Chronology of Medieval Christianity

Christian History Timeline 1200 CE - 1300 CE

When was Constantinople sacked by Western Crusaders on the Fourth Crusade? When was the The Childrens' Crusade launched? When was Thomas Aquinas born? When did the Mongols destroy Baghdad? These are all important dates in the history of Christianity; not only are they presented here in this timeline, but they are presented in historical and religious context.

There are several different types of color-coded dates in this timeline of Medieval Christianity, explained in a color key at the bottom of the timeline.

Timeline of Medieval Christianity: 1200 CE - 1300 CE
c. 1200	The Jewish mystic movement Kabbalah develops in France and spreads to Spain.
1200	The Fourth Crusade is launched.
March 30, 1202	Joachim Van Fiore Italian (founder of Joachimism), dies.
April 12, 1204	The armies of the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople and established the Latin Empire.The residents of Constantinople suffer the worst devastation in the city's history. As a result, Latin domination of the Eastern Church begins. Thomas Morosini of Venice is installed as patriarch of Constantinople, increasing the rivalry between Eastern and Western churches.
December 13, 1204	Jewish philosopher and Talmudic scholar Maimonides dies in Cairo at the age of 69.
1205	Pope Innocent III, in the Bull Si adversus vos, forbade any legal help for heretics: "We strictly prohibit you, lawyers and notaries, from assisting in any way, by council or support, all heretics and such as believe In them, adhere to them, render them any assistance or defend them in any way. "
July 15, 1205	Pope Innocent III asserted that Jews are doomed to perpetual servitude and subjugation due to role in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
1206	Mongol leader Temujin is proclaimed "Genghis Khan," which means "emperor within the Seas."
1207	A crusade against the Albigenses in southern France, proclaimed by Pope Innocent III, commences.
1208	A papal legate in Southern France who had been making some progress in converting Cathar heretics (also known as Albigensians) to orthodox Catholicism was murdered. This sparks an outcry and, later this same year, a violent Crusade against the Cathars and Waldenses in Southern France was called by Innocent III. In Beziers alone in 1209, at least 20,000 people were massacred.
1208	The first recorded witchcraft trial in England takes place. Gideon, alleged to be a sorcerer, is acquitted.
January 14, 1208	Peter of Castelnau, papal legate appointed by Innocent III to organize the Catholic forces which moved against the Cathars in Southern France, died.
February 24, 1208	At the age of 26, Francis of Assisi received his calling to a life of poverty and service in the name of Christianity.
1209	While conducting the crusade against the Albigenses in southern France, Simon de Montfort lays siege to the town of Beziers. When asked how to tell friend from foe, he commanded that all be put to death, saying "God will find his own." Later at Minerba he would burn 150 Albigenses alive.
1209	Cambridge University is founded in England.
April 16, 1209	Pope Innocent III gave oral approval to the rule of the order founded by St. Francis of Assisi.
1212	The Childrens' Crusade is launched. More than 50,000 children would be sold into slavery.
July 17, 1212	Muslim forces were defeated in the Spanish Crusade.
1215	The Magna Carta is signed and English barons forced King John to agree to a statement of their rights.
August 24, 1215	Pope Innocent III declared the Magna Carta invalid. Innocent declared the Catholic Church to be a genuine state and, hence, heresy became a crime against the state which could be punished accordingly - both for the spiritual good of the individual as well as the preservation of the Church.
November 11, 1215	The Fourth Lateran Council opened in Rome. Organized by Pope Innocent III in Rome in order to discuss and define central dogmas of Christianity, it is one of the most important councils ever held and its canons sum up Innocent's ideas for the church. It recognizes the necessity of the Eucharist and penance as sacraments for salvation. It also addresses heresies, declaring that: "...Convicted heretics shall be handed over for due punishment to their secular superiors, or the latter's agents. ...If a temporal Lord neglects to fulfill the demand of the Church that he shall purge his land of the contamination of heresy, he shall be excommunicated by the metropolitan and other bishops of the province. If he fails to make amends within a year, it shall be reported to the Supreme Pontiff, who shall pronounce his vassals absolved from fealty to him and offer his land to Catholics. The latter shall exterminate the heretics, possess the land without dispute and preserve it in the true faith... "
November 30, 1215	The Fourth Lateran Council ended its final session.
1216	The Dominican order is founded.
July 16, 1216	Pope Innocent III died.
July 18, 1216	Honorius III was elected pope.
December 22, 1216	Pope Honorius III gave official approval for the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), founded in 1216 by St. Dominic. Its purpose is to convert Muslims and Jews and to put an end to heresy. The Dominicans eventually become the main administrators of inquisitorial trials.
1218	Newgate Prison, London's infamous debtor prison, is completed.
1219	Mongol armies lead by Genghis Khan invaded Muslim territories, reaching Persia by 1221 and were only stopped in Syria in 1260.
November 22, 1220	Pope Honorius III crowned Holy Roman Emperor Frederick in the expectation that Frederick would support the Church and participate in the Fifth Crusade.
August 06, 1221	Saint Dominic died. Dominic founded the Dominicans, an order of monks which played an important role in the Inquisition and the defense of church orthodoxy.
1222	Andres II of Hungary issues "A Golden Bull" exempting clergy from taxation and denying land or offices to Jews or foreigners.
December 29, 1223	Pope Honorius III gave formal approval for the Franciscan religious order.
1224	In his Constitution of 1224 Frederick III declares that heretics convicted by an ecclesiastical court should suffer death by fire.
September 10, 1224	The first Franciscans arrived in England. At the time the habit worn by Franciscans was gray (today it is brown) and they came to be called "the Gray Friars" by the English.
1226	Louis IX orders the French barons to deal with heretics according to the dictates of duty.
October 03, 1226	St. Francis of Assisi died.
1227	Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas is born. Aquinas codified Catholic theology in works like Summa Theologica, marking the high point of the medieval scholastic movement.
March 18, 1227	Pope Honorius III died.
March 19, 1227	Gregory IX was elected pope.
September 29, 1227	Pope Gregory IX excommunicated German emperor Frederick II
September 30, 1227	Pope Nicholas IV was born.
1228	The Sixth Crusade is launched.
1229	The Inquisition prohibits the reading of Bible by lay persons.
March 18, 1229	Frederick II crowned himself king of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Frederick had promised Pope Honorius III that he would go on a Crusade when he crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Honorius III, but after many delays the next pope, Gregory IX, excommunicated him for his failure.
1231	Earliest legislation on the topic of torture is passed in Italy.
February 1231	Pope Gregory IX issues the Excommunicamus, resulting in the inclusion into canon law of the harsh 1224 constitution of Frederick II. This explicitly permits the burning of heretics at the stake.
1232	Earliest known use of rockets in war between Mongols and Chinese occurs.
May 26, 1232	Pope Gregory IX dispatched the first of many Inquisition crews to Aragon in Spain, after having assigned management of the process to the Dominican Order the previous year.
May 26, 1232	Pope Gregory IX begins the Medieval Inquisition in Aragon and setting up in Toulouse, France, the first permanent tribunal to deal with heresy. In the Bull Declinante jam mundi, Archbishop Esparrago and his suffragans were instructed to search for and punish heretics in their dioceses.
1233	The Holy Inquisition is established by Pope Gregory IX in order to abolish heresy wherever it can be found. Dominicans are assigned to carry out the Inquisition's duties.
1237	At the Council of Lerida in 1237 the Inquisition was formally placed under the authority of the Dominicans and the Franciscans.
May 12, 1237	By decree of Pope Gregory IX, the crusading order "The Swordbrothers" was merged into the order,"The Teutonic Knights." Both orders had been heavily involved in crusades against pagan Prussians; the Swordbrothers, however, experienced numerous defeats and their growing weakness necessitated that they join with the Teutonic Knights.
May 29, 1239	At Montwimer in Champagne, Robert le Bougre burns about a hundred and eighty heretics whose trials had all had begun and ended within one week.
1240	Mongols capture Moscow and destroy Kiev.
1241	The first person recorded to be hanged, drawn, and quartered in England is pirate William Marise.
August 22, 1241	Pope Gregory IX died. Gregory canonized a number of people who were important in the history of the Catholic Church, including Elizabeth, Dominic and Anthony of Padua, and also Francis of Assisi, who had been a personal friend.
1242	At the Synod of Tarragona in 1242, Raymund of Pennafort defines the terms haereticus, receptor, fautor, defensor, etc., and outlines the penalties to be inflicted.
April 05, 1242	Under the command of Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod, Russian forces defeated the Teutonic Knights.
June 25, 1243	Innocent IV is elected pope.
July 27, 1245	Frederick II of France was found guilty of sacrilege at the First Council of Lyons and deposed.
August 01, 1245	First Council of Lyons opened. At this Council, Pope Innocent IV deposed Frederick but lacked the power to enforce it and have Frederick replaced.
1247	Traditional date for the death of Robin Hood.
1248	Muslim control of Spain is reduced to the Kingdom of Granada which survives for over two more centuries.
1248	The Seventh Crusade is launched.
1249	Count Raylmund VII of Toulouse has eighty confessed heretics burned in his presence without giving them a chance to recant.
1250	Trial by fire or water is abolished in England.
1252	The papacy approves the use of torture for religious disobedience.
May 15, 1252	Torture to elicit confessions is first authorized by Pope Innocent IV in his Bull Ad exstirpanda of May 15, 1252, which was confirmed by Pope Alexander IV in 1259 and by Clement IV in 1265. In Ad exstirpanda Innocent IV wrote: "When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the civil power by the bishop or his representative, or the Inquisition, the podestˆ or chief magistrate of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them. " He also ordered that this Bull and corresponding regulations of Frederick II be entered in every city among the municipal statutes under pain of excommunication, a punishment also visited on those who failed to follow the papal and imperial decrees.
1254	Pope Innocent IV prohibits perpetual imprisonment or death at the stake without episcopal consent.
December 07, 1254	Pope Innocent IV died.
December 12, 1254	Alexander IV was elected pope.
December 20, 1254	Alexander IV was crowned pope.
1256	With the decree Ut Negotium, Pope Alexander IV allows inquisitors to absolve one another of any "irregularities" they commit while engaged in their work.
May 04, 1256	Pope Alexander IV founded the Roman Catholic religious order of the Augustine Hermits.
1258	The Abbasid period was finally ended with the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols. The Mongols had tried and failed to take Baghdad in 1245. Now, after a series of devastating floods, the city's defenses were weakened, and Hulegu, grandson of Genghis Khan, led the victorious invasion. Thus began a long period of economic, political, and cultural decline in Iraq that was only overcome in the sixteenth century.
1258	Flagellants begin physically punishing themselves in the belief that this would prevent plagues.
November 30, 1259	Pope Alexander IV confirms the policy of using torture to elicit confessions, first authorized by Pope Innocent IV in his Bull Ad exstirpanda. In Ad exstirpanda Innocent IV wrote: "When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the civil power by the bishop or his representative, or the Inquisition, the podestˆ or chief magistrate of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them. " Innocent IV had also ordered that this Bull and corresponding regulations of Frederick II be entered in every city among the municipal statutes under pain of excommunication, a punishment also visited on those who failed to follow the papal and imperial decrees.
1260	A 1988 Vatican-sponsored scientific study places the origin of the Shroud of Turin to this year.
April 27, 1260	Pope Alexander IV authorizes inquisitors to absolve one another of irregularities in the pursuit of their duties. Pope Urban IV would renew this on in 1262 and it would be interpreted as formal license to continue the examination in the torture chamber itself.
1261	Michael Palaeologus (1224 - 1282) finally drives the Latin rulers out of Constantinople and reestablishes Eastern Orthodox rule.
May 25, 1261	Pope Alexander IV died.
July 25, 1261	Michael VIII Palaeologus recaptured Constantinople from Western European crusaders who had, for more than fifty years, controlled the Byzantine capital.
August 29, 1261	Urban IV was elected pope. Urban had been patriarch of Jerusalem and was only visiting Italy on business when he was elected.
August 02, 1262	Pope Urban IV renews the policy that inquisitors should absolve one another of irregularities in the pursuit of their duties, begun by Pope Alexander IV. This policy would come to be interpreted as formal license to continue the examination in the torture chamber itself.
October 02, 1264	Pope Urban IV died.
1265	Dante Dante Alighieri is born.
February 05, 1265	Clement IV was elected pope.
August 27, 1265	Pope Clement IV issued the bull Licet ecclesiasrum, asserting exclusive right of the pope to appoint ecclesiastics to certain posts under certain conditions.
November 03, 1265	Clement IV confirms the policy of using torture to elicit confessions, first authorized by Pope Innocent IV in his Bull Ad exstirpanda and earlier confirmed by Pope Alexander IV in 1259. In Ad exstirpanda Innocent IV wrote: "When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the civil power by the bishop or his representative, or the Inquisition, the podestˆ or chief magistrate of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them. " Innocent IV had also ordered that this Bull and corresponding regulations of Frederick II be entered in every city among the municipal statutes under pain of excommunication, a punishment also visited on those who failed to follow the papal and imperial decrees.
1267	Kublai Kahn establishes the city of Beijing.
May 10, 1267	Church officials in Vienna ordered all Jews to begin wearing distinctive clothing.
July 26, 1267	Pope Clement IV formed the Inquisition in Rome.
November 29, 1268	Pope Clement IV died, after which three years passed before a new pope could be elected.
October 30, 1270	The eighth and final crusade was launched.
1271	Marco Polo set off to visit the court of Kublai Khan.
1271	Marco Polo sets off to visit the court of Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan).
September 01, 1271	Gregory X was elected pope.
1274	Mongols, led by Kublai Khan, attempted to invade Japan.
March 07, 1274	Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas died.
May 07, 1274	The Second Council of Lyons convened under Pope Gregory X, primarily for the purpose of reunifying the Western and Eastern Christian Churches.
July 15, 1274	Saint Bonaventure, a leading Franciscan theologian and author, died.
January 10, 1276	Pope Gregory X died.
January 21, 1276	Innocent V was elected pope.
June 22, 1276	Pope Innocent V dies.
September 08, 1276	John XXI was elected pope, but his reign lasted just few months.
1277	Roger Bacon is imprisoned for heresy.
May 20, 1277	Pope John XXI died.
November 25, 1277	Nicholas III was elected pope.
May 10, 1278	Government officials in England began arresting and imprisoning Jews on charges of coining.
November 17, 1278	680 Jews were arrested and 293 were hanged in England on charges of counterfeiting.
1280	A bull from Nicholas III states: "...If any, after being seized, wish to repent and do penance, they shall be imprisoned for life. ...All who receive, defend, or aid heretics shall be excommunicated. ...If those who were suspected of heresy cannot prove their innocence, they shall be excommunicated. If they remain under the ban of excommunication for a year, they shall be condemned as heretics. They shall have no right of appeal. "
1280	Eyeglasses are invented and later improved upon in the late medieval period.
August 22, 1280	Pope Nicholas III died. Nicholas engaged in a major renovation of St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Palace, which he made his official residence.
November 15, 1280	Albertus Magnus died in Cologne.
February 22, 1281	Martin IV was elected pope.
March 30, 1282	Rebels in Sicily successful overthrew French rule under Charles of Anjou. The rebel leaders wrote to Pope Martin IV for support, but Martin promised to assist Charles in reclaiming control of the island.
March 28, 1285	Pope Martin IV died.
April 02, 1285	Honorius IV was elected pope.
May 20, 1285	Honorius IV was officially consecrated pope (although elected in April, he had not been a bishop at the time and so could not become Bishop of Rome and Pope until consecrated).
October 12, 1285	In Munich, Germany, 180 Jews refused baptism and as a result were burned to death.
1286	The consuls of Carcassonne complained to the pope, the King of France, and the vicars of the local bishop about the inquisitor Jean Garland, whom they alleged had been inflicting torture in an utterly inhuman manner
April 03, 1287	Pope Honorius IV died.
1290	Margaret, Maid of Norway, dies and leaves a struggle for the throne of Scotland - 13 people claim title of King.
July 18, 1290	King Edward I ordered the expulsion of Jews from England.
October 09, 1290	The last of 16,000 English Jews were expelled by King Edward I.
May 17, 1291	Scottish medieval Franciscan philosopher John Duns Scotus was ordained.
May 18, 1291	Acre, the last territory in Palestine taken by the first Crusaders, fell to invading Muslim forces. Around 60,000 Christians are believed to have perished. This was the end of a Christian military presence in the Near East and the task of spreading Christianity was left to friars who preached among the people.
June 30, 1294	Jews are expelled from Berne, Switzerland.
December 13, 1294	Pope Celestine V abdicated.
December 24, 1294	Boniface VIII was elected pope.
January 23, 1295	Boniface VIII was elected pope.
1296	Edward I of England deposes John Balliol from the Scottish throne, taking control of Scotland.
1297	At the Battle of Cambuskenneth, Scottish patriot William Wallace defeats an English army.
1298	The longbow revolutionizes warfare at the Battle of Falkirk.
July 23, 1298	The Jewish community of Wurzburg, Germany was destroyed in what came to be known as the Rindfleish Persecutions.
1299 - 1326	Reign of Osman, founder of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. He defeated the Seljuks.

Color Key: This chart explains which sorts of topics are given which colors in the chronologies.

Color	Topic
Blue	Councils, Synods, Bulls, and other official church decisions.
Yellow	Violence: Crusades, wars, insurrections, and other acts of violence.
Green	Popes: births, deaths, elections, and other actions important to the papacy.
Orange	Heresies, schisms, and the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation.
Purple	Jews: acts of antisemitism and persecution against the Jews
Red	Other: various events important to the development of medieval Christianity.
Grey	Miscellaneous events to provide historical context and comparison

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