The fall of Edessa
The first crusader state falls, prompting the Second Crusade
Imad al-Din Zengi, atabeg of Mosul, took Edessa after a month-long siege; it was the capital of the first state founded by the crusaders. The news shocked Europe, and Pope Eugene III called the Second Crusade. Led by the kings of France and Germany, it ended in failure before Damascus in 1148.
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Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1163–1345 Notre-Dame de Paris begun — 19 years later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1136 The Novgorod Republic — 8 years earlier
Africa
- 1147 The Almohads take Marrakesh — 3 years later
Asia
- 1127 The Jingkang incident — 17 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Saladin (aged 7)
- Hildegard of Bingen (aged 46)
- Yuri Dolgoruky (aged 45)
- Andrey Bogolyubsky (aged 33)
- Averroes (Ibn Rushd) (aged 18)
- Henry II (aged 11)
- Anna Komnene (aged 61)
- Li Qingzhao (aged 60)
- Conrad III (aged 51)
- Stephen of Blois (aged 50)