1178

Fresco of George III (r. 1156–1184)

Year 1178 (MCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar, the 1178th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 178th year of the 2nd millennium, the 78th year of the 12th century, and the 9th year of the 1170s decade.

Events

June 30 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) is crowned King of Burgundy at Arles. He will repeat the ceremony in 1186. Returning to Germany, he begins proceedings against Henry III (the Lion), duke of Saxony, who has been charged by Saxon noblemen with breaking the king's peace.
July 17 – Saracen pirates, from the Balearic Islands, raid the Cistercian monastery of Saint Honorat on the Lérins Islands, and the city of Toulon, killing an estimated 300 and taking captives. The surviving captives are freed from the Balearic Islands in 1185.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
King George III defeats a nobles' revolt and proclaims his 18-year-old daughter Tamar (the Great) as co-ruler of Georgia.
Orio Mastropiero is elected by the Council of Forty as doge of Venice, following the retirement of Sebastiano Ziani.
Portuguese forces under King Afonso I (the Conqueror) capture the city of Beja from the Almohads.<ref name="lameretlesmusulmans78">Picard C. (1997). La mer et les musulmans d'Occident au Moyen Age. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, p. 78.</ref>

The Leaning Tower of Pisa begins to lean, as the third level is completed (approximate date).

Summer – Antipope Callixtus III submits to Pope Alexander III after having reigned for 10 years with support from Frederick I.
June 18 – Five monks from Canterbury see what is possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed.