1168

Events

By place

Levant

• Summer - King Amalric I of Jerusalem and Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos negotiate an alliance against Fatimid-Egypt. Archbishop William of Tyre is among the ambassadors sent to Constantinople to finalize the treaty.
• Autumn - William IV, Count of Nevers, arrives in Palestine with a contingent of elite knights. In Jerusalem he is present during a council with Amalric and other nobles to decide on an expedition to Egypt.
• October 20 - Amalric I invades Egypt again from Ascalon, sacking Bilbeis and threatening Cairo. In November, a Crusader fleet sails up the Nile and arrives in Lake Manzala, sacking the town of Tanis.
• Nur al-Din, Zangid ruler of Aleppo, sends an expedition under General Shirkuh to Egypt on request of the Fatimid caliph Al-Adid. He offers him a third of the land, and fiefs for his generals.

  Egypt

• December 22 - Afraid that the Egyptian capital Fustat will be captured by Crusader forces, its Fatimid vizier, Shawar, orders the city set afire. The capital burns for 54 days.

  Europe

• March 27 - Patrick of Salisbury, Angevin governor of Poitou, is killed in an ambush at Poitiers by French forces under Guy of Lusignan. He is escorting Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine on a journey near the border of Aquitaine. Patrick's nephew, William Marshal, is part of the royal escort and is taken prisoner. Later he is ransomed and becomes a member of Eleanor's household.
• King Valdemar I of Denmark conquers the Wendish capital at Arkona on the island of Rügen. The Wends become Christians and subject to Danish suzerainty.
• Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, marries the 12-year-old Matilda, daughter of King Henry II of England.
• The newly born Commune of Rome conquers and destroys the rival neighboring city of Albano.
• Stephen du Perche, Sicilian chancellor, is accused of plotting to claim the throne and is forced to flee.

  Asia

• April 9 - Emperor Rokujō of Japan is deposed by his grandfather, retired-Emperor Go-Shirakawa, after an 8-month reign. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old uncle, Takakura, as the 80th emperor.
• Yuanqu County in China is destroyed by a flood of the Yellow River.

  By topic

Religion

• September 20 - Antipope Paschal III dies at Rome after a 4-year reign. Giovanni di Struma is elected as his successor and will reign as Antipope Callixtus III with support from Emperor Frederick I.

  Births

• April 22 - Abubakar ibn Gussom, Arab poet
• August 31 - Emperor Zhangzong of Jin, Chinese ruler
• November 19 - Emperor Ningzong, Chinese ruler
• Ibn Muti al-Zawawi, Arab jurist and philologian
• Robert of Braybrooke, English High Sheriff
• Robert of Courtenay, Lord of Champignelles, French nobleman and knight
• Temüge, brother of Genghis Khan
• William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby

  Deaths

• January 17 - Thierry of Alsace, count of Flanders
• March 27 - Patrick of Salisbury, Norman nobleman
• April 5 - Robert de Beaumont, English nobleman
• September 20 - Paschal III, antipope of Rome
• October 24 - William IV, count of Auxerre and Nevers
• November 5 - Hugh IX of Lusignan, French nobleman
• Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi, Persian scholar
• Bermudo Pérez de Traba, Spanish nobleman
• Conrad of Babenberg, archbishop of Salzburg
• Wivina, French Benedictine abbess and saint