Richard I, returning from the Holy Land in disguise, is recognized in an inn near Vienna and is imprisoned until England pays a massive ransom

The three-year old Frederick II has a claim to the thrones of both Sicily and Germany on the death of his father, the emperor Henry VI

On the death of his brother, Richard I, John becomes king of England

The longbow, a weapon of great use to English armies, is probably first developed in Wales

In the cathedral on Torcello, and in St Mark's, Venetian mosaics are a culmination in the west of the Byzantine tradition

Flemish towns begin to acquire municipal independence, as communes, following the earlier Italian trend

German pressure eastwards (the Drang nach Osten) steadily brings colonists into regions previously occupied by Slavs

The heresy of the Cathars (meaning 'pure' ones) is now so well established in southern France that they have bishops of their own

The fleet of the fourth crusade departs from Venice - only to be diverted from its purposes by Venetian guile

A German order, the Knights of the Sword, begins the forcible conversion of Latvia and Estonia to Christianity

The French king, Philip II, takes Normandy from the English, and follows this success by taking Anjou a year later

The crusaders of the fourth crusade besiege, take and destroy the Christian city of Constantinople

Venice takes the useful islands of Corfu and Crete as part of the spoils of the fourth crusade

A Latin empire is set up in Constantinople on the same basis as the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem

The story of Parsifal and the Holy Grail becomes the subject of a courtly epic by Wolfram von Eschenbach

Many of the treasures adorning the church of San Marco in Venice are loot taken from Constantinople during the fourth crusade

The murder of the pope's legate to Toulouse provokes the Albigensian crusade, which aims to wipe out the Catharist heresy

St Francis and eleven companions tell Innocent III of their wish for a life of holy poverty in the bustle of the towns

Participants in the Children's Crusade suffer disaster after the waters of the Mediterranean fail to part for them

St Dominic and his companions tell Innocent III of their wish to teach and preach in the bustle of the towns

In Magna Carta's lesser clauses (39 and 40) there are enshrined certain basic guarantees concerning the rule of law

The Dominicans are formally established by Pope Honorius III as Ordo Fratrum Praedicatorum, the Order of the Friars Preachers

On the death of his father, King John, Henry III becomes king of England

Nearly 200 windows make Chartres cathedral the most magnificent display of early stained glass

Frederick II is crowned Holy Roman emperor by a somewhat reluctant pope, Honorius III