In this video I will describe people and events from the 13th century, 1201-1300.
For each quarter-century, I will note famous births & deaths, and significant events in
politics, religion, and culture.
Here we go.
In the first quarter of the 13th century, 1201-1225, St. Thomas Aquinas was born, as
was the English philosopher-scientist Roger Bacon.
The Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides died, as did Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominican
Order.
The Magna Charta was issued in its definitive form, and Genghis Khan became chief prince
of the Mongols.
These decades saw the first appearance of jesters in European courts, and the first
European use of Arabic numerals, in a book by Leonardo Fibonacci.
The city of Amsterdam was founded, and in London tiled roofs began to replace wooden
and thatched roofs.
In the second quarter of the 13th century, 1226-1250, the Florentine painter Cimabue,
teacher of Giotto, was born.
St. Francis of Assisi died and was canonized two years later.
Genghis Khan died, and his empire was divided among his three sons.
Fifteen years later, his grandson Batu founded the central Asian empire of the Golden Horde.
Louis IX, St. Louis, began his 44-year rule as King of France, and in Iberia the Arabs
lost Cordoba to Castile.
In religion, the 6th and 7th Crusades were fought.
Pope Gregory IX reigned for 14 years, followed by the 17-day papacy of Celestine IV and,
a year and a half later, the election of Innocent IV.
During this time Roger Bacon recorded the existence of explosives.
Quite a few famous people were born in the third quarter of the 13th century, 1251-1275:
Meister Eckhart, Marco Polo, Dante, and the painter Giotto.
King Louis and St. Thomas Aquinas died.
Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty in China, which would last for close to a century.
Under his brother Hulagu Khan, the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258, ending the Abbasid
Caliphate.
Around this time the Aztecs first arrived in the valley of Mexico.
Popes of this period were Alexander IV, Urban IV, and after a three year vacancy, Gregory
X.
The first flagellant movements were seen in northern Italy and southern Germany.
Hats came into fashion in Europe, the university that would become the Sorbonne was founded,
and the musical form of motet was created.
Marco Polo began his 25 years journeying through China.
In the final quarter of the 13th century, 1276-1300, the philosopher Jean Buridan was
born, and Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, and Kublai Khan died.
There was a rapid succession of Popes, four in 1276 alone.
None of the succeeding papacies would last longer than five years.
One of these was the hermit-pope Celestine V, who after five months on the throne issued
a decree that the Pope had the right to resign, and then resigned.
He was later canonized.
New inventions of this time period included spectacles and the glass mirror.
Marco Polo returned from China and began dictating his memoirs (from a Genoese jail).
Human settlers arrived in New Zealand, beginning the rapid decline and extinction of moas and
other local species.
That s my summary of people and events of the 13th century.
Thanks for watching today; goodbye.