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Timeline 1200-1300:

1200

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Morocco's Muslim government grants special privileges to Jews in order to encourage trade and education.

Hunac Ceel revolts against the Maya of Chichén Itzá. He establishes a new capital at Mayapán.

1202

Famine hits Egypt. Egypt will not recover until 1204.

The Fourth Crusade begins. Crusaders organize themselves and agree to meet in Venice. When they are unable to pay for transport, they agree to conquer outlying territories on the behalf of the Byzantine emperor.

1203 King John of England orders the murder of his nephew Arthur, Duke of Brittany.
1204 Crusaders, irritated at treatment of the Byzantine government, capture and sack Constantinople, destroying priceless artifacts and stealing relics. They establish a Latin ruler.
1206

Temujin (Genghis Khan) declared "Emperor within the Seas," the Khan of Khans among the steppes tribes.

Dynasty of slave-kings rule in India until 1290.

1207 Pope Innocent III appoints Stephen Langton archbishop. John refuses to let him take office of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, wanting to sail the church-office to his own candidate
1208

Antagonized by John's intervention in church affairs, Pope Innocent III places England under interdict.

Pope Innocent III calls for a crusade against the Albigensians or Cathars, a heretical sect in southern France. The heresy is particularly dangerous to orthodoxy because it refutes the need for worship in churches, the sacraments, and the material wealth of the church.

1209

Cambridge University founded.

Pope Innocent III, fed up with King John's attacks on church property, excommunicates him.

1210

Innocent III, on a roll, also excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV, adding him to the list of political figures cast out of the church.

Francis of Assisi founds the Franciscan Order.

Genghis Khan invades China.

Probable date of election of Hermann von SalzaÊas grand master of the Teutonic Knights. The date coincided with the date of the marriage in Tyre of John of Brienne to Mary. It was also the date of John's coronation as King of Jerusalem

1211

Alfonso II becomes king of Portugal. He rules until 1223.

Burzenland settled by the Teutonic Knights with the authority of Hungary's King Andrew II.

St. Francis reportedly landed on the Isola Maggiore, an island on Lake Trasimeno.

1212

Frederick II recognized officially as Holy Roman Emperor. He has a long-lasting and influential reign until his death in 1250.

In early spring, 10,000 German children and later in June, 20,000 French set off on the Children's Crusade. Their leader, a fourteen-year -old shepherd boy named Stephen from Cloyes-sur-le-Loire, France, has vision of Christ and delivers a letter to the King of France. Stephen confronts the pope and chastises him for his lack of action in rescuing the Holy Land. The chagrined pope grants him permission. The horde of children set off for Palestine, expecting the Mediterranean Sea to part for them as the Red Sea did for Moses in Christian belief. When this miracle fails to happen, they are "generously" given free passage across the ocean--but the sailors take them captive and sell thousands of them into slavery in Muslim slave markets of northern Africa.

Alfonso VIII of Castile expanded the Reconquista. King Sancho VII of Navarre won the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. Moslems were crushed in the Spanish crusade. Peter II of Aragon defeats the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa

Adomadana given to the Teutonic Knights by King Leo of Armenia

1213

Pope Innocent declares King John of England deposed. John mends his ways to make peace.

James I (James the Conqueror) becomes King of Aragon. He rules 63 years until 1276.

1215

English barons force John to sign a statement concerning the rights of the nobility, severely limiting the power of the monarchy. This "Great Charter" (Magna Carta) will form a legal model for later groups seeking to de-centralize state power.

Pope Innocent III calls the Fourth Lateran Council, one of the most important events in Church history, with 71 statements of doctrine ratified. For the first time in church history, yearly confession is required of all Christians, and transubstantiation became an official part of Catholic doctrine. Pope Innocent introduced a policy in which soldiers--if fighting non-Christian forces on crusade--could be given forgiveness of sins without penance. (This doctrine was a key element in rousing public enthusiasm for conquests in the Middle East.) Finally, the church passed a series of anti-semitic laws, requiring Jews to wear distinguishing clothing and forbidding them from holding political office over Christians.

Saint Dominic founds the Dominic Order at Toulouse. These friars take up the task of preaching orthodox beliefs to counter growing and popular heresies such as Catharism.

Frederick II crowned in France; he renews French struggle for control over the papacy.

1216

Henry III becomes King of England. At nine years old, the kingdom is controlled by a regent-protector until he achieves adulthood. Henry III's reign lasts 56 years, ending in 1272.

Pope Honorius III claims the Papal See, ruling the church until 1227.

1217 The Fifth Crusade begins, lasting until 1222. The crusaders set out to conquer Egypt, in order that its grain supplies and troops will not be available to Muslim forces, who are becoming increasingly organized and centralized under a single ruler.
1218 Genghis Khan captures Persian empire.
1219

The Mongols conquer Bokhora.

Genghis Khan's destruction of irrigation in Afghanistan leads to permanent deserts in the area.

The port of Damietta falls to the Crusaders.

1222 The Fifth Crusade ends in failure. Egypt remains in Muslim hands.
1223

Louis VIII takes the throne of France, ruling until 1226.

The Mongols invade Russia.

1224 France and England go to war over French territories held by England.
1226 Louis IX (Saint Louis) rules France. His reign lasts until 1270.
1227

Gregory IX assumes control of Papal See. He serves as pope until 1241.

War ends between France and England.

Henry III begins rule as an adult in England.

Genghis Khan dies. His sons divide the empire among themselves.

1228 Emperor Frederick II leads the Sixth Crusade, the most successful venture into Muslim lands since the first crusade in the late eleventh-century.
1229

The crusaders of the Sixth Crusade recapture Jerusalem.

Teutonic Knights begin a "Prussian" Crusade, conquering pagan lands in Eastern Europe.

Ogadai, son of Genghis Khan, is elected khan. He rules until 1241.

1232 Oldest recorded use of rockets: Chinese use rockets in attempts to repel the Mongols.
1234 Mongols annex the Chin Empire.
1236 Alexander Nevksi, Prince of Novgorod in Russia. He rules until 1263.
1240 End of the Empire of Ghana in Africa. The Kingdom of Mali absorbs it into its own structure.
1241 Ogadai Khan dies. The Mongols, quarreling amongst themselves without a leader, depart from Europe.
1242 Batu Khan establishes a Mongol kingdom ("The Golden Horde") on the lower Volga River.
1243

Egyptians recapture Jerusalem. The Christian occupational forces flee or are slaughtered.

Innocent IV claims the Papal See. He rules the church until 1254.

1245 Innocent IV calls the Synod of Lyon. The Synod declares Emperor Frederick II legally deposed.
1247 Struggle between Emperor Frederick II and and the pope's allies. The bitter warfare lasts until 1250 when Conrad IV becomes Emperor.
1248 Louis IX of France leads the Seventh Crusade.
1250

Conrad IV, becomes Holy Roman Emperor. He rules until 1254, and his death triggers a nineteen-year power struggle for the crown.

Saracens capture Louis IX in Egypt and ransom him to the crusaders.

1253 Ottokar II (the Great) becomes king of Bohemia. He rules until he is killed in battle in 1278.
1254 The Great Interregnum of the Holy Roman Empire. This bitter struggle for control of the Empire lasts until 1273.
1256

Prince Llewellyn drives out English forces from Wales, securing the Welsh people from English rule until the Edwardian kings reconquer the territory.

The Augustinian order of monks established with an official proclamation of Pope Alexander IV. (The Augustinian hermits had been a traditional-but-unrecognized category of several eremitic orders since the 400s).

1258 Simon de Montfort forces King Henry III to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, a legal document requiring a number of governmental reforms--including a council of 15 barons. Henry abides by these rules until 1264.
1260 Kublai becomes grand Khan of the Mongols as the candidate favored bythe army at Shan-tu, in China.
1261 Urban IV becomes pope. He rules the Papal See until 1264.
1263 Norway gives up the Hebrides to the Scots.
1264 Simon de Montfort and other English barons defeat Henry III at the battle of Lewes, asserting the limits of monarchial power. The barons capture the royal heir, Prince Edward, and use him as a bargaining chip.
1265

Simon de Montfort summons burgesses from large cities to Parliament for the first time, challenging the king's authority in a manner similar to the way the barons challenged King John with the Magna Carta in 1215.

Henry III's son, Prince Edward, defeats and kills Simon de Montfort at the battle of Evesham.

Clement IV becomes Pope. He holds the Papal See until 1268.

1268

Muslims from Egypt capture Antioch, held by the Christians.

Clement IV dies. The papacy remains vacant for three years as no candidate can be agreed upon.

1270 King Louis IX of France dies of plague while on Crusade. His death leads quickly to the end of the Seventh Crusade.
1271

Marco Polo sets off with his father and uncle to visit the court of Kublai Khan--it is a twenty-four year trip.

After a three-year gap without a pope, Gregory X ascends the Papal See until 1276.

1272 Edward I becomes King of England. He rules until 1307.
1273 Rudolf I becomes Holy Roman Emperor, ending a period of warfare and lawlessness that had lasted nineteen years while no individual could hold the crown. He rules until 1291.
1274

The first Mongol invasion of Japan under Kublai Khan's rule. In spite of heavy losses among the Japanese, the Mongols fail to achieve a permanent foothold. They make plans for a second invasion, which comes about in 1281.

Pope Gregory X calls the Synod of Lyons. The pope recommends that conclaves should be kept secret to avoid corruption.

1275 Marco Polo enters the service of Kublai Khan.
1276 Rapid succession of short-lived popes claim the papal see. Innocent V rules five months. Adrian V rules five weeks. Pope John XXI rules eight months. In each case, the pope dies shortly after taking office.
1277 English Franciscan monk and philosopher Roger Bacon exiled for heresy.
1278 Rudolf I defeats and kills Ottokar of Bohemia at the battle of Marchfeld.
1279 Rudolf I surrenders his long-lasting claims to Sicily and the Papal States.
1280 Death of Albertus Magnus, German alchemist and philosopher.
1281

A second Mongol invasion ends in naval disaster when a hurricane hits the fleet en route to Japan. The Japanese refer to this storm as Kami Kazi ("divine wind").

Martin IV becomes pope, ruling the papal see until 1285.

1283 Edward I defeats and kills Llewellyn Pen Cymru, prince of Wales, and he executes Llewellyn's brother Dyfed (David). His conquest of Wales is complete.
1285

Philip IV, known as Il Bel ("the Fair"), becomes King of France. He rules until 1314.

Pope Honorius IX rules the papal see until 1287.

1286 Alexander III, king of Scotland dies. The throne descends to his infant granddaughter, Margaret, the Maid of Norway.
1288 Pope Nicholas IV ascends the papal see.
1289 Friar John of Montecorvino (Mount Crow) becomes the first archbishop of Beijing.
1290

Margaret, the Maid of Norway, queen of Scotland, dies. 13 Scottish warlords each attempt to claim the throne, leading to violent struggles.

Turkish leader Firuz in Delhi founds the Khalji Dynasty.

1291 Muslim armies capture Acre, the last Christian holdings in Palestine. This marks the end of successful crusades. Scots acknowledge English king as suzerain (Edward I). He oversees process of succession to the Scottish throne.
1292

John Balliol becomes Edward I's puppet-king, ruling Scotland and collaborating with England..

Adolf, Count of Nassau, becomes Holy Roman Emperor. He rules until 1298.

Roger Bacon's sentence of exile revoked.

1294 Boniface VIII becomes the next pope--famous for his skill as a lawyer, diplomat, and a sorcerer in medieval legend. He sits on the papal see until 1303.
1295

"Model Parliament" of Edward I: knights and burgesses from English shires and towns summoned to participate in government decisions. It is the first representative parliament--or at least the first to acknowledge male bourgeois citizens and give them some official say in their government.

Ch'eng Tsung, grandson of Kublai Khan, rules as Emperor of China until 1307.

1296

Edward I of England deposes John Balliol from the Scottish throne.

Interregnum in Scotland until 1306

1297 Scottish rebel William Wallace leads ragtag band of Scottish clans to victory against the English at the Battle of Cambuskenneth, temporarily establishing independence of Scotland.
1298

Edward I defeats William Wallace at the battle of Falkirk. He proceeds to (re)conquer Scotland for English rule.

Albert I ascends throne of the Holy Roman Empire after the death of Holy Roman Emperor Adolf at the battle of Göllheim.

1300

King Wenceslas II ascends the throne in Poland.

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These timelines are intended as a rough guide for students seeking historical context rather than an authoritative research source. I consulted the following works while preparing this list. When sources differed on estimated dates, I used my best judgment to select an accurate date, but I will bow to the correction of professional historians.

Bibliography:

  • Baugh, A. C. and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. 3rd edition. NJ: Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978. [Now superseded by a fifth edition]
  • Cooke, Jean et al. History's Timeline: A 40,000 Year Chronology of Civilization. Ed. Fay Franklin. NY: Barnes and Noble, 1981. Updated 1996.
  • Crow, Martin and Virginia E. Leland. "A Chronology of Chaucer's Life and Times." As condensed and reproduced in Larry Benson's The Canterbury Tales, Complete. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. xxiii-xxv.
  • Englebert, Omer. The Lives of the Saints. Trans. Christopher and Anne Fremantle. NY: Barnes and Noble, 1994.
  • Haywood, John. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings. London: Penguin Books, 1995.
  • Lau, D. C., ed. "Chronological Table." Tao Te Ching. London: Penguin Books, 1963.
  • McEvedy, Colin. The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. London: Penguin Books, n. d.
  • Schafer, Edward H. Ancient China. Ed. Russelll Bourne, et al. Great Ages of Man Series. NY: Time-Life Books, 1967. Reprint 1976.
  • Urban, Linwood. A Short History of Christian Thought. Revised edition. NY: Oxford University Press, 1995.

 

 

 

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