1168
Fatimid library at Cairo dispersed
As Saladin's rise dismantled the Fatimid regime, its immense palace library - said to contain a hundred thousand volumes of Arabic, Greek, and Syriac works - was sold and scattered. Books were used as fuel and as filler for bookbindings. An intellectual world disappeared over a few years, its philosophical and scientific treasures absorbed into private collections or lost forever beneath the pragmatic indifference of the new Sunni administration.
Aztecs leave Aztlan
According to later Nahua migration accounts, this was the approximate year the tribe the Mexica would eventually call the Aztecs left their mythic northern homeland of Aztlan and began the long wandering that would eventually end at an eagle on a cactus in a Valley of Mexico lake. The journey, lasting over a century by their reckoning, took them through desert and mountain before they arrived as despised refugees in a valley already crowded with city-states.
Dublin becomes Norman
Diarmait Mac Murchada, the exiled king of Leinster, used Norman mercenaries from Wales under Richard de Clare to retake his throne. By this year the Normans effectively controlled Dublin, touching off eight centuries of English involvement in Ireland. The Normans fortified Dublin with stone walls and a castle, transforming a Viking trading town into the administrative center of an Anglo-Norman colony that would slowly expand across the eastern half of the island.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1168?
Saeculum lists 3 curated events from 1168. The most significant is Fatimid library at Cairo dispersed: As Saladin's rise dismantled the Fatimid regime, its immense palace library - said to contain a hundred thousand volumes of Arabic, Greek, and Syriac works…
What era was 1168 part of?
1168 falls within the High Middle Ages (1000-1300). Crusades, cathedrals, and the slow waking of Europe.
Which regions saw notable events in 1168?
The curated events from 1168 span Africa, North America and Europe.