Middle Ages
Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229): War Against the Cathars
The Cathar church was broken and the County of Toulouse passed under the control of the French crown by the Treaty of Meaux-Paris (1229).
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
Kanem Empire under Mai Dunama Dabbalemi: Lake Chad Power
Kanem became the dominant power of the central Sahara and Sudan, controlling routes to the Fezzan, but religious and dynastic tensions under Dunama foreshadowed later decline.
Middle Ages
Battle of Yehuling (1211): Genghis Khan Crushes the Jin Army
Decisive Mongol victory; the Jin field army was destroyed and northern China lay open to Mongol raids and conquest.
Middle Ages
Reims Cathedral: Gothic Coronation Church of French Kings
A new High Gothic cathedral rose on the site of the burned church and served as the coronation church of most French kings until 1825.
Middle Ages
Children's Crusade (1212): The History Behind the Legend
Neither movement reached the Holy Land; the marchers dispersed, returned home or settled in Italy, and later writers turned the episode into a tale of children sold into slavery.
Middle Ages
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212): Turning of the Reconquista
Decisive Christian victory that broke Almohad power in Iberia and opened the Guadalquivir valley to conquest by Castile.
Middle Ages
Battle of Bouvines (1214): Philip Augustus Triumphs
Decisive French victory; the coalition of Otto IV, King John and the rebel counts collapsed and Capetian control of former Angevin lands was secured.
Middle Ages
Magna Carta (1215): King John, the Barons and the Rule of Law
King John granted a charter limiting royal power; it was annulled within weeks, but later reissues made it a lasting foundation of English law.
Middle Ages
Mongol Siege of Zhongdu (1215): Genghis Khan Takes Beijing
Zhongdu surrendered and was sacked; the Jin lost northern China north of the Yellow River and survived only from Kaifeng until 1234.
Middle Ages
Fourth Lateran Council (1215): Innocent III Reshapes the Church
The council issued 71 decrees that shaped Catholic doctrine, pastoral care and law for centuries, including rules discriminating against Jews and Muslims.
Middle Ages
Dominican Order (1216): Saint Dominic and the Order of Preachers
The Order of Preachers became a leading religious order of educated mendicant friars, prominent in universities, missions and the medieval Inquisition.
Middle Ages
Fifth Crusade (1217-1221): The Siege of Damietta in Egypt
Crusader failure; Damietta was returned to the Ayyubids in 1221 in exchange for the crusaders' safe withdrawal and an eight-year truce.