1125
Year 1125 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Levant
- June 11 - Battle of Azaz: The Crusader states led by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem defeat the Seljuk forces at Azaz and raise the siege of the town. Baldwin mobilizes a force of 1,100 armoured knights and 2,000 foot-soldiers. The Crusaders capture the Seljuk camp and Baldwin takes enough loot to ransom the prisoners taken by the Seljuk Turks. Aq-Sunqur al-Bursuqi, governor of Mosul, withdraws to Aleppo and is forced to make a truce, leaving the frontier in northern Syria in peace for 18 months.
Europe
- May 23 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, dies of cancer in Utrecht after leading an expedition against King Louis VI of France and then against the citizens of Worms. Having no legitimate children, Henry leaves his possessions to his nephew, Frederick II, duke of Swabia. At the Hoftag diet in Regensburg, Lothair, duke of Saxony, is elected King of Germany and crowned at Aachen on September 13.
- Lothair II asks Frederick II to restore to the crown the estates that he has inherited from Henry V. Frederick refuses, and by year's end a succession dispute breaks out between the House of Welf and the House of Hohenstaufen. The latter is led by Frederick and his brother Conrad III, duke of Franconia.
- King Inge the Younger of Sweden is murdered in Vreta Abbey at the instigation of Queen Ulvhild Håkansdotter after a 20-year reign. Her cousin Magnus Nielsen becomes a ruler over Västergötland.
- The Republic of Venice pillages the islands of Rhodes, ravages Samos and Lesbos, and occupies Chios. The Republic of Florence sacks and conquers the neighboring independent republic of Fiesole in Italy.
- Saracen pirates raid the city of Antibes in Provence and the Benedictine monastery of Saint Honorat on the Lérins Islands.
- The first fair in Portugal is created in Ponte de Lima; it is an early sign of commercialization and economic development.
- King Alfonso the Battler of Aragon and Navarre leads a Castellan raid in Andalusia.
England
- King Henry I of England arranges a marriage between his nephew Stephen of Blois and the 20-year-old Matilda, daughter and heiress of Eustace III, count of Boulogne. This gives Stephen control of the County of Boulogne and also lands in England that have belonged to Eustace.
Asia
- November - Jin–Song War: Emperor Taizong of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty declares war on the Chinese Song dynasty – and orders his armies to invade Song territory. He sends the Western army to the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi province and the Eastern army to Bianjing, the Song capital. The Song forces are not expecting an invasion and are caught off guard.
- The Khamag Mongol, a Mongolic tribal confederation, begins to play an important role on the Mongolian Plateau. They occupy the fertile lands of the basins of the rivers Onon, Kherlen and Tuul in the Khentii Mountains.
Africa
- October 3 - Al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi, the vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate, is dismissed and imprisoned by Caliph al-Amir.
By topic
Arts
- Albert of Aix, German historian and writer, begins his Historia Hierosolymitanae expeditionis.
Education
- March 29 - Reading School is founded in Berkshire in England.
Religion
- A collection of Zen Buddhist koans is compiled, in the Chinese Blue Cliff Record.