1144

1144 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1144 MCXLIV
Ab urbe condita	1897
Armenian calendar	593 ԹՎ ՇՂԳ
Assyrian calendar	5894
Balinese saka calendar	1065–1066
Bengali calendar	550–551
Berber calendar	2094
English Regnal year	9 Ste. 1 – 10 Ste. 1
Buddhist calendar	1688
Burmese calendar	506
Byzantine calendar	6652–6653
Chinese calendar	癸亥年 (Water Pig) 3841 or 3634 — to — 甲子年 (Wood Rat) 3842 or 3635
Coptic calendar	860–861
Discordian calendar	2310
Ethiopian calendar	1136–1137
Hebrew calendar	4904–4905
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1200–1201
- Shaka Samvat	1065–1066
- Kali Yuga	4244–4245
Holocene calendar	11144
Igbo calendar	144–145
Iranian calendar	522–523
Islamic calendar	538–539
Japanese calendar	Kōji 3 / Ten'yō 1 (天養元年)
Javanese calendar	1050–1051
Julian calendar	1144 MCXLIV
Korean calendar	3477
Minguo calendar	768 before ROC 民前768年
Nanakshahi calendar	−324
Seleucid era	1455/1456 AG
Thai solar calendar	1686–1687
Tibetan calendar	ཆུ་མོ་ཕག་ལོ་ (female Water-Boar) 1270 or 889 or 117 — to — ཤིང་ཕོ་བྱི་བ་ལོ་ (male Wood-Rat) 1271 or 890 or 118

Autumn – Imad al-Din Zengi, Seljuk governor (atabeg) of Mosul, attacks the Artuqid forces led by Kara Arslan – who has made an alliance with Joscelin II, count of Edessa. In support of the alliance Joscelin marches out of Edessa with a Crusader army down to the Euphrates River, to cut off Zengi's communications with Aleppo. Zengi is informed by Muslim observers at Harran of Joscelin's movements. He sends a detachment of Muslims to ambush the Crusaders and reaches Edessa with his main army in late November.^[1]
December 24 – Siege of Edessa: Seljuk forces led by Imad al-Din Zengi conquer the fortress city of Edessa after a four-week siege. Thousands of inhabitants are massacred – only the Muslims are spared. The women and children are sold into slavery.^[2] This eliminates the Crusader principality of Outremer. Lacking the forces to take on Zengi, Joscelin II retires to his fortress at Turbessel. There, he requests reinforcements from the Byzantines and Queen-Regent Melisende of Jerusalem. This will lead to the Pope preaching a Second Crusade.

Spring – Italo-Norman forces under King Roger II of Sicily invade the Papal States to force Pope Lucius II to accept his truce, but the patrician Giordano Pierleoni, brother of the late Antipope Anacletus II, leads the Roman populace to proclaim a constitutional republic free of papal authority with regard to civil rule. Pierleoni takes over the papal capital, and establishes the Commune of Rome in the style of the old Roman Republic.
Summer – Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou ("the Fair", husband of Empress Matilda) completes his conquest of Normandy, which comes under Angevin control. In exchange for being recognised as Duke of Normandy by King Louis VII of France, Geoffrey surrenders half of the county of Vexin – a region vital to Norman security – to Louis.
The city of Montauban in southern France is founded by Count Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse.
The city of Ljubljana (modern Slovenia) is first mentioned in historical records.^[3]

Autumn – Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, is mortally wounded by a stray arrow received in a skirmish. Because he is an outlaw, his burial is denied at the monastery he has founded, Walden Abbey. Geoffrey's body is eventually accepted by the Knights Templar community for burial within the Temple Church in London.

Catalan mercenary Reverter de La Guardia, the main Almoravid commander in the Maghrid al-Aqsa, dies. His elimination opens the regions to the troops of the Almohads.^[4]

March 8 – Pope Celestine II dies at Rome after a 5-month pontificate. He is succeeded by Lucius II as the 166th pope of the Catholic Church.
March 22 – The first example of an anti-Semitic blood libel is recorded in England, in connection with the murder of William of Norwich.
June 11 – The Basilica of St. Denis near Paris is completed, and consecrated in the presence of Louis VII – as the first Gothic church.
The Lesmahagow Priory in Scotland, is founded after John, bishop of Glasgow, and King David I have granted lands at Lesmahagow.
The first Knights Templar stronghold is established in the Kingdom of León and Castile.^[5]

Events