12th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages.

Events

• The Song dynasty loses power over Northern China.
• The Kamakura Shogunate deprives the Emperor of Japan of political power.
• First, Second, and Third Crusades of western European kingdoms against Islam.
• Pope Adrian IV grants overlordship of Ireland to Henry II of England.
• Suger rebuilds the abbey church at St Denis north of Paris, regarded as the first major Gothic building.
• Portugal gains independence from the kingdom of León in 1128 (recognised by León in 1143).
• Nalanda, the great Indian Buddhist educational centre, is destroyed.
• Thomas Becket is murdered in 1170.
• The Toltec Empire collapses.
• Founding of the cathedral school (Katedralskolan) in Lund, Sweden, 1185. The school is the oldest in northern Europe, and one of the oldest in Europe as a whole.
• The medieval Serbian state formed by Stefan Nemanja and continued by the Nemanji? dynasty.
• January 11, 1111: At 1:11:11, the date should've read something like: 1111-1-11 1:11:11