1149 Explained

Year 1149 (MCXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Spring  - Emperor Manuel I (Komnenos) recovers Corfu with the help of the Venetians, who defeat the Sicilian fleet. During the three-month siege, Byzantine admiral Stephen Kontostephanos is killed by a stone thrown by a catapult. Manuel prepares an offensive against the Normans; King Roger II sends a fleet (some 40 ships) under George of Antioch, to pillage the suburbs of Constantinople.^[1]

Levant

• Spring  - Nur al-Din, Seljuk ruler (atabeg) of Aleppo, invades the Principality of Antioch and defeats the Crusaders under Raymond of Poitiers at Baghras. He moves southward to besiege the fortress of Inab, one of the few strongholds of the Crusaders east of the Orontes River. Raymond with a small army (supported by the Assassin allies under Ali ibn Wafa) hurries to its rescue. Nur al-Din, misinformed of the strength of the Crusader forces, retreats. In fact the Zangid forces (some 6,000 men) outnumber the Crusaders by over four to one. Against Ali's advice Raymond decides to reinforce the garrison of Inab.^[2]
• April  - King Louis VII and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine sail homeward in separate Sicilian ships. While the fleet rounds the Peloponnese (southern Greece) it is attacked by ships of the Byzantine navy. Louis gives orders to raise the French flag and is allowed to sail on. But the ships containing many of his followers and his possessions are captured and taken as a war-prize to Constantinople.^[3]
• 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.^[4]
• July  - King Baldwin III receives an urgent request for help from Antioch to break the incomplete Zangid blockade of the city. Meanwhile, the Crusaders fail to retake Harim.^[5] Nur al-Din strengthens his siege of Antioch, but it is too large to surround. A truce is agreed under which Harim and farther east territory remains under Seljuk dominance.
• July 15  - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is consecrated, after reconstruction.

Europe

• The Italian 'naval republics' of Genoa, Pisa and Venice finance their expanding trade within and outside Europe – trade which includes an arms industry for manufactures and merchants alike (approximate date).
• 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).^[6]
• Åhus, in present-day Sweden, gains city rights (approximate date).

Britain

• Spring  - King Stephen besieges Worcester, but is unable to capture the castle due to its strong defences. He expels William de Beauchamp, lord of the city. Stephen builds two forts near the castle to assist in the attack.
• 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).
• May 22  - Henry of Anjou is knighted at Carlisle by King David I. Henry acknowledges the Scottish king's right to Northumberland.

By topic

Commerce

• Genoa grants the benefits of a part of the city's fiscal revenues to a consortium of creditors called compera, the first example of the consolidation of public debt in medieval Europe.^[7]

Religion

• April 8  - Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Tusculum where he meets Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He attempts to reunite the couple by insisting to restore the love between them.^[8]

Births

• Albert of Vercelli, patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 1214)
• Al-Fa'iz bi-Nasr Allah, Fatimid caliph (d. 1160)
• Ch'oe Ch'ung-hŏn, Korean ruler of Goryeo (d. 1219)
• Fujiwara no Kanezane, Japanese nobleman (d. 1207)
• Majd al-Din ibn Athir, Zangid historian (d. 1210)
• Margaritus of Brindisi, Sicilian admiral (d. 1197)
• Minamoto no Michichika, Japanese nobleman (d. 1202)
• Muhammad of Ghor, ruler of the Ghurid Empire (d. 1206)
• Odon of Poznań, duke of Greater Poland (d. 1194)
• Shikishi, Japanese princess, poet and nun (d. 1201)

Deaths

• January 15  - Berengaria of Barcelona, queen of Castile (b. 1116)
• March 10  - Reginald I (the One-Eyed), count of Bar
• April 24  - Petronille de Chemillé, French abbess
• May 8  - Bernard du Bec, French Benedictine abbot
  • June 29  - Raymond of Poitiers, prince of Antioch August 28  - Mu'in al-Din Unur, Seljuk ruler of Damascus
• September 30  - Arnaud de Lévezou, French archbishop
• October 8  - Al-Hafiz, caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate
• Joseph ibn Tzaddik, Spanish Jewish rabbi and poet
• Machig Labdrön, Tibetan Buddhist teacher (b. 1055)
• Pedro Helías, archbishop of Santiago de Compostela
• Qadi Ayyad, Almoravid imam and chief judge (b. 1083)
• Stephen Kontostephanos, Byzantine aristocrat (b. 1107)

Notes and References

1. [John Julius Norwich|Norwich, John]
2. [Steven Runciman]
3. Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 232. .
4. Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, p. 266. .
5. David Nicolle (2009). The Second Crusade 1148: Disaster outside Damascus, p. 83. .
6. McGrank. Lawrence. Norman crusaders and the Catalan reconquest: Robert Burdet and te principality of Tarragona 1129-55. Journal of Medieval History. 1981. 7. 1. 67–82. 10.1016/0304-4181(81)90036-1.
7. Munro. John H.. The Medieval Origins of the Financial Revolution. The International History Review. 2003. 25. 3. 506–562. 10.1080/07075332.2003.9641005. 152336222.
8. Norwich, John (2012). The Popes: A History. London: Vintage. .