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1137 AD Emperor John II Komnenos leads a Byzantine expeditionary force into Cilicia (the Byzantine fleet guards his flank). He defeats the Armenians under Prince Leo I ("Lord of the Mountains"), and captures the cities of Mersin, Tarsus, Adana and Mamistra. Leo retreats to the great fortifications of Anazarbus – where its garrison resists for 37 days. The Byzantine siege engines batter down its walls, and the city is forced to surrender. Leo escapes into the Taurus Mountains, while the Byzantine forces march southward into the plain of Antioch.

1138 AD Emperor John II continues his advance into Syria and arrives before the walls of Aleppo on April 20. The city proves too strong to attack, but the fortresses of Biza'a, Athareb, Maarat al-Numan and Kafartab are taken by assault. While the Byzantines besiege the city of Shaizar, the Crusader allies Prince Raymond of Poitiers of Antioch and Count Joscelin II of Edessa remain in their camp playing dice! The Byzantines go on to besiege the capital of the Munqidhite Emirate. They capture the lower city on May 20 but fail to take the citadel. John negotiates with Emir Abu'l Asakir Sultan – who sends him an offer to pay a large indemnity and become a vassal of the Byzantine Empire. John, disgusted by his Crusader allies, accepts the terms and raises the siege on May 21.

Bump

1139 - Cosmos 1139 was a Soviet photo surveillance satellite launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz rocket. The spacecraft performed mapping, geodesy, earth resources tasks.

Starlink 1140 was launched January 29, 2020, from the United States. It is currently, at the time of this writing, a few minutes away from crossing almost directly over the town of Carnarvon, Western Australia, Australia.

Delta Airlines Flight 1141 crashed on take of from Dallas/Fort Worth on 31st August 1988 resulting in 14 deaths.

1142 ΑD Emperor John II Komnenos and his sons lead a Byzantine expeditionary force across Anatolia to Antalya. He drives back the Seljuks and Turcomans – who again are trying to invade Phrygia. John II establishes a supply base for his further campaigns at Antalya. While waiting for reinforcements, his eldest son Alexios, his heir, falls ill and dies. His other two sons, Andronikos and Isaac are tasked to escort the body, but during the voyage, Andronikos also dies. John continues his campaign against the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia – to re-conquer the fortresses that the Danishmends have taken. He appears by forced marches at Turbessel in mid-September. Meanwhile, Isaac brings the corpses of his two brothers back to Constantinople, where they are entombed in the Pantokrator Monastery. Soon they will have company...

1143 AD Emperor John II 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.

1144: The Roman Commune is established in the face of a Norman invasion of the Papal States, deposing the Pope as temporal lord. For a brief time, they were functionally independent, and, while they were ultimately defeated by an invading army from the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick Barbarossa, Roman civil government was never again in the hands of the papacy.

1145 year of birth of Aoife MacMurrough (or Eva of Leinster), daughter of Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, and wife of Strongbow (see the entry for 1130).

1146 AD 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 went.

1147 AD Three forces begin the travel to the Holy Land. The Anglo-German travels by ship and stop in Portugal to help with the war there against the infidels. The German goes by foot and is destroyed in the battle of Doryleum. the first part of French makes it to Antioch but they fail to take Damascus and king Luis VII returns home, while the second part travels by sea but the death of their leader Alfonso of Toulouse in Tripoli (allegedly assassinated by poison) makes them turn back.

1048

City of Oslo is founded by Harald Hardrada, of 1066 fame

Not 1048, 1148's turn it is!

1148 AD Anna Komnene writes the Alexiad, a biography of her father, the late Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.

1149 AD
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.(Wikipedia)

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. 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. (Wikipedia)

1150 AD The temple at Angkor Wat is completed in the Khmer Empire in what is today Cambodia. Lost for centuries is discovered intact by a French naturalist by chance.

1151 saw the death of Geoffrey of Anjou, founder of the House of Plantagenet and father of Henry II, first Plantagenet king of England.

Had he lived three years more he'd seen his son King of England.

1152 AD Frederick (Barbarossa) is crowned king of Germany, his crowning as head of the Holy Roman Empire will be after two years.

1153

Smith Laboratory 1153,a lecture hall at Ohio State University, has 221 seats.

1154 Henry II (see 1151) becomes King of England on the death of his predecessor Stephen.

1155 AD On February 28, Henry the Young King is born to Henry II. Ironically enough he will never be king as he dies before his father.

1156 the lowest centred 11-gonal number that is also octohedral

1157 AD On September 5, Richard is born to Henry II. He will be known as the Lionheart and be the most Legendary king of England after Arthur of Kamelot.