Historical
1198: Italy - Innocent III elected as Roman Catholic Pope, Innocent promotes a Fourth Crusade, which is diverted by Venetian merchants and displaced Byzantine princes into an attack against the Byzantine emperor
1199: France - Richard The Lionhearted dies of an arrow wound while besieging Chalus in western France
1200: France - Phillip II, King of France, Issues a charter establishing the University of Paris which offers a traditional liberal education
1202-1204: Italy, Sicily - Henry, King of Sicily, requests a Fourth Crusade (of nine), Pope Innocent III Issues a call which is primarily answered by the French baronage who travel to Egypt by sea aided by the Venetians who request the Crusaders to capture the Christian city of Zara which Pope Innocent opposes so he excommunicates the Crusaders
1202: Denmark - Valdemar II assumes the Danish throne at the death of his brother, Valdemar expands the Danish Empire to Include northern Germany
1203: France - Philip Augustus expels English from Normandy and conquers the province
1204: Turkey - After a six month seige, Constantinople falls to Crusaders, who massacre the Inhabitants, in France, Chateau Gaillard (originally built by King Richard the Lionhearted) on the Seine River falls to besiegers who climb up the latrine shaft
1206: Mongolia - Temujin holds khuriltai and is proclaimed Genghis Khan, leader of all Mongols, and establishes the Mongolian capital at Karakorum, the empire Includes much of northern China (where he later founds the Yuan Dynasty) and Korea, he then turns his attentions to Persia
1212: Spain - Las Navas de Tolosa Battle, Christian Spanish King Alfonso VIII of Leon and Castile defeats the Muslim Almohades ending Muslim rule in Iberia
1213: China - Genghis Khan attacks Chin Empire of northern China
1215: England - English barons force King John I Lackland to sign the Magna Carta at Runnemede, It grants the rights of trial by jury and protection from arbitrary acts by the King, John later repudiates the Magna Charta, leading to the First Barons War (1215-1217)
1216: Italy - Roman Catholic Pope Innocent III Issues a call for the Fourth Crusade
1217-1221: Egypt - The Fifth Crusade (of nine) is directed against Egypt, on the theory that Jerusalem can be held only If Egypt is held, the Crusade fails
1217: England, France - Civil war divides England after King John dies, French prince Louise occupies part of England but is defeated at the Battle of Lincoln then lose their fleet at the naval Battle of Sandwich
1228-1229: Israel - Frederick II leads the Sixth Crusade (of nine) and gains control of Jerusalem through diplomatic means by signing a treaty with Malik al-Kamil, nephew of Saladin which gives Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth and a corridor to the port of Acre to Frederick who has himself crowned King of Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on March 18
1228: Mongolia, Russia - Mongols defeat Russian princes, but this being a reconnaisance mission, the victory is not consolidated
1229: Iran - Great Genghis Khan dies, his empire Included much of the Persian Empire and the Steppes of Russia, he is succeeded by his third son, Ogadai "the Great Khan" who subdued the Chin dynasty in northern China and ravaged much of eastern Europe
1229: Israel - Christians retake Jerusalem and hold onto It for ten years
1231: Mongolia, Korea - Mongols Invade Korea
1231: Sicliy - Frederick I Issues The Golden Bull of Sicily, It is a complete reorganization of Sicily Including a code of laws
1232: China - Chinese use rockets in battle for the first time, demonstrating the military use of gunpowder, thus, Its use quickly spreads to many other countries
1232: England - King of England Issues the Royal Charter for Coal Fields for the development of the coal fields in New Castle, coal quickly becomes a source of energy
1236: Mongolia, Russia - Mongols return to Russian, and in four year period subjugate the country
1236: Spain - Ferdinand III captured Cordoba from the Moors in Spain leaving only Granada in Moorish hands
1240: Mongolia, Russia - Mongol leader Batu Khan (son of Juchi, oldest son of Genghis Khan) razes Kiev, curtailing growth of Kievan Russia, and permitting Muscovite Russia to emerge as dominant force in Russian life
1240: Russia, Sweden - Alexander Nevsky, a Russian prince, repels the Swedes near St. Petersburg after Pope Gregory IX asked the Swedes to punish the Orthodox Russians for helping the Finns avoid conversion to Latin Catholicism
1241: Mongolia, Hungary - Mongols defeat Bela IV at Muhi, and occupy Hungary for a year
1243: Israel - Christians retake Jerusalem for one year
1244: Egypt, Israel - Muslim mercenaries under the direction of the Egyptian pasha Khwarzmi capture Jerusalem which starts the Sixth Crusade, Egypt controls Jerusalem until 1517 and It remained in Muslim hands until 1918
1248-1254: Egypt - Seventh Crusade (of nine), a failure, and Louis IX of France spent much of the crusade living at the court of the crusader kingdom in Acre, in the midst of this crusade was the first Shepherds Crusade in 1251
1250: Egypt - Battle of Fairskur, Egyptian forces led by the new Caliph, Turanshah, defeat the troops of the Seventh Crusade and capture Louis IX
1255: Mongolia, Iraq - Hulagu Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan) captures Bagdhad
1256: Mongolia, Iran - Generals of Hulagu Khan, after three year siege, destroy the castles of the Assassins and massacre the Persian Assassins
1256: Mongolia - Kublai Khan attains throne of Mongolian Empire
1258: England - English barons led by Simon de Montfor demand reforms to curtail the arbitrary powers of the king, they became known as the Provisions Of Oxford
1260: Egypt, Israel - Battle Of Ain Jalut, the Muslin Mamelukes (led by the ex-slave Baybars) and Julegu Khan stop the Mongols in Palestine, the Mongol general Ket Buqa is killed
1261: Turkey - Byzantines recapture Constantinople from Crusaders
1262: Norway, Iceland, Greenland - King Haakon IV of Norway annexes Iceland and Greenland to end a civil war in Iceland
1263: Scotland, Norway - Norsemen ejected from Scotland
1265: England - Edward I (Longshanks) defeats Barons at Evesham in the Barons War (1264-67)
1266: Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria - Venetians Niccolo Polo and brother Maffeo Polo make trade expedition to Constantinople, and then east to Bolgara and then Sarai, in the Kingdom of Barka Khan, after a year, their return blocked by war between Barka Khan and Hulagu Khan, the Polo brothers journey east to the capital Kaifeng and see Kublai Khan, three years later they returned to Venice
1267: China - Kublai Khan begins construction of new capital at Peking
1270-1270: Tunisia - French king Louis IX dies in Tunisia while on the Eighth Crusade (of nine), during his reign he Increased both the authority of the king and the judicial system
1271-1272: Egypt - Ninth Crusade (of nine), future Edward I of England undertook another expedition against Baibars/Baybars in 1271, after having accompanied Louis on the Eighth Crusade, the Ninth Crusade is a failure and ends the Crusades in the Middle East
1271: China - Kublai Khan formally creates the Yuan dynasty of China
1271: Italy, China - Marco Polo leaves for China with his father Niccolo, they arrive in the court of the Great Khan
1273: Italy - The last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire dies and the Hapsburg Dynasty is established with the new Emperor Rudolf I of the Hapsburgs who five years later gain control over Austria, the Hapsburgs last until 1918
1274: Mongolia, Japan - Mongols unsuccessfully attempt to Invade Japan
1275: China - The Polos arrive at Cambuluc (Peking)
1279: Mongolia, China - Mongols under Kublai Khan defeat Sung dynasty of China
1280: China - Kublia Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, founds the Yuan dynasty in China and makes Peking his capital, he is the first non-Chinese to rule China, his empire stretches from China to Arabia to eastern Europe and is the largest the world has ever known
1281: Japan, China - The waiting Japanese troops repel a Chinese at Hakozaki Bay then a typhoon (Kamikaze or "Divine Wind") destroys the Mongol fleet of Kublia Khan
1282: Danish - nobility forced Eric V to sign a Danish "Magna Carta" which establishes a Danish parliament