1220

Decades: 1170s 1180s 1190s 1200s 1210s - 1220s - 1230s 1240s 1250s 1260s 1270s

Years: 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 - 1220 - 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225

The world in 1220

• Middle Ages in Europe

• Fifth Crusade (1217-1221)

• In 1220, the Islamic lands of Central Asia were overrun by the armies of the Mongol invader Genghis Khan (ca. 1155-1227), who laid waste to many civilizations and created an empire that stretched from China to the Caspian Sea. But he failed to destroy the strength of Islam in Central Asia. In fact, by the end of the 13th century, Genghis Khan's descendants had themselves become Muslims. From the death of Genghis Khan in 1227 until the rise of Timur (Tamerlane) in the 1380s, Central Asia went through a period of fragmentation.

Events

• Mongols first invade Abbasid caliphate - Bukhara and Samarkand taken
• End of the Kara-Khitan Khanate, destroyed by Genghis Khan's Mongolian cavalry
• Dominican Order approved by Pope Honorius III
• Frederick II crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Honorius III
• Conrad of Masovia drives out the heathen Prussians from a Masovian territory of Chelmno Land
• Trial by ordeal abolished in England
• The German Hohenstaufen dynasty which had ruled Sicily since 1194, adopts Palermo as its principal seat
• Dordrecht receives city rights, making it the oldest city in the present-day Netherlands
• Ljubljana receives its town rights

Arts, Sciences, Literature and Philosophy

• Gothic architecture in Europe
• Rebuilding of the Cathedral of Chartres, which had been destroyed by a fire in 1194, is completed
• Building of the York Minster begins
• Building of the Salisbury Cathedral begins

Births

• Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (+1272)
• Alexander Nevsky (+1263), leader of the Russian principality of Novgorod
• Alphonse of Toulouse (+1271), son of Louis VIII, King of France

Deaths

• Michael Choniates (b. c. 1140), Byzantine writer and ecclesiastic

Heads of states

• Aragon - James I King of Aragon and count of Barcelona (1213-1276)
• Byzantine Empire - in exile in the Empire of Nicaea - Theodore I Lascaris Byzantine Emperor (1204-1222)
• Castile - Ferdinand III, the Saint King of Castile and Leon (1217-1252)
• Denmark - Valdemar II, the Victorious King of Denmark (1202-1241)
• England - Henry III King of England (1216-1272)
• France - Philippe II, Auguste King of France (1180-1223)
• Holy Roman Empire - Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor (1211-1250) and King of Sicily (1198-1250)
• Holy See - Honorius III pope (1216-1227)
• Japan
  • Juntoku Emperor of Japan (1210-1221)
  • Kamakura shogunate
• Khmer Empire:
  • Jayavarman VII (Mahaparamasangata?) (1181-1220?)
  • Indravarman III? (1220-1243)
• Latin Empire of Constantinople - Conon of Bethune regent (1219-1221) in the absence of Robert of Courtenay
• Mongol Empire - Genghis Khan, Mongol Khan (1206-1227)
• Navarre - Sancho VII the Strong King of Navarre (1194-1234)
• Portugal - Afonso II, the Fat, King of Portugal (1212-1233)
• Scotland - Alexander II king of Scotland (1214-1249)
• Sweden - John I King of Sweden (1216-1222)
• Trabzon - Alexius I of Trebizond Emperor of Trebizond (1204-1222)
• Venice - Pietro Ziani Doge of Venice (1205-1229)

Referenced By