1200s

This is a list of events occurring in the 1200s, ordered by year.

1200

• August 24 – After touring an army through Aquitaine to assert his right to it,^[1] John of England weds 13 year old Isabella of Angoulême at Bordeaux.
• The Iroquois invade modern-day Ohio from the north.
• The Mongols defeat Northern China.
• The University of Paris receives its charter from Philip II of France.
• The rebel Ivanko is captured and executed by the Byzantine general Alexios Palaiologos

1201

• July 31 – Attempted usurpation of John Komnenos the Fat.
• John of England puts an embargo on wheat exported to Flanders in an attempt to force an allegiance between the states. He also puts a levy of a fifteenth on the value of cargo exported to France, and disallows the export of wool to France without a special license. The levies are enforced in each port by at least six men, including one churchman and one knight.^[2] John also affirms this year that judgements made by the court of Westminster are as valid as those made "before the king himself or his chief justice".^[3]
• The town of Riga is chartered as a city by Bishop Albert, who landed on the site of the town with 1,500 crusaders earlier that year.
• Boniface of Montferrat is elected leader of the Fourth Crusade, after the death of Theobald III of Champagne.
• Innocent III supports Otto IV as Holy Roman Emperor, against Philip of Swabia.

1202

By area

Asia

• May 20 – An earthquake occurs in Syria.
• Genghis Khan crushes the Tartars.

Europe

• July – John of England rescues his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, from near capture by the rebellious forces of Arthur I, Duke of Brittany.^[4]
• July 27 – Georgians defeat the Seljuqids of Rüm at the Battle of Basian.
• August 1 – Arthur of Brittany is captured in Mirabeau, north of Poitiers, during a battle with John of England.
• November 10–November 23 – Fourth Crusade – Siege of Zara: The Crusaders besiege and conquer Zara, Croatia.
• The Almohad fleet expels the Banu Ghaniya from the Balearic Islands.^[5]
• The Livonian Brothers of the Sword is founded.
• Pope Innocent III reasserts his right to evaluate and crown the Holy Roman Emperor, in a letter to the duke of Zahringen.
• Leonardo Fibonacci writes Liber Abaci, about the modus Indorum, the numbering method of India; it is the first major work in Europe toward moving away from the use of Roman numerals.

By topic

Culture

• Leonardo Fibonacci publishes Liber Abaci, introducing the Arabian zero to Europe.
• (circa) The first jesters are hired in European courts.
• The chronicle of Roger of Wendover is of original value as of this year.

Religion

• The Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda is founded in Aragon Province, Spain.

1203

By area

Asia

• Minamoto no Sanetomo becomes shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate

Europe

• April 16 – Philip II of France enters Rouen, leading to the eventual unification of Normandy and France.
• William de Braose, Fourth Lord of Bramber becomes the guardian of Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, and is possibly responsible for his death.
• Battle of Basiani: The Georgians defeat a Muslim coalition.
• The Almohads begin the conquest of the Balearic Islands.
• The troops of the Fourth Crusade reach the Byzantine heartland:
  • June 23 – The Fleet of the crusaders enters the Bosphorus.
  • July 17 – The armies of the Fourth Crusade capture Constantinople by assault; the Byzantine emperor Alexius III flees from his capital into exile.
  • August 1 – The Fourth Crusade elevates Alexius IV as Byzantine Emperor, after the citizens of Constantinople proclaim as emperor Isaac II Angelus (Alexius IV's father).

By topic

Markets

• First evidence that the Temple in London is extending loans to the king of England. The sums remained relatively small but were often used for critical operations such as the ransoming of the king’s soldiers captured by the French.^[6]

Religion

• April 8 – Congress of Bilino Polje: Ban Kulin officially declares his allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church and denounces heresy.
• The Temple of Nataraja is completed at Chidambaram in India.

1204

• February – Byzantine emperor Alexius IV is overthrown in a revolution, and Alexius V is proclaimed emperor.
• April 13 – Fourth Crusade: The Crusaders take Constantinople by storm, and pillage the city for 3 days.
• May 16 – Baldwin, Count of Flanders is crowned emperor of the Latin Empire a week after his election by the members of the Fourth Crusade.
• Theodore I Lascaris flees to Nicaea after the capture of Constantinople, and establishes the Empire of Nicaea; Byzantine successor states are also established in Epirus and Trebizond.
• Boniface of Montferrat, a leader of the Fourth Crusade, founds the Kingdom of Thessalonica.
• The writings of French theologian Amalric of Bena are condemned by the University of Paris and Pope Innocent III.
• Tsar Kaloyan is recognized as king of Bulgaria by Pope Innocent III after the creation of the Bulgarian Uniate church.
• Valdemar II, King of Denmark, is recognized as king in Norway.
• Angers and Normandy are captured by Philip II of France.
• The Cistercian convent of Port-Royal-des-Champs is established.
• The district of Cham becomes subject to Bavaria.
• Hermann I of Thuringia submits to Philip of Swabia.
• Beaulieu Abbey is founded.
• Guernsey and Jersey decide, after a plebiscite of wealthy land owners, to remain with the English crown after Normandy was recaptured by Philip II of France.

1205

By area

Africa

• The general Muhammad al_Inti b. Abi Hafs establishes the Almohad domination over the eastern parts of Ifriqiya and enters in Tripoli.^[5]

Europe

• January 6 – Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans.
• April 14 – Battle of Adrianople: The Bulgarians defeat the Latins.
• August 20 – Following certain news of Baldwin I's death, Henry of Flanders is crowned Emperor of the Latin Empire.
• Anjou is conquered by Philip II of France. Fearing a French invasion of England itself, John of England requires every English male over 12 to enter an association "for the general defence of the realm and the preservation of peace".^[7]
• Othon de la Roche founds the Duchy of Athens.
• William of Wrotham, Lord Warden of the Stannaries of England, oversees a reform of English currency. In keeping with other high-ranking bureaucrats of his time and place, this is just one of Wrotham's many offices: he is also Keeper of the King's Ports & Galleys, supervisor of the mints of Canterbury and London, ward of the vacant Diocese of Bath and Wells, an archdeacon of Taunton, a canon of Wells, and will serve the following year as a circuit judge.^[8]

By topic

Religion

• July 15 – Pope lays down the principle that Jews are doomed to perpetual servitude because they had crucified Jesus.

1206

By area

Asia

• Temüjin is proclaimed Genghis Khan of the Mongol people, founding the Mongol Empire.
• Mukhali is appointed myriarch of the left wing of the newly reorganized Mongol army, and granted immunity for up to 9 breaches of the law.
• Qutb-ud-din Aybak, a Turkish mameluke from Central Asia proclaims the Mameluk dynasty in India, the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.

Europe

• Theodore Lascaris is crowned Byzantine Emperor at Nicaea.
• The Livonian Brothers of the Sword, in alliance with the Semigallians, conquer Livs.
• King Valdemar II and Archbishop Andreas Sunonis raid Saaremaa Island, Estonia, forcing the islanders to submit. The Danes build a fortress, but finding no volunteers to man it, they burn it down themselves and leave the island.

By topic

Arts and culture

• Sugar, an import from the Muslim world, is mentioned for the first time in a royal English account. Almonds, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg are also imported for royal banquets.^[9]

Education

• Colchester Royal Grammar School founded.

Religion

• Foundation of the Order of the Friars Minor by Francis of Assisi.^[10]
• A peasant named Thurkhill in England claims that Saint Julian took him on a tour of Purgatory. Thurkhill includes realistic touches including descriptions of Purgatory’s torture chambers, and is believed by Roger of Wendover, one of his society’s leading historians.^[11]
• This year, Dominic de Guzmán claims to have received the Holy Rosary from the Virgin Mary.

Technics

• The Arab engineer al-Jazari describes many mechanical inventions in his book (title translated to English) The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.

1207

By area

Asia

• Before 1207 – Kosho makes Kuya Preaching. Kamakura period. It is now kept at Rokuhara Mitsu-ji, Kyoto.
• Hōnen and his followers are exiled to remote parts of Japan, while a few are executed, for what the government considers heretical Buddhist teachings.

Europe

• November – Leeds, then a market town, received its first charter.
• Pope Innocent III declares for Philip of Swabia as Holy Roman Emperor, a reversal of his previous support for Otto IV.
• King John issues letters patent creating the new Borough of Liverpool.

By topic

Markets

• First evidence of forced loans in Venice. This technic becomes the staple of public finance in Europe until the 16th century.^[12]

Religion

• June 17 – Stephen Langton is consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Innocent III.

1208

By area

Asia

• April 15 – A fire breaks out in the Song Chinese capital city of Hangzhou, raging for 4 days and nights, destroying 58,097 houses over an area of more than 3 miles, killing 59 people, and an unrecorded amount of other people who are trampled while attempting to flee. The government provides temporary lodging for 5,345 people in nearby Buddhist and Taoist monasteries. The collective victims of the disaster are given 160,000 strings of cash, along with 400 tons of rice. Some of the government officials who lost their homes take up residence in rented boathouses on the nearby West Lake.

Europe

• January 15 – Peter of Castelnau is killed by a vassal of Raymond VI of Toulouse, who is held responsible and excommunicated by Pope Innocent III.
• January 31 – Battle of Lena: Inferior Swedish forces defeat the invading Danes and king Sverker the Younger is deposed as king of Sweden. He is succeeded by his rival Erik Knutsson.
• March 24 – Pope Innocent III places England under an interdict as punishment for King John of England rejecting his choice for Archbishop of Canterbury. Under the interdict, Church sacraments including marriage and consecrated burial are probably stopped, but there is no sign of the popular discontent which interdicts are intended to produce over the next several years.^[13]
• June 21 – Philip of Swabia, King of Germany and rival to Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV, is assassinated in Bamberg by German Count Otto of Wittelsbach, because Philip had refused to give him his daughter in marriage.
• With the help of the newly converted local tribes of Livs and Letts, the Crusaders initiate raids into part of what is present-day Estonia; the resulting ancient fight for independence lasts until 1227.

By topic

Arts and culture

• Robert of Courçon writes his Suma.

1209

By area

Asia

• Genghis Khan conquers Western Xia.
• The army of the Kingdom of Georgia raids the Muslim principalities in north Iran.

Europe

• The Albigensian Crusade is launched against the Cathars.
  • July 22 – Simon de Monfort, leader of the Albigensian Crusade, sacks Béziers, killing many Cathars and Catholics alike.
  • August – Simon de Monfort takes over Carcassonne.
• November – John of England is excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. Despite the excommunication, John will continue to make amends to the Church, including giving alms to the poor whenever he defiles a holy day by hunting during it. This year, he feeds a hundred paupers to make up for when he "went into the woods on the feast of St. Mary Magdalen" and three years from now, he will feast 450 paupers "because the king went to take cranes, and he took nine, for each of which he feasted fifty paupers."^[14]
• London Bridge is completed.
• Black Monday, Dublin,– when a group of 500 recently arrived settlers from Bristol were massacred by warriors of the Gaelic O'Byrne clan. The group had left the safety of the walled city of Dublin to celebrate Easter Monday near a wood at Ranelagh, when they were attacked without warning. Although now a relatively obscure event in history, it was commemorated by a mustering of the Mayor, Sheriffs and soldiers on the day as a challenge to the native tribes for centuries afterwards.

By topic

Education

• Cambridge University is founded.

Markets

• Philippe Auguste of France grants a "conduit" to merchants going to the Champagne fairs guarantying the safety of their travel as any attempt made against them is now to be considered as a crime of lese-majesty. The decision increases again the appeal of the fairs to merchants from Italy and the Low Countries.^[15]
• Formation of the banking firm known as the Gran Tavola, most of the partners are members of the Bonsignori family. ^[16]

Religion

• The Franciscan Order is founded.

Significant people

Births

Deaths

References