| abstract
| - Central-Eastern Europe: Grand Prince Andrew I Bogolyubsky of Rostov, Vladimir and Suzdal' is murdered by some disgruntled boyars (nobles). A civil war for his succession is settled in favor of Vsevolod III the Big Nest after the Battle of the Moskva River, where White Ruthenian forces from Polotsk/Palteskei, eastern Galindian (Balts) and Muromjan (Finns) tribesmen help the winning side. Moscow is burnt and its inhabitants slain during the conflict. Southern Europe: Milan is rebuilt from scratch under Church protection on impulse of archbishop Galdino, regaining a considerable commercial role in the midst of the Lombard plain (*OTL Padan plain). British Isles: Richard Strongbow de Clare dies during an Irish revolt. High King Rory O'Connor of Connacht and earl Madoc of Dublin vie for the possessions of Leinster, with the latter marrying Aoife, Richard's widow, and gaining the legitimacy to rule, but not full control over the disputed territories. Southern Europe: Arrigo I the City-Razer, king of Lombardy and Sardinia, dies, succeeded by his nephew Berengario II; the Lombard Comuni breathe with relief at the news :D . The Marquis of Carretto Enrico I il Guercio gains the marchional title also over Savona, expanding his influence over the Ponente (western) side of Liguria. George, the young Rurikid ruler of Drystra/Silistra, conquers Vidin from the Hungarians and is hailed as Czar of the Vlachs and Bulgarians after previous victories over Byzantines and western Cumans; he holds sway astride the lower Danube from the Iron Gate to the Black Sea, and from the Transylvanian Alps to the Vlachorai (*OTL Balkan range proper). Byzantine Empire: Raynald the Wolf, together with his ally Tedaldo di Canossa-Novellara, prince of Cyprus, and the Pisan navy, invades Byzantine Pamphilia, claiming it by the inheritance rights of his wife, Theodora of Antioch. The Byzantine army sent there is defeated by the rebellious Batiturks even before confronting the Crusaders and erupts into revolt, marching on Constantinople under the leadership of Theodore Vatatzes, duke of Paphlagonia and a distant relative of the emperor, and his son Basil. Andronicus I tries to abandon the city but is lynched :eek: by a mob with his first son Manuel, and Theodore is enthroned as the new basileus. Pamphylia is subjected to Antioch, with the port of Attalia being conceded to the Pisans. When later in the year Theodore dies, Basil succeeds him. Middle East: Salah-ad-Din of Egypt defeats a Zengid army near Damascus, then is murdered :mad: by the Nizari Assassins of Syria while besieging Aleppo. His younger brother al-Adil takes over as sultan of Egypt, rejecting Zengid suzerainty (Salah ad-Din was already campaigning against his overlords) and founding the Ayyubid dynasty. Guido of Biandrate, viceroy of Jerusalem and marquis of the Levant (Arsuf and Caesarea of Palestine) dies, succeeded by his son, William II. Byzantine Empire: John Comnenus, son of the murdered Andronicus, tries to assert his right to the imperial throne of Constantinople from his estates in Morea/Peloponnesus but, despite receiving help from both the Serbs, the Venetians and the Vlacho-Bulgarians, is finally killed at the battle of Delphi, extinguishing the main branch of the Comnenoi. Northern Europe: King Frederick II of Germany (*OTL Barbarossa) issues the City Charters to face the growth of the Communal movement in the country and reduce the power of the nobility, and asserts the royal prerogative of declaring some cities and towns free from feudal yoke and only subject to the king, while allowed to self-govern in most matters. Central-Eastern Europe: Mieszko III of Poland, a brutal despot who vainly tried to reunify the country, is driven from Cracow by his younger brother Casimir II the Just, who had remained excluded from the partition of the kingdom after the death of his father Boleslaw III Wrymouth. Middle East: Sultan al-Adil of Egypt vainly besieges the Western Imperial fortresses of Gaza and Ashqelon, being eventually driven back. Sultan Abdullah of Arabia's forces overrun and conquer the old Shi'ite emirate of Hillah (southern Iraq), tributary of the Great Seljuks of Baghdad. Far East: The Christian Nestorian Mongol tribe of the Naimans breaks free from Karakhitai supremacy. 1177-1179 Northern Europe: Norway is rocked by yet another civil war when king Haakon II Herdebrei is murdered by the supporters of his acquired uncle Jon Halkelsson, who usurps the throne. Sigurd III, brother of Haakon, together with his brothers Sverre Sigurdsson, Harald and Erik, leads the loyalist struggle supported by the Birkebeiner party, mainly composed by free peasants, as the usurper is supported by the Heklungs (nobility and the high Church). Sigurd is defeated and killed in battle with Harald and Erik early in the war, and Sverre, ousted from Nidaros/Trondheim, crosses the Scandinavian Alps to find refuge in the Swedish province of Östergötland. 1177-1181 SE Asia: The Chams sack Angkor, then the Khmer Empire is restored by Jayavarman VII, son of the late Suryavarman II. Jayavarman, a devout Buddhist who had up to then renounced arms to claim his inheritance not to spill blood:) , drives the invaders from Kampuchea/Cambodia 1178 Southern Europe: Roger III of Lesser Normandy dies, leaving the crown to his only son, Tancredi the Knight of Apulia, who finally opts for making Melfi the capital of his kingdom. The new king at once begins long conflict with both Venice and Byzantium by capturing Byzantine-held Dyrrachion, ostensibly in (unrequested:rolleyes: ) support of John Comnenus. Venice, once again alarmed, soon abandons the imperial pretender to his destiny, making a status-quo peace with Basil I Vatatzes. Byzantine Empire: Raynald the Wolf of Châtillon-Antioch is captured and put to death by the Batiturk chieftain Alpay Yusuf, who rules in Iconium establishing the Alpayoglu emirate under nominal Ortoqid suzerainty, bitterly resisted by other Batiturk tribes previously converted to Orthodox Christianity :confused: and switching allegiance between Byzantium and the Crusaders according to their own convenience. Pamphilia disintegrates into a splinter of Batiturk and Crusader holdings. Arabia: Sultan Abdullah of Arabia ousts Egyptian forces from Yemen, beginning a vicious struggle against the Yemenite Zaydis, who resist in their mountains. Far East: Chinese Song annals register the voyage of Muslim sailors to a distant land called Mu-Lan-Pi. Its identification with OTL California is highly dobtful :rolleyes: . 1179 Western Europe: Pope Alexander II (*OTL Alexander III) gives official sanction to Portugal's existence as a kingdom, for its contribution in the struggle against the Maurian Gadirotes (Cathars). The Church throws its support in a succession war on Afonso IV Vimara, supported by the local Templar Grand Master, Dom Gualdim Pais, count of Moreia (*OTL Casablanca). Castile rejects vassalage to Navarra and defeats the Navarrese at the battle of the Duero Springs. Southern Europe: The Second (*OTL Third) Lateran Council decides that future Pope-kings will be elected by a two-third majority of the cardinal electors. Pataria, Catharism, Waldism and Arnaldism are all anathematized as heresies, and temporal rulers pressured to fight them by any means: a new Crusade against these heresies is called upon. Middle East: Sultan al-Adil of Egypt captures Gaza from the Western “Roman” Empire of Sicily. India: Mu'iz-ad-Din Muhammad of Ghor assaults India, razing Multan and martyring the local claimant to the Waliate :eek: (*Sunni “Papacy”), Abdullah VIII; after failing a siege of Lahore, the last Ghaznavid stronghold, he is later repulsed by a coalition of Rajput Hindu princes in the Kurukshetra region. Far East: Taira no Kiyomori, the all-powerful chief of the Taira samurai clan, arrests the cloistered emperor of Japan Go-Shirakawa and has his own infant grandson Antoku/Tokihito made emperor, causing the start of a major rebellion by the surviving Minamoto rivals, the Genpei War. The Taira side is victorious in the first battle of Uji, where the deafeated Minamoto no Yorimasa commits suicide in the face of defeat, then burn the city of Nara where hostile Buddhist monks opposed resistance. The Minamotos, however, manage to muster further support in the northern provinces. Western Europe, North Africa: The Second Cathar Crusade unfolds in Septimania (*OTL Languedoc) and Mauretania (*OTL Morocco). In Lyon (Burgundy) the local Communal authority is overthrown and the Arnaldists and Waldensians largely massacred and forced to flee to the Alpine valleys for their lives. In Septimania hordes of petty nobles from the Norman empire and Luxemburg settle down after massacring local Cathar landlords and enserfing the peasants; king Raymond II, after practically losing half his reign, abdicates in desperation in favor of his son, Raymond III. In Mauretania the Gadirote Cathar kingdom shatters into local tribal unities as king Jacob the Perfect is killed in the conquest of Murnathya (*OTL Marrakech) at the hands of Portuguese and Andalusian Crusaders led by the Templar dom Gualdim Pais. Southern Europe: Taking part in the Second Cathar Crusade, the Hungarians overrun Bogomil Bosnia. Despite fierce massacres, heresy survives in the rugged Bosnian mountains. Kulin, a nominally Catholic Bosnian, is made the new ban (duke) under Hungarian authority, and will sucessfully protect his fellow countrymen from further persecution. North Africa: Augustine IV the Desert Knight, a shrewd adventurer from the southern Atlas, establishes the Zatwili dynasty on the throne of Lesvallia (*OTL Kabylia). Middle East: Count Bernat I of Tripoli conquers Damascus :) from local Muslim rulers and captures most of inner Lebanon. North Africa: The Kel Keris, a tribe dwelling in the Ahaggar mountains in the heart of the Zenete Desert (*OTL Sahara), to counter Banu Hilal slaving raids establish a strong military and build a Judeo-Christian theocratic State partly modeled on the earlier Zenete Compact. Central Hesperia (*OTL America): The Alcohuan tribe, migrating from the north, settles into the Valley of Anahuac/Mexico and establishes the powerful city-state of Texcoco on the shores of the lake bearing the same name.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)