The Lewis chessmen
Rooks shaped as berserkers biting their shields
These 12th-century walrus-ivory pieces, probably made in Norway, were found in 1831 on the Scottish Isle of Lewis. Many have comically anxious faces, and four of the rooks are berserkers biting the rims of their shields in battle fury.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 12th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1136 The Novgorod Republic — 14 years earlier
Africa
- 1147 The Almohads take Marrakesh — 3 years earlier
Asia
- 1127 The Jingkang incident — 23 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Saladin (aged 13)
- Hildegard of Bingen (aged 52)
- Yuri Dolgoruky (aged 51)
- Andrey Bogolyubsky (aged 39)
- Averroes (Ibn Rushd) (aged 24)
- Henry II (aged 17)
- Minamoto no Yoritomo (aged 3)
- Anna Komnene (aged 67)
- Li Qingzhao (aged 66)
- Conrad III (aged 57)