12th Century

Lady Teffania Tucerton's favourite period. The Normans control a great empire, fashions are for frivolous long sleeves (yes even on the guys - well the fashionable ones at least, eg. the knights :-) ), the crusades are bringing back fancy new silk fabrics as well as other items from the east. A rather more transitional period than some, and with more chances to travel to the east than earlier. Artwork is getting a bit more naturalistic and prettier - somewhat more pleasing to the modern eye, but still strange and hard to interpret.

A rather hard period to doccument things for since there is less archaeological evidence from this period, but written records are still a bit scanty.

Events

• Song dynasty loses power over Northern China
• First, Second, and Third Crusades of western European kingdoms against Islam
• Pope Adrian IV granted overlordship of Ireland to Henry II of England.
• Suger rebuilds the abbey church at St Denis north of Paris, seen as first Gothic building
• Portugal declares independence from the kingdom of Leon and Castille in 1139

Significant people

• Peter Abelard, one of the first scholastic philosophers
• Bernard of Clairvaux, French abbot influential in church politics
• Hugh of St. Victor, French scholar
• Richard of St. Victor, theologian
• Alfonso I Henriques, first King of Portugal

See also:

• 11th Century
• 12th century garb
• 13th Century
• Period

External Garb Links

• Some Clothing of the Middle Ages - http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/bockhome.html