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| - Northern Europe: King Lothar II of Germany is murdered by rogue nobles; the Electors appoint his brother Henry of Swabia to succeed him as king Henry IV. Being now also duke of Bavaria (Welf senior estate) and Franconia (royal appanage), the king is one of the most powerful landlords of Europe. Chieftain Lembitu unites the southern Estonian tribes against the aggression of the German Swordbearers and sacks Pskov. Western Europe: Castile conquers Burgos from Navarra and defeats the Gallastrians (*Celto-Iberian inhabitants of OTL Galicia and Asturias) at Rio Esla. North Africa: Genoese and Western imperial (Sicilian) forces conquer Bardapolis (*OTL Tunis) and capture king Florentius I, who'll die in prison in Sicily. His exiled step-brother and long-standing rival, Gregory Skyphios, is put on the throne as a vassal of both Genoa and Sicily, as loyalist forces under Florentius' cousin Galvas resist with their main fortress in Kirvana (*OTL Qairawan, rebuilt on the ruins of the former Muslim city). Byzantine Empire: Basileus Theodosius IV dies; his widow, the Megavlakian-born Zoe, has her nephew Michael quietly murdered :mad: , retaining power for herself through the influence of her lover, the Vardariote general Stephen the Isaurian. When patriarch Nicholas V condemns her crime, she makes public penance in St. Sophia, winning the populace's pardon. Byzantine Empire, Caucasus: Nasreddin Mehmet, the Ortoqid sultan of Amida/Diyarbakr, liquidates by treason :mad: almost the entire Danishmenddiyya clan after a banquet, annexing their remaining holdings. Far East: Temüjin/Genghis Khan attacks the Jurchens/Jin of northern China, already at war with the Tangut/XiXias, defeating them at the battle of Huihebao. Northern Hesperia (*OTL America): The Hesperian Norsemen found their first colony in Bakkland (*OTL Québec and Ontario), Kandarvannsvìk (*near OTL Québec city), near the mouth of the Kandarvannà (*OTL St. Lawrence) river Western Europe: The Septimanian/Languedocian rebels free several towns from the anti-Cathar crusaders, even briefly menacing Toulouse. Far East: Temüjin/Genghis Khan's Mongols wreak unbelievable devastation, on a scale unheard of in history :eek: :eek: :eek: , in repeated campaigns of annihilation against Jurchen/Jin northern China, which however proves a very resilient and well-led enemy. Central Asia, Far East: Kuchlug, a leader of those Naimans who refused to obey Temüjin/Genghis Khan, goes on to seize power in the nearby Karakhitai empire, weakened by Khorezmian ascendancy and religious infighting. In the end, Kuchlug is defeated and beheaded by Temüjin/Genghis Khan and his domains annexed. 1211-1225 Central-Eastern Europe: The Teutonic Order, on Hungarian request, comes to Transylvania led by their Grand Master Hermann von Salza to contain the Cumans. Some thousand German colonists flock there, establishing the so-called Siebenbürgen (Seven Cities). Northern Europe: Caupo of Turaida helps the German Swordbearers crush a major revolt of his pagan fellow countrymen, the Livs. Northern Europe, Western Europe: The Boys' Lorrainade (*TTL's equivalent of the Children's Crusade) shakes Germany, Luxembourg and Greater Norman France as tens of thousands of young poor peasants swarm to Lorraine following charismatic messianic leaders; the movement is soon crushed by temporal and ecclesiastical authorities, after wreaking considerable chaos. British isles: The Greater Norman emperor William V Le Beau Roger and the Templars, having heard dim news of rich northwestern islands, fund an expedition towards Skraelingarland (*OTL Acadia) which wanes into the Atlantic Ocean without leaving trace even before reaching its first planned stop, Iceland. Western Europe, British isles: Greater Normandy expels the Jews. The French Jews resettle mainly in Flanders, Frisia and the Baltic German towns; the few English Jews flock to Northumbria and Alba-Scotland. Western Europe, North Africa: The Pisans, with its Balearic Norman allies, repulse a Lesvallian (*OTL Kabylian) invasion at Formentera, then suffer a grave defeat against the Genoese and Western Imperial (Sicilian) fleets at Kerkunia (*OTL Kerkouane). Byzantine Empire, Caucasus: Arab forces under emirs Muhajir Abbas and Abu Shuya invade the Ortoqid sultanate but are repulsed by the local Turks. Such is the havoc, however, that the Ortoqid state is severely weakened and a period of infighting begins. Central Asia: Ala ud-Din Muhammad II Shah of Khorezm conquers Samarkand and penetrates into eastern Turkestan. 1212-1252 Byzantine Empire: The Venetian holding of Crete is subjected to constant Genoese aggression: though Venice preserves the main ports and strongholds, the island becomes a giant pirate nest, while the inner areas are ruled by local clans and Greek landlords. 1213 Northern Europe: The German Swordbearers and the Lithuano-Ruthenians have their first military encounter in the battle of Lielv?rde/Dievukalns, a narrow German victory. British isles: Ireland falls again in civil war after the death of the childless Reginald Crovan, who briefly managed to unite the Irishmen against the Normans and the Welsh. Gonai, third son of king Ramiro III Breingo of Gallastria, makes it to Ireland with a fleet and an army to support his claim for the High Kingship, based on his being brother-in-law of the deceased Reginald. After a brief conflict, most Irish clans accept the new foreign ruler as High King and leader in the struggle against the encroaching Norman and Welsh lords from the Siennories (*SE Ireland) and the Maddox clan of Dublin. Western Europe: King Ferdinand V of Navarra intervenes on behalf of Septimania/Languedoc in the Albigensian Crusade, as his daughters married two of the deposed king's sons. Simon of Montfort the Elder falls in the siege of Tolouse, where Raymond IV is enthroned as the legitimate king and a vassal of Navarra. The hated Papal legate Arnaud-Amaury is lynched by an angry mob. Upset, Pope Urban IV (*OTL Honorius III) launches his interdict towards both kingdoms. The dynastical unification of Sevilla and Elbira (*OTL Granada) under Isidore II brings about the official birth of the kingdom of Andalusia. Southern Europe: Cremona's militias defeat the Mantuans at Cesole. The defeated town overthrows its local Canossa rulers, exiling them and proclaiming a republic. The young and brutal Ezzelino III da Romano, heir of important holdings in mainland Veneto and allied with Cremona, besieges Este to hamper the local dynasty's attempt to extend their influence to Mantua. Central Asia: Ala ud-Din Muhammad II Shah of Khorezm takes Herat and Kabul from local Afghan and Turkic lords, completing his conquest of Afghanistan. Far East: The Mongols oust the Jurchens/Jin from the northern side of the Great Wall. Northern Europe: After unsuccessful attempts to curb Danish power, king Henry IV of Germany is forced to concede Denmark suzerainty over Nordalbingia (North of the Elbe) and western Pomerania/Mecklemburg, effectively cutting Germany from the Baltic. British isles: Wales is attacked by Greater Normandy over unauthorized castle-building on its boundaries; English Norman forces prove however insufficient and are soundly defeated by the Welsh ruler Owain III the Victorious. Western Europe: With Papal support, emperor William V Le Beau Roger of Greater Normandy invades Septimania/Languedoc, forcing king Raymond IV and his brothers to flee beyond the Pyrenees. Toulouse is conquered and ravaged, with thousands of people slain; the kingdom is formally annexed to the Greater Norman Empire, with Amaury de Montfort, the eldest son of the deceased Simon, as viceroy. A subsequent punitive expedition against Navarra founders in the failed siege of Perpignan. Southern Europe: The nobility, Church and Comuni extort from king Guglielmo I the Simple the pledge to summon every year the Arengo Maggiore, the Lombard Parliament, to discuss taxes and royal rights. Central-Eastern Europe: A new Hungarian invasion of Galicia ends in an utter failure after a heavy defeat in the second battle of the Sanok river against the Lithuano-Ruthenian army. Byzantine Empire: The Genoese take Corfu from Venice, sharing its possession with Byzantium. Caucasus, Middle East: Saifid (*the dynasty establish by Abdullah Saif ul-Islam) Arab forces overrun Azerbaijan, ending the local Turkic Ildiguzid dynasty. India: Ala ud-Din Muhammad II Shah of Khorezm invades India from Afghanistan but is soundly defeated in Punjab by the strong sultan of Lahore, Qutb-ud-Din Aibak. Central-Eastern Europe: The long and bloody feud for control over Galicia between Hungary and the Lithuano-Ruthenian empire sees the latter side prevailing. Northern Europe: The Swordbearers' Order repels the Lithuiano-Ruthenians from the lower Dvina and subdues Latgale (*inner Latvia), persecuting both pagan and Orthodox believers. Northern Europe, Southern Europe: Otto I von Andechs, count of Meran, reconquers Histria from the Patriarchate of Aquileia who took it from his family holdings some years before. As German forces sent by the king helped in this move and seized Patriarchal Krain/Carniola, giving it to the Sponheim dukes of Carinthia and Styria, Pope Urban IV (*OTL Honorius III) excommunicates king Henry IV of Germany and declares his election void and null, applying in the most extensive way the conception of absolute Papal superiority over temporal rulers. The Pope unilaterally appoints the Hohenstaufen duke of Brunswick/Braunschweig, Frederick Lackland, as the new king, without even consulting him :o , thus starting another civil war in Germany as many rise against Welf overpower. British isles: The English nobility rises against emperor William V Le Beau Roger in the First Barons' Rebellion, asking for a lowering of their feudal duties and representation of their interests. William V has to put aside his plans to subdue Navarra to cross the Channel and fight back England, which proves a very difficult task; in the end he is de facto besieged in London and forced to concede the Magna Carta, the long-sought English equivalent of the French Charte de la Noblesse. Far East: The Mongols conquer the northern capital Zhongdu from the Jurchens/Jin, razing and burning the city completely and exterminating the inhabitants. On the spot (*OTL Beijing) they found Dadu/Khanbaliq.
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