Autumn – Imad al-Din Zengi, Seljuk governor (atabeg) of Mosul, attacks the Artuqid forces led by Kara Arslan – who has made an alliance with Joscelin II, count of Edessa. In support of the alliance Joscelin marches out of Edessa with a Crusader army down to the Euphrates River, to cut off Zengi's communications with Aleppo. Zengi is informed by Muslim observers at Harran of Joscelin's movements. He sends a detachment to ambush the Crusaders and reaches Edessa with his main army in late November.[1]
December 24 – Siege of Edessa: Seljuk forces led by Imad al-Din Zengi conquer the fortress city of Edessa after a four-week siege. Thousands of inhabitants are massacred – only the Muslims are spared. The women and children are sold into slavery.[2] Lacking the forces to take on Zengi, Joscelin II retires to his fortress at Turbessel. There, he request reinforcements from the Byzantines and Queen-Regent Melisende of Jerusalem.
Summer – Geoffrey V (the Fair) completes his conquest of Normandy, which comes under Angevin control. In exchange for being recognised as Duke of Normandy by King Louis VII of France, Geoffrey surrenders half of the county of Vexin – a region vital to Norman security – to Louis.
The city of Ljubljana (modern Slovenia) is first mentioned in historical records.[3]
England
Autumn – Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, is mortally wounded by a stray arrow received in a skirmish. Because he is an outlaw, his burial is denied at the monastery he has founded, Walden Abbey. Geoffrey's body is eventually accepted by the Knights Templar community for burial within the Temple Church in London.
^Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, pp. 190–191. ISBN978-0-241-29876-3.
^Mallinus, Daniel. La Yougoslavie. Brussels: Éd. Artis-Historia, 1988. D/1988/0832/27, pp. 37–39.
^Picard, C. (1997). La mer et les musulmans d'Occident au Moyen Age. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. p.76.
^Fletcher, R. A. (1987). "Reconquest and Crusade in Spain c. 1050-1150". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 5. 37: 31–47 [45]. JSTOR3679149.