The Order of Carmelite Friars is founded. The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, or simply the Carmelites, appears to derive from a hermit community that arose in Palestine near the cave of the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel (Aramaic for “garden”), where he lived in observance of the faith of the God of Israel. In the centuries following the 4th century, Christian communities of the Maronite rite presumably settled there. At the end of the 12th century, Christian pilgrims who had arrived from the West with the Third Crusade, including the nobleman Bertoldo, joined the monastery and built a church consecrated to the Virgin. At the beginning of the 13th century, Pope Honorius III approved the Order (1226) with the papal bull Ut vivendi normam, with the first statute, primitive rule or formula vitae, most likely drawn up by Alberto da Vercelli (1150-1214), Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (with seat in St. John of Acre), which prescribed night vigils, rigorous fasting and abstinence, and the practice of poverty and silence. In 1235, due to the Saracen raids, the friars abandoned the East to settle initially in Messina (Ritiro) and then, with the foundation of various convents, spread, under the guidance of the prior Simone Stock (1165-1265), to the main university seats of Europe. Pope Innocent IV confirmed (1247) the rule of the Carmelite friars (Quae honorem conditoris omnium) by attenuating their hermitic practice and making them an order of mendicants who aimed to spread the Marian cult.

The Mongol generals Subedei and Jebe detach themselves from the main army at Samarkand, bypass the Caspian Sea passing through Persia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Kiev, the Volga, Kazakhstan, annihilating everything in their path.

Genghis Khan’s army razed major cities in Afghanistan, killing hundreds of thousands.

Khwarezm, Central Asia. The ruler Ala’oddin Mohammad (also called Shah) is captured and killed by the Mongols in Qarun Castle. One of his wives is also captured and dies in Mongolia in 1232.

Termez, Central Asia. The city is occupied by Genghis Khan’s Mongols, who resort to unprecedented violence, cold-bloodedly executing the entire population in a monstrous massacre just outside the city. Each corpse is then disemboweled to search their entrails for pearls and precious stones they may have swallowed to hide them.

Khwarezm, Central Asia. The ruler Ala’oddin Mohammad flees again from Nishapur to the shores of the Caspian Sea.

A German collection of sermons lists 28 states (or social classes): I the Pope, II cardinals, III patriarchs, IV bishops, V prelates, VI monks, VII crusaders, VIII lay brothers, IX wandering monks, X secular priests, XI jurists and doctors, XII students, XIII wandering students, XIV nuns, XV the Emperor, XVI kings, XVII princes and counts, XVIII knights, XIX nobles, XX squires, XXI burghers, XXII merchants, XXIII retailers, XXIV heralds, XXV obedient peasants, XXVI rebellious peasants, XXVII women (!), XXVIII preaching friars.

The Mongols sack Samarkand

The University of Salamanca is founded

Korea. The Kingdom of Koryo pays an annual tribute to the Mongols to ward off aggression.

Norway. Haakon V the Old breaks up the secular and ecclesiastical aristocracy and makes the monarchy hereditary. In Sweden, however, it becomes elective.

San Lazzaro Asylum in Reggio Emilia: the origins of San Lazzaro date back to the second half of the 12th century; the hospital began as a leper colony and was located in a place known as “alla braida del vescovo,” between Porta Castello and Porta S. Pietro. In 1217, it was moved along the Via Emilia to San Maurizio to accommodate pilgrims, many of them lepers, returning from the Holy Land. Over the years, it welcomed an ever-increasing number of poor and disabled people of all kinds, and the hospital lost its original purpose as a leper colony and became a shelter for the sick and beggars. The presence of the first madman was reported in 1536, but it was not until 1754 that Francis III designated San Lazzaro exclusively for the mentally ill.

The Order of Dominican Friars is born. Founded by St. Dominic de Guzman, a skilled orator and great theologian, the Order was approved (1216), according to the rule of St. Augustine, by Honorius III (Cencio Savelli, 1216-1227) and combined contemplative life with an intense work of study and preaching (Aliis tradere). The order of the Friars Preachers grew and after only a few years its members, present throughout Europe and in the main universities of the time (Paris and Bologna), had to fight against the opposition of the bishops until Honorius III (1218) with a papal bull ordered all prelates to grant assistance to the Dominicans. In 1220 and the following year he convened two general “chapters” to define the constitutive elements of the order which were reported in the Magna Carta. The spiritual path of the Dominicans included poverty, penance and asceticism. Poverty entailed a cenobitic regime that only permitted the possession of what was necessary for subsistence and preaching and, to differentiate himself from those orders that had maintained communal property, Dominic wanted, in order to free the soul from material worries, a concrete poverty that forced the convents to live by begging. Penance, as a method of personal perfection, required the renunciation of goods and pleasures, not flight from the world. Asceticism was aimed at preparing for the action of helping others and for the service of preaching. Eminent figures emerged both among the Dominicans and the Franciscans, who, in addition to fighting heresies, were used to lead the tribunals of the Inquisition by appointment (1233) of Pope Gregory IX. The order, which had been divided between those who wanted to practice a strict observance and those who wanted a more relaxed rule, returned to the observance of the original institution.

Carpi dominated by the Savoys, Bonacolosi of Mantua, Estensi of Ferrara, Spanish

China. Beijing (Zhongdu) is razed to the ground by the Mongols.

Stephen Langton (later cardinal) divides the Bible into chapters in Paris

China overwhelmed by the Mongols

China. Beijing is conquered by Genghis Khan’s Mongols. After a violent sack of the city, he demands from the Jin ruler, in exchange for his withdrawal, a huge quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones, as well as 1,000 maidens and a princess renowned for her beauty. King Xuanzong concedes, but then abandons Beijing in fear.

Finale Emilia, Bassa Modenese. The Clock Tower is being built. It’s the same one that would be destroyed by the 2012 earthquake and which would become its symbol when, for a few hours, half of it remained standing, its clock broken.

Las Navas de Tolosa. The Spanish kings of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre win a great victory over the Caliph of Cordoba.

Jin Kingdom. The city of Liaoyang is conquered by Genghis Khan’s Mongols.

Genghis Khan continues his military campaign: now he turns to the Kingdom of Jin.

Fourth Crusade. After the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders and the Venetians and the partition of the Byzantine Empire, Venice seized the entire island of Crete for a sum of money. To gain full control, however, they had to rid themselves of a Genoese pirate, Henry the Fisherman, Count of Malta, who had been a nuisance to them for some time, with aid from Genoa and the Greeks. Venice also acquired Negroponte, Modone, and Corone in Greece, which they fortified, and Corfu, which, however, was abandoned shortly thereafter, leaving Ragusa as Venice’s main port in the lower Adriatic.

Fourth Crusade. Constantinople has fallen to the Crusaders. The Venetians realized that Alexius the Younger could not keep his promises and agreed to the establishment of a new imperial government, elected by a council of six Venetians and six barons. Boniface was confident in his election, but the Venetians, knowing that Boniface was an old ally of the Genoese, all voted for Baldwin, Count of Flanders, who was elected. The emperor retained only a quarter of the Empire, while the rest was divided between the Venetians and the barons. Venice thus took three-eighths of the Byzantine Empire, and the Doge thus became “Lord of a quarter and a half of the Roman Empire.” The Doge divided the territory into fiefdoms assigned to the families who contributed to the war effort. Venice also held three-eighths of the city of Constantinople itself, including the Arsenal and the port docks.

Fourth Crusade. First assault on Constantinople. The French crusaders request to land above the Golden Horn so they can attack from land, as befits their rank as knights, and fight in a manner that makes them invincible. Doge Enrico Dandolo, however, insists on attacking the Golden Horn from the sea to take advantage of the Venetians’ skill in transforming their ships into formidable war machines. The knights are stopped by the Byzantine Varangian Guard, composed of Anglo-Saxon and Danish mercenaries. Meanwhile, the Venetians, attacking from the sea, seize several towers of the mighty walls. The Doge, despite his age (over eighty) and blindness, stands fully armed at the bow and shouts to his sailors to bring him ashore. He is carried to a tower with the Venetian flag, amidst clouds of stones and arrows. Soon, twenty-five towers are in Venetian hands. Dandolo orders the houses beneath the walls to be set on fire; the wind does the rest, and soon a wall of flame engulfs the city and protects the Venetians. He then sends captured horses and hundreds of soldiers to aid the French in the northwest. The Byzantine Greeks accept the imposition of Alexios the Younger as their ruler.

The English incorporate Wales

Peak of the spread of leprosy in the West.

Mongolia. After Genghis Khan defeated the Tatars, other clans, such as the Solons, spontaneously recognized his authority. The Khan received two new wives, daughters of the Tatar clan leader.

Fourth Crusade. While the large crusade winters in Zadar, the Venetians (who constitute the bulk of the attacking fleet) pressure the crusader commander Villehardouin to attack Constantinople on his way to the East. It is decided to march on Constantinople and place Alexius the Younger on the throne, who submits to papal obedience and promises to pay 200,000 marks and participate in the crusade the following year. Many crusaders reject this decision and continue on to Jerusalem, but the remaining force is still substantial. Moreover, Constantinople had never been successfully attacked by a foreign army…

Fourth Crusade. Crusader commander Villehardouin and his Venetian allies win the siege of Zadar and subdue it. Given the advanced season, they decide to postpone the crusade to the East until the following spring.

Fourth Crusade. Venice gathers 33,500 men (including 4,500 knights and cavalry, 9,000 squires, and 20,000 infantry) in exchange for the promise of 85,000 silver marks. It also provides transportation (200 ships) and a year’s supply of provisions. Furthermore, in exchange for trade concessions, territory, and booty, the Venetians promise to provide 50 fully armed galleys and 6,000 soldiers. Crusader commander Villehardouin is astonished to see that the Venetians have kept their promise, while his share (35,000 men) is reduced to a maximum of 10,000. Villehardouin is unable to even repay his debt to the Venetians, who remain in debt for 34,000 marks. The Venetian doge who made this risky, but ultimately profitable, contract is Enrico Dandolo, a blind man in his eighties.

Leonardo da Pisa, known as Fibonacci (son of Bonacci), discovered the Fibonacci Sequence: f(1)=f(2)=1; f(n)=f(n-1)+f(n-2); that is: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144,233,…

Leonardo da Pisa, known as Fibonacci, introduced Arabic numerals to Europe; in fact, in 1202 he published the Book of Calculations (Liber Abaci), which is a collection of almost all the mathematics known at the time.

Venice is home to approximately 80,000 people. Within a century, the population will double.

There are (only) 2.2 million people living in England. By 1340, there will be 4.5 million.

Eight million people live in Germany. By 1340, there will be fourteen million.

The first humans arrive on Rapa Nui, Easter Island; within 100 years they will reach the peak of civilization and then extinguish all available wood and civilization will rapidly decline.

John Lackland, King of England

Venice obtains from Pope Innocent III the recognition that, lacking agriculture, it must live off trade. Venice is thus authorized to trade with the Sultan of Alexandria, with the exception of certain products blacklisted by the papacy: iron, pitch, tar, timber, and ships. Arab science thus breaks into Christendom. This science, for the most part Greek, was hoarded in Eastern libraries and recirculated by Muslim scholars.

Temujin unites the tribes of Mongolia and takes the title of Genghis Khan.

Mongolia. Temujin is first proclaimed Chinggis Qa’an (Genghis Khan) at an assembly of nobles (quiriltai).

Locust invasion in Austria and Hungary

Japan, establishment of the government of the shogun (supreme military office) and overthrow of the imperial power – will last until 1868, when the emperor is reinstated

Pope Innocent III: Height of the Roman Catholic Church’s Influence in Europe

During his military expedition to the Holy Land, Frederick Barbarossa fell into the Goksu River in Anatolia and drowned.

Modena. The Albareto Gate (later Porta Castello) is built on the north side of the city walls.