Directory

1219 CE

Al-Muzaffar II, Ayyubid ruler of Hama, arrives Egypt with Syrian reinforcements, leading multiple attacks on the Crusader camp at Al-Adiliya, with little impact. In the meantime, new Crusader forces bring badly needed supplies. Egyptian attacks continue through May, with Crusader counter-attacks utilizing a Lombard device known as a carroccio, confounding the defenders. Livonian Crusade: Danish Crusaders led by King King Valdemar II (the Victorious), conquer Tallinn in the Battle of Lyndanisse. What is to become the flag of Denmark (Dannebrog) allegedly falls from the sky during that battle. Their stronghold in Tallinn will help the Danes conquer the entirety of Danish Estonia. Al-Kamil sends two captive knights as envoys, to renew his former offers of an armistice. If the Crusaders evacuate Egypt, he will return the True Cross (lost in the Battle of Hattin) and they can have Jerusalem, all central Palestine and Galilee. John I advised its acceptance, along with the nobles from England, France and Germany. Pelagius again refuses the peace terms.

Conflict & Security

  • April 7 – Al-Muzaffar II, Ayyubid ruler of Hama, arrives Egypt with Syrian reinforcements, leading multiple attacks on the Crusader camp at Al-Adiliya, with little impact. In the meantime, new Crusader forces bring badly needed supplies. Egyptian attacks continue through May, with Crusader counter-attacks utilizing a Lombard device known as a carroccio, confounding the defenders.source
  • June 15 – Livonian Crusade: Danish Crusaders led by King King Valdemar II (the Victorious), conquer Tallinn in the Battle of Lyndanisse. What is to become the flag of Denmark (Dannebrog) allegedly falls from the sky during that battle. Their stronghold in Tallinn will help the Danes conquer the entirety of Danish Estonia.source
  • July 8 – Pelagius begins multiple attacks at Damietta, using Pisan and Venetian troops. Each time they are repelled by the defenders, using Greek fire. A counter-offensive led by Al-Kamil on the Templar camp is repulsed on July 31 by their new Grand Master Peire de Montagut, supported by the Teutonic Knights – where the Crusaders reform and pursue the enemy outside the gates.source
  • August 29 – The Crusaders attack the Egyptian camp in the Battle of Faraskur and the Muslims pretend a feigned retreat to Mansoura. John I advises to camp overnight, because there is no fresh water in the region between the Nile and Lake Manzalah. Al-Kamil decides to halt the retreat and turns his forces to deliver a smashing attack upon the disorganized Crusaders, losing some 4,300 men.source
  • October – Al-Kamil sends two captive knights as envoys, to renew his former offers of an armistice. If the Crusaders evacuate Egypt, he will return the True Cross (lost in the Battle of Hattin) and they can have Jerusalem, all central Palestine and Galilee. John I advised its acceptance, along with the nobles from England, France and Germany. Pelagius again refuses the peace terms.source
  • November 5 – Siege of Damietta: The Crusaders enter Damietta and find it abandoned. Seeing the Crusader standards flying from the towers, Al-Kamil hastily abandons his camp at Faraskur and withdraws to Mansoura. Survivors in the city are either sent into slavery or held as hostages to trade for Christian prisoners. On November 23, the Crusader army captures the city of Tinnis.source
  • Mongol forces under Chagatai and Ögedei capture Otrar after a 5-month siege. The city becomes the first of many settlements to have its entire population slain or enslaved before it is razed to the ground. Inalchuq, the Khwarezmian governor of Otrar, is captured and executed by pouring molten silver into his eyes and ears – an unlikely and unnecessarily expensive end.source
  • Twenty-four Lithuanian dukes and nobles purportedly sign a peace treaty with Halych-Volhynia, stating a common cause against invading Christian Crusaders.source

Religion & Belief

  • September – Francis of Assisi, an Italian preacher, arrives in the Crusader camp and introduces Catholicism in Egypt. He seeks permission from Pelagius to visit Al-Kamil. After an initial refusal, he sends Francis under a flag of truce to Faraskur. Al-Kamil receives him courteously and offers him many gifts. He accepts a death-bed baptism, and is escorted back to the Crusader camp.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The windmill is first introduced to China, with the travels of Yelü Chucai to Transoxiana.source

Health & Medicine

  • By letter, Genghis Khan summons Qiu Chuji (Master Changchun) to visit him, to advise him on the medicine of immortality (the Philosopher's Stone).source

Disasters & Accidents

  • Mina'i ware pottery production in Persia ceases as a result of the Mongol conquests.source

Births

  • February 18 – Tettsū Gikai, Japanese Zen Master (d. 1309)source
  • April 5 – Wonjong of Goryeo, Korean ruler (d. 1274)source
  • Umiliana de' Cerchi, Italian noblewoman (d. 1246)source
  • Baldwin of Avesnes, French nobleman (d. 1295)source
  • Christopher I (or Christoffer), king of Denmark (d. 1259)source
  • Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi, Moorish Sufi leader (d. 1287)source
  • William Devereux, English nobleman (d. 1265)source
  • Ariq Böke (or Buka), Mongol ruler (khagan) (d. 1266)source

Deaths

  • February 6 – Robert of Courçon, English cardinal (b. 1160)source
  • February 13 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (b. 1192)source
  • March 17 – Rudolph I, Count Palatine of Tübingen (b. 1160)source
  • March 22 – Henryk Kietlicz, archbishop of Gniezno (b. 1150)source
  • April 30 – Aldebrandus, bishop of Fossombrone (b. 1119)source
  • May 1 – Raoul I of Lusignan, French nobleman and knightsource
  • May 2 – King Leo II (or Levon) of Armenian Cilicia dies, leaving only two daughters. The elder, Stephanie, is the wife of John I; the younger, Isabella, daughter of Princess Sibylla of Cyprus and Jerusalem, is three years old. Leo has promised the succession to his nephew, Raymond-Roupen of Antioch, but on his death-bed he names Isabella as his heir.source
  • May 2 – Leo II (or Levon), king of Armenian Cilicia (b. 1150)source
  • June 17 – David of Scotland, Scottish nobleman (b 1152)source
  • October 29 – Ch'oe Ch'ung-hŏn, Korean ruler (b. 1149)source
  • November 3 – Saer de Quincy, English nobleman (b. 1170)source
  • November 5 – Hugh IX (the Brown), French noblemansource
  • December 17 – Conon de Béthune, French knight (b. 1150)source
  • Peter II of Courtenay, Latin emperor of Constantinoplesource