1159
Year 1159 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
- September 7 - Pope Alexander III succeeds Pope Adrian IV, as the 170th pope.
- Taira no Kiyomori leaves Kyōto on a personal pilgrimage, giving Fujiwara no Nobuyori and his Minamoto allies the perfect chance to stage an uprising.
- Tunis is reconquered from the Normans, by the Almohad caliphs.
- : Churchman Richard FitzNeal is appointed Lord High Treasurer in England, in charge of Henry II of England's Exchequer, an office he will hold for almost 40 years.
Births
- Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general
Deaths
- May 30 - Wladislaus II, the Exile of Poland
- August 29 - Bertha of Sulzbach, Byzantine Empress
- September 1 - Pope Adrian IV
- October 11 - William of Blois, Count of Boulogne and Earl of Surrey
- Joscelin II, Count of Edessa