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12th Century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and is sometimes called the Age of the Cistercians. In Song Dynasty China an invasion by Jurchens causes a political schism of north and south. The Khmer Empire of Cambodia flourished during this century, while the Fatimids of Egypt were overtaken by the Ayyubid dynasty.

• List of 12th century inventions

The Liuhe Pagoda of Hangzhou, China, 1165

• Early 12th century - Attributed to Emperor Huizong of Song detail of Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk, copy after a lost Tang dynasty painting of Zhang Xuan, is made. Northern Song dynasty. It is now kept at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
• Early 12th century - Zhang Zeduan paints Along the River During the Qingming Festival. Northern Song dynasty. It is now kept at The Palace Museum, Beijing.
• Early 12th century - Album leaf from the Ishiyama-gire is made. Heian period. It is now kept at Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C..
• First European universities founded.
• Building of Angkor Wat in Khmer empire.
• Scene from The Tale of Genji is made. Heian period. It is now kept at Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya.
• Attributed to Toba Sojo Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga is made. Heian period. It is now kept at Kozan-ji, Kyoto.
• Beginning of the Gothic architecture style in France.
• Christian humanism becomes a self-conscious philosophical tendency in Europe.
• Earliest record of a miracle play, in Dunstable, England.
• Beginning of trouvère music and poetry in France.
• Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli composes his epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin
• Beginning of the Ars antiqua period in the history of Western European music.
• The Madrid Skylitzes manuscript illustrates the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes.
• Earliest Western account of a mariner's compass, by Alexander Neckam is "De utensilibus" (see Shen Kuo).
• Although known in China since the 5th century BC, the blast furnace for smelting cast iron first appears in Europe, in and around Lapphyttan, Sweden, as early as 1150.
• First fire and plague insurance (in Iceland).
• First authenticated influenza epidemics.
• Invention of the Kente cloth.
• Start of Middle English.
• Introduction of Christianity in Finland, Karelia and Estonia
• Hoysala architecture reaches a peak.
• Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi (1155–1191) founder of school of illumination (Ishraq).
• 1104—The Venice Arsenal of Venice, Italy, is founded. It employed some 16000 people for the mass production of sailing ships in large assembly lines, hundreds of years before the Industrial Revolution.
• 1106- Finished building of Gelati.
• 1107—The Chinese engineer Wu Deren combines the mechanical compass vehicle of the South Pointing Chariot with the distance-measuring odometer device.
• 1111—The Chinese Donglin Academy is founded.
• 1165—The Liuhe Pagoda of Hangzhou, China, is built.
• 1185 First record of windmills.
• The Durham Cathedral of England is completed.
• The kasbah of Marrakesh is built, city gate Bab Agnaou and the Koutoubia mosque.
• Theotokos of Vladimir, icon, probably from Constantinople, faces only are made. The rest has been retouched. It is now kept at Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
• Mid-12th century – Cappella Palatina, Palermo, Sicily, is built.
• Mid-12th century – Chamber of King Roger, Norman Palace, Palermo, Sicily, is built.
• Shiva Nataraja, from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, is made. Chola Dynasty. It is now kept at National Museum of India, New Delhi.