Year 1153 (MCLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Middle East
August 19 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem takes control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his mother Melisende, and also captures Ascalon.
Andronikos I Komnenos is imprisoned for conspiring against Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos.
Raynald of Châtillon marries Constance of Antioch and becomes Prince of Antioch.
January 6 – Henry of Anjou arrives in England hoping to dethrone the reigning monarch, Stephen of England, and replace him with Henry's mother, Empress Matilda.
May 24 – Malcolm IV succeeds his grandfather as King of Scotland at the age of 12 and on May 27 is crowned at Scone Priory.
November 6 – The Treaty of Wallingford, under the direction of Theobald of Bec, reconciles Stephen of England and Matilda, ending "The Anarchy" which has occurred during their fight for the throne of England. The treaty grants the throne to Stephen for the duration of his life, but makes Matilda's son, Henry of Anjou, the heir apparent.
The city of Oberglatt (in modern-day Switzerland) is first mentioned in written literature.
Confronted with important financial difficulty due to the expenses of its Spanish crusade, the Republic of Genoa has to sell the city of Tortosa to the count of Barcelona, which had been conquered in 1148 during that same crusade.
Estimation: Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Merv in the Seljuk Empire.
July 12 – Pope Anastasius IV succeeds Pope Eugene III as the 168th pope.
August 17 – William IX, Count of Poitiers (d. 1156)
Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair, King of Connacht (d. 1224)
Kamo no Chōmei, a Japanese author, poet (waka), and essayist
Marco I Sanudo, Duke of the Archipelago (d. 1227)
May 24 – King David I of Scotland (b. 1084)
June 29 – Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles
July 8 – Pope Eugene III
August 16 – Bernard de Tremelay, fourth Grand Master of the Knights Templar (at the Siege of Ascalon)
August 17 – Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne, son of Stephen, King of England (b. c. 1130)
August 20 – Bernard of Clairvaux, French churchman (b. 1090)
December 16 – Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester (b. c. 1100)
Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford (b. 1115)
Anna Komnene, Byzantine princess and historian (b. 1083)
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