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Political Events

The Great Diet of Mainz opens under the aegis of the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, who has his two sons knighted in the presence of a multitude of princes and knights at a colossal medieval pageant.

Norway's Magnus V Erlingsson obtains help from Denmark's Canute VI for a campaign to recover control of his country from the pretender Sverrir Sigurdsson but is killed in battle at Fimreite June 15 at age 27 (approximate), leaving Sverrir as sole king (see 1177). The exiled archbishop Eystein Erlendsen returned to Norway last year and made peace with Sverrir, but Sverrir has demanded a reduction in the archbishop's armed forces (see 1190).

Cyprus gains her freedom from the Byzantines.

Georgia's co-ruler Tamara, now 25, becomes sole ruler upon the death of her father, Giorgi III; last of the direct line of the Bagrationis who have ruled since 975, Queen Tamara (she is consecrated as such by the Archbishop of Kutaisi and also proclaimed "King of Kartli") begins a 24-year reign that will raise Georgia to the peak of its political power.

The Almohad ruler Abu Yaqub Yusuf dies July 29 and is succeeded by his 24-year-old son Abu Yusuf Ibn ahd Al-mumin, who will reign until his own death in 1199 and gain the name al-Mansur. Rebel tribesmen capture Algiers in November, but the new ruler will have pacified his North African territories by 1188, permitting him to return to the Iberian Peninsula and reverse the advances made by Portuguese and Castilian forces (see 1195).

Japan's Minamoto military leader Yoshinaka is killed at age 30 by the Taira in the Battle of Ichinotani near Suma on the Inland Sea.

Religion

Pope Lucius III excommunicates Peter Waldo (see 1179). The pope and the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa decree at the Synod of Verona that all heretics and their protectors are to be excommunicated, and if they refuse to recant after an ecclesiastical trial to be turned over to civil authorities for punishment, usually to be burned at the stake. The strict decrees of the Third Lateran Council 5 years ago are implemented as Lucius III instigates an attack against the "heretical" Cathari sect (see 1167; 1208).

Architecture, Real Estate

A new Canterbury Cathedral opens in Kent after 5 years of construction to replace the cathedral in which Thomas Becket was murdered at the end of 1170. Architect for the great Gothic structure is William of Sens, who has built the French cathedral at Sens that has helped establish the Gothic style that employs pillars with buttresses to replace walls as the main support of vaulted roofs, making possible large stained-glass windows to permit the entrance of mysterious colored light. The cathedral will be given a nave in the late 14th century and a central tower in the 15th century.

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