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| - Central Asia: The Mongols heavily raid northern Persia/Iran, crushing or vassalizing the local Turkic, Kurdish or native states, and raze the great city of Rayy. They unleash particular violence against Muslims, being somewhat less inhumane :roll eyes: toward Zoroastrians, Jews and Nestorian/Jacobite Christians. Northern Europe: The Republic of Novgorod enters the ongoing war in Estonia in support of the local rebels, but is defeated by the German Swordbearers and their allies. Southern Europe: Canossa fortress, now much decayed, is captured and held by the Comune of Reggio (Emilia), marking the lowest point of the fortunes of the family bearing the same name. The castle is later retaken by Riccardo, a minor scion of the family, who'll be the ancestor to the Later Canossa dynasty. 1221 Northern Europe: Henry I the Fat, count of Anhalt and a grandson of Albert the Bear of Brandenburg, has its estate raised to a non-electoral duchy. Western Europe: Burgundy crumbles in a succession war after the sudden deaths of the last Adalbertine Anscarids, Queen Joan, and her son and heir apparent Berengar. Prince consort Arduin of Turin struggles from Valence to keep the reign together as few recognize him: a Savoy and a Balz-Arenjo (*Baux-Orange) parties quickly form, respectively holding the north-eastern and the southern part of the Burgundian realm. Marseille proclaims herself free city; Piedmontese-Lombard forces and Greater Norman armies soon intervene, the former to support Arduin, the second simply to annex more lands possible:D . Also several Crusaders back from the Levant fight over the land in unstable alliance with this or that claimant. Southern Europe: Pope-king Urban IV (*OTL Honorius III) dies in Rome after a lengthy and controversial reign. The Council of Cardinals elect as Pope and king of Italy the bishop of Benevento, Ranolfo, scion of a minor Lesser Norman family, who takes the name of Leo X. Empress Alexandra of Sicily dies in Palermo, succeeded by her eldest surviving son, Felix I Posthumous. North Africa: The Genoese and Sicilians take Tripoli of Libya from the local Banu Hilal rulers. Inner Tripolitania, however, remains firmly Arab and Muslim; later attempts to conquest by the Templars will be crushed. Central Asia: Temüjin/Genghis Khan and his Mongols ravage Afghanistan, conquer Ghazni and raze Herat in another killing spree:eek: . The Great Khan's forces then assault Kabul and attack northern India, suffering a resounding defeat :o at the Sutlej river against Iltutmish of Punjab: Mongol general Jebe “the Arrow” is killed in battle. Central Hesperia (*OTL America): The Mayapàn League rises to paramountry in Yucatàn as Chichèn Itzà's power is shaken by revolts. Far East: Go-Toba, the cloistered emperor of Japan, stages a revolt (the Jōkyū War) against the Kamakura shogunate, now led by the Hōjō clan, but is defeated at the third battle of Uji and exiled. Western Europe: The chaotic civil war brings down Burgundy. The Piedmontese Arduin of the Guidoni, ousted from Valence, manages to hold the Brevasque (*OTL Dauphiné) in the Alps, controlling the fundamental Momadrouna pass (*OTL Montgenèvre/Monginevro); Aymeric III de Balz-Arenjo self-proclaims count of Provence, whereas count Berenger II the Tall of Savoy raises his own estate to marchional status. The Greater Normans gobble up most of Lorraine, leaving some fringes to vassal Luxemburg; emperor Amaury II claims the crown of Burgundy, but holds it in name only and, entangled in complex struggles, has to postpone the crushing of Septimania/Languedoc (which is beginning to be called Gadary, from the Cathars still strong there). Lyon, after suffering riots, lootings and the fury of the mad inquisitor-dictator Peter of Verona, becomes a powerful merchant republic. 1221-1226 North Africa: St. Francis of Assisi introduces Catholicism into Egypt, where he spends his last years, gaining the respect of Christians and Muslims alike for his mildness and sanctity, in contrast to the ferocity of the Crusaders and of the Papal legates. Central-Eastern Europe: Mstislav the Bold, supported by the Cumans and Hungary, and his younger rival Danylo, supported by Iwan I Skirmunt of Lithuania-Ruthenia, struggle to control the principality of Galicia until the latter prevails. Byzantine Empire: The despotate of Lakedaimon (southern Peloponnesus), led by the Chamaretos family and supported by the last surviving Slavic tribes from the inner Peloponnesus, resists for a long time Crusader aggression before being absorbed by the county of Patras. In the end, only the impregnable port of Monemvasia remains in Byzantine hands. 1222 Central-Eastern Europe: Otakar/Ottokar I finally reunifies Bohemia upon the death of his brother Vladislav III, duke of Moravia. The nobility of Hungary extorts from king Andrew II the Golden Bull, which states several important privileges for them, among which the right to disobey the king if he's breaking established laws and customs. Central-Eastern Europe, Caucasus: A Mongol army defeats and subdues Alania and the eastern Kipchak/Cumans: the Alan capital Maghas/Meget is thoroughly razed. Byzantine Empire: Genoese and Greek pirates wrest Samothrace from Venetian hands. Queen Vartuhi of Armenia Minor, the last of the Rupenid family, marries Demetrios, second son of Constantine of Canossa-Novellara, lord of Cyprus. North Africa: The Mamluk army trapped in upper Egypt vainly besieges Cairo, held by the Templar Knights. The Mamluks establish a sultanate in Aswan, then, bolstered by Arab bedouin tribes, sack and burn Old Dongola (Nubia), crushing the old kingdom of Makuria/Mukurra and beheading its last Christian king, Yahya (John). Middle East: In a suicide move, a Crusader army 10,000 strong attacks toward Medina along the Red Sea, supported by a hastily built flotilla. When the latter is destroyed by Arab pirates, the Crusaders, already harassed by Bedouin guerrillas, are defeated heavily at the battle of the Bitter Waters by the Saifid sultan Musa al-Jawhar Ghazi; most of them are beheaded or sold into slavery, and only a handful makes it back to Palestine. SE Asia: Ken Angrok, a shrewd former bandit, topples the Kediri/Mataram realm (eastern Java) in the battle of Ganter, founding in its place the kingdom of Singhasari. Byzantine Empire: The puppet emperor Alexius III Angelos dies, succeeded by his weak son Constantine X, a convert to Roman Catholicism:eek: , much to the loathing of the remaining Greek loyalists:mad: . Czar Dimitar of Megavlakia (as the Vlacho-Bulgarian state has come to be known) tries its last bid to gain Constantinople, citing his adherence to Orthodoxy in a vain attempt to attract consensus among the Greeks, but dies while besieging the City he coveted to the point of destroying it in partnership with the Crusaders:mad: . After Dimitar's death one of his nephews, Theophilus the Saint, takes power with Cuman help by exploiting the rivalry between his cousins Dimitar the Younger and Stephen, whom he exiles to distant Russia. Theophilus, a devout Orthodox, at once recognizes Theoktistos I Megas Branas as the only true basileus, being granted by the Greek Church of Nicaea an autonomous Patriarchate in Tarnovo. Western Europe: Duke Llorente III of Valencia claims the throne of Castile upon the death of his father-in-law marquis Mateo I but is defeated and killed in the great battle of Cuenca by Bernardo, nephew and appointed heir to Mateo's holdings. Southern Europe: Pope Leo X recognizes the Franciscan Order established by St. Francis of Assisi. Ezzelino III da Romano inherits vast areas near Treviso from his father; his brother Alberico becomes the strongman in Vicenza. The da Romano family is the most powerful in mainland Veneto. Young William III is crowned king of Lesser Normandy in Melfi with Papal benediction. The state, after some years of near anarchy, is in a bad shape. Central-Eastern Europe: A Mongol army led by Subotai finishes off the eastern Kipchaks in the Pontic Steppe, then sacks some Russian minor lands before turning northeast to attack the Volga Bulgarians. The battle of Kermek is a surprising Bulgar success, and the Mongols withdraw. Middle East: The Myriamite state in Galilee expands into inner Lebanon with support from the Saifid Arab governors of Syria, repulsing further Crusader efforts. Far East: First attack on the Korean coast by the Wokou pirates from Tsushima and southern Japan. The Wokou will infest the eastern seas for centuries. North Africa, East Africa: Caving under duress, the Coptic Church in Alexandria accepts to appoint a Patriarch who recognizes Union with Rome and Papal supremacy. When news arrive in Ethiopia, the local Coptic Church opts for a schism and raises its Abuna (metropolite) Yeshaq I to the dignity of Coptic Pope. Most of the Egyptian Copts will quietly accept the Ethiopian Pope rather then the Latin-appointed Coptic Patriarch in Alexandria. Northern Europe: King Valdemar II of Denmark is betrayed and kidnapped by his vassal count Henry of Schwerin. The Danish ruler is freed only after giving up all of Nordalbingia (Holstein, Lübeck, Hamburg etc.), Mecklemburg and western Pomerania to duke Otto of Brunswick, the head of the Hohenstaufen house:D , and to his captor, and providing money and an army to help Otto in the ongoing civil war against the Welfs. Byzantine Empire: King Demetrios of Armenia Minor strangles young duke Nicander of Batiturkeia:mad: , then together with the Akrite Order of Caesarea/Mazhak ruthlessly puts down Muslim revolts in Pamphilia and southern Anatolia, forcibly converting the survivors. Northern Europe: The Latgalians rise against the Swordbearers of Livonia, allying themeselves with the Lithuano-Ruthenian empire to oust the hated German masters came from the sea. Western Europe: The Greater Normans try to overcome their rivals to make Burgundy the third kingdom of the empire and conquer the long-sought access to the Mediterranean, but emperor Amaury II and the flower of the Norman nobility fall in the battle of Peyra-Lada (*OTL Pierrelatte, Drôme, Rhône Alpes) against a Lombard-Burgundian coalition led by prince Umberto III of Rivoli, the ruler of Guidonian Piedmont. Amaury's brother, Thomas the Catholic, succeeds him quitting his planned ecclesiastical career. North Africa: The last Gadirote (*Cathar) diehards of Mauretania (*Morocco) are crushed by king Ruddar I in the fortress of Igadawan. Moreia (*OTL Casablanca) is taken by the Genoese with help from their Maurian allies. Byzantine Empire: Theoktistos I Megas Branas subdues most of the Latin feudatories of Bithynia, then with Genoese help is able to reconquer Lesbos, Lemnos, Leros and Rhodes from Venice. His forces vainly besiege Gallipoli. Despot Michael I Megaplatos of Turcopolia defeats the Latins at Serrai (Macedonia) and ousts the Vlacho-Bulgarians from Adrianople. Constantine X Angelos dies with no male heirs; the Latins get rid of most remaining Angeloi, deemed disloyal:D , and crown as emperor of Romania Matthias Ghiffiotto, half-brother of emperor Felix of Sicily. The Eastern and Western “Roman” crowns are now under the same family for the first time in half a millennium. The Western-backed “empire of Romania”, however, is reduced to control of the capital, the Straits and bits of Thrace. Caucasus, Middle East: The Mongols raze Tabriz ousting the Saifid Arabs from Azerbaijan. They then proceed to destroy the Kurdish fortress of Ahlat (whose name will remain to indicate historical or Old Armenia) on lake Van and plunder the area and Iberia/Georgia in a lightning raid before suddenly quitting operations and withdrawing east. The Kurdish Shabankarai overlords of Fars, impressed by the Mongol might, pay tribute to the Great Khan. India: Mahadharma I dies after firmly establishing the power of the Buddhist Dharma empire he founded in Pataliputra/Patna. Southern Europe: Brescia, a major center of heresy in Lombardy, is overwhelmed by pro-Papal “crusaders” sent in by the court to crush Cathars, Arnaldists and Waldensians. A massacre and scores of burnings at the stake follow:eek: . Northern Europe: New revolt led the Bagler party in Norway in support of Alfred Skulesson, son of the late king Skuli II of Northumbria, claiming the throne his marriage with Cecilie, one of king Sverre's daughters; the rebels hold the eastern fringes of the country, then are decisively defeated by Haakon IV at the battle of Rena, ending the Bagler-Birkebeiner feud once and for all:) . Alfred flees to Alba/Scotland, where king Duncan III has him murdered:mad: . 1225 Western Europe: Gallastria (*OTL Spanish Galicia plus Asturias) is made into a vassal of Portugal after the successful Portuguese siege of Orense. Byzantine Empire: The loyalist Byzantines of Nicaea take the Latin stronghold of Artaki/Nea Cyzicon (on the Sea of Marmara) after a lengthy siege, menacing Constantinople. With the bull “Christiana militia” Pope Leo X urges Christian knights to assume the defence of City of Constantine against the “heretic Greeks”. Caucasus: A renewed Mongol expedition defeats the Ortoqids at Chaldiran (Ahlat, *OTL Armenia), vassalizing them and imposing Rukn ad-Din Mawdud as the new sultan in Amida/Diyarbakir. The Mongols then desolate Ahlat (*OTL Armenia) and Iberia/Georgia (their fierce sack of Trabzon first make them well known in the Christian West, through the tales of merchants and refugees), and crush Daghestan, conquering the fabulous fortress of Derbent. Only the Muslim Laks of the eastern Caucasus resist the Mongol onslaught recreating their Shamkhalat (principality) of Ghazi-Ghumuq under a strong queen, Partu Pattima. India: Sultan Iltutmish of Punjab plunders Delhi during a civil war between local rulers; the city is later rescued and annexed by Vijayaraja I, the Chauhan ruler of Ajmer. SE Asia: The Trân dynasty, established by Thái Tông, replaces the Later Le/Lý on the throne of Dai Viet (*north Vietnam). India: Merchants from Genoa, Sicily and Provence (Marseille, Nice) first reach southern India :eek: after a daring travel by sea from freshly conquered lower Egypt; they are welcomed by king Kalinga Magha of Sri Lanka/Ceylon and come back with precious spices and gold. Central Hesperia (*OTL America): The K'iche', a people of Mayan stock, establish an own kingdom in OTL Guatemala (*still haven't decided its future name...) highlands. Central Asia, Central-Eastern Europe: Mongols and Tartars settle SW Siberia founding the White Horde, whereas the Blue Horde settles the Pontic Steppes around the Lower Volga.
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