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The 1190s

366 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 12th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1190 CE52 entries

  • March 16 – A massacre and mass-suicide of the Jews in York, results in the deaths of 150–500 Jews in Clifford's Tower.
  • June 10 – Frederick I drowns while crossing (or bathing in) the Göksu River near Selucia (modern-day Silifke) in Armenian Cilicia. The German Crusaders are demoralized and exhausted by the summer heat, Frederick VI takes over the command of his father, carrying with him the emperor's body preserved in a barrel of vinegar. Some of the German nobles decide to return home with their followers; Frederick continues with his army (some 5,000 men) and eventually reaches Antioch, on June 21.
  • November 24 – The 18-year-old Isabella I, half-sister of Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem, marries Conrad of Montferrat at Acre making him de facto king of Jerusalem (as Conrad I). He has the support of her mother Maria Comnena and stepfather Balian of Ibelin, as well as Reginald of Sidon and other major nobles in the Crusader States.

1191 CE57 entries

  • March 20 – Pope Clement III dies at Rome after a pontificate of less than 3½ years. He is succeeded by the 85-year-old Celestine III as the 175th pope of the Catholic Church.
  • September – Geoffrey, illegitimate son of the late King Henry II and half-brother to Richard I and John, lands secretly at Dover. He has been consecrated as the new archbishop of York while in Tours, and on his return is arrested by William de Longchamp. Citing the Winchester treaty, John seeks a meeting with William. Geoffrey is freed, William flees and heads to Dover Castle.
  • November 13 – Battle of Tarain: Sultan Muhammad of Ghor invades northern India, but is defeated by Rajput forces under Prithviraja III, ruler of Ajmer and Delhi. Prithviraj marches against the Ghurid army (some 100,000 men) with infantry, cavalry, and an elephant force. He repulses the Ghurid invasion near Taraori (some 70 miles of Delhi), Muhammad escapes the battlefield.

1192 CE26 entries

  • April 28 – Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, is assassinated in Tyre, only days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin, later the basis of folk etymology for the English word "assassin."
  • August 5 – Battle of Jaffa: Richard I of England defeats the forces of Saladin and ends hostilities, paving the way for a truce.
  • August 21 – Minamoto no Yoritomo is granted the title of shōgun, thereby officially establishing the first shogunate in the history of Japan.

1193 CE32 entries

  • February 14 – King Richard I (the Lionheart), previously imprisoned on his return from the Third Crusade by Leopold V (the Virtuous), duke of Austria is handed over to Emperor Henry VI, and moved to Trifels Castle.
  • May – The Pisan colony at Tyre plots to seize the city, and hand it over to Guy of Lusignan – the ruler of Cyprus. King Henry I of Jerusalem arrests the ringleaders, and orders that the colony be reduced to only 30 people. The Pisans retaliate, by raiding the coastal villages between Tyre and Acre.
  • Ghurid forces under Qutb al-Din Aibak capture Delhi. General Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji sacks and burns the ancient city of Nalanda, India's greatest Buddhist seat of learning, and the university of Vikramashila.

1194 CE46 entries

  • March 10 – Sultan Toghrul III is defeated and killed in battle with Ala ad-Din Tekish, near Rey in Persia – ending the Seljuq dynasty of Hamedan. The Seljuk Empire passes to the Khwarazmian dynasty.
  • May 15 – Michael the Syrian reconsecrates the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery, which he reconstructed after its destruction by a fire. The monastery stays a center of the Syriac Orthodox Church until the end of the thirteenth century.
  • July 10 – A fire devastates Chartres Cathedral. Only the crypt, the towers, and the new facade survives. Funds are collected from nobles, as well as small donations from ordinary people, to start the rebuilding.

1195 CE14 entries

  • June 1 – Battle of Shamkor: Georgians defeat the Ildenizids of Azerbaijan.
  • July 18 – Battle of Alarcos: Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur decisively defeats Castilian King Alfonso VIII.
  • The Abbasid Caliph, Al-Nasir, takes military action against the Ayyubid Sultan, Al-Aziz Uthman, who controls Egypt and Syria. The Caliph mobilizes his forces and marches into Mesopotamia, directly challenging Ayyubid authority in the region of Iraq.

1196 CE31 entries

  • April 25 – King Alfonso II of Aragon ("the Chaste") dies after a 32-year reign at Perpignan. He leaves a will that divides his realm (Aragon loses Provence) and is succeeded by his 21-year-old son Peter II (the Catholic).
  • December – Emperor Alexios III Angelos is threatened by Emperor Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who demands 5,000 pounds of gold or the Byzantines will face an invasion, this due to a convoluted system of dynastic claims of Henry gaining control of Alexios' daughter Irene Doukaina. The amount is negotiated down to 1,600 pounds of gold – with Alexios plundering the imperial tombs within the Church of the Holy Apostles – as well as levying a heavy and unpopular tax, known as the Alamanikon (or German Tax).
  • Ch'oe Ch'ung-hŏn, a Korean general, massacres his rivals and restores unity. After a coup d'état, he takes full power and becomes prime-minister of the Korean state Goryeo (until 1219).

1197 CE38 entries

  • April 28 – Rhys ap Gruffydd, a Welsh prince, dies and is succeeded by his eldest son Gruffydd ap Rhys II. With the help of Gwenwynwyn, his brother Maelgwn ap Rhys invades southern Wales.
  • September 10 – Henry II, Count of Champagne, king of Jerusalem, dies from falling out a first-floor window at his palace in Acre. His widow, Isabella I, becomes regent while the kingdom is thrown into consternation.
  • Arbroath Abbey located in the Scottish town of Arbroath, is consecrated and dedicated to St. Thomas Becket.

1198 CE36 entries

  • January 6; Prince Leo II of Cilician Armenia crowned as Leo I — king of Armenia
  • March 8 – Philip of Swabia, son of the late Emperor Frederick I, is elected "King of Germany" by his supporters at Mühlhausen in Thuringia. Archbishop Adolf of Cologne elects Otto of Brunswick, son of Henry the Lion, as Philip's rival. Otto IV is crowned as King of the Romans in Aachen by supporters of the House of Welf. Philip's coronation does not take place until September 8, at Mainz.
  • December 11 – Averroes (or Ibn Rushd), Arab polymath and physician, dies. He is the author of more than 100 books, for which he is known in the western world as The Commentator and Father of Rationalism.

1199 CE34 entries

  • February 9 – Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun, dies at Kamakura after a 7-year reign in which he has established the Kamakura Shogunate (see 1192). He is succeeded by his 16-year-old son Minamoto no Yoriie, his grandfather Hōjō Tokimasa proclaims himself regent for Yoriie (until 1202).
  • March 26 – Richard I besieges the unarmed castle of Châlus-Chabrol, and is shot in the left shoulder with a crossbow, by the French boy Pierre Basile. The war between the kingdoms of England and France has become so brutal, that Hugh of Lincoln is warned that "nothing now is safe, neither the city to dwell in nor the highway for travel".
  • May 26 – John returns to London and chooses people to help him to rule the kingdom. He appoints Archbishop Hubert Walter as his advisor and chancellor. Geoffrey Fitz Peter is chosen as Chief Justiciar and William (the Marshal) becomes Marshal of John's household. On May 27, John is crowned as king of England at Westminster Abbey.