istoryworld
Events relating to religion
St Bernard establishes a new monastery at Clairvaux, from which he presides over the rapid expansion of the Cistercian order
The Knights Templar are founded, to protect pilgrims from the Muslims on the journey to Jerusalem
The fall of Edessa prompts the pope, Eugenius III, to call for a second crusade to defend the Latin kingdom
A new form of pious devotion is seen in Chartres, with people painfully dragging wagons of stone to enlarge the cathedral
A bishop in the crusader territories of the Middle East has news of a fabulously wealthy Christian king, Prester John
Gilbert of Hastings, an English priest, becomes bishop of the recovered see of Lisbon - the first of many such links between England and Portugal
The second crusade is led east by two kings, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany
By the time Louis VII and Conrad III reach the Holy Land they have lost more than half their joint armies to Muslim attacks
Louis VII and Conrad III do grave harm to the Latin Kingdom by a feeble attack that merely alienates the previously friendly city of Damascus
In feudal France and Germany Charlemagne is by now venerated as a saint
After centuries of raiding the northern part of Sri Lanka, the Tamils establish a settled Hindu presence in the island
Zen Buddhism reaches Japan from China and appeals greatly to the new samurai class
Saladin deposes the Fatimid caliph and brings Egypt back to orthodoxy, acknowledging the rule of the Sunni caliph in Baghdad
Resentment of western merchants results in a massacre of Roman Catholics by fellow Christians in Constantinople
A year after succeeding to the throne of England, Richard I sets off east as one of the leaders of the third crusade
The third crusade suffers an early disaster when its first leader, the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, is drowned crossing the Calycadnus river
The Muslim garrison of Acre surrenders to Richard I, who orders the massacre of 2700 of its members
The Teutonic Knights are founded to run a hospital in Acre, in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem
The new Christian doctrine of Transubstantiation prompts rumours that the Jews desecrate the consecrated Host
Terracotta heads and figures are buried in graves in the region of Djenné in modern Mali
The heresy of the Cathars (meaning 'pure' ones) is now so well established in southern France that they have bishops of their own
The fleet of the fourth crusade departs from Venice - only to be diverted from its purposes by Venetian guile
A German order, the Knights of the Sword, begins the forcible conversion of Latvia and Estonia to Christianity
The crusaders of the fourth crusade besiege, take and destroy the Christian city of Constantinople
Many of the treasures adorning the church of San Marco in Venice are loot taken from Constantinople during the fourth crusade
