1139
Second Lateran Council
Innocent II convened about a thousand prelates to patch the wounds of the eight-year papal schism, declare Anacletus's ordinations void, and forbid crossbows against Christians. The last prohibition was almost universally ignored, proving how seriously medieval people took crossbows. The council also banned tournaments, theatrical performances by clergy, and the practice of monks studying medicine for profit, a catalogue of vices that reveals the era's preoccupations.
Ghurid dynasty consolidates in Afghanistan
In the rugged mountain valleys of Ghor in central Afghanistan, the chieftains of the Shansabani clan consolidated a growing kingdom wedged between the declining Ghaznavids to the east and the fragmenting Seljuk periphery to the west. Their remote highland capital at Firuzkuh, the Turquoise Mountain, would soon launch the devastating campaigns that brought Islam to the Gangetic plain and effectively ended Buddhist civilization in India.
Song artisans perfect qingbai porcelain
Master potters at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province perfected the luminous qingbai glaze - a translucent bluish-white finish on porcelain so delicately thin it was called yingqing, meaning shadow-blue, because light passed through it like water through silk. Exported by the shipload to eager markets in Southeast Asia, India, and the Swahili coast, these wares set the global standard for fine ceramics that endured for centuries.
Battle of Ourique
Afonso Henriques of Portugal defeated a Muslim coalition in the Alentejo and, according to later tradition, was acclaimed king on the battlefield by his soldiers. Whether the story is accurate or later invention, he began signing himself rex from this year on. Portuguese national mythology would make Ourique the founding battle of the nation, complete with an apparition of Christ and a miraculous battlefield vision.
Omne datum optimum grants Templars autonomy
Innocent II issued a bull exempting the Templars from every authority except the pope himself, allowing them to keep spoils of war, build chapels, and bury their own dead. Overnight the order became the most legally privileged institution in Christendom. The exemption infuriated local bishops who lost jurisdiction over Templar properties in their dioceses, and it planted the seeds of the resentment that would eventually help bring the order down.