1203

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Year 1203 (MCCIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was also the first year to have all digits different from each other since 1098.

Events

By area

Asia

• Minamoto no Sanetomo becomes shogun of the Kamakura shogunate

Europe

• April 16 – Philip II of France enters Rouen, leading to the eventual unification of Normandy and France.
• William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber becomes the guardian of Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, and is possibly responsible for his death.
• Battle of Basiani: The Georgians defeat a Muslim coalition.
• The Almohads begin the conquest of the Balearic Islands.
• The troops of the Fourth Crusade reach the Byzantine heartland:
  • June 23 – The Fleet of the crusaders enters the Bosphorus.
  • July 17 – The armies of the Fourth Crusade capture Constantinople by assault; the Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile.
  • August 1 – The Fourth Crusade elevates Alexios IV Angelos as Byzantine emperor, after the citizens of Constantinople proclaim as emperor Isaac II Angelos (Alexius IV's father).

By topic

Markets

• First evidence that the Temple in London is extending loans to the king of England. The sums remained relatively small but were often used for critical operations such as the ransoming of the king’s soldiers captured by the French.^[1]

Religion

• April 8 – Congress of Bilino Polje: Ban Kulin officially declares his allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church and denounces heresy.
• The Temple of Nataraja is completed at Chidambaram in India.
• Foundation of the Benedictine abbey of Iona by Ragnall mac Somairle on previous Columban site.

Births

• Peter II, Count of Savoy (d. 1268)

Deaths

• May - Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, King of Gwynedd
• date unknown - Alexios Palaiologos, Byzantine heir apparent
• probable - Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (b. 1187)

References