The 13th century

In 1201, the Fourth Crusade contracted with Venice for transport, a debt that redirected the expedition (Europe).

In 1202, Leonardo of Pisa's Liber Abaci introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and positional notation to Latin Europe (Italy).

In 1203, the Fourth Crusade installed a claimant on the Byzantine throne, a first intervention that led to the sack (Constantinople).

In 1204, the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, a wound the Byzantine empire never recovered from (Constantinople).

In 1205, the loss of Normandy was confirmed, and the English nobility had to choose between their French and English lands (England).

In 1206, Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan and the Mongol confederation was formed (Central Asia).

In 1207, Rumi was born, whose Persian verse became the most widely read poetry of the Islamic world (Anatolia).

In 1208, the Albigensian Crusade began against the Cathars of Languedoc (France).

In 1209, scholars leaving Oxford settled at Cambridge, founding its university (England).

In 1210, Francis of Assisi's rule was approved orally by Innocent III (Italy).

In 1211, the Mongol invasion of the Jin empire began (China).

In 1212, the Christian victory at Las Navas de Tolosa broke Almohad power in Iberia (Iberia).

In 1213, King John submitted his kingdom to the papacy as a fief to end his excommunication (England).

In 1214, Philip Augustus won at Bouvines, confirming French control of Normandy and weakening King John at home (France).

In 1215, Magna Carta was sealed at Runnymede, and three of its clauses remain on the statute book (England).

In 1216, the Dominican order was approved, built around preaching and university teaching (Europe).

In 1217, the French invasion of England was defeated at Lincoln and at sea off Sandwich (England).

In 1218, the Fifth Crusade attacked Damietta rather than Jerusalem, the first to strike at Egypt (Egypt).

In 1219, Francis of Assisi crossed the lines to meet the sultan al-Kamil at Damietta (Egypt).

In 1220, Salisbury Cathedral was begun on a new site and completed in a single style within thirty-eight years (England).

In 1221, the Dominicans held their first general chapter, organising the order for study and preaching (Europe).

In 1222, the University of Padua was founded by scholars leaving Bologna (Italy).

In 1223, the Franciscan rule was confirmed in writing by Honorius III (Europe).

In 1224, Francis of Assisi was reported to have received the stigmata at La Verna (Italy).

In 1225, Thomas Aquinas was born near Aquino (Italy).

In 1226, Francis of Assisi died at forty-four (Italy).

In 1227, Genghis Khan died with an empire stretching from the Pacific to the Caspian (Central Asia).

In 1228, the Sixth Crusade set out under an excommunicated emperor (Levant).

In 1229, a treaty between Frederick II and al-Kamil returned Jerusalem to Christian rule without a battle (Levant).

In 1230, Castile and Leon were permanently united under Ferdinand III (Iberia).

In 1231, the papal Inquisition was established as a standing tribunal (Europe).

In 1232, gunpowder-propelled fire arrows were used in the defence of Kaifeng, among the first recorded rocket weapons (China).

In 1233, Gregory IX assigned the pursuit of heresy to the Dominicans, formalising the Inquisition (Europe).

In 1234, the Mongols destroyed the Jin dynasty (China).

In 1235, Sundiata Keita's victory at Kirina founded the Mali Empire (West Africa).

In 1236, Ferdinand III captured Cordoba, and its great mosque became a cathedral (Iberia).

In 1237, the Mongol invasion of the Rus principalities began with the sack of Ryazan (Eastern Europe).

In 1238, Valencia was taken by James I of Aragon (Iberia).

In 1239, Louis IX acquired the Crown of Thorns, and the Sainte-Chapelle was built to house it (France).

In 1240, Kyiv was sacked by the Mongols, ending Kievan Rus as a power (Eastern Europe).

In 1241, Mongol armies destroyed Polish and Hungarian forces at Legnica and Mohi within two days of each other (Central Europe).

In 1242, Alexander Nevsky defeated the Teutonic Order on the frozen Lake Peipus (Eastern Europe).

In 1243, Montsegur was besieged, and its fall the next year effectively ended Cathar resistance (France).

In 1244, Jerusalem was lost for the last time to Khwarezmian forces (Levant).

In 1245, the First Council of Lyon deposed Frederick II (Europe).

In 1246, Muhammad I began the Nasrid emirate of Granada, the last Muslim state in Iberia (Iberia).

In 1247, Song Ci's Washing Away of Wrongs set out systematic forensic examination of the dead, the earliest such manual known (China).

In 1248, the Sainte-Chapelle was completed in Paris, its walls almost entirely glass (France).

In 1249, University College was founded at Oxford, the earliest of its colleges (England).

In 1250, the Mamluks took power in Egypt, a soldier-slave dynasty that ruled for two and a half centuries (Egypt).

In 1251, the Shepherds' Crusade, a popular rising, marched on Paris before being dispersed (France).

In 1252, Florence minted the gold florin, which became the standard coin of European trade (Italy).

In 1253, the college that became the Sorbonne was endowed at Paris (France).

In 1254, Marco Polo was born at Venice (Italy).

In 1255, Henry III's acceptance of the Sicilian crown for his son led to the debts that provoked the barons (England).

In 1256, the Mongols destroyed the Assassin strongholds in Persia (Persia).

In 1257, a double election left two rivals claiming the imperial throne, beginning the interregnum (Europe).

In 1258, the Mongols sacked Baghdad and killed the last Abbasid caliph, ending five centuries of the caliphate (Iraq).

In 1259, the Treaty of Paris had the English king renounce Normandy and hold Aquitaine as a French vassal (France and England).

In 1260, the Mamluk victory at Ain Jalut halted the Mongol advance westward (Levant).

In 1261, Byzantine forces retook Constantinople from the Latin empire (Constantinople).

In 1262, Iceland accepted the Norwegian crown, ending the commonwealth after three and a half centuries (Iceland).

In 1263, the battle of Largs ended Norwegian claims to the western isles (Scotland).

In 1264, Simon de Montfort captured the king at Lewes and ruled England in his name (England).

In 1265, Simon de Montfort summoned a parliament including elected burgesses, a step towards the House of Commons (England).

In 1266, the Treaty of Perth transferred the Hebrides and Man to Scotland (Scotland and Norway).

In 1267, the Statute of Marlborough was enacted, and parts of it remain the oldest English statute in force (England).

In 1268, Antioch fell to the Mamluks after a hundred and seventy years as a crusader state (Levant).

In 1269, the siege of Xiangyang began, decided six years later by counterweight trebuchets built by engineers from Persia (China).

In 1270, Louis IX died of disease at Tunis on the Eighth Crusade (North Africa).

In 1271, Marco Polo set out for the court of Kublai Khan (Eurasia).

In 1272, Edward I succeeded while on crusade, and the realm was kept for him without incident (England).

In 1273, Rudolf of Habsburg was elected king of Germany, ending the interregnum and beginning the Habsburg rise (Central Europe).

In 1274, the first Mongol invasion fleet was driven back from Kyushu (Japan).

In 1275, Marco Polo reached the court of Kublai Khan (China).

In 1276, four popes reigned within a single year (Europe).

In 1277, the bishop of Paris condemned two hundred and nineteen propositions, a check on Aristotelian teaching in the university (France).

In 1278, Rudolf of Habsburg defeated Ottokar II at the Marchfeld and took Austria for his family (Central Europe).

In 1279, the Song dynasty ended and the Mongol Yuan ruled all China (China).

In 1280, the mechanical escapement clock appeared in western Europe, dividing the day into equal hours regardless of season (Europe).

In 1281, a typhoon destroyed the second Mongol invasion fleet, and the storm was named kamikaze (Japan).

In 1282, the Sicilian Vespers rising expelled Angevin rule from the island (Sicily).

In 1283, the conquest of Wales was completed with the fall of Dolwyddelan and the death of Dafydd ap Gruffydd (Wales).

In 1284, the Statute of Rhuddlan annexed Wales to the English crown (Wales).

In 1285, Philip IV became king and spent his reign asserting royal authority over church and nobility (France).

In 1286, Alexander III died leaving a child heiress, opening the succession crisis that led to war (Scotland).

In 1287, the St Lucia's flood drowned tens of thousands and opened the Zuiderzee (Low Countries).

In 1288, Ugolino della Gherardesca was starved in the tower at Pisa, an episode Dante placed in the Inferno (Italy).

In 1289, Tripoli fell to the Mamluks, leaving Acre the last crusader city (Levant).

In 1290, the Edict of Expulsion expelled the Jews from England, and the ban held for over three and a half centuries (England).

In 1291, Acre fell and the crusader states on the mainland ended (Levant).

In 1292, John Balliol was awarded the Scottish throne by Edward I acting as arbiter (Scotland).

In 1293, the Ordinances of Justice excluded the Florentine nobility from government (Italy).

In 1294, Kublai Khan died after thirty-four years as Great Khan (China).

In 1295, the Model Parliament summoned knights, burgesses and clergy together, setting the pattern for later parliaments (England).

In 1296, Edward I invaded Scotland and removed the Stone of Scone (Scotland).

In 1297, William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeated an English army at Stirling Bridge (Scotland).

In 1298, Edward I defeated Wallace at Falkirk, where massed longbows broke the Scottish schiltrons (Scotland).

In 1299, Osman I's principality is conventionally dated from this year, the beginning of the Ottoman state (Anatolia).

In 1300, Boniface VIII proclaimed the first Jubilee year, drawing pilgrims to Rome in enormous numbers (Italy).