1160
Chretien de Troyes begins writing at Champagne
At the court of Marie, Eleanor's daughter, a cleric whose name means Christian of Troyes began composing French verse romances that would invent the love triangle of Lancelot and Guinevere, introduce the Holy Grail, and give European vernacular literature its first sustained fictional arc. Chretien's romances established the conventions of courtly love and chivalric quest that would dominate European storytelling for the next three centuries.
Heiji Rebellion
A palace coup in Kyoto drew the Taira and Minamoto warrior clans into open battle in the streets. Taira no Kiyomori won, executing his Minamoto rivals but sparing a boy named Yoritomo. The spared child would topple Kiyomori's house twenty years later. The rebellion's aftermath was immortalized in the Heiji Monogatari scroll paintings, among the finest narrative artworks of medieval Japan.
Ghana empire decline
The once-great West African kingdom of Ghana, whose kings had drawn tribute from the salt-and-gold trade across the western Sahara, was fragmenting under pressure from Sahelian Muslim states. Successor polities including the Sosso and rising Mali lineages began positioning themselves. The breakup of Ghana's commercial network scattered its merchant communities across the western Sahel, spreading Islam and Soninke trading practices to regions that had never known them.
Work begins on Notre-Dame de Paris
Maurice de Sully, newly installed as bishop, ordered the old cathedral on the Ile de la Cite torn down and a soaring new church begun in the Gothic manner of Saint-Denis. Construction would continue on and off for the better part of two centuries. The building rose in stages, each generation of masons adding its own innovations in buttressing and tracery to a structure that became a living textbook of Gothic engineering.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1160?
Saeculum lists 4 curated events from 1160. The most significant is Chretien de Troyes begins writing at Champagne: At the court of Marie, Eleanor's daughter, a cleric whose name means Christian of Troyes began composing French verse romances that would invent the love…
What era was 1160 part of?
1160 falls within the High Middle Ages (1000-1300). Crusades, cathedrals, and the slow waking of Europe.
Which regions saw notable events in 1160?
The curated events from 1160 span Europe, East Asia and Africa.