Scotland).
  • June 29 – Battle of Inab: The Zangid army under Nur al-Din defeats the combined army of Raymond of Poitiers and the Assassins of Ali ibn Wafa at Inab. After the battle, Nur al-Din invades Antiochene territory and captures the fortresses of Artah and Harim. He then turns west to appear before the walls of Antioch itself and raids as far as St. Symeon.
  • October 24 – Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Barcelona, conquers Lleida from the Almoravids, after a siege of seven months (as well as Fraga and Mequinenza).