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Sicily's William I dies May 7 after a 12-year reign. William the Bad is succeeded by his 13-year-old son, whose mother, Margaret of Navarre, will be regent until he comes of age but who will then reign in his own right until 1189 as William II (William the Good, or Guglielmo il Buono), championing the papacy and joining the Lombard cities in a secret conspiracy against the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa.
The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus asks Venice to help pay the costs of defending Sicily, whose Norman rulers have had good relations with Venice. The Venetian doge Vitale II Michiel refuses to pay the requested subsidy; he will order Venetian merchants to avoid Byzantine ports lest there be reprisals (see 1371).
Ireland's Muirchertach O'Lochlainn of Ulster is killed. His successor as high king is Roderic O'Connor (Rory O'Connor, or Ruiaidhri Ua Conchubair), king of Connaught, who attacks Dermot MacMurrough (Diarmaid Macmurchada), king of Leinster, deposes him, seizes his territories, and drives him from Ireland (see 1153). MacMurrough appeals to England for help, and Henry II gives him permission to enlist the support of some Anglo-Norman lords of South Wales (see 1167).
Ballad: The Song of Canute by an English monk of Ely.
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