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13th century

9 stories from this century.

The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Constantinople

The Crusader Army That Was Supposed to Invade Egypt in 1202 and Instead Sacked Constantinople in 1204 to Pay Off Its Venetian Debt

The Fourth Crusade was contracted in 1201 to invade Egypt. By 1202 the crusaders could not pay for the Venetian fleet they had ordered. They diverted to attack the Christian Byzantine capital at Constantinople, where they installed an Angelid pretender. When he could not pay either, they sacked the city on 12-15 April 1204. The Eastern Orthodox-Catholic schism became permanent.

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The Footnote June 27, 2026 · Runnymede, Surrey

The Charter the English Barons Made King John Sign in a Surrey Meadow on 15 June 1215 That Was Annulled by the Pope Ten Weeks Later

The English barons forced King John to seal Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June 1215, accepting limits on royal arbitrary action. Pope Innocent III annulled it on 24 August 1215. John repudiated it. The First Barons' War followed within weeks. The charter was reissued — with modifications — in 1216, 1217, and 1225, and the 1225 version became the canonical text that survives in English common law to the present.

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The Coroner’s Report June 27, 2026 · Baghdad

The 12-Day Mongol Siege and Sack of Baghdad in February 1258 That Ended the Five-Century Abbasid Caliphate and Killed Approximately 200,000 to 800,000 People

Hulagu Khan's Mongol army of approximately 150,000 besieged Baghdad on 29 January 1258. The Abbasid Caliph al-Musta'sim surrendered on 10 February. The Mongol sack ran from 13 to 20 February 1258. Casualty estimates range from 200,000 to 800,000 dead. The Tigris reportedly ran black with ink from the destroyed libraries and red with blood from the killed. The Abbasid Caliphate of 750-1258 ended.

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The Footnote June 27, 2026 · San Clemente, Rome

The Female Pope Who Reigned for Two Years and Five Months in the Ninth Century and Almost Certainly Did Not Exist

According to a 13th-century Dominican chronicle, an English-born woman called Joan reigned as Pope John VIII from about 855 to 858 CE, gave birth during a Lateran procession, and was killed by the crowd. No 9th- or 10th-century source mentions her. The story is almost certainly a 13th-century fabrication. It was treated as historical fact for 400 years.

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The Footnote June 25, 2026 · Newgate Street, City of London

The London Mercer Who Donated the Land That Became Medieval England's Most Important Franciscan Foundation

John Iwyn was a 13th-century London mercer who donated a small property on the southern edge of Newgate Street to the newly-arrived English Franciscans in 1224. The donation became the foundation site of the Greyfriars church and friary — the most important Franciscan foundation in medieval England and the eventual burial site of four major English queens.

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