/year

The 1180s

353 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.

1180 CE42 entries

  • January 13 – Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, is stripped of his duchies and all his imperial fiefs at an Imperial Diet in Würzburg for violating the king's peace. On April 13, Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa issues the Gelnhausen Charter, formally dissolving Henry's former domains. A portion of Saxony is reorganized as the Duchy of Westphalia, while other territories are granted to his ally, Otto I the Redhead, Duke of Bavaria.
  • September 14 – Battle of Ishibashiyama: A Taira force of approximately 3,000 men, led by Ōba Kagechika, defeats Minamoto no Yoritomo near Mount Fuji (in present-day Odawara). Yoritomo narrowly escapes by sea and flees to Awa Province.
  • September 24 – Emperor Manuel I Komnenos dies in Constantinople after a 37-year reign. He is succeeded by his 11-year-old son, Alexios II Komnenos, who will reign briefly as emperor of the Byzantine Empire under the regency of his mother, Maria of Antioch. Maria assumes power as regent (until 1183) and takes as her advisor and lover, Alexios Komnenos (protosebastos), a nephew of Manuel I, which causes scandal and unrest among the Byzantine populace.

1181 CE32 entries

  • January – William VIII of Montpellier frees the teaching of medicine from any monopoly in France, an origin of the University of Montpellier.
  • August 30 – Pope Alexander III dies after a 22-year pontificate at Rome. He is succeeded by the Tuscany-born Lucius III as the 171st pope of the Catholic Church.
  • Jayavarman VII defeats the Chams and assumes control over the Khmer Empire (modern Cambodia).

1182 CE45 entries

  • April – Massacre of the Latins: The Eastern Orthodox inhabitants of Constantinople massacre the Venetian, Genoan, and other Latin officials and traders who rule as agents of Empress Maria of Antioch. She is the mother and regent of 12-year-old Emperor Alexios II.
  • May – June – Béla III, king of Hungary, ravages the region of Belgrade and Barancs (modern-day Braničevo). Meanwhile, Serbia allies itself with Hungary to gain independence.
  • August – Saladin sends an Egyptian fleet to blockade Beirut and leads his forces in the Bekaa Valley. The city is strongly fortified and Baldwin IV rushes with his army up from Galilee – only pausing to collect the ships that lay in the harbors of Acre and Tyre. Failing to take Beirut by assault before the Crusaders arrived, Saladin breaks off the siege and withdraws.

1183 CE18 entries

  • June 25 – The Peace of Constance is signed, between Frederick Barbarossa and the Lombard League, forming the legal basis for the autonomy of the Italian city republics.
  • November 17 – Battle of Mizushima: The Taira Clan defeats the Minamoto Clan.
  • The Siege of Kerak is waged between the Ayyubids and the Crusaders, in which regent Guy of Lusignan refuses to fight.

1184 CE37 entries

  • February 19 – Second Battle of Uji: Japanese forces under Minamoto no Yoshinaka are defeated by his cousins, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Yoritomo, for the control of Japan.
  • May 20 – Diet of Pentecost: Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, organises a conference in Mainz. During the diet Frederick negotiates with Henry the Lion about an anti-French alliance with England.
  • June 15 – Battle of Fimreite: King Sverre of Norway defeats and kills his rival, Magnus V (Erlingsson) near Fimreite. Sverre takes the throne and becomes sole ruler of Norway (until 1202).

1185 CE44 entries

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • December – Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa grants Minamoto no Yoritomo the authority to form the first bakufu (shogunate) in Japan, ending the Genpei War.

1186 CE21 entries

  • January 27 – Constance of Sicily marries Henry (the future Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor).
  • After the death of the child-king Baldwin V, his mother succeeds him as Sibylla of Jerusalem, and appoints her disfavoured husband Guy de Lusignan king consort. This comes as a shock to Jerusalem's court, who had earlier forced the possible future Queen into promising that should she become so, she would not appoint him the title.
  • Caliph al-Nasir marries Princess Seljuki. Right after her betrothal to him, he brings her to live with him. He then sends an escort to bring her to Baghdad from Rum, consummates the marriage, and gives her priceless jewels and lavish gifts.

1187 CE47 entries

  • March 13 – Saladin leaves Damascus with his Muslim forces, and sends letters to neighboring countries, asking for volunteers for a forthcoming jihad ("Holy War"). A week later his younger brother Al-Adil, governor of Egypt, leads his forces out of Cairo towards Syria. Meanwhile, Saladin leaves an army under his 18-year-old son Al-Afdal at Busra, to keep watch on the 'Pilgrim road'.
  • April – King Guy of Lusignan summons his vassals and marches north to Nazareth, to reduce Galilee to submission.
  • November – Richard of Poitou, son of King Henry II, take the Cross to help capture Jerusalem from the Muslims. He empties his coffers for the mission and makes a deal with King William the Lion of Scotland, giving him full feudal autonomy in return for cash.

1188 CE30 entries

  • March 27 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) holds a Diet at Mainz and takes the Cross, followed by his 21-year-old son, Frederick IV, and other German nobles. He sends a delegation to present an ultimatum to Saladin in Syria on May 26. With demands to withdraw his Muslim forces from Palestina and to return the True Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
  • May – Saladin besieges the Hospitaller fortress of Krak des Chevaliers, in Syria. Seeing that the castle is too well defended, instead he decides to march on the Castle of Margat, which he also fails to capture.
  • July – Saladin marches through the Buqaia, and occupies Jabala and Lattakieh. From Lattakieh he turns inland and, after a few days of fierce fighting, takes Sahyun Castle (called Castle of Saladin) on July 29.

1189 CE37 entries