Year 1137 (MCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
The Ethiopian Empire is established under the Zagwe dynasty.
First commercial treaty between the Almohads and a Christian power. Genoa obtains trading rights in the ports of North Africa.
In Song Dynasty China, a fire breaks out in the new capital of Hangzhou; the government suspends the requirement of rent payments, alms of 108,840 kg (120 tons) of rice are distributed to the poor, and items such as bamboo, planks, and rush-matting are exempted from government taxation.
March – Stephen of England fails in his attempt to re-capture the Duchy of Normandy from Empress Matilda of England.
July 25 – Louis VII of France marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, daughter of William X, in Bordeaux Cathedral. On August 1 Louis succeeds as King of France on the death of his father.
A fleet of thirty-seven Almoravid ships attacks the coasts of Southern Italy under Norman rule.
Rochester Cathedral in England is severely damaged by a fire, and soon rebuilt.
Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria (d. 1193)
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Walter Map, Welsh historian (d. 1209)
March 8 – Adela of Normandy, by marriage countess of Blois (b. c. 1067)
April 9 – William X, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
June 23 – Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz
August 1 – King Louis VI of France (b. 1081)
September 18 – Eric II of Denmark
October 30 – Sergius VII, Duke of Naples
December – Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1075)
date unknown
Ramanuja, Indian philosopher (b. 1017)
Pons, Count of Tripoli (b. c.1098)
Antipope Gregory VIII
Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd
probable – Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger, Byzantine soldier (b. 1062)
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