1168

Year 1168 (MCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Levant

 * Summer – King Amalric I of Jerusalem, and Byzantine emperor Manuel I (Komnenos), negotiate an alliance against Fatimid-Egypt. Archbishop William of Tyre is among the ambassadors sent to Constantinople, to finalize the treaty.
 * Autumn – William IV, count of Nevers, arrives in Palestine with a contingent of elite knights. In Jerusalem he is present during a council with Amalric and other nobles to decide on an expedition to Egypt.
 * October 20 – Amalric I invades Egypt again from Ascalon, sacking Bilbeis and threatening Cairo. In November, a Crusader fleet sails up the Nile and arrives in Lake Manzala, sacking the town of Tanis.
 * Nur al-Din, Zangid ruler (atabeg) of Aleppo, sends an expedition under General Shirkuh to Egypt on request of the Fatimid caliph Al-Adid. He offers him a third of the land, and fiefs for his generals.

Egypt

 * December 22 – Afraid that the Egyptian capital Fustat (modern-day Old Cairo) will be captured by Crusader forces, its Fatimid vizier, Shawar, orders the city set afire. The capital burns for 54 days.

Europe

 * March 27 – Patrick of Salisbury, Angevin governor of Poitou, is killed in an ambush at Poitiers by French forces under Guy of Lusignan. He is escorting Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine on a journey near the border of Aquitaine. Patrick's nephew, William Marshal, is part of the royal escort and is taken prisoner. Later he is ransomed and becomes a member of Eleanor's household.
 * King Valdemar I (the Great) of Denmark conquers the Wendish capital at Arkona on the island of Rügen (modern Germany). The Wends become Christians and subject to Danish suzerainty.
 * Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, marries the 12-year-old Matilda (or Maud), daughter of King Henry II of England.
 * The newly born Commune of Rome conquers and destroys the rival neighboring city of Albano (modern Italy).
 * Stephen du Perche, Sicilian chancellor, is accused of plotting to claim the throne and is forced to flee.

Asia

 * April 9 – Emperor Rokujō is deposed by his grandfather, retired-Emperor Go-Shirakawa, after an 8-month reign. He is succeeded by his 6-year-old uncle, Takakura, as the 80th emperor of Japan.
 * Yuanqu County (known as Wanting County) in China is destroyed by a flood of the Yellow River.

Religion

 * September 20 – Antipope Paschal III dies at Rome after a 4-year reign. Giovanni di Struma is elected as his successor and will reign as Antipope Callixtus III with support from Emperor Frederick I.

Births

 * April 22 – Abubakar ibn Gussom, Arab poet (d. 1242)
 * August 31 – Zhang Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1208)
 * November 19 – Ning Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1224)
 * Ibn Muti al-Zawawi, Arab jurist and philologian (d. 1231)
 * Robert of Braybrooke, English High Sheriff (d. 1210)
 * Robert of Courtenay, French nobleman and knight (d. 1239)
 * Temüge (or Otgon), brother of Genghis Khan (d. 1246)
 * William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby (approximate date)

Deaths

 * January 17 – Thierry of Alsace, count of Flanders (b. 1099)
 * March 27 – Patrick of Salisbury, Norman nobleman (b. 1122)
 * April 5 – Robert de Beaumont, English nobleman (b. 1104)
 * September 20 – Paschal III, antipope of Rome (b. 1110)
 * October 24 – William IV, count of Auxerre and Nevers
 * November 5 – Hugh IX (Lusignan), French nobleman
 * Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi, Persian scholar (b. 1097)
 * Bermudo Pérez de Traba, Spanish nobleman (b. 1088)
 * Conrad of Babenberg, archbishop of Salzburg (b. 1115)
 * Wivina, French Benedictine abbess and saint (b. 1103)