Timeline 1130-1145 (Interference)

1121-1125
ca. 1120-1130 

Northern Europe: The provinces of Östergötland and Västergötland secede from Sweden till Sverker I Kolsson, son of the ruler of the former land, reunifies the kingdom

1121 Northern Hesperia (*OTL America): Bishop Eirik of Vinlandria (*OTL Newfoundland) is killed while trying to convert (Gospel in the hand, battleaxe in the other...:D ) the native Mikkmakks of Skraelingarland (*OTL Acadia). He will be later sanctified and made into St. Erik, Protomartyr of the Hesperias. Caucasus: King David IV the Builder, with his Alan and Kipchak/Cuman allies and some hundred crusading French knights, marks a most great Iberian/Georgian victory against the Seljuks and their Danishmendiyya clients in the huge battle of Didgori:), liberating the Muslim held fortress of Tbilisi

North Africa: The able Vizier al-Afdal, a just ruler, is murdered on orders from his lord, the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt al-Amir, who falsely blames the Nizari Assassins for the fact:mad:. Such is the scandal that the Mameluk slave-soldiers revolt and kill the Caliph, replacing him with his cousin, al-Hafiz, who'll prove little more than a puppet :o in the hands of powerful generals

1122

Western Europe: The Navarrese conquer Saragossa from the local margrave of Aragon, Godofrey, a vassal of the Zenete Compact; the king of Navarra, Sancho III the Great, is now the foremost ruler in Spain

Southern Europe: Henry II of Eppenstein dies, leaving the county of Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia) to his relative Meinhard I of Lurngau-Heimöfls, count of Pustertal (South Tyrol), and Carinthia to Henry III of Sponheim. Byzantine Empire: John II Comnenus trounces once and for all the Pechenegs at Strumitza; they simply disappear from history :confused:, assimilated into the western Cuman hordes or the pastoral nomadic Vlach communities of the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans). Also the western Cuman hordes are kept at bay and beaten back at Drystra/Silistra on the lower Danube.

Central-Eastern Europe: Moldavia/Bessarabia becomes a point of contention between the Russian Rurikid principalities and the western Cumans, who are put under pressure. Foundation of Astrakhan (= As-Tarkhan, “Alan leader”) by Alans and eastern Kipchak/Cumans near the ruins of Itil, the late Khazar capital.

India: The Chauhan Rajput ruler Prithvi Raj I conquers Delhi from the Tomars.

Far East: The Jurchens/Jin defeat and the Khitan/Liao and Tangut/XiXia empire and extort tribute from them.

Central Hesperia: The Chichimec (“barbarian”) invasion overthrows the Toltec Empire in the central Mexican plateau. The Toltecs will remain for centuries an admired model for civilization and religion, like the Romans in Europe.

1122-1126

Byzantine Empire: War erupts between Venice and the Byzantines over the renewal of commercial rights, as basileus John II seeks the alliance of Pisa, who makes lesser demands;) . The Venetians first soundly defeat the Pisans at Saseno island (Albania), then proceed to conquer all of the Ionian islands and devastate the Aegean. The basileus, lacking a strong navy of its own:o, is forced to concede defeat and acknowledge Venetian domination over the empire's Mediterranean trade.

1123

Northern Europe: The Duke of Saxony Otto I von Ballenstedt-Aschersleben dies. Again civil war flames up for the Saxon ducal throne, with the undaunted Lothar of Supplinburg to make once again his bid for hegemony, supported by the Wends and his Welf allies. Fredegar of Brischna (*OTL Bressanone/Brixen), king Hermann II's champion, is defeated and killed by the Welfs of Bavaria and their Bohemian allies at the battle of Regensburg. On the contrary Albert the Bear, son of Otto I, holds his own in Saxony showing great prowess and routing a Wendic invasion at Salzwedel, where the ruler of Greater Wendia,

Pribislav Henry I from the Havolan tribe, dies in battle.

King Eystein of Norway dies, and his brother Sigurd Jorsàlfar, the increasingly insane duke of Byzantine Pamphilia, should be the heir to the trone. But Norway is seized by Harald IV Gille, a Norsemen from Ireland who claims – with good reasons – to be another illegitimate son of the late Magnus II.

Iceland rejects any tie with Norway, soon followed by the jarldom of the Orkneys, who acknowledges Alban/Scottish suzerainty. Harald's “usurpation” marks the beginning of a period of factional struggles in the country.

Southern Europe: The Hungarians, allying themselves with Byzantium and Pisa against Venice, reinvade Dalmatia and retake Spalato/Split.

Final Norman crackdown on Bari's remaining town liberty: the free republic, by now reduced to pure fiction, is abolished and the town severely punished by Roger II of Puglia and Boiano after a revolt against trade taxes.

Middle East: A new Crusader siege of Aleppo proves a failure; viceroy Arrigo/Henry I of Jerusalem dies of fever during the campaign:(, and the Crusaders hail his son Walram (Aleramo, from the name of the founder of the Montferrat family) as the new protector of the Holy Sepulchre.

While campaigning against Byzantium the Doge of Venice, Vitale Michiel, leads his men to help the Crusaders in Syria. Some of them will later settle in Byzantine Cyprus.

Middle east, Central Asia: Death of Farhad Khayyam (*OTL Omar Khayyam), a most famous Persian Zoroastrian (*OTL he was a Muslim) scientist and philosopher, noted for his astronomical skills and skeptical approach to religions.

1124

Southern Europe: The Synod of San Gall (*OTL Sankt Gallen) defines the respective rights of the Papacy and the temporal sovereigns in the field of the bishops' investitures, especially when bishops hold also temporal authority. This, of course, does not apply in the kingdom of Italy/Spoleto, where the Pope is also king.

Emperor John IV institutes the Strait Levy to allow passage of the Messina Strait; only Western imperial and Genoese ships are exempted.

The Hungarians, bribed by Venice, change side :o in the Venetian-Byzantine war and raze the border fortress of Belgrade, enforcing their domination over the Ma?va region (northern Serbia).

Byzantine Empire: The Venetians conquer the Byzantine islands of Chios and Samos (Aegean Sea).

Caucasus: The Iberians/Georgians take the capital of Danishmendiyya Ahlat/Armenia, Ani; the Danishmendid emir, Gumushtegin, moves his capital in Melitene (*OTL Malatya) and pays tribute, detaching his state from the Seljuks.

Middle East: The Crusaders, in alliance with the local Maronite Christians and Muwahiddin (*OTL Druzes), conquer Tyre and the Bekaa Valley (inner Lebanon), who are given to the county of Tripoli, and the Golan region east of the Sea of Galilee, which instead goes to the kingdom of Jerusalem. After the death of emir Balak the Ortoqid state is divided in two halves, at Marida/Mardin and Hisn Kayfa.

Far East: The western part of the weakened Khitan/Liao Empire secedes, forming the powerful Karakhitai (Black Khitan) khanate between Mongolia and Pamir, with capital in Balasagun (*in OTL Kirghizistan).

1124-1127

Northern Europe: Hermann II of Germany dies as the country is still rocked by civil war. The electoral mechanism to appoint a new king fails to materialize :o due to the war, and Hermann III rules de facto, without official sanction. King William I of Luxemburg runs in help of his relative in Germany, but is killed in the battle of Schweinfurt along with Hermann III and his brother Henry; the remaining members of the Luxemburgians of Germany take refuge in Luxemburg proper. The timely death of Henry the Black, duke of Bavaria, and the young age of his sons, save duke Albert the Bear of Saxony and another noted ally of the former king, duke Frederick II of Swabia, weakening the winning side. In the end Papal mediation manages to assemble all the Electors in Frankfurt to choose a king. The Electors put aside the young Henry the Proud of Bavaria, who is 18, and elect by a large majority the exiled Lothar of Supplinburg, who has no sons, as the new king of Germany. The electoral duchy of Franconia, till then in personal union with the German crown, is entrusted to Lothar as a repayment for the continued rule of Albert in Saxony.

1124-1138

North Africa: Zenete Mauretania (*OTL Morocco) is rocked by the Cathar War launched by the followers of the Heresiarch Stephen of Gadir (*OTL Agadir), the Gadirotes. Despite cruel persecutions and Papal excommunication, The Gadirote Cathar insurgents gradually manage to gain control of most of the country during a most violent religious war.

1125

British Isles, Western Europe: William III Adelin is crowned in Rouen as Catholic Emperor of Greater Normandy (Magna Normannia) by Pope Honorius II, who also makes him the ultimate feudal suzerain of all Crusader lands in the Levant. In exchange, further riches and privileges are granted to the Roman Church.

Southern Europe: Coming back from France, Pope Honorius II crowns the senior member of the Canossas, Roland, with the title of king of Tuscany and Transbardonia (*Emilia, north of Monte Bardone, that is Cisa Pass along the pilgrims' way to Rome). It is established that future kings will be elected insiede the Canossa family with a facultative approval from the Church and the Communal authorities of major towns – Mantua, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Modena, Bologna, Florence. The move is not well received in Lombardy, but it is also felt as long due.

The Milanese Communal militia, once again harassing their neighbours, is defeated by the count of Seprio, Vilfredo, and his allies from Como, at the battle of Lomazzo. Guidone, rival brother of king Amedeo II, usurps the family holdings of the Biandrate county, then is countered and beaten back at Valenza by marquis Ranieri II of Montferrat, allied to the Lombard king. Byzantine Empire: The Venetians conquer the port of Modone/Methoni (Morea/Peloponnesus). Middle East: The Crusaders regain momentum by soundly defeating the Ortoqid forces in the battle of Azaz, after which they retake part of the Euphrates valley; Aleppo again resists Crusader pressure.

Far East: The Jurchens/Jin conquer Beijing, ending the Khitan/Liao dynastical rule in the north of China, and vassalize Korea. Soon after giving back most of northern China to their Song allies the Jurchens/Jin reinvade the country arriving to the walls of the Song capital, Kaifeng.

ca. 1125

Southern Europe: Dalmatia is de facto divided into three spheres of influence. In the north the Venetian are suzerains of Zara/Zadar, descending south Hungary holds Spalato/Split and Duklja/Zeta (later Melanoria, *OTL Montenegrin) exacts tributes from Ragusa/Dubrovnik.

1126-1130
1125-1130

Northern Europe: Magnus Nilsson nicknamed the Strong is elected king by the Geats, but refused by all other Swedes. In the end he is driven out of the country by king Sverker I of Sweden.

ca. 1125-1150

Northern Hesperia: The native peoples of NE northern Hesperia (*OTL America) are halved in numbers by fierce epidemics brought in by Norse and Red Screamers (*OTL Beothuks) colonists and tradesmen from Vinlandria (*OTL Newfoundland) and Skraelingarland (*OTL Acadia). Some of the native Maliseeths, Abenakis and Mikkmakks absorb the tenets of Christianity together with crypto-pagan Norse customs. Writing is introduced among the natives through rune-carving:cool:, and rapidly adapted to their Algonquian languages; the use of iron and metals also spreads. 1126

Western Europe: King William VI (*OTL duke William IX) of Aquitaine/Occitania dies, one the foremost poets of his age and patron of the great Trobadoric literary school of the Occitanian-speaking lands.

Byzantine Empire: The Peace of the Blachernae brings Venice to great power status. Basileus John II concedes defeat, giving back the Venetians their former commercial privileges. Venice gives back the Ionian islands save Corfu, but gains full possession of the port of Modone/Methoni in the Morea/Peloponnesus and of the Aegean islands of Chios and Samos. Besides that, the Duchy of Morea is made fully independent from Constantinople under Belisarius Diogenes, now a useful pawn for further meddling, just in case:rolleyes:.

Far East: The Tanguts of the XiXia Empire wrench Xijian (*OTL Lanzhou, Gansu, NW China) from Tibetan hands. The Karakhitais subdue Turfan (eastern Turkestan).

1126-1133

British isles: Leinster (eastern Ireland) is wrecked by the war between the High King, Turlough II O'Connor of Connacht, and the local ruler Diarmait McMurchada. Slaughter ensues, culminating in the burning of the Abbey of Kildare and the rape of its abbess :eek: by Diarmait, and pitched battles fought with abundant use of Welsh, Norman and Norwegian mercenaries. In the end Diarmait regains the throne of Leinster, and Ireland remains a divided land; in Dublin the Norseman Thorkell again imposes Scandinavian power.

1127 Northern Europe: King Lothar I of Germany arranges the marriage of his daughter Gertrude to Henry the Proud, the Welf duke of Bavaria. Though the German crown is elective, this step makes the Bavarian ruler the heir apparent to the throne. The dukes of Swabia and Saxony, Frederick II von Hohenstaufen and Albert the Bear von Ballenstedt, react by establishing a matrimonial alliance between their families to resist Welf overpower.

Southern Europe: Prince William of Melfi dies childless, and his lands are bitterly contested between princess Serena of Taranto and count Roger II of Puglia and Boiano; the decisive Battle of the Broken Spears gives Roger the complete domination of Norman southern Italy, as Serena, besieged in Taranto, has to flee by sea to the Antiochene court of Roger the Black, a distant relative of her defunct husband Bohemund II. Roger quickly has her and her princely pretences end in an unmarked grave:D.

Far East: The Jin/Jurchens reinvade China, conquer its capital Kaifeng and capture the Song emperor Qinzong with his father Huizong, who abdicated a few months before. The Jin capital is moved in Beijing, while the Chinese imperial prince Gaozong, Qinzong's half-brother, establishes a southern Song court in Nanking.

1127-1128

Middle East: Imad ad-din Zengi, governor of Mosul, relative and atabeg (tutor) of the Seljuk sultan of Baghdad Mahmud II, establishes the Zengid dynasty, an offspring of the Seljuks, by conquering Aleppo from the Ortoqids.

1128

British Isles: The kingdom of Breifne is established in NW Ireland under Tigernan Mor macAeda of the O’Rourke clan.

Western Europe: Count Afonso III of Portugal liquidates his rebel brother Gerardo, allied with the Zenete overlords of southern Spain, then goes on to conquer Lisbon and self-appoints himself duke. Southern Europe: Obizzo I degli Obertenghi, a distant relative of the German Welfs, assumes the title of margrave of Este (southern Veneto).

Central-Eastern Europe: In a botched attempt to regain a minimum of unity, the Germans try to subdue Bohemia but suffer a humiliating defeat at Pilsen. Albert the Bear, duke of Saxony, is taken prisoner, but soon freed by king Sobeslav I of Bohemia on tributes and a pledge to hamper any further attack against his lands.

De facto, that means an alliance.

Middle East: The Nizari Assassins of Syria, fallen out of favor after the death of emir Toghtegin of Damascus, find new strongholds in the mountains of Mediterranean Syria, due south of Antioch. Pope Honorius II recognizes and confirms the Order of the Knights Templar.

1129

Byzantine Empire, Southern Europe: The Vardariotes (*Turkic deportees from southern Anatolia) stage a revolt in Macedonia against basileus John II Comnenus, which is soon exploited by Belisarius Diogenes of Morea/Peloponnesus to claim the imperial throne of Constantinople. The basileus at first suffers defeat at the battle of Sdravitsa/Draviskos, then turns the table by falsely claiming :rolleyes: :cool: that the fallen Vardariote leader, Adilmegistus, had been killed by an envious Belisarius. The defeated usurper has to flee in a hurry to his domains, under the protection of the Venetian fleet, who helps him build powerful fortifications through the Isthmus of Corinth. Raška/Kosovo occupies all the remaining Serbian holdings of the empire save Naissos/Niš.

Middle East: A Crusader army attacks Damascus but is repulsed by emir Buri.

1129-1131

Northern Europe: Knut Lavard, sub-king of Danish southern Jutland (Schleswig/Slesvig), wrests Mecklenburg (western Pomerania) from Greater Wendia. He is subsequently liquidated by an unholy alliance between his uncle, king Niels of Denmark, and duke Albert the Bear of Saxony, and Danish influence on Greater Wendia wanes, replaced by German meddling. 1130

Southern Europe: Pope Honorius II dies. Innocent II (Gregorio Papareschi) is hurriedly chosen as successor, then another dubious meeting of rival cardinals appoints Anacletus II (Pietro Pierleoni) as his rival. Both are Romans from influent families, which further complicates the issue, and both stay in the city:D, which is torn apart by factional struggles. Anacletus then leaves Rome for Naples, and when the Western “Roman” emperor, John IV, fails to acknowledge him as the legitimate Pope and king of Italy/Spoleto, he turns to the Norman Roger II de Hauteville, crowning him king of Lesser Normandy (Normannia Minor) at Benevento.

Middle East: Roger I the Black of Antioch is defeated and killed in battle by the Danishmendiyya Turks of Ahlat/Armenia along the Euphrates river, and again Antioch remains without a ruler. Anacletus II, under pressure from his Norman host, Roger II of Lesser Normandy (southern Italy), makes Roger's 10-years old second son Tancredi, already in the Levant to study and practice with the Templars, the new prince of Antioch.

India: Taila II of the later Kadambas of Karnataka (Tungabhadra river area) is defeated, captured and slain by Vishnuvardhana, the Hoysala ruler. ca. 1130

Southern Europe: The Comune of Genoa begins its slow expansion towars the Western (Ponente) Riviera.

The Genoese find out that Pisan ships make use of mercenaries from the Ligurian coast who can reproduce the Genoese speech :D :D :D to pass the Messina Strait under false flag and avoid paying the Strait Levy. They counteract by recruiting mountain dwellers from the NW Apennines who still speak ancient Ligurian (*this largely pre-Indoeuropean language did not disappear during the Roman era: that's the first PoD of this entire timeline...) and protect the language, till then considered a barbarian speech, by city statute.

Black Africa: Islam, in the Caliphist creed (*maintaining there has to be no Wali or "Sunni Pope", only a Caliph concentrating both political and religious authority), begins to spread from Songhay in the Mali region, in opposition to the Christianized Zenetes who fiercely raid for slaves; the weak Christianization brought by the Ghana Empire in its last centuries proves to have shallow roots.

Far East: The Mongol tribal confederacy emerges in northern Mongolia, which will take name from it.

The Karakhitais subdue eastern Turkestan, vassalizing the eastern Karakhanids of Kashgar.

SE Asia: The Khmer king Suryavarman II builds the ceremonial complex of Angkor Wat and conquers Haripunjaya (northern Siam).

1131-1135
1130-1150

Central-Eastern Europe: Incessant civil wars between the Russian principalities: the Kipchak/Cumans take part in droves as mercenaries.

1131

Western Europe: Duke Medeiro II leaves Leòn to his son-in-law, the Gallastrian heir to the throne, John II Ramiro of the Mabinardo dynasty.

Southern Europe: Roger II of Lesser Normandy (southern Italy) marches on Rome, ousting Innocent II and having Anacletus II recognized as the sole Pope and king of Italy/Spoleto. Thus begins the Norman patronage of the Papacy:cool: ; a Norman guard is assigned to Anacletus for his safety. The exiled rival takes refuge in the friendly Canossa kingdom and sets up his first court in Mantua, then later in the free republic of Pisa.

Genoa and Pisa begin an all-out war for control over Corsica, the eastern reaches of the Ligurian Riviera and the Mediterranean trades at large.

Byzantine Empire: The Danishmendiyya Turks of Melitene (*OTL Malatya) crush and annex the Crusader buffer state of Caesarea/Mazhak, razing the Cappadocian stronghold and prompting yet another Batiturk insurrection in southern Anatolia: the echo in Constantinople and, even more, in western Europe, is considerable.

Middle East: The Seljuk sultan of Baghdad, Mahmud II, dies. His successors will prove weak puppets of their generals, and will be eclipsed in time by the more powerful relative Sanjar of Khorassan.

1131-1134

Northern Europe: Following the murder of Knut Lavard, his half-brother Erik Emune rises against the king, uncle Niels. In the end the rebel is forced to flee to Scania, but when Niels and his heir, Magnus the Strong, try to finish him off, they are crushed at the battle of Fodevig bay. Magnus dies in battle, while Niels makes the fatal error of sailing back to Slesvig, where he is massacred by the populace :eek: for killing the popular Knut Lavard. Erik becomes thus the new king of Denmark.

1131-1138

Southern Europe: Innocent II and Anacletus II dispute for the Papacy and the related crown of Italy/Spoleto.

Anacletus reigns in Rome till his death, being only then regularly succeeded by Innocent, with Roger II's final approval. Most Christian states recognize Innocent II as the true Pope-in-exile, with the notable exception of Aquitaine/Occitania.

1132

Western Europe: The Second Crusade is announced in Dijon by the Burgundian preacher St.Bernard of Clairvaux, a supporter of Pope Innocent II in the Papal schism, and, due to Bernard's great fame, finds a wild reception even without being called by a Pope.

Duke John III of Valencia rejects Zenete suzerainty and defeats his former overlords and their southern Spanish allies at the battle of Alt dels Sanc; eastern Spain is freed of Zenete control.

A Genoese fleet attacks Maiorca but is eventually driven back by the Pisans and the local Norman lords.

Byzantine Empire: John II Comnenus campaigns in Anatolia against the Turks with mixed success, stemming the Turkic hordes in many skirmishes.

1132-1135

Central-Eastern Europe: Boleslaw III of Poland campaigns against Hungary, not achieving any decisive result; Slovakia remains Hungarian.

1133 Southern Europe: Innocent II, from his exile see in Pisa, detaches from the archbishopric of Milan the episcopal see of Genoa and the powerful abbey of Bobbio, which are instead put under a newly created archbishopric of Pavia (the capital of the Lombard kingdom). This in punishment for archbishop Anselmo Pusterla's support for Anacletus II:o ; the Milanese themselves then exile the high prelate.

Innocent II also settles the Genoan-Pisan struggle by dividing rebellious Corsica between the two warring cities, the western side to Genoa and the eastern one to Pisa.

Central-Eastern Europe, Byzantine Empire: Two main Crusader armies of some 40,000 men reach Constantinople, the first led by land by duke Henry the Proud of Bavaria, and the second by sea through Lombardy and Italy by the king of Burgundy, Adalbert III the Orphaned. Both armies are received as unrequested hosts and promptly ferried across the Bosphorus. After ravaging Thrace and Asia Minor for supplies, the German army takes a beating :( from the Danishmendiyyas in the battle of the Salt Lakes in the very heart of Anatolia and has to withdraw to Angora, where it is later reached by the Anglo-French-Burgundian-Lombard army (the Franks, in the Byzantine nomenclature) who decide to winter before further campaigning in the barren Anatolian plateau.

North Africa: St.Barca from Bona preaches the Second Crusade in Numidia and Ifrigia (*later Punia, OTL Tunisia), raising an army due for the Levant.

1134

Western Europe: King Conan III the Great of Brittany crushes at Alençon the counts of Anjou, Fulk V and his son Geoffroy V, relatives of his mother, on behalf of emperor William III. The two had revolted against the emperor, as the sovereing objected to their expansionism. The defeated rulers are jailed and killed, their relatives exiled in different places inside the Norman empire and in the Levant, or forced to take monastic vows. Anjou is bestowed upon the earl of Richmond Alain the Black, Conan's son-in-law and a close friend of the Norman emperor.

North Africa, Middle East: The African crusaders sail from Bardapolis (*OTL Tunis) led by the heir to the imperial "Roman" throne of the West, young Matthias Ghiffiotto, and come ashore in Genoese-held Jaffa. Thence they attack and capture the Fatimid strongholds of Ashqelon and Gaza, ousting the Muslims from Palestine. After much debate with the Genoese and the kingdom of Jerusalem, it is decided that both will be Western imperial holdings (Terra Christi Transmaritima).

Byzantine Empire: In Angora a deal is reached between basileus John II and the Crusaders. A part of the latter will assist in repressing the Batiturk (*western Turks, formerly Rum-Seljuks) rebels, while part of the Byzantines will advance with the main armies to retake Caesarea/Mazhak and Melitene (*OTL Malatya); of these two cities, the first to fall will be given to the Crusaders, the other to the Byzantines. When the powerful Christian armies attack, both cities are retaken, as the Turks refrain from giving battle, resorting to guerrilla. John II leads a Byzantine force to the recapture of Sebastea/Sivas as well. The seat of the Danishmendiyya emirate is again transferred, this time to Artzingane/Erzincan.

1135 Southern Europe: A Pisan fleet plunders Amalfi ending its independence as a sea-trading town: Roger II's Normans occupy it, causing a new conflict with the Sicilian-based Western “Roman” empire.

Byzantine Empire, Middle East: As predictable, the Byzantines and the Crusaders soon break their temporary pacts :rolleyes:. The imperial army led by John II drives the Crusader garrison from Caesarea/Mazhak and Cappadocia is retaken for Byzantium; Melitene remains a Crusader border march under the noble German Adalbert von Babenberg, who had renounced his rights of primogeniture to the Austrian March to depart as a crusader.

Then the main Crusader force heads south, opening its way amidst grave losses till Edessa (*OTL Urfa), where they rout the Ortoqid Turks, making the city yet another Crusader county under Wido of Tarantasia, a close relative of count Peter I of Savoy. Aleppo too at last falls to the Crusaders and is ceded to the principality of Antioch. Then the remnants of the Crusader army proceed south towards Hamah but are trounced by atabeg Zengi of Mosul's cavalry at Ubaiza (al-Huwayz).

Middle East: The African-Western imperial crusaders attack Damascus but fail after a long siege, being mercilessly harassed along their withdrawal route to Galilee by the Burid army led by atabeg-regent Mui'd ad-Din Unur.

Black Africa: Ghana (emperor) Bawl II of the weakened Ghana Empire shakes off Zenete tutelage.

1136-1140
1136

British isles: The Welshmen rout a Norman army at Crug Mawr (Ceredigion/Cardigan) and recover independence from the Norman Empire; king Gruffydd II dies of old age a little later to be succeded by his sons Owain II and Cadwaladr

Western Europe: King Otto II of Luxemburg and Lorraine dies prematurely, leaving the infant Otto III under the regency of uncle William, who soon usurps the throne as William II.

Saint Denis Basilica is consecrated by emperor William III marking a turning point in architecture with the first example of the Norman (*OTL Gothic) style

Central-Eastern Europe: The rich trading city of Novgorod rises against its prince, Vsevolod I, driving him from power and proclaiming a free republic, which still recognizes local Rurikid princes as elected figureheads.

1136-1138

Western Europe: Innocent II, from his see in Pisa, launches an excommunication against king William VII (*OTL duke William X) of Aquitaine/Occitania, inviting emperor William III of Greater Normandy (*France and England) to invade and crush the “heretic” and “Cathar” Aquitanian ruler. The invasion proceeds, devastating the country, and when William dies, his younger brother Raymund takes over, pledging feudal submission to the emperor as a sub-king and accepting to persecute the Cathars. But this last will prove an almost impossible task, due to their great numbers. In France, instead, the movement is fiercely persecuted.

Byzantine Empire, Middle East, Southern Europe: The Grand Eastern Campaign of John II Comnenus. The basileus, crushed the Batiturk rebels, recaptures Melitene (*OTL Malatya) as Adalbert of Babenberg has died at 30 leving no heirs nor last will, then invades and conquers Armenia Minor, taking back in Constantinople as a prisoner king Leo I.

This moves put him again in conflict with the Crusaders, and particularly with Antioch, which implies the Lesser Normans of southern Italy and the Knights Templar, already well established in the area. Antioch is quickly brought under Byzantine suzerainty and young prince Tancredi has to bow in front of John II Comnenus and hold his horse's bridles in his triumph in the Syrian city. This outrages Roger II of Lesser Normandy, Tancredi's father, who swears war on the Byzantines. The subsequent scramble of alliances :confused: brings Venice on the side of Byzantium (to avoid having both sides of the Otranto strait in Norman hands) and the Pisans close to the Norman ruler, which is already warring with the Western “Roman” empire of Sicily and its Genoan allies for control over coastal Campania...

In the meantime the battered remnants of the armies from the Second Crusade are slowly ferried back to Europe and North Africa or enlist as mercenaries in the Levant.

1136-1139

Northern Europe: Harald IV of Norway is murdered by Sigurd Slembedjakn, another bastard son of Magnus Barefoot, which further plunges the country into civil war, Harald's sons, Sigurd II and Inge I, fight the usurper, finally defeating and killing him at the battle of Hvaler.

1136-1148

Northern Europe: Albert the Bear of Saxony, gained the approval of Innocent II for a personal “crusade” against the still largely heathen Wends, begins a long campaign to subdue them. Only after years of harsh struggles the Wends will capitulate and Greater Wendia will become the March of Brandenburg.

1137 Northern Europe: When king Lothar of Supplinburg dies of old age, Germany is again in flames. The Electoral Diet convened in Frankfurt, instead of appointing Henry the Proud of Bavaria as expected, elects as the new king duke Ludwig III of Thuringia (Ludwig V as king), who also gets the nearby crown appanage duchy of Franconia. Henry the Proud doesn't accept the verdict and fights back from his holdings in Bavaria.

Count Walram III of Limburg, Brabant and Arlon is made duke of Brabant by king William II of Luxemburg and Lorraine.

Western Europe: The county of Barcelona (Catalonia) is finally vassalized by Septimania after decades of petty struggles on the issue of its status.

Southern Europe: Hungary wrests Bosnia from Duklja/Zeta (Melanoria, *OTL Montenegro); the local Bogomils, though, render effective Hungarian control over it a difficult task.

Central-Eastern Europe: A Byzantine flotilla retakes Bosporon/Kerč from the eastern Kipchak/Cumans. Caucasus, Middle East: Shams ad-Din Eldiguz, atabeg (reggente) of the Seljuk sultan in Baghdad, creates an own independent dynasty in Azerbaijan with capital in Tabriz, and establishes suzerainty and tutelage over the Danishmendiyya emirate of Ahlat/Armenia.

Middle East: Taking adavantage of the Crusader-Byzantine conflict, atabeg Zengi of Mosul quickly recaptures Aleppo.

1137-1146 Northern Europe: Erik III Haakonson Lam usurps the Danish throne succeeding his murdered uncle Erik II Emune.

1138 Northern Europe: The county of Frisia, after the death of Henry II of Zutphen, is made a possession of the powerful county-bishopric of Utrecht.

North Africa, Western Europe: Stephen of Gadir finally overthrows the Zenete Compact in the battle of the White Fortress and creates the Cathar Gadirote kingdom in Mauretania (*OTL Morocco). The southern Spanish states severe any relation with the defeated Zenetes (2000 of them are massacred in Seville alone in the so-called Blood Easter:eek: ).

Southern Europe: Death of Anacletus II, after the brief interlude of anti-Pope Anacletus III, through the brokerage of Bernard of Clairvaux the Papal throne passes to the exiled Innocent II. King Roger II of Lesser Normandy (southern Italy) makes a formal statement of regret :rolleyes: for supporting Anacletus II, cedes Gaeta to the Papal kingdom of Italy/Spoleto and has his excommunication cancelled and his kingship acknowledged. Furthermore, his aggression of Western imperial cities of costal Campania is turned two blind eyes :rolleyes: and his tutelage over the Papacy is de facto confirmed (having, of course, no way to displace the Norman garrison from Rome).

Central-Eastern Europe: King Boleslaw III of Poland dies, dividing the kingdom between his four sons, Wladislaw, Boleslaw, Mieszko and Casimir. The "senioral principle" established in his testament states that the oldest living member of the Piast dynasty is to have supreme power over the rest and always control an indivisible, wide strip of land running N-S through the middle of Poland, with Cracow as the main city, besides being the overlord of Pomerania. Thus the duchies of Lesser Poland (the “royal” one, to Wladislaw II), of Greater Poland, of Kuiavia-Mazovia, and of Silesia are born, but the Senioral principle will quickly be broken:o, starting a period of feudal dissolution. Caucasus: King Demetrius of Iberia/Georgia takes Ganja (Azerbaijan) from the local Seljuks.

Far East: The southern Song court of imperial free China is set in Hangzhou. 1139

Northern Europe: Duke Henry the Proud of Bavaria dies a premature death after being captured and delivered to king Ludwig by the margrave of Austria, Leopold IV von Babenberg. Henry's young son, also called Henry, remains in Bavaria under the regency of uncle Welf, margrave of Bernmark (Verona), who recognizes Ludwig III of Thuringia (Ludwig V as German king) as the duly elected sovereign to avoid further damage for the Welf household.

Southern Europe: The Lateran Council (*OTL Second Lateran Council) summoned by pope Innocent II to heal the wounds of the recent Papal schism grants extensive privileges to the the Templars, making them literally an armed militia of the Roman Church in the Levant and an economic powerhouse. The use of the crossbow is “prohibited” :rolleyes: between Christians (no one will ever respect this); anathema is launched against Cathar Mauretania (*OTL Morocco) and its king, Stephen of Gadir, the “heresiarch”, but the Numidian states prove too weak and divided to move. Roger II de Hauteville, whose troops guard Rome itself, is duly pardoned and acknowledged as king of Lesser Normandy (southern Italy). His army, aided by the Pisan fleet, takes Naples by famine from Western imperial hands after a two-year-long siege.

Middle East: Atabeg Zengi of Mosul and Aleppo enforces suzerainty upon Damascus and becomes the most powerful

Muslim ruler in Syria.

1139-1141

Northern Europe: As Greater Wendia (Brandenburg plus Mecklemburg) is under heavy pressure from duke Albert the Bear of Saxony, the Bohemians subdue Lusatia. They also wrest from Germany the border march of Misnia (Meissen), whose ruler Conrad I von Wettin pledges obedience to king Vladislav II of Bohemia.

Erik III Lam of Denmark fights and kills his rebel cousin Olaf II, who held Scania as his power base.

Southern Europe: A complicated war is fought over Sardinia, whose High King Robert III of Torres is allied with Roger II of Lesser Normandy and Pisa against Genoa, the Western empire of Sicily and the rebellious Sardinian judicates of Arborea, Gallura and Cagliari/Santa Igia. Pope Innocent II tries to assert Papal rights over the island quoting a fabricated document:rolleyes:, Pepin's Diploma, who allegedly assigned the island to the Papal domains. All warring factions falsely swear to recognize this to gain Papal favor:rolleyes:, but the war continues unabated as the island plunges into anarchy.

1140

Northern Europe: Ludwig V of Germany dies and a new Electoral Diet has to be convened. Only after considerable debate, and having narrowly rejected a staggering offer from the Luxemburgian usurper William II to accept as king of Germany his dethroned young nephew, Otto, the ten Electors appoint Ludwig VI, son of the deceased Ludwig V. The new king at once detaches the traditional lands of the Count Palatines of Rhine (west of the river) from the royal duchy of Franconia to form an independent march of the Palatinate as a defense against Luxemburg, entrusting it to Henry Jasomirgott, brother and successor of Leopold IV of Austria.

Western Europe: Eleanor, niece of king Raymond of Aquitaine/Occitania, marries Henry, heir to the Greater Norman Empire of France and England.