Year 1159 (MCLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

Events

• September 7 Pope Alexander III succeeds Pope Adrian IV, as the 170th pope.

• Taira no Kiyomori leaves Kyōto on a personal pilgrimage, giving Fujiwara no Nobuyori and his Minamoto allies the perfect chance to stage an uprising.

• Tunis is reconquered from the Normans, by the Almohad caliphs.

• (Approximate date): Churchman Richard FitzNeal is appointed Lord High Treasurer in England, in charge of Henry II of England's Exchequer, an office he will hold for almost 40 years.

Births

• Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (d. 1189)

Deaths

• May 30 Wladislaus II, the Exile of Poland (b. 1105)

• August 29 Bertha of Sulzbach, Byzantine Empress (b. 1110s)

• September 1 Pope Adrian IV (b. c. 1100)

• October 11 William of Blois, Count of Boulogne and Earl of Surrey (b. c. 1137)

• Count Joscelin II of Edessa

References