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1200 - Early Gothic in England. Peace between England and France. 60,000 Italian merchants live and work in Constantinople. Paris develops into a modern capital. Engagement rings come into fashion. Alcohol is used for medical purposes. Liywelyn "the Great" seizes Anglesey. Islam begins to replace Indian religions. Cambridge Univ. founded.

1201 - Pass of St.Gotthard, Switzerland, opened.

1202 - Fourth Crusade; Venice takes the lead in fighting Constantinople. First court jesters in European courts.

1203 - Temujen (Genghis Khan) defeats his rival, Ongkhan. Mohammed of Ghor completes conquest of Upper India. Sienna Univ. founded.

1204 - Crusaders sack Constantinople, Greece, (now Istanbul, Turkey) overthrowing the Orthodox-backed Byzantine Emperor; establish Latin Empire. Emperor Michael sets up independent Greek kingdom of Epirus. Amsterdam, Holland, founded.

1206 - Temujen becomes Genghis Khan, chief prince, ruler of the Mongols, and begins creating the largest land empire in history.

1208 - Philip of Swabia, German King, murdered. Theodore Lascaris founds empire of Nicaea. Pope Innocent III places England under interdict.

1209 - King John invades Scotland. Otto IV crowned Emperor in Rome. Genghis Khan and his army defeat the Tangut kingdom of Xi Xia; the capital of the Jin empire, Zhongdu. Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars begins in Europe (-1244).

1210 - Otto IV is excommunicated from the church by Pope Innocent III.

1211 - Genghis Khan invades China. Alfonso II, King of Portugal.

1212 - Venice conquers Crete. Tiles replace wooden roofs in London. Frederick II elected German king. Children's Crusade.

1213 - Limestone grotto of Adelsberg discovered. James I of Aragon. King John of England submits to the Pope, making England and Ireland papal fiefe.

1214 - Peking captured by Genghis Khan. Philip II of France defeats Otto IV and the English.

1215 - Frederick II is crowned in France. King John of England forced to sign the Magna Carta by English Barons at Runnymede (June 15), the foundation of modern Democracy. "Confessions of sins" to a priest is first ordered by the Roman Catholic Church.

1216 - King John dead; succeeded by Henry III. A French force invades England.

1217 - French, defeated at Lincoln and Sandwich, leave England. Haakon IV, King of Norway. Crusade against sultanate of Egypt fails.

1218 - Genghis Khan invades Persia, defeats the Kara-Khitai empire. First national flag ever is adopted by Denmark. Otto IV dead. Peace between Henry III and Wales.

1220 - Giraffes shown in Europe for the first time. Henry III is crowned. Frederick II crowned Emperor in Rome, his son Henry being elected German King.

1221 - Vienna becomes a city.

1223 - Mongols invade Russia. Philip II Augustus of France dead; succeeded by Louis VIII.

1224 - Anglo-French War (til 1227)

1225 - Cotton manufactured in Spain. Magna Carta reissued for third time.

1226 - Louis VIII dead; succeeded by Louis IX. Genghis Khan conquers Western Turkistan.



1227 - Genghis Khan devastates the Xi Xia state. Near the end of the assault on its capital city, Ningxia, an ailing Genghis Khan dies on August 18. En route back to Mongolia, his army is alledged to have killed all those who crossed their path. His empire is divided among his three sons. Truce in Anglo-French War. Henry III declares himself of age. Japan begins porcelain manufacture.

1228 - Sixth Crusade, led by Emperor Frederick II.

1229 - Bible reading of all laymen (common men) is forbidden, after the inquisition in Toulouse. Frederick II crowned King of Jerusalem, signs treaty with the Sultan of Egypt. Aragon conquers Balearic Islands. Ogodei, heir to Genghis, becomes the new Khan. He continues completing the conquest of the Jin and forging battle against the Southern Song empire and western Asia.

1230 - Leprosy imported to Europe by the Crusaders. Berlin is founded on former Slav settlement. Wenceslas I, King of Bohemia.

1232 - Muhammed I, founder of Nasrid dynasty in Granada (-1272)

1233 - Coal mined for the first time ever, in Newcastle, England

1234 - Ogodei Khan retires from combat.

1235 - Henry VII imprisoned by Frederick II. "Mainz Public Peace", first imperial law in German language.

1236 - The Arabs lose Cordoba to Castile.

1237 - Mongols conquer Russia, take Moscow.

1240 - Border fixed between England and Scotland.

1241 - Mongols invade Russia, Poland and Hungary; defeat Germans. Death of Mongol ruler, Ughetal; Mongols are forced to withdraw from Europe. Toregene becomes first female regent (1241-1246). Her son, Guyak is elected as next Khan, but dies in 1248.

1242 - First record of a ship convoy. Batu, grandson of Genghis Khan, establishes his warriors, the "Golden Horde", on the Lower Volga.

1243 - Five-year truce between England and France.

1244 - Egyptian Khwarazmi takes Jerusalem.

1245 - Frecterick II deposed by the Council of Lyons.

1246 - Frederick II seizes the vacant dukedom of Austria and Syria.

1248 - Seventh Crusade, led by Louis IX. Genoese takes Rhodes. Lombards defeat Frederick II at Parma.

1249 - Louis IX lands in Egypt.

1250 - Goose quills used for writing. Hats come into fashion. Commercial, industrial boom in Italian cities. Frederick II dead, succeeded by Conrad IV. Valdeman I becomes King of Sweden. Saracens capture Louis IX.

1251 - Genghis' youngest son, Mongke, is elected Khan. Kubtai Khan becomes Governor of China. Portugal seizes Algarve.

1252 - The Inquisition begins to use instruments of torture. Alfonso X "the Wise" of Castile. Ahorn kingdom founded in Assam.

1253 - Linen first manufactured in England. Ottokar II, King of Bohemia.

1254 - Marco Polo, Venetian traveler, born. Conrad IV dead.

1255 - Prague and Stockholm become towns. Henry III of England accepts Sicily for his son, Edmund.

1256 - "Hundred Years War" between Venice and Genoa begins.

1257 - Richard of Cornwall elected King of the Romans. Llywelyn assumes the title: "Prince of Wales", and establishes peace between England and Wales.

1258 - Mongke Khan sends his brother to control the Muslim world. Most of Baghdad is killed, except for the Christians. Muslim caliphate is overthrown. Establishment of "House of Commons" in Britain. Manfred crowned King of Sicily at Palermo.

1259 - Mongols attack Song city of Hezhou; Hundreds of Mongol army, including Mongke Khan, perish.

1260 - Florentine Ghibellines defeat Guelphs at Montaperti. Mongols defeated near Ain Jalut against the Mamluks.

1261 - William Robehod and his band of thieves are captured in Berkshire (The Legendary "Robin Hood"). Ottokar II obtains Styria. Michael VIII Palaeologus regains Constantinople.

1263 - Haakon of Norway defeated by the Scots at Largs, cedes Hebrides.

1264 - Kublai Khan becomes Mongol ruler.

1265 - Dante Alighieri, Latinist poet, author of The Divine Comedy, born.

1266 - Balban, Sultan of Delhi. Manfred defeated and killed by Charles of Anjou at Benevento.

1267 - Aztecs arrive in the Valley of Mexico. Guilds of goldsmiths and tailors of London fight each other in fierce street battles.

1268 - Three years vacancy in the papacy (-1271).

1269 - First toll roads in England. Ottokar acquires Carinthia and Carniola from Hungary.

1270 - Louis IX dies in the Eighth Crusade; succeeded by Philip III. Stephen V of Hungary.

1271 - Author Marco Polo begins his travels from Venice to China when he accompanies his father and uncle on their return there, at Kublai Khan's request for Pope Gregory X to send educated men to China. This scene depicts them bringing camels and elephants to the Gulf of Persia, from India. Kublai Khan begins building the new Chinese capital of Daidu.

1272 - Richard of Cornwall, King of the Romans, dead. Henry III of England dead, succeeded by Edward I.

1273 - Thomas Aquina's "Summa Theological" sets Catholic philosophy and dogma. Rudolf, Count of Hapsburg, elected King.

1274 - Edward I crowned at Westminster. Kublai Khan fails to conquer Japan.

1275 - Marco Polo in the service of Kublai Khan.

1276 - The year of the four popes: Gregory X, Innocent V, Hadrian V, John XXI Ottokar, outlawed by Rudolf, submits to him and keeps Bohemia and Moravia.

1277 - Roger Bacon imprisoned for heresy.

1278 - 278 Jews hanged in London for clipping coin; Christians guilty of the same offense are fined. Invention of the glass mirror. Ottakar takes up arms and is defeated by Rudolf and killed; succeeded by Wenceslas II.

1280 - Eric II of Norway. Asen dynasty in Bulgaria extinguished, the country becomes subject to Serbs, Greeks, and Mongols. Kublai Khan founds Yuan dynasty in China (-1368). Rebellion of the textile workers of Flanders.

1281 - Kublai Khan's third and final attempt to invade Japan; most of his 150,000 man army drowns or is killed in battle.

1282 - Florence is the leading European city in commerce and finance. Massacre of the French in Sicily "The Sicilian Vespers".

1283 - A false "Emperor Frederick II' appears in Germany. Teutonic Order completes subjection of Prussia.

1284 - The "Pied Piper of Hamelin". Sequins first coined in Venice. Genoa defeats Pisa, thus beginning Pisa's decline.

1285 - Philip III dead, succeeded by Philip IV, "the Fair".

1286 - Alexander III of Scotland dead; succeeded by his infant niece Margaret, "the Maid of Norway", under six guardians.

1287 - Mongol invasion of Burma. Rudolf proclaims Public Peace.

1288 - Osman I, founder of Ottoman Empire.

1289 - Block printing practiced in Ravenna.

1290 - Invention of spectacles (eye glasses). Kalkobad, Sultan of Delhi, murdered; succeeded by Jaialuddin. Margaret of Scotland dead.

1291 - End of the Crusades; Knights of St.John of Jerusalem settle in Cyprus. Rudolf I dead. Mamelukes conquer Acre, ending Christian rule in the East.

1292 - Adolf, Count of Nassau, elected German King.

1294 - Kublai Khan dead.

1295 - Alliance between France and Scotland. Marco Polo returns to Italy.

1296 - Frederick II, King of Sicily. John Ballol resigns Scot. crown to Edward I. Scot. coronation stone moved from Scone to Westminster. Jaialuddin of Delhi murdered, succeeded by Alauddin Khilji.





1297 - Moas, giant giraffe birds of New Zealand, die out (date is controversial). Genoese defeat Venetians in sea battle at Curzola. Scots defeat English at Stirling Bridge.

1298 - Adolf of Nassau dethroned by the electors; succeeded by Albert I of Austria. Marco Polo dictates his memoirs in a Genoese jail.

1299 - Treaties between Venice and the Turks, and France and Germany.

1300 - Temporary end of European slave trade. First urine examinations as means of diagnosis used in medicine. Apothecaries popular in German cities. Edward I invades Scotland. Wenceslas II of Bohemia elected King of Poland.