Dashed left edge = started before this timeline ·
Dashed right edge = still ongoing
Events in the 1200s 9
1130 – 1200Bernart de VentadornOccitan troubadourBernart de Ventadorn was one of the greatest troubadours of the 12th century. His cansos on courtly love themes were widely admired and influential throughout medieval Europe.
1140 – 1200Comtessa de DiaOccitan trobairitzThe Countess of Dia was among the most celebrated female troubadours. Her four surviving songs are among the finest examples of Occitan courtly love poetry set to music.
1150 – 1201LéoninFrench composer of Notre-Dame schoolLéonin was one of the earliest known composers of polyphonic music. Associated with Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, he composed organa that helped establish the foundations of Western polyphony.
1155 – 1200Blondel de NesleFrench trouvèreBlondel de Nesle was a celebrated trouvère associated with the court of Richard I of England. His chansons are among the finest examples of 12th-century French lyric poetry.
1155 – 1207Raimbaut de VaqueirasOccitan troubadourRaimbaut de Vaqueiras was a Provençal troubadour known for his multilingual poems and epic verse letters. His Kalenda Maya is one of the most famous medieval melodies.
1201 – 1253Thibaut de ChampagneFrench trouvère and King of NavarreThibaut de Champagne was a poet-king whose trouvère songs combine courtly love themes with political allegory. He is considered one of the greatest trouvères.
1202Fibonacci introduces Hindu-Arabic numerals to EuropeLiber Abaci — the numbers we use todayIn 1202, Leonardo of Pisa (Fibonacci) published Liber Abaci (Book of Calculation), introducing the Hindu-Arabic numeral system — including the concept of zero — to medieval Europe. The book demonstrated the enormous practical advantages of the new system over Roman numerals for commerce, surveying, and calculation. Fibonacci also described the sequence of numbers now bearing his name. His work enabled the mathematical revolution of the following centuries.
1204The Fourth Crusade sacks ConstantinopleThe Fourth Crusade (1202-04), diverted by Venetian commercial interests, sacks Constantinople on 13 April 1204 -- the first time the city falls to an enemy in 874 years. The three-day sack is one of the great cultural catastrophes of the Middle Ages: libraries burned, relics stolen, the Hagia Sophia desecrated. The Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204-1261) replaces the Byzantine state. Three successor Byzantine states survive in exile: Nicaea, Trebizond and Epirus.
1206 – 1526Delhi SultanateThree centuries of Indo-Islamic rule in the northThe Delhi Sultanate was a succession of five Muslim dynasties — Mamluk, Khilji, Tughlaq, Sayyid and Lodi — that ruled much of northern India for over three centuries. It introduced Persian administration and Indo-Islamic architecture, and repelled the Mongols, before falling to Babur at Panipat in 1526.