Here’s our next instalment of things that happened in ..25 years of yore.
Some Notable Events in 1125
29 March. Reading School is founded in Berkshire, England.
23 May. Emperor Henry V 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 Haftag diet in Regensburg, Lothair II (duke of Saxony) is elected King of Germany and crowned at Aachen on 13 September.
11 June. 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.
Unknown Date. King Inge the Younger of Sweden is murdered, instigated by Queen Ulvhild Håkansdotter. Her cousin Magnus I proclaims himself ruler over the Lands of Sweden (Norrland, Svealand and Gothenland).
Unknown Date. The Venetians pillage the islands of Rhodes, ravage Samos and Lesbos, and occupy Chios. The Florentines sack and conquer the neighbouring independent republic of Fiesole in Italy.
Unknown Date. The first fair in Portugal is created in Ponte de Lima; it is an early sign of the commercialization and economic development.
Unknown Date. King Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre leads a Castellan raid in Andalusia.
Unknown Date. King Henry I arranges the 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 had belonged to Eustace (who dies on his return from the Holy Land).
Unknown Date. A collection of Zen Buddhist koans is compiled, in the Chinese Blue C1iff Record.
Unknown Date. Died. Harding of Bristol, English sheriff reeve (b.1048).
Unknown Date. Died. Robert de Mowbray, Norman Earl of Northumbria.
Some Notable Events in 1225
11 February. The Charter of the Forest is restored to its traditional rights by King Henry III. “Free men” are allowed to find pasture for their pigs, collect firewood, graze animals, or cut turf for fuel. At this time, however, only about 10 percent of the population is “free”, the rest are locked into service to a local landowner, some of them little more than slaves.
25 July. Emperor Frederick II takes an oath at San Germano (near Cassino) and promises to depart on a Crusade (the Sixth Crusade), for the Near East in August 1227. He sends 1000 knights to the Levant and provides Rome with 100,000 ounces of gold, to be forfeited to the Catholic Church should he break his vow. These funds will be returned to Frederick once he arrives at Acre.
9 November. Frederick II marries the 14-year-old Queen Yolande, heiress to the kingdom of Jerusalem, and adds the Crusader States to his dominions.
29 November. The 12-year-old Henry VII, by order of his father Frederick II, marries Margaret of Austria, daughter of Duke Leopold VI.
Unknown Date. Magna Carta is reaffirmed (for the third time) by Henry III, in return for issuing a property tax. It becomes the definitive version of the text.
Unknown Date. The 8-year-old Henry I is crowned as king of Cyprus in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia at Nicosia.
Unknown Date. Born. Thomas Aquinas, Italian friar and theologian (d.1274).