Middle Ages
Stefan Nemanja: Founder of Serbia's Nemanjić Dynasty, c. 1166
Nemanja made Serbia an independent regional power and founded the Nemanjić dynasty, which ruled Serbia until 1371.
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
Averroes (Ibn Rushd): Philosopher of Cordoba and Aristotle
Ibn Rushd's commentaries made him the leading interpreter of Aristotle for medieval Jewish and Latin Christian scholars, who called him simply 'the Commentator'.
Middle Ages
Saladin: Sultan of Egypt and Syria and Foe of the Crusaders
Saladin united Egypt and Syria under the Ayyubid dynasty, destroyed the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187 and retook Jerusalem, which he held against the Third Crusade.
Middle Ages
Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland (1169): Strongbow Arrives
Anglo-Norman lords seized much of eastern Ireland, and Henry II's arrival in 1171 established the English crown's claim to lordship over Ireland.
Middle Ages
Murder of Thomas Becket (1170): Death in Canterbury Cathedral
Becket was killed in his own cathedral; he was canonised in 1173, Henry II did public penance, and Canterbury became one of Europe's great pilgrimage centres.
Middle Ages
Leaning Tower of Pisa: Why the Medieval Bell Tower Tilts
The campanile was completed in the fourteenth century with a permanent tilt, which engineers reduced and stabilised between 1990 and 2001.
Middle Ages
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem: The Leper King Who Fought Saladin
Baldwin IV held the Kingdom of Jerusalem together against Saladin for eleven years, but died at 23 leaving a divided court and a child heir.
Middle Ages
Battle of Myriokephalon (1176): Manuel I's Defeat in Anatolia
Seljuk victory; Manuel agreed to dismantle frontier forts, and Byzantium gave up its plans to conquer Konya.
Middle Ages
Battle of Legnano (1176): Lombard League Defeats Barbarossa
Decisive victory for the Lombard League; Frederick made peace with the pope in 1177 and recognised the cities' self-government at Constance in 1183.
Middle Ages
Battle of Montgisard (1177): Baldwin IV Defeats Saladin
Decisive crusader victory; Saladin's army was routed and he retreated to Egypt with heavy losses.
Middle Ages
Cham Sack of Angkor (1177): Champa's Raid on the Khmer Capital
Cham forces plundered the Khmer capital and killed its king, but Jayavarman VII drove them out, took the throne in 1181 and later conquered Champa.
Middle Ages
Genpei War (1180-1185): Taira and Minamoto Clash for Japan
Minamoto victory; the Taira were destroyed and Minamoto no Yoritomo built the Kamakura warrior government.