The Vatican sets its sights on world domination
The Christian armies reach a new low
they slaughter thousands of women and children

EUROPEAN & ASIAN HISTORY 1200 - 1219

EUROPEAN & ASIAN HISTORY Return to EUROPEAN & ASIA INDEX 1000 - 1499

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DIRECTORY Return to MAIN HISTORY INDEX

Usurers the lending of money for profit is outlawed.

1160  

A civil war began between the southern Japan Taira peoples and the northern Japan Minamoto clan.  The Minamoto are nearly destroyed and the survivors become the Samurai.  The Samurai only comprised about 6% of the population.

Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (1152-1190) called a synod of fifty German and northern Italian bishops at Pavia, they excommunicated Pope Alexander III and endorsed Pope Victor.  Henry II of England (1154-1189) and Louis VII of France (1137-1179) sided with Pope Alexander III.

1162  

Pope Alexander III had to move to France with his curia.

1163  

Emperor Xiaozong of China reigned (1163-1189) of the Southern Song Dynasty

1164  

King Somerled (d-1164) the Gaelic-Viking, who married the daughter of Olaf the Black, Viking King of the Isles, King of Man died this year in the battle of Renfrew.  St. Kentigern on behalf of Glasgow is credited with his death.  Somerled is Norse for summer sailor.  Somerled (d-1164)  established a powerful clan with his eldest son Dougal which is Gaelic for dark foreigner, a suggestive epithet for one of Olaf the Black's grandsons.  Dougall became King of the Isle, Lord of Argyll and Lorne, and Progenitor of clan MacDougall.  From Somerled's second son Angus Og came the MacDonald, MacAlister and MacRuaris clans.

Paschal II alias Guido (1164-1168) is elected pope by the pro-Imperial Party and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190).  The ambassador of Henry II of England (1154-1189) supported Pope Paschal.

1165  

The Knights Templer built a string of castles along the route to the Holy Land.  The Templers are ferocious and do not retreat unless outnumber by more than three to one.  It is estimated that 20,000 Templers died in battle during the Crusades.  The Templers however eventually became very close with their Muslim and Judah brothers, learning their philosophies and ritual secrets.

1166  

King Henry II (1133-1189) who ruled (1154-1189) received permission from Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) to conquer Ireland.  Alexander III wanted to eradicate Irish customs and culture that conflicted with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.  Henry invaded Ireland using the pretext of a request for military assistance from the Irish King Dermot of Leinster.  England however would not govern Ireland for another 300 years.

1167  

Temuchin the Mongol (1167-1227) son of Yesugei the Khan (Lord) is born this year by the Onon River and will become Jenghis (Genghis) Khan (Lord) in 1206.  Chinggis or Genghis means limitless strength.  He would unite an enormous army of nomads.  It is noteworthy that half the Mongolian people at this time are a Turkic-speaking people who predate the Mongols.  The Xiongnu People who raided China for centuries preceded the Turkic people and could be the ancestors of the Hun?

Malaria in Rome decimated the Imperial army.  Emperor Frederick also seriously ill took his Pope Paschal with him to Germany with what is left of his army.

1168  

The Roman Imperial Party elected Callistus III alias Giovanni (1168-1183).  Only Rome, some districts of the papal state and Tuscany in Italy and parts of the Rhineland in Germany recognized this pope.

1169  

Ireland is conquered by French Viking (Norman) Lords and Henry II (1154-1189) forced the Irish Chiefs and Norman Lords to accept his Lordship.  The Pope supported the King of England hoping to bring the Irish Celtic Church under his own control.  Much of western Ireland remained in the hands of the Irish Chiefs and the Norman Lords governed the west.

1170  

The Dominican order is founded in Spain.  A Welsh Prince, Owain Gwynedd with 120 settlers fled to America.  This account is first published in 1584.  Some contend Prince Madoc landed at Mobile Bay, Alamama this year.  Others contend they are the Mandan people.  The Viking-Norman again invaded Ireland taking over most of the more fertile locations.

1171  

Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) demanded his annual penny per household before he set his seal of approval on King Henry II (1154-1189) occupation of Ireland.

1175   

Jenghis (Genghis) Khan (Lord) (1167-1227), the Mongol Emperor, succeeded his father Yesugei as chieftain at age thirteen.  Other records suggest his father Yesugei died 1180 and Genghis became Khan (Lord) in 1206.  Tartar tribesmen poisoned Yesugei because he once robbed them.  Genghis would later kill all but the youngest males and enslave the women and children.  The Tartar tribe ceases to be.  The Mongol armies created a Great Empire that stretched from the Yellow Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.  He is reported by European sources to have said, "I will carry slaughter and cause devastation to my enemy, so my name will live".  He is alleged to have said "Man's greatest good fortune is to chase and defeat his enemy, seize his total possessions, leave his married women weeping and wailing, ride his gelding and use the bodies of his women as a nightshirt."  Other records suggest he had a great respect for women and his only fears in life are concern for his mother and wife.

1176  

Saladin (d-1193) a Kurdish adventurer who hacked his way to the throne is proclaimed King of Egypt and Syria.  His ambition is to restore the unity of Sunni Islam including a Jihad against the Franks.

1177  

King Saladin (d-1193) of Egypt and Syria mobilized an army of 26,000 Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Sudanese and Mamelukes to march on Jerusalem.  Three hundred Knights including eighty Templars slaughtered Saladin's army driving them into the Sinai desert where they all perished of thirst.

1178  

Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) issued a Papal Bull that the Knights of the Cross (Templars, Hospitalliers) can only carry arms when they display the standard of the cross to defend the kingdom or attacking a pagan city.

1179  

The Third Lateran Council through canon law denied usurers, those who loaned money for profit or sold goods for profit are denied access to communion.  To prevent future schism it established that a two-thirds majority of cardinals is required at papal elections.  They also established for the persecution of heretics.  Shortly after the council Pope Alexander is forced by the Roman popular commune to flee Rome.  Innocent III (1179-1180) is elected pope by a small group of schismatic cardinals in Rome.

The Knights of Calatrava founded a commandery in Aragon at Alcaniz (Spain) to fight the Moors of Valencia.  Alexander II recognized them as the Order of St. James of the Sword.  They took vows of chastity but most married as it is better to marry than to be burnt in the flames.

1180 

The Samurai clan of Japan clashed with the Taira clan and the Taira fled the siege.

Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) issued a Papal Bull recognizing the Knights of Our Lady of Montjoie (Order of Trufac) as an Order with an oath to fight Saracens.  The founder is a Spaniard, Count Rodrigo a Knight of Santiago who is considered an unstable character.  During this period the forgers in the papal chancery reached their most prolific peak.  The notorious Gospel according to Mark of Silver and the legend of the blessed martyrs Albinus and Rufinus is created.

1181  

Lucius III alias Ubaldo Allucingoli (1181-1185) is elected in Rome but he infuriated the citizens so resided at Velletri and Anagni.

1182  

The Jews are banned from France.

Reynald de Chatillon lord of Outrejourdain a murderous lunatic transported a ship, piece by piece, over the desert to the Red Sea to raid pilgrims on their way to Mecca.  He earned the Franks the hatred of the whole Moslem world.

1184  

Pope Lucius III formulated the charter of the Inquisition for the repression of heretics.  If judged recalcitrant they are excommunicated by the church and handed over to the secular arm for punishment.  This pope also sanctioned a third Holy War.

The Samurai clan of Japan destroyed the Taira clan of Japan taking their leaders heads as trophies.

1185  

The first Samurai Warrior to become Shogun in Japan is a descendant of the aboriginal Ainu race held in low esteem by many Japanese.  Urban III (1185-1187) an avowed opponent of the Emperor is elected pope in Verona on the same day as Pope Lucius death.  His vindictiveness against the Emperor made him ineffective.

1186  

John Toledo claims this date is the end of the world.

1187  

Saladin (d-1193) King of Egypt and Syria led his army of 60,000 against Jerusalem.  Most prisoners are spared in contrast to the Christian sacking of 1099.  All Templars and Hospitalliers however are beheaded.  The Frankish-Syria male population is driven off to the slave-markets of Damascus.  A large portion of Jerusalem is allowed to ransom a large portion of their population and the penniless are allowed to go free.

Gregory VIII (1187-1187) is elected pope.  As Pope he proclaimed it is not for the clergy to take up arms but to devote themselves to alms-giving and praising God.  When news of the Christian crusader disaster at Hattin in Galilee and the capture of Jerusalem by King Saladin (d-1193) reached Rome he soon dispatched legates to Germany, France, Denmark and Poland for a Crusade.  He considered the catastrophes in the Holy Land as Gods punishment for the sins of Christians.  He forbade their indulgence in extravagant clothes and gaming.  He tried to curb the power of the curia by referring appeals back to Bishops.  He ordered the tomb of Pope Victor IV broken open and the remains thrown out of the church.  He died while trying to secure seaports at Pisa in support of his Holy War.  Clement III alias Paolo Scolari (1187-1191) a wealthy Roman is elected Pope by the Cardinals at Piza.  The Church permitted enslavement of Christians who helped the Saracens during the Crusades.  

1188  

Pope Clement III finally brought the papacy back to Rome.  The Roman senate recognized the popes sovereignty, restored papal revenues and the right to coinage.  Administration is left to the Roman Senate.  Clement also devoted all his efforts towards the pending Holy War.  He made the papacy a center of unification and co-ordination for war.

The third Holy War led by Richard I is (1188-1192), others suggest it started 1189.

1189  

The Jews are massacred at the coronation of King Richard I (1189-1199)

King Richard I, (1189-1199) who is called the lionhearted, became king and is killed 1199 in France.  The third Holy War (1189-1191) is conducted to the Holy Land.  Frederick Barbarossa marched to the Holy Land with 100,000 men and by 1190 not more than 1,000 reached Acre, being a Christian strong hold under siege.

1190   

Emperor Guangzong of China reigned (1190-1194) of the Southern Song Dynasty

1191   

Celestine III (1191-1198) is elected pope only reluctantly to avoid schism.  English King Richard I (1189-1199) during the third Crusade following the conquest of the Palestinian city of Acre issued terms of surrender to the Muslims.  When the Muslims refused to make full payments until the three thousand prisoners are released.  The Christian King Richard I on August 20 marched the three thousand prisoners, bound with ropes, out onto a plain.  In full view of the Muslim army he ordered the Christian Crusaders to slaughter the defenseless prisoners men, women and children with swords and lances, creating many martyrs that day.

1192  

The town of Berlin, Germany existed at this time, much earlier than previously thought..

King Richard I, (1189-1199) having failed to reach Jerusalem sued for peace with King Saladin (d-1193) for a narrow coastal strip of land, 90 miles long and never more than 10 miles wide from Tyre to Jaffa.

1194  

King Alfonso VIII of Castile, Spain challenged Caliph Yakubibn-Yusuf to come to Spain and fight.

1195  

Emperor Ningzong of China reigned (1195-1224) of the Southern Song Dynasty

Almohad marched out of Marrakesh with his army and a host of slave-dealers to deal with the insolent King Alfonso VIII.  The Kings of Leon and Navarre failed to join King Alfonso VIII is insulted by his boast that the Castilian Knights could do the job alone.  The Moor and Negro army annihilated the Castilian Knights some 25,000 being killed or taken prisoner.  King Alfonso and the Master of Calatrava just managed to escape.  Almohad captured Guadalajara, Madrid, Ucles and Calatrava where the Knights of Calatrava are put to the sword.  He however failed to take Toledo.

1197  

The abortive German Crusade this year resulted in the creation of a third major military Order, the Teutonic.  Heinrich Walpot von Bassenheim, a Rhinelander, is appointed Master.  The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital of Jerusalem are installed in the St. Nicholas Gate at Acre, Palestine but developed in the Baltic rather than Palestine.  Others suggest the Order was founded in 1127 at Jerusalem called the Hospital of St. Mary of the Germans.  The Teutonic Knights could not compete with the Templars or Hospitallers in Syria so they devoted their energy to Armenia.

1198  

Cardinal Lothaire (Pope Innocent III (1198-1216)) is born to rule at any cost and is from the Alberics of Tusculum.  His uncle is Pope Clement III who had nominated him to cardinal.  He came from a family of professional churchmen that is to boast, in time, thirteen Popes, three anti-popes and forty Cardinals.   Upon being elected Pope at age thirty-seven, he is proclaimed Father of Princes and Kings, Ruler of the World, the Vicar on earth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  He believed his job is to rule the whole world.  The Vatican had truly replaced the Roman Empire and is not prepared to give anything to Caesar.  Thomas Hobbes said the Papacy is no other than the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, still sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.  The Roman culture would become the Roman Catholic culture.  Benito Mussolini would use this as his rallying cry in the twentieth century to justify the second great world war of that century.  The Pope immediately began replacing officials of the Roman Empire.  He justified intrusion in government affairs of other countries on the grounds they are all subject to his judgment on sin.  The pope had to root out the ring of forgers operating in the chancery who are responsible for creating pungent satires on the corruption and avarice of the curia.
 

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