1220s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	12th century – 13th century – 14th century
Decades:	1190s 1200s 1210s – 1220s – 1230s 1240s 1250s
Years:	1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225 1226 1227 1228 1229
1220s-related categories:	Births – Deaths – By country Establishments – Disestablishments

This is a list of events occurring in the 1220s, ordered by year.

1220

• May 26 - German Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor grants bishops sovereign rights
• May – St. Francis of Assisi resigns from the leadership of the Franciscan Order.
• August 8 – Livonian Crusade: Estonians defeat the invading Swedes in the Battle of Lihula.
• November 22 – Frederick II is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Honorius III.
• The Mongols first invade the Khwarazmian Empire; Bukhara and Samarkand are taken.
• The Dominican Order is approved by Pope Honorius III.
• Conrad of Masovia drives out the heathen Prussians from a Masovian territory of Chelmno Land.
• Trial by ordeal is 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 Holland area.
• Ljubljana receives its town rights.
• The Islamic lands of Central Asia are overrun by the armies of the Mongol invader Genghis Khan (ca. 1155–1227), who lays waste to many civilizations and creates an empire that stretches from China to the Caspian Sea.
• The Thai Kingdom of Sukhothai is established.
• St Benedict of Nursia was Canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
• Gothic architecture becomes increasingly popular in Europe.
• The rebuilding of the Cathedral of Chartres, which had been destroyed by a fire in 1194, is completed.
• Rebuilding of Amiens Cathedral begins.
• Rebuilding of York Minster begins.
• Building of the Salisbury Cathedral begins.
• Rebuilding of the city of London begins

1221

• January – The Mongol army under Jochi captures the city of Gurganj (modern-day Konye-Urgench in Turkmenistan) and massacres the inhabitants, reported by contemporary scholars as being over a million.
• February – The oasis city of Merv on the Silk Road is sacked by the Mongols under Tolui at the orders of Genghis Khan. Contemporary scholars report over a million people are systematically killed in a genocide.
• May 13 – Emperor Juntoku is forced to abdicate and is briefly succeeded by his 2-year-old son Emperor Chūkyō on the throne of Japan. Ex-Emperor Go-Toba leads the unsuccessful Jōkyū War against the Kamakura shogunate.
• June 16 – The Jews of Erfurt, Germany were massacred al Kiddush Hashem. This day was observed as a fast day for many years.

The Jews were falsely accused of a ritual murder. A crowd stormed the synagogue where the Jews had gathered. As usual the threat was baptism or death. The Jewish quarter including the synagogue was razed, many Jews were tortured and killed. Among the martyrs were Shem Tov ha-Levi and Rabbi and Mrs. Shmuel Kalonymos, Hy"d.

• July 29 – 10-year-old Emperor Go-Horikawa ascends to the Chrysanthemum Throne of Japan.
• Mid-December – John III Doukas Vatatzes becomes Byzantine Emperor (in the Empire of Nicaea).
• A large and highly efficient Mongol army, dispatched under Subutai by Genghis Khan to Georgia, defeats two Georgian armies around Tbilisi, but lacks the will or equipment to besiege the city.
• Genghis Khan enters the Indus Valley in modern-day Pakistan.
• Majd al-Mulk al-Muzaffar, the grand vizier of Greater Khorasan, is killed in a genocide by the Mongol invaders.
• The Maya of the Yucatán revolt against the rulers of Chichen Itza.
• Sultan al-Kamil, son of al-Adil ("Saphadin") who was a brother of Saladin, offers Jerusalem to the Crusaders for ten years in return for Damietta, which the Crusaders eventually give up in exchange for a safe retreat from the Nile Delta.
• The city of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia is founded.

1222

• April 17 – Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury in England, opens a council at Osney Abbey, Oxford.
• May 11 – Cyprus earthquake.
• August – After the death of John I of Sweden on March 10, 6-year-old Erik Eriksson is elected new King of Sweden sometime between this time and July 1223.
• Livonian Crusade: Failed Danish attempt to conquer Saaremaa Island from the Estonians.
• The Cistercian convent is completed in Alcobaça, Portugal.
• Ottokar I of Bohemia reunites Bohemia and Moravia.
• Traditional date of foundation of the University of Padua in Italy by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.
• The Golden Bull of 1222 is issued in Hungary, limiting the power of the monarchy over the nobility.
• Approximate date – Royal Standard of Scotland adopted

1223

• March 25 – Sancho II is crowned King of Portugal
• May 31 – Battle of the Kalka River: The Mongol armies of Genghis Khan defeat the Russian warriors.
• August 6 – Louis VIII is crowned King of France.
• Battle of Samara Bend: Volga Bulgars defeat the Mongol army.
• The Franciscan Rule is approved by Pope Honorius III.
• Failure of an attempt by the Sicilian fleet to reconquer Jerba.

By area

Americas

• June 8 – Maya Long Count calendar: The eleventh b'ak'tun comes to an end, and the twelfth b'ak'tun begins the next day (June 9).
• The Chichimecas capture Tula.

Europe

• February – At Carrión the king of Castile, Ferdinand III announces his intention to resume the Reconquista against al-Andalus. This same year, the Almohad caliph, Yusuf II al-Mustansir dies and is succeeded by Abu Muhammad al-Wahid, but in al-Andalus, two competing pretenders also claim their rights to the throne: Abu Muhammad Ibn al-Mansur al-Adil in Seville, and Abu Muhammad abu Abdallah al-Bayyasi in Córdoba, Andalusia. The chronic political instability on the Muslim side allow the Castilian prince to begin his campaign victoriously in October with the capture of Quesada, Spain.
• The last Muslim inhabitants are expelled from Sicily and Malta.
• Livonian Crusade: The Livonian Brothers of the Sword defeat the Latgallians and reconquer the captured strongholds on the Estonian mainland. With the surrender of Tartu stronghold, only the islands of Saaremaa and Muhu remain under Estonian control.
• Theodore Komnenos Doukas, ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, captures Thessaloniki, beginning the de facto Byzantine Empire of Thessalonica

By topic

Education

• The University of Naples is founded.

Religion

• September 14 (approximate date) – St. Francis of Assisi, while praying on the mountain of Verna during a 40-day fast, has a vision, as a result of which he receives the stigmata. Brother Leo, who is with Francis at the time, leaves a clear and simple account of the event, the first definite account of the phenomenon of stigmata.

1225

• The Teutonic Knights are expelled from Transylvania because they want to separate from Hungary.
• Magna Carta is reaffirmed (for the third time) by Henry III of England, in return for issuing a property tax.
• Iltutmish, the sultan of Delhi, repels a Mongol attack and marches against Ghiyasuddin who cedes Bihar to him.
• July 27 – Visby Cathedral in Sweden is consecrated.
• December 31 – Lý Chiêu Hoàng, the only empress regnant in the history of Vietnam, marries Trần Thái Tông, making him the first emperor of the Trần dynasty at age seven.

By area

Europe

• King Louis VIII of France launches a large southward offensive against the Albigensians and the Count of Toulouse. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence, uses the opportunity to reassert his authority upon the autonomous municipalities of his estates (October). Most cities have to accept the authority of the Count but Marseille and Nice rebel.
• November 8 – Louis IX of France starts to rule on the death of Louis VIII.
• King Sancho II of Portugal launches a large offensive against the Muslims and takes the city of Elvas.
• Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, calls the Imperial Diet of Cremona.
• Nuneaton is granted a Chartered market status by King Henry III of England.
• Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles is overthrown as ruler of the Kingdom of the Isles and replaced with his half-brother, Olaf the Black.

Asia

• October 30 – Trần Thủ Độ, head of the Trần Dynasty of Vietnam, forces Lý Huệ Tông, last emperor of the Lý Dynasty, to commit suicide.

By topic

Arts and culture

• In Norway, Brother Robert writes Saga Af Tristram ok Ísodd, one of the rare fully surviving versions of the legend of Tristan and Iseult.

Religion

• The Carmelite Order is approved by Pope Honorius III.

1227

• January
  • Livonian Crusade: The Livonian Brothers of the Sword and their crusader allies cross the sea ice from mainland Estonia and defeat the last Estonian strongholds on Muhu and Saaremaa islands. This marks the end of the Estonian campaign in the Livonian Crusade. The Sword Brothers conquer Danish Estonia and Tallinn (Reval) is given town rights under Riga law.
  • Henry III of England declares himself of age and assumes power.
  • (approximate date) Swedish–Novgorodian Wars: Grand Prince Yaroslav II of Vladimir leads an attack from the Novgorod Republic on Finnic peoples in eastern Fennoscandia called "Yem", whom he devastates.
• January 11 – The city of Požega is first mentioned in a charter of Andrew II of Hungary.
• March – England makes a truce with France.
• March 19 – Pope Gregory IX succeeds Pope Honorius III as the 178th pope.
• November 24 – Prince Leszek I the White, High Duke of Poland, is assassinated at an assembly of Piast dukes at Gąsawa.
• Dōgen receives Dharma transmission and inka from his master Rujing in China, settling his "life's quest of the great matter", going on to introduce Sōtō Zen Buddhism into his native Japan.

By area

Africa

• Abu Zakariya founds the Hafsid dynasty in Ifriqiyah (today's Tunisia).

Asia

• Sukaphaa, the first Ahom king, establishes his rule in Assam. The Ahom kings reign for close to 600 years.

Europe

• April 25 – Conrad IV of Germany becomes titular King of Jerusalem, with Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor as regent.
• June 28 – The Sixth Crusade is launched from Brindisi by Emperor Frederick II, after delays due to sickness and an excommunication from Pope Gregory IX.
• Baldwin II becomes emperor of the Latin Empire in Constantinople, with John of Brienne as regent.
• The Transylvanian town of Reghin is first mentioned in a charter of Andrew II of Hungary.
• Spain: King James I of Aragon launches a major offensive against the Muslims in Majorca. The same year, in Murcia, confronted to increasing Christian pressure, the cadi (soon to be called emir), Ibn Hud al-Yamadi, denounces the Almohads and acknowledges the Abbasids as legitimate caliphs, in effect declaring independence. Other notable Christian success: Alfonso IX of León conquers Mérida.

By topic

Markets

• The city of Tournai emits its first recorded life annuity, thus confirming a trend of consolidation of public debts started ten years earlier in Rheims.
• First evidence of the use of the knights Templar as cashiers by the king of England to transfer safely important sums to the continent using letters of exchange. This shows that large transfers could take place across Europe even before the emergence of important networks of Italian merchant-bankers.

Religion

• July 16 – Saint Francis of Assisi is canonized by Pope Gregory IX.

1229

• February 18 – Sixth Crusade: Frederick II signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
• March 6 (Shrove Tuesday) – The 2-year University of Paris strike begins with a student riot.
• March 18 – Sixth Crusade: Frederick II crowns himself King of Jerusalem.
• April 12 – The Treaty of Paris brings the Albigensian Crusade to an end.
• April 23 – Alfonso IX of León conquers Cáceres.
• September 12 – The Catalan-Aragonese army under the command of James I of Aragon disembarks at Santa Ponça, Majorca, with the purpose of conquering the island.
• November 28 or November 29 – Erik Eriksson is defeated in the Battle of Olustra and deposed as king of Sweden by Knut Långe, who proclaims himself the new king.
• The Catholic Church permanently establishes the Inquisition, in the charge of the Dominican Order in Rome.
• Beverston Castle, Gloucestershire, England is founded.
• Following the deadlock tie in the election of the Venetian Doge, the number of electors is increased from 40 to 41 in order to prevent such future occurrences.
• The University of Toulouse is founded in France.
• The city of Turku, Finland is founded.
• The city of Rapperswil is established by Count Rudolf II of Rapperswil

Deaths

• Ghabdula Chelbir, 1225
• Genghis Khan, 1227