Hugh of Saint Victor: A Pillar of…

A palace dispute in 1141 over continuing the war results in a decision by the Song government to make peace with the Jurchen.

Yue Fei, branded a warmonger, is recalled and executed, following which the Song and Jin conclude a treaty whereby the watershed dividing the valley of the Chang Jiang from that of the Hwang He becomes the boundary between the two polities.

Japanese emperor Toba follows the near century-long imperial custom to abdicate in favor of a young son and retire to a monastery, from where he continues to rule and direct affairs of government.

In 1141, he forces his younger son, Sutoku, to abdicate in favor of a second son.

Chinese poets, in response to the massive tenth-century importation of foreign tunes during the periods of the T'ang and the Five Dynasties, create ci, verse of irregular line lengths.

Ci most often express feelings of desire, often in an adopted persona, but the greatest exponents of the form (such as Li Houzhu and Su Shi) used it to address a wide range of topics.

Li Qingzhao, perhaps China's most famous woman poet, is one of the most eminent exponents of “ci.” Born in Licheng to a family of officials and scholars, her father had been a friend of Su Shi.

Hebrew poet and philosopher Judah Halevi, who had grown up in Islamic Spain and traveled widely, produces a philosophical tract, the “Kuzari,” a polemic that defends the principles of Judaism and contrasts them with those of Aristotelian philosophy, Christianity, and Islam.

His poems (of which approximately eight hundred survive) include love songs, eulogies, and religious works.

Led by an intense Jewish nationalism, he sets south for Palestine in his late sixties, dying in 1141. (Legend has him killed after being run over by an Arab horseman as he arrived in Jerusalem).

The Early Reign of Louis VII and His Conflicts with Eleanor and the Papacy (1141 CE)

From the beginning, the marriage between Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine was doomed to failure. Their opposing personalities and cultural backgrounds created immediate tensions in the marriage.

• Louis VII, having been educated for an ecclesiastical career, was pious, austere, and reserved, traits unsuited to his spirited and ambitious wife.
• Eleanor, raised in the sophisticated and lively court of Aquitaine, found the northern French court dull and restrictive.
• She is reported to have once mockingly declared:

  "I thought I had married a king, only to find I had married a monk."

This cultural and personal mismatch would later lead to one of the most famous royal divorces in history.

Political Stability and Urban Unrest

• Louis VII’s accession in 1137 was largely peaceful, with no major disturbances.
• However, there were uprisings in Orléans and Poitiers, where the burgesses attempted to establish communes.
• These communal movements, inspired by urban self-governance efforts elsewhere in France, were a challenge to Capetian royal authority, but they were suppressed without significant long-term consequences.

Conflict with Pope Innocent II Over the Archbishopric of Bourges (1141)

Despite his early peaceful succession, Louis VII soon came into violent conflict with Pope Innocent II over a major investiture dispute in 1141:

• The Archbishopric of Bourges became vacant upon the death of Alberich of Reims.
• Louis VII supported Cadurc, his chancellor, as the new archbishop.
• Pope Innocent II, however, appointed Pierre de la Châtre, leading to a direct confrontation.

Louis VII swore upon relics that Pierre would never enter Bourges as long as he lived, an unprecedented act of defiance against the Pope.

• In retaliation, Pope Innocent II placed an interdict on France, severely undermining Louis’s religious authority and damaging his reputation.
• This interdict deepened the rift between the Capetian monarchy and the Papacy, setting the stage for future conflicts with the Church.

Consequences and Long-Term Impact

• The conflict with Innocent II weakened Louis’s position and marked the first significant crisis of his reign.
• Eleanor’s discontent continued to grow, as she resented her husband’s passive, monastic approach to kingship.
• The unresolved tensions between royal authority, urban communes, and the Church foreshadowed further struggles for Capetian rule in the 12th century.

Though Louis VII’s early reign was not marked by major wars, his internal struggles—both political and personal—would shape the course of French history, particularly through his troubled marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine and his tense relationship with the Papacy.

Oxford University, situated in the town of Oxford about fifty-five miles (eighty-five kilometers) northwest of London where the River Cherwell joins the Thames, is founded in the late mid-twelfth century.

Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096.

It is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, and the second-oldest surviving university in the world.

The Jews of Oxford are forced to pay ransom to both sides in the civil war in 1141 lest their houses be burned.

The forces of King Stephen of England have been besieging Lincoln Castle but are themselves attacked by a relief force loyal to Empress Matilda and commanded by Robert, first Earl of Gloucester, Matilda's half-brother.

The Angevin army consists of the divisions of Robert's men, those of Ranulf, Earl of Chester and those disinherited by Stephen, while on the flank is a mass of Welsh troops led by Madog ap Maredudd, Lord of Powys, and Cadwaladr ap Gruffydd.

Cadwaladr is the brother of Owain, Prince of Gwynedd, but Owain does not support any side in The Anarchy.

Stephen’s force include William of Ypres; Simon of Senlis; Gilbert of Hertford; William of Aumale, Alan of Richmond and Hugh Bigod but is markedly short of cavalry.

As soon as the battle is joined, the majority of the leading magnates flee.

Even as the royal troops listen to the exhortations of Stephen's lieutenant, Baldwin fitz Gilbert, the advancing enemy is heard and soon the disinherited Angevin knights charge the cavalry of the five earls.

On the left Earl William Aumale of York and William Ypres charge and smash the poorly armed Welsh division but are themselves in turn routed by the well-ordered military might of Earl Ranulf.

The earls, outnumbered and outfought, are soon put to flight and many of their men are killed and captured.

King Stephen and his knights are rapidly surrounded by the Angevin force.

The rest of his division fights on with no hope of escape until all are killed or had surrendered.

Baldwin fitz Richard and Richard fitz Urse are taken prisoner.

Stephen's forces are defeated after fierce fighting in the city's streets.

Stephen himself is captured and taken to Bristol, where he was imprisoned.

Other important magnates captured with the king are Baldwin fitz Gilbert; Bernard de Balliol, Roger de Mowbray; Richard de Courcy; William Peverel of Nottingham; Gilbert de Gant; Ingelram de Say; Ilbert de Lacy and Richard fitz Urse, all men of respected baronial families; it had only been the Earls who had fled.

The Karakhanid ruler Mahmud II has appealed to his Seljuq overlord Ahmed Sanjar for protection.

Sanjar marches in 1141 from Nishapur to Samarkand.

The Kara-Khitans, who have been invited by the Khwarazmians (at this time also a vassal of the Seljuqs) to conquer the lands of the Seljuqs, and also responding to an appeal to intervene by the Karluks, who are involved in a conflict with the Kara-Khanids and Seljuqs, also arrive.

Widely varying figures from different sources are given for the Kara-Khitan forces, ranging from twenty-five thousand to seven hundred thousand, while the Seljuq forces range from seventy thousand to one hundred thousand.

The Kara-Khitans are also said to have been given a reinforcement of thirty thousand to fifty thousand Karluk horsemen.

The battle is joined on the Qatwan steppe, north of Samarkand.

The Khitan divide their armies into three contingents, with the smaller left and right flanks each holding twenty-five hundred men.

The Kara-Khitans attack the Seljuq forces simultaneously, encircle them, and force the Seljuq center into a wadi called Dargham, about twelve kilometers from Samarkand.

Faced with no way out, the Seljuq army is destroyed and Sanjar barely escapes.

Figures of the dead range from eleven thousand to one hundred thousand.

Among those captured at the battle are Seljuq military commanders and Sanjar's wife.

Sanjar, escaping with only fifteen of his elite horsemen, loses all Seljuq territory east of the Syr Darya (Jaxartes).

Stories of this battle, told during the Second Crusade, will filter back to the Holy Land, inspiring stories of Prester John.

Stephen is subsequently exchanged for the Earl of Gloucester, and Matilda is defeated at the Rout of Winchester the following September, ending her brief ascendancy in the wars with Stephen.