Frederick I Barbarossa Grants Free Imperial Status…

Jaromar, a Ranish nobleman native of the island of Rügen, had risen to rule the Principality of Rügen as result of the Danish conquest of the island in 1168.

His predecessor was Tetzlav, who in 1168 had submitted to the Danes.

The Danes had organized a war to Christianize the formerly pagan islanders and to destroy the pagan strongholds and cult places.

This action had also served to end their piracy and raids to Danish lands.

The Danish navy, led by among others, Archbishop Absalon, had conquered and destroyed the fortress of Cape Arkona.

The temple fortress of Arkona (Jaromarsburg) had been the religious center of the Slavic Rani.

The island of Rügen had been incorporated into the Danish Archdiocese of Roskilde and the Danes had made Rügen their vassal.

Jaromar, who had not aligned with the hitherto pagan rulers of the island, had accepted Christianity and promised loyalty to King Valdemar I of Denmark.

Jaromar is allied to the Hvide and Galen magnate clans, who are leaders of Zealand and Skåne.

Jaromar has his son and heir Wizlaw I marry a woman from these Danish magnates' families, who are influential in those parts of Denmark that are closest to Rügen.

Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had compelled Canute's father to acknowledge him as overlord, and in 1184 Barbarossa sends a messenger to Canute requiring him to acknowledge the emperor as his liege.

Canute fails to respond, so the emperor sends a second messenger threatening the emperor's wrath if Canute fails to acknowledge his liege lord.

Bishop Absalon replies to the messenger on behalf of Canute.

"Canute is as free a king as the emperor.

He has as much right to Denmark as the emperor has to the Holy Roman Empire, and so the emperor should expect no allegiance from this place."

The emperor flies into a rage when he receives Canute's reply, but because of troubles farther south, orders his vassal, Bogislaw I, Duke of Pomerania, to invade Denmark.

Bogislaw, recognizing a great opportunity, quickly gathers a great number of ships.

The first notice of the pending invasion comes from Chief Jaromar of Rügen, who sails to Zealand to give warning.

The king is in Jutland, and so it is left to Bishop Absalon to order every available ship from Zealand, Funen and Skåne to meet him in six days.

Absalon sails for Rügen with his fleet and waits for Bogislaw to appear.

When the enemy fails to materialize, Absalon sends out scouts to bring word of the Pomeranian fleet’s arrival.

He orders his men to go ashore so he can celebrate mass on Second Easter Day.

In the middle of services, one of the scouts runs into the church shouting that the enemy had been sighted through the fog.

The Danish fleet weighs anchor and sails through the fog toward the Pomeranians.

Bugislaw's fleet sees nothing of the Danes until they are close enough to hear their war cries.

Panicing, the Pomeranians attempt to row away, but they are in such close quarters that the ships cannot turn.

The men begin jumping from ship to ship, causing eight of them to founder.

The Danes throw themselves onto the ships to plunder them when Absalon shouts that they should leave the goods and go after the ships; few comply.

With just seven ships, Absalon routs the entire Pomeranian fleet, capturing thirty-five enemy ships.

Absalon sends Bogislaw's own great tent to Canute, who is still in Jutland.

With Bogislaw's defeat, the emperor abandons, for a time, his attempts to rule Denmark.

A Venetian embassy visits Constantinople in 1184 and an agreement is reached that compensation of fifteen hundred gold pieces will be paid for the losses incurred in 1171.

Béla III of Hungary in 1184 occupies Beograd, …

…Branicevo and the valley of the Morava River, which had been held by Constantinople.

Baldwin IV's army relieves Kerak from two sieges by Saladin in 1183 and 1184.

A kind of “court party” has formed at Jerusalem around the queen mother, Agnes of Courtenay, her daughter Sibylla, and Agnes' brother, Joscelin III, titular ruler of Edessa, and now includes the Lusignans.

Another group composed mostly of the so-called native barons—old families, notably the Ibelins, Renaud of Sidon, and Raymond III of Tripoli, who through his wife is also lord of Tiberias—often opposes it.

In addition to these internal problems, the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem is more isolated than ever.

Urgent appeals to the West and the efforts of Pope Alexander III have brought little response.

Relations with the locals are hindered further by the actions of the belligerent Guy de Lusignan, who in 1184 attacks a tribe of Bedouin shepherds who had paid a tribute to the Latins for allowing them the privilege of grazing their sheep.

Guy and his men massacre as many of the tribe as they can and drive away the rest along with their flock.

Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, declaring his independence from Constantinople, will subsequently side with the Venetians against the Hungarians.

After Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, upon reaching Seville on August 10 with the body of his father, killed in Portugal on July 29, 1184, had immediately been proclaimed the new caliph.

Al-Mansur had vowed revenge for his father's death, but fighting with the Almoravids, who had been ousted from the throne, had delayed him in Africa.

After inflicting a new defeat on the Almoravids, he had set off for the Iberian Peninsula to avenge his father's death.

His siege of Tomar, center of the Portuguese Templars, on July 13, 1190, had failed to capture the fortress.

However, further south he in 1191 recaptures a major fortress, Paderne Castle and the surrounding territory near Albufeira, in the Algarve—which has been controlled by the Portuguese army of King Sancho I since 1182.

Having inflicted other defeats on the Christians and captured major cities, he returns to Morocco with three thousand Christian captives.

Abu Yaqub Yusuf assembles an army in the spring of 1184, crosses the straits of Gibraltar and marches to Seville.

From here, he marches towards Badajoz.