1148

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Second Crusade

• January 1 - The French crusaders under King Louis VII defeat a Turkish ambush next to the Meander River. Three days later they arrive at Laodicea – passing the spot where the German contingent led by Otto of Freising has been so disastrously ambushed. The Crusaders are badly mauled as they cross Mount Cadmus before reaching Adalia on January 20.
• January 8 - Battle of Mount Cadmus: The French crusaders under Louis VII are defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The vanguard led by Geoffrey de Rancon ignores orders to pause and moves too far ahead, losing touch with the main army. The French are attacked by the Turks with the baggage train unprotected. Louis is able to escape the fray under cover of the darkness.
• March - The French crusaders are left in Adalia, lack of available shipping obliges Louis VII to divide his forces – the knights and best troops accompany him to St. Symeon. Large numbers of pilgrims and non-combatants try to continue along the coastal road. Continually harassed by the Turks many French and Germans are killed. Less than half of them arrive in the late spring at Antioch.
• March 7 - King Conrad III recovers from his wounds and leaves with his household Constantinople. He is well supplied with money by Emperor Manuel I, and uses these funds to recruit pilgrims to augment the forces that remain to him. Conrad and his re-equipped Crusaders sail with a Byzantine fleet to Palestine. The fleet is scattered by storms and lands in different ports.
• March 19 - Louis VII and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, are welcomed at St. Symeon by Eleanor's uncle Raymond of Poitiers and all his household. Raymond escorts the French crusaders to Antioch, where for the next days festivities are held. He urges Louis to accompany him on a expedition against Aleppo, Louis refuses and prefers instead to finish his pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
• April - Southern French crusaders under Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse arrive by sea at Acre. Alfonso dies suddenly at Caesarea, resulting in the accusation that he has been poisoned by Count Raymond II of Tripoli. Most of the Provençal forces turn back and return home. Meanwhile, an unknown proportion of northern European naval crusaders arrive at Acre.
• April-May - Louis VII and the French crusaders remain in Antioch, but there are rumours of an incestuous affair between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Raymond of Poitiers. Louis, alarmed for his honour, departs with his army to Jerusalem in late May. Meanwhile, Conrad III with his chief nobleman are welcomed by Queen Melisende and her 18-year-old son, co-ruler Baldwin III at Jerusalem.
• June - Mu'in al-Din Unur, Seljuk ruler of Damascus, prepares for war, and strengthen the fortifications of the city. He sends an urgent request for military assistance to the Zangid ruler Sayf al-Din. Unur orders his troops to destroy the water sources in areas that the Crusaders must cross. Seljuk governors of frontier provinces station scouting parties along the road to Damascus.
• June 24 - Council of Acre: Conrad III, Louis VII, Melisende and many other nobles join in a war council near Acre. They decide that Damascus rather than Edessa will be the primary target of the Second Crusade.
• July - The Crusaders under Baldwin III join forces with the Crusader armies of Louis VII and Conrad III at Tiberias. They march up the Jordan Valley and cross into Zangid territory.
• July 24 - Zangid forces under Sayf al-Din arrive at Homs. Mu'in al-Din Unur sends a letter ultimatum to the Crusader leaders to lift the siege of Damascus. Meanwhile, guerrilla attacks demoralise the Crusaders.
• July 28 - Siege of Damascus: The Crusaders are forced to withdraw from their siege of Damascus after only four days. First Conrad III, then the rest of the Crusader army, decides to retreat back to Jerusalem.
• September - The French crusaders raid the province of Damascus, in reprisal for the failure of their siege. Mu'in al-Din Unur takes his forces to the Hawran to protect the harvest and its transport to Damascus.
• September 8 - Conrad III sails from Acre to Thessaloniki and forms an alliance with Manuel I against King Roger II of Sicily. During his visit Henry II marries Manuel's niece, Theodora Komnene.

  Europe

• February 1 - A small Crusader fleet of Genoese and English ships sets sail from Lisbon for the Holy land. The Anglo-Flemish Crusader fleet takes Oran.
• Siege of Tortosa: A multinational force under Ramon Berenguer IV besieges the Almoravid city of Tortosa. After a 7-month siege the garrison surrenders.
• King Afonso I of Portugal takes Abrantes from the Almoravids. Ramon Berenguer IV conquers the lower Ebro plain.

  England

• October - Queen Matilda returns to Normandy, partially due to her difficulties with the Catholic Church. Without the support of Robert of Gloucester her personal fight for the English throne is over.

  Seljuk Empire

• Battle of Ghazni: Ghurid forces under Sayf al-Din Suri defeat the Ghaznavid sultan Bahram-Shah and capture the capital Ghazni. Bahram-Shah is forced to flee to India.

  Africa

• Taking advantage of internal strife and a famine episode, George of Antioch takes Mahdia, Susa and Sfax in Tunisia, in the name of Roger II.
• Following the uprising of other cities in the region of Meknes under al-Massati, the population of Ceuta rebels against the Almohads.

  By topic

Literature

• Anna Komnene writes the Alexiad, a biography of her father, the late Emperor Alexios I.

  Religion

• Hildegard of Bingen founds a new monastery at Rupertsberg in the Rhine Valley near Bingen am Rhein.

  Technology

• An Italian silk industry is started at Palermo by Roger II, who takes numbers of silk workers back from Greece.